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| History
in a Bottlecap
Impact had been a 20 acre poultry farm owned by a family named Perkins. An
additional purchase of land swelled the would-be town to 47 acres. Dallas Perkins,
owner of the land became mayor and named the town after his advertising business.
Twenty-nine signatures incorporated the town in 1960, and the first order
of business was to declare liquor sales legal. With Abilene
“dry” and a large population of servicemen – it looked like a growth industry.
Two liquor stores opened (no waiting) and Abilene lawyers were immediately
put to work filing motions to oppose the incorporation.
The courtroom
fight went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The court upheld both Impact’s
incorporation and the town’s right to sell liquor.
The population was
sixty-one in 1970, but after Abilene
legalized alcohol sales in the late 70’s, the liquor stores closed and Impact
just blended into the larger city.
Impact wrote a chapter of it’s own
in the history of dry-wet politics in Texas. |
Impact,
Texas Today:Your
article on Impact, Texas is excellent. I wish to tell you about a recent development
in the continuing saga of Impact.
Mr. Dallas Perkins, the founder of
Impact, lost his wife a few years back and eventually went to live in a retirement
center. A long lime resident of the "greater Impact area" named Jack Sharp has
purchased a ten acre track from Mr Perkins which includes the main street, and
the buildings on either side of Impact Drive. Sharp, pastors a church which meets
in the former city hall building and he lives in the former residence of the Impact
police officer. The congregation is refurbishing the old Pinkey's location which
will eventually house the church.
Well, there you have it, the latest
from the heart of Impact! - Sincerely, Verl Hart, Mc Murry grad and current
resident of Graham, Texas, March 10, 2006
Abilene
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