|
Elm Mott Railroad
Section House
Click on image to enlarge
Photo
courtesy Richard Wilshire
See Texas Railroads |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Settled shortly
after the Civil War, the area had been known as Geneva until
a post office was applied for in 1872. Citizens were saddened to learn
that another community
had beaten them to the name. Since there was a grouping of Elms in
the vicinity, the name Elm Mott was submitted and accepted.
As the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad extended it’s tracks from
Hillsboro to Taylor,
Elm Mott found itself in the right place. With a population of just
40 citizens in the mid 1880s, the town grew to 247 by 1900.
It briefly broke 300 residents, but drought and the boll
weevil dealt the town a double-whammy – even before the Great
Depression arrived. Somehow the population maintained it’s population
around 250.
Highway expansion in the late 1950s forced many residents to relocate,
but the population stayed just below 300. The population has been
given as 190 from the 1970s to 2010. |
 |
The earliest
water well & storage tower in Elm Mott dating back to 1881
Photo
courtesy Richard Wilshire
More Windmills
in Texas |
History of
my hometown, Elm Mott, Texas
By Richard Wilshire
The town of Geneva originated from two grants, the first being
from the Texas Governor George T. Wood to Samuel Burton on January
17th, 1849 and the second from Texas Governor P. H. Bell on July 10th,
1850 to Edward Holmes, it being 1280 acres of land. On March 4th,
1892, E. M. Long placed on public record in Volume 86, page 488 of
the deed of records in McLennan
County a plat of the town of Geneva which was called Long's
Addition in the town of Geneva. This came from the survey bought
by F. M. Long from Seth Miller on January 7th, 1869. L.B. Christian
bought 150 acres on October 17th, 1870 from Seth Miller. Seth Miller
acquired this land on October 8th, 1864 from the Confederate States
of America. It was sold for taxes for the year 1861. Jesse Wesson
Miller bought his first farm consisting of 200 acres east of Geneva
from Seth Miller in 1868. The Little Tehuacana Creek crossed
his land. To get to the farm you had to go down Little Leroy Road.
He built a log house for his family and dug an enormous well which
was walled with stone. Jesse built a lovely large home on his 2nd
farm near White Rock Creek. L. B. Christian bought more land
on October 27th, 1870 from D. L. Chamberlain, it being part of the
original 1280 acres granted to E. H. Holmes in 1850.
Two of Elm Mott's earliest settlers, Louis Bishop Christian and Edward
M. Long, described the area as a wilderness or "an earthly Eden" when
they first arrived. Both came to the sparsely populated region known
at that time as Geneva Station just north of Waco Village after
serving in the Civil War. Some of the other early settlers in Geneva
were Charles R. Bastille, Jesse Miller, the Behelers, Christians,
Longs, F. M. Crabtree and Thompson McFerrin.
When the community applied for a post office several years later on
November 8th, 1872, the area's name changed to Elm Mott in
order to avoid confusion, as there was already another Texas town
bearing the name Geneva.
Local residents selected Elm Mott because of a nearby grove of Elm
trees. William C. Griffin served as the first postmaster, and the
post office operated until November 11th, 1873. It was reestablished
May 12th, 1876, in with William A. Miller as postmaster. Throughout
its years of operation, the post office was housed in businesses around
the area including several local stores, those being the old Joe Beheler's
grocery store that was located on the corner of US highways 77/81
and FM 308 and, Cain Christians General Store which had an odd fellows
club upstairs and in William "Bucky" Harris's McLennan County Bank
opened in Elm Mott in 1921. However, state examiners closed it in
1926 after a previous year's drought kept area farmers from repaying
their loans. The current post office was built in 1988 at the corner
of F. M. 308 and the Old Dallas Highway.
For many years, children in the surrounding area attended school in
a one-room log cabin in Lewis Christian's pasture, where one teacher
taught all grades. In 1876 Edward M. Long gave land for a building
to be used by the Methodist Episcopal Church south, the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, the Missionary Baptist Church and the State of
Texas for a free public school. This building was called Union Grove
and was completed in September 1876 The White Rock Baptist Church
began holding services there in November of 1876.
The community truly began to grow when the Missouri, Kansas, and
Texas Railroad laid tracks from Hillsboro
to Taylor in 1881,
passing through Elm Mott. The depot came to stand as a center of commerce
for the area. Thomas McFerrin, his wife Belle and their daughters
Alma and Agnes moved to Elm Mott in 1891. Thomas and his daughter
Agnes were station agents for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad until
he passed away in November of 1936 leaving Agnes to take over the
duties. Agnes also taught Sunday School classes at the Methodist Church
in Elm Mott since she was 14 years old. She unexpectedly passed away
in the MKT hospital in Denison,
Texas on May 17th, 1936 after undergoing surgery. The McFerrin
house faced the depot on the east and was a boarding house for teachers
and many of the railroad workers. Cain Christian's general store faced
the depot on the West side. A loading pen for cattle was beside the
store to the South. The Stroman's barber shop was located beside Cain
Christians store on the East side of the railroad track. In the decade
following the arrival of the railway, the population tripled and the
settlement boasted a hotel, a gristmill and cotton gin, two general
stores, Fred Neaves general store in Elm Mott was typical of stores
in every county town. It was heated by a wood-burning stove, around
which plank chairs were grouped, the store was as much community center
as shopping center. Most of the shelf products were canned or bottled,
but the railroad brought in boxed apples and stalks of bananas. The
store also sold cloth in bolts, salted bacon in slabs, and lard in
buckets. In 1881 Jesse W. Miller opened a store about one and one-half
miles north of Geneva, where he engaged in merchandising in connection
with his farming pursuits. In 1890 E. M. Long and his wife S. Elizabeth
Long gave the town the land on what is now F. M. 308 and Church Street
for a larger Methodist Church, the present Methodist Church still
remains on this site. This is the sixth church to be on this site.
Carl "Charley" Christian Itschner and his wife Mollie Charlotte Heitmiller
Itschner lived on their farm that was located between the Old Dallas
Highway and Highway 77/81 on the south edge of Elm Mott.
In 1872 Jim Miller rode into Waco,
he was serving on the Grand Jury there, on his return trip home he
was ambushed and shot by Bush Whackers, his horse dragged his body
home to the gate of his farm in Geneva. He was buried in Concord Cemetery
near Bellmead in McLennan
County, his wife was left with 8 children.
Another rail line passed through Elm Mott after Mary E. Thomas deeded
land to the Northern and Texas Central Railroad Company on October
28th, 1879. The track was laid to Ross, Texas, and renamed the Waco
& Northwestern Company. M-K-T unsuccessfully attempted to purchase
the line, later choosing to build its own line in the region. Elm
Mott had 2 cotton gins, one being the Co-Op gin belonging to the farmers
of the area and the other belonging to J. D. Long, S. T Christian
and M. C. Christian of Elm Mott. They bought the gin from the J. A.
Nichols Gin Company in Leroy for $ 3,600 and moved it to Elm Mott
in 1907. In 1913 an interurban line from Dallas
was completed, passing through Elm Mott on the way to Waco.
The line ran parallel to the M-K-T on the west side of Elm Mott and
provided citizens with convenient and economical transportation to
Waco
and Dallas. On April 11th,
1929 the Waco & Northwestern Company's line was abandoned. The interurban
operated until December 31th, 1948, when the Texas Electric Railway
ceased operations. In 1920, J. D. Long gifted land for a new school.
A two-story building was erected at the site. In 1938, the second
story of the building was turned into a gym and auditorium. Officials
combined Elm Mott Independent School District and the Lakeview Independent
School District to form the Connally Consolidated Independent School
District in the early 1950's.
The second half of the twentieth century brought a number of changes
to Elm Mott. Beginning in the 1940s, the government established plans
to renovated and upgrade US Highway 81. Initially, residents hoped
this would spur the growth of the already expanding population, leading
to Elm Mott's incorporation as a town. Unfortunately, the expansion
of the highway to an Interstate Highway in the 1950s forced many Elm
Mott residents to vacate homes and relocate their businesses. As of
today Elm Mott remains unincorporated.
The Church of Christ first met in 1953 in a small home on the corner
of the Elm Mott School grounds. In 1955 a house was moved to its present
location on Battaile Street and the Old Dallas Highway. A new church
was started in 1961 and completed in 1965.
"This is what I have researched on the history
of my hometown, Elm Mott, Texas" - Richard Wilshire, February
18, 2022 |
 |
Elm Mott Schoolhouse
As Union Grove school in 1876, Geneva in 1887, and Elm Mott in 1897
Photo
courtesy Richard Wilshire |
History of the
Elm Mott School
Click on image to enlarge
Courtesy
Richard Wilshire |
"The Elm
Mott Elementary School, I went there from 1949 until 1955, it was
built in 1920 and still stands today."
- Richard
Wilshire, November 5, 2017
More Texas
Schoolhouses |
Western Union
Telegraph at the depot
Photo courtesy Richard Wilshire |
"My Dad,
Emmitt D. Wilshire in front of his Texaco service station in Elm Mott
in the mid 40's."
Richard
Wilshire, November 5, 2017
More Texas Gas
Stations |
Elm Mott Barber
Shop
Photo courtesy Richard Wilshire |
People:
Elm Mott's
Eccentric Airman by Michael Barr
"W. D. Custead, a cousin to Buffalo Bill Cody, was an MKT railroad
agent in Elm Mott - a tiny town north of Waco. He was also a tinkerer
with a passion for powered flight. In 1894 Custead began work on an
airship ..."
Read full
article › |
"An old
advertising picture of the Elm Mott Bank, it had a calendar on the
bottom which was dated January 1923."
- Richard
Wilshire, November 5, 2017 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
|
|
HOME
