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MOLINE,
TEXAS
Texas
Ghost Town
Lampasas County,
Texas Hill
Country
Ranch Road 1047
Near the Mills County Line
15
miles NE of Lometa (via Ranch Road 581)
Population:
40 (estimate - same number from 1970) |
| | "Looking
north on FM 1047"
Photo by Mark Mauldin, July, 2005 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Settlement began around 1884. A blacksmith opened shop with a corn mill as
a side business. The name is said to come from homesick Hossiers - pining for
their previous home of Moline, Illinois. Another story is that the name came from
the popular Moline plow - one of which was present when town-naming was being
discussed. A cotton gin opened in 1900 and in 1910 a post office was established
in J. W. Trussell's store.
The town was fortunate enough to have a physician
(Dr. Hicks) who not only opened a drugstore - but also opened a rare emergency
operating room.
Moline's first school was a one-room
building 2½ miles south of town. |
| | Moline
School Site Marker >
The
historical marker for the Moline school is just south of Moline below the school
site on FM 1047. Part of the structure can still be seen on the hill. |
In the 20s a man
named Jim Tom Brown built a garage over the foundations of the former blacksmith
shop.
In the 1930s the town had thirty-five people or so and three stores.
By 1935 a teacherage was added. Moline reached its population zenith in the early
1940s with around 100 people calling the town home.
Moline's student
population declined until the students attended classes in Lometa in 1943 and
then onward to Star the following year.
The old school was then converted
into a community facility.
The population declined to the point where
it was estimated as a mere sixty in 1949.
The town's post office closed
its doors in 1976. Moline had had two stores plus the post office in the early
1970s. |
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Paul Lee's General
Store/Gas Station/Post Office
Photo by Mark Mauldin, July, 2005 |
| "The stone structure
was Paul Lee's General Store/Gas Station. The store sold various groceries, feed,
and gasoline. It also housed the Moline, Texas Post Office until the post office
closed in the mid-1970's. The store permanently closed its doors a short time
later. " - Donna Kay (Soules) Mauldlin | |
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