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History
in a Pecan Shell
Downing belongs on the short list of postal
errors or poor penmanship. What had been submitted as poetic “Dawning, Texas”
was misread in Washington and the mistake was approved.
It was in the Fall of 1888 when the post office opened with William C. Davis as
postmaster. It remained open until the Spring of 1911 when it merged with Comanche’s
post office.
The town’s location – between the County Seat and another
sizable town (De
Leon) limited Downing’s
chances of growth. From just over 100 people in 1940, Downing declined to just
20 residents for the 1990 and 1990 census although it swelled to 30 for the 2000
count. |
Downing
From
"One Man Two Graves"
Mike Cox “Texas Tales” Column
"The
Downing Cemetery is near a small community of the same name about nine miles north
of Comanche off State Highway 16. Just when the rural graveyard saw its first
burial is not known, but the earliest marked grave is that of one Mary Carnes,
who died on April 15, 1866. The authors noted that the cemetery also contains
several unmarked graves of people who died “on the way to other places” and that
there are also some graves of Indians, presumably killed by settlers... The Downing
Cemetery even predates the community for which it was named, which did not get
its start until the early 1880s...
A one-room country school house used
to stand near the cemetery, but it has long since disappeared from the landscape.
All that remains is the school’s old bell, which now hangs in the cemetery."
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