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History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after Saltillo, Mexico (no reason known) by
storekeeper John Arthur, the town was settled before the Civil War.
In
1860 the community was granted a post office. A rival store opened across from
Arthur's store which gave the town the unofficial name of "Twin Groceries."
The population was 60 by the mid 1880s. The St. Louis Southwestern Railroad
laid tracks 1.5 miles north of Saltillo in 1887, the post office and one store
moved to the new community, creating an "Old Saltillo" which still appears
on detailed Hopkins County maps.
The population of (new) Saltillo was
350 by 1914 and all essential businesses were established, including a newspaper.
Like most towns, Saltillo prospered in the 20s and declined in the 30s. The
1933 population of 250 residents remained for the 1940 census. In 1964 the population
had increased to 270 but has decreased to 200 by 1990. The same figure is given
for the 200 census.
Old Saltillo remains in the form of a Methodist
church and cemetery.
Sulphur
Springs Hotels
- Saltillo
Area Hotels, Book Here & Save |
The
Town of Twin Groceries by Bob Bowman
A recent caller
from Bowie County had an intriguing question recently, “Does East Texas have a
town named Twin Groceries?”
The answer is yes and no.
Around 1850,
John Arthur helped settle the town of Saltillo on the Old Jefferson wagon
road sixteen miles east of Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County. He named it a town
in Mexico.
Saltillo soon became a popular place for teamsters,
leading to the establishment of a post office in 1860 with Moses Russell as the
postmaster.
The town also had a gristmill, a cotton gin and a store.
A
second store was opened on the opposite side of the road from Arthur’s store and
for the first time, the community was known as “Twin Groceries” for obvious reasons.
But the name didn’t last long and Saltillo reemerged. By 1885.
Saltillo had a water-powered gristmill, two churches, a school and a population
of about sixty. But what about Saltillo’s name?... more |
Memorial
Day Services at Old Saltillo Church by Robert
Cowser
Beginning in the early 1930s, annual memorial services are
held at the Old Saltillo Methodist Church in Hopkins County. Until the early ‘60s
the program was scheduled for the third Thursday of July. By that time the cotton
crops had been “laid by.” It was a time of waiting through the Dog Days of summer
until the cotton bolls began to open. Since 1960, the services are held on the
second Sunday in July... more
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Familiar
Ground
by Robert Cowser
When I was younger, I could never quite understand how anyone could be devoted
to the town where I was born. My birthplace was a farm house five miles south
of Saltillo, where our post office and school were located. When I was a teenager,
Saltillo also had three groceries and two service stations. The largest commercial
building contained a drugstore, a barber shop, and the post office. These buildings
were located on U.S. Highway 67, a two-lane road, originally known as the Bankhead
Highway and then as the “Broadway of America.” There was also a Cotton Belt depot
north of the highway that stood until 1956 when passenger service was discontinued
on the route. Obviously lacking was a motion picture theater, which even Larry
McMurtry’s otherwise deprived Archer
City had until the late 1950s.
A row of dilapidated brick buildings
a few yards north of the highway reminded us that Saltillo had once seen better
days. The roofs of two of these buildings, which once housed a bank and a newspaper
office, collapsed before I was born...more
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