WHITE SPUR, TEXAS

History in a Pecan Shell

The town of White Spur is not listed in the Handbook of Texas. Our knowledge of the town comes from an unidentified reader who asked what had become of White Spur?

The letter follows:

White Spur
I went to school in the third grade at White Spur in 1937 or 1938. White spur was not too far east of El Paso on a main highway that had the railroad north of it. We lived [at] an intersection where another highway crossed the tracks. The White Spur School was west of where we lived. There was also a cotton gin a little further west. My sister has said that they had converted the school to a museum. There was also a Baptist church somewhere close to the school with the Reverand Brooks preaching. I also went to Lamar and Morehead [schools] in El Paso. - (Name lost, editor's apology)

White Spur - El Paso
While I question the "ghost town" designation for the former community, I can clarify further its former location. I have no idea when it was annexed to El Paso, but it was in the county until sometime in the 1950s. I'm attaching a screen capture of Google maps which I have further annotated to refer to questions on your web site that a couple of people asked.

The White Spur Park is a latter day addition by the city and was not there at the time the community was actively known as White Spur. The "Mt. Franklin Christian Academy" is the approximate location on Sunset Rd. of the Baptist church of the same name and may incorporate the former church building. The White Spur school may no longer exist, but there is another old school building still standing in the community that abutted White Spur on the south, known as Courchene School.

Before annexation, and construction of IH-10, the only development in White Spur was along the west side of Doniphan Drive. West of Doniphan was farm land and accessible only by the RR crossing at Sunset Rd.
- Jack Schuller - native born El Pasoan, November 13, 2011

White Spur, TX
In 1943 my father was in the U.S .Immigration Service, and he was transferred to El Paso where he was employed at the bridge from El Paso to Juarez. I was enrolled in the White Spur Elementary school in the 6th grade. My sister was enrolled in the second grade. I recall my 6th graded teacher was Mrs Saunders, 7th Grade teacher Mrs Parsons, and 8th Grader teacher, Mrs Walker. I was not in the 5th grade, the teacher was Mrs Thurman. I believe the school is still there, it is a red brick 2 story office building on Donathon St. I was in El Paso last August 2011, and I saw the building. Unfortunately I have no pictures. My family moved from here in 1945. The kids that graduated from the grammar school were bussed to El Paso. - John Calvin Darst, March 23, 2012

Subject: Location of White Spur, Texas

Google Map showing White Spur with Jack Schuller's annotation.
See his information on White Spur above

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