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Loma Vista Cemetery
Entrance
Courtesy Tim & Gail Dorrycott, Findagrave.com |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The
name means Hill View in Spanish and the hill for which the community
took its name is still there - about two miles north of the former
town. United States surveyors once used Loma Vista as a geographic
reference point. Much earlier, the site had been on the Spanish Upper
Presidio Road.
There have been unsuccessful attempts at dryland farming but ranching
is what was found to be the best alternate.
Settlement occurred in the mid 1870s when A. D. Everett, his three
sons and three sons-in-law establish a cattle pen here. The pen connected
to Everett's larger "spread" in Western Zavala
County.
With the help of neighbor rancher Jesse Adams, the combined work force
of the two families dug wells and built houses along the connecting
road.
Everett and Adams families became the seed of what would become the
Loma Vista community. The first order of business was acquiring a
post office. This important building block was granted in 1879 under
the name of Luma Vista (perhaps due to poor penmanship on the
postal application).
The Loma Vista cemetery was established on Everett family property
a few years later. By the mid 1880s, Loma Vista had two stores, two
saloons (beer only) and a school to teach local children. At some
point a second school opened, but only one teacher was available for
both. By 1908 the community was back to a single school.
In 1912 the community consisted of a single saloon, the post office,
school and residences. Baptists and the Church of Christ held meetings
in the schoolhouse; the congregations too small to build proper churches.
The post office was discontinued in the mid 1920s although the school
remained until it merged with the Crystal
City ISD in 1939.
By 1945 the population was reported as 125 residents scattered across
large and small farms and ranches. Population figures are not available
to show the decline, but in the early 1970s only two houses were left
and by the late 1980s, the cemetery was the only reminder that there
had once been a community here. |
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Loma Vista Cemetery
Courtesy Tim & Gail Dorrycott, Findagrave.com |
Zavalla
County TX 1920s Map showing Loma Vista
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
Zavalla
County 1907 postal map showing Loma Vista as "Lumavista"
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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