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Photographer's
Note:
South of Spring-Cypress Road on Huffsmith-Kohrville Road FM2978 are
two cemeteries, Amos and Kohrville. The nearby railroad
passes through Louetta. FM249 is about equal distance from the cemeteries on the
opposite side from the railroad.
- Ken Rudine,
May 2010
History
in a Pecan Shell
A
small African-American community near the above mentioned intersection was founded
by Freedmen from Alabama in the 1870s. The community's economy was timber-related
and the name came from German immigrant Paul Kohrmann, postmaster in 1881.
In the early 1900s another Kohrmann (Agnes Tautenhahn Kohrmann) was operating
the community store. About this time the town had a population of fifty. In 1906
a thirty-one pupil, one-teacher school was open. The post office closed in 1911
and mail was rerouted through Hufsmith. Kohrville managed to keep one business
in operation in 1940 and the former school became a community center. That same
year the town had thirty residents, two churches and two cemeteries. |
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1920s
Harris County map showing Kohrville as Korville (Above "A' in 'HARRIS')
Photo
courtesy Texas General Land Office |
The "Lost" Towns
of NW Harris County:
Kohrville | Louetta
| North Houston | Satsuma
If
these are ghost towns, why are there so many people here?
Although
they now only exist as sign names at large intersections (Barker-Cypress, Bammel-North
Houston, Aldine-Bender, Alief-Clodine, et. al.). It may surprise non-natives that
all of these names once represented once struggling or proudly self-sufficient
towns. Even the inside-the-loop street of Crosstimbers was once a separate town.
While
most people associate ghost towns
with ruins and desolation - these ghosts live among us. Were aisles seven and
eight at your local HEB once a syrup mill? Was Radio Shack once a livery stable?
Best Buy a cornfield or cotton gin?
Are there unmarked graves under the
floor of your favorite Mexican restaurant?
The short answer is this: In
many cases these villages were already ghost towns - or so close to being ghost
towns that you could hardly tell the difference. Most had their life-blood drained
from them after WWII with
the migration of rural families to Houston.
The phenomenon was statewide. Dallas
and Ft. Worth have their fair
share of postwar "absorbed" ghost towns - as do smaller cities.
Then "Edge
City" happened. The relentless march of strip centers, subdivisions and gated
communities overtook these former towns until only the names and cemeteries remained.
While
the subject is worthy of further investigation (exactly where is the Lily White
cemetery behind Memorial City Shopping Center?), we're happy to include this topic,
made possible by generous grant of time, sweat and reseach by the Team
Rudine.
- Editor
"15
Minutes of Separation"
May 12, 2010 column | |
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