RSS 2.0 NEWS FEEDSAikin Home » Harvill Journal » What’s in a Name?
What’s in a Name?
Posted 04.11.06 at 9:08 AMWhat’s in a name? Do you ever wonder? In the Texas National Dispatch of Feb. 1984, Gordon A. Hyatt printed a “menu” of Texas Post Office names:
For breakfast, we might have Melon (Frio Co.) 1909-DPO (meaning dead or closed), Oatmeal (Burnet) 1853-DPO, Cream (Parker) 1879-80; Pancake (Coryell) 1884-1908, Bacon (Panola) 1903-05, Ham (Henderson) 1901-12, Blackberry Plains (Fannin) 1871-73, Plum (Fayette) 1880 and still operating in 1984, and to wash it all down, Coffeeville (Upshur) 1852-1915.
For lunch, among other items on the menu, we could call on Bean Creek (Hunt) 1853-55, and we could have such specialties as Gourdneck (Rusk) 1880-81 and Crawfish (Floyd) 1892-93. (Notice that these three had “short runs” as menu items.)
Finally, for dinner, Red River County offered us both Sherry (1902-23)—notice it had a much longer “run,” as a beverage—and Cherry (1901-07) as a fruit. We have Catfish, of course, (Henderson) 1888-1910, Whitefish (Donley) 1896-1905, and Alligator (Brazos), which had a very short “run” from only 8-10-88 to 10-29-88!
Various breads accompanied such meals: White (Scurry), Rye (Brazos), Alfalfa (Ochiltree), Pepper (Rusk), Salty (Milam), and finally Scrap (Red River), which was favored from 1903-24!
One of my favorites is Bug Tussle in Fannin County. According to A History of Post Offices and Communities in the old First Congressional District of Texas, attributed to Wright Patman, Bug Tussle was a favorite spot for Sunday school class picnics. According to one legend, swarms of bugs ruined an ice cream party, and another story maintains that after the picnics, there wasn’t anything to do but “watch the tumble bugs tussle.”
Everyone knows how Direct got its name. Locals say “DIE-Rect,” not “Duh-RECT.” Although some thought that folks from across the river (that’s the Red) went “direct” to the community for whiskey,” I prefer the one featuring the revivalist who accused locals of going “direct to hell.” Supposedly, the community was built with a donation from a converted saloonkeeper.
Skipping over to Delta County, we have Klondike, named for a popular place in Alaska in the 1890’s, and then there’s Needmore, once known as Pecan before a post office was applied for in 1885 and a better name was required!
My personal favorite is Muleshoe, out in West Texas. I once knew someone who was embarrassed to say she was from Muleshoe, and she would pronounce it as “Mue-loosha.”
Hey, help me out here. Do you know how your community got its name?
Reader comments
Want to comment on this article?
You must be registered and logged in order to leave comments on this site. Please register or log on the left side of this page in the "Toolbox" area. Once logged in, return to this page, and you will have access to the commenting form.
I enjoyed the light-hearted look at town names in Texas AND the snack that it prompted me to eat after I read it!
You invited comments on our own hometowns, so here is mine! I was born and raised in Beaumont, which I’m told is derived from French for “Beautiful Mountain”. That was a puzzlement for years, since the city lies roughly 25 miles from the coast in some of the flattest, wettest land you’ll ever see! Not a mountain in sight…unless you want to count the speed bumps at the mall!
Recently I read that Beaumont began as a farm settlement in 1824 with Noah Tevis. It became a townsite in 1835 when the land was bought by Henry Millard, and he supposedly gave it his wife’s maiden name, Beaumont.
We are a hop, skip & a jump west from the town of Orange, which is near the Louisiana border. At least there was some sense in that name, as the area was known for the great orange groves that flourished along the Sabine River there.
Our other tri-city friend is Port Arthur, founded in 1895 by Arthur Stilwell. Stilwell envisioned the town becoming a great Southern seaport (thus the “Port”) and himself becoming a great Southern land magnate (thus the “Arthur”). Neither of them quite made it to the height of Stilwell’s aspirations, though the port plays an important role in the oil industry of Southeast Texas.