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"The sign
on the building refers to it as the Bear Creek Community Center. It's
across the street from the old store,
on the west side of 2291."
- Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 Photo |
History in
a Pecan Shell
A man with the
very southern-sounding name of Raleigh Gentry reportedly settled in
around Cleo just prior to the Civil War. In 1880 a post office was
opened under the name of Viejo named after nearby Viejo
Creek.
Postal service was transferred to Junction
in 1886, but reopened in Viejo in 1915. John Simpson ran the
post office in his store and when the business was sold in 1920 –
the post office was renamed after the niece of the new owner (Sam
L. Pearson). Cleopatra Weston was the honoree.
During the Great Depression cutting cedar for posts became about the
only money-making enterprise in the area.
The population reached a high-water mark of 81 when the post office
closed in 1974. Cleo’s decline is attributed to being bypassed by
Hwy 83. |
The old store
& former post office (?) in Cleo
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 |
| The historical
marker is within walking distance south of the old store and community
center. The Morales Ranch ruins, as the historical marker indicates,
is about 350 yards west of the marker. more |
Cleo
Face
by Mike Cox (From "Texas Tales" Column)
The folks along Bear Creek in Kimble County always called the mysterious
stone carving the “Cleo Face.”
That is not to say that the Cleo Face is Cleo’s face.
About as close to a ghost town as you can get, Cleo is on Farm Road
2291 about 10 miles northwest of Junction. Founded in 1880 and first
known as Viejo, the post office served the area for six years before
being discontinued.
Reestablished in 1915, the Viejo post office got a new cancellation
stamp five years later when post master Sam Pearson succeeded in getting
the federal mail stop renamed in honor of his niece, Cleo Weston.
The Cleo post office stayed open until 1974, when the last post master
retired.
By all rights, the area should have been called Gentry, after pioneer
settler, Raleigh Gentry. The first resident of what would become Kimble
County, Gentry built a cabin along Bear Creek, about a mile south
of the future Cleo community, in the late 1850s. In 1862, Gentry conveyed
his property to Rance Moore, a young stock raiser. Moore later sold
the property to N.Q. Patterson, which is where the Cleo Face comes
in.... more
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Kimble
County 1940s map showing Cleo
NW of Junction
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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