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OAKALLA, TEXASBurnet County,
Texas Hill Country
FM 2657 and 963
On the Lampasas River, off Highway 183
9 mile N of Briggs
SW of Killeen
NE of Burnet
Population: 99 est. (2000)
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A
feed store in Oakalla
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Settled in the 1850s, there is little to say about Oakalla until 1879
when the post office opened.
By 1881 the town had a gin, store and doctor (See Lucius
Seneca Hine, M.D.) By 1890 the town had 100 people and a dozen
businesses. In 1896, the population had increased to 175.
A two-story school built on a donated site in 1890, also served as
a church until 1908. |
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The
1920 former schoolhouse, now the community center
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, August 2005 |
In
1920 the wooden school was torn down, and rebuilt using stones from
a rock school building that had been on Gregory Branch. In 1929 the
building was expanded by two rooms.
Sometime after 1930 the post office was closed and the town's schools
merged with those in Briggs in 1946
and 56. In 1958 the entire district merged with Lampasas
schools.
The population went from 180 in 1925 to around 100 from the 40s through
the 70s. It fell to 45 in the 1980s. The 1920 school remains in use
as a community center and library. |
Oakalla long
ago
Photo courtesy Joe Williams |
Oakalla, same
scene, today
Photo courtesy Joe Williams |
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