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Sowers
Cemetery
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The community dates
from the late 1840s when settler E. D. Sowers opened a store on the
site. He applied for a post office in 1881 under his name. The community
had been known as Sower’s Store prior to the official post
office designation.
In the mid 1880s the community had a population of seventy five residents
served by a blacksmith, doctor and pharmacist. The post officer closed
in 1905 despite an increase in the number of residents to 121.
The number of businesses shrank to just three during the Great Depression
and the population was still reported as 30 in the mid 1950s. It is
now a part of Irving.
"My GPS actually indicated I was in Sowers so perhaps it survives
as some legal entity." - David Cole, October 09, 2011 |
Historical Marker:
Irving ISD Special Education Annex
3207 W. Pioneer Dr., Irving
Sowers Community
By 1856, Edmund
D. and Freelove Sowers, who came to Texas from Illinois, owned land
in this vicinity. Along with their neighbors, including Jacob and
Henry Caster, and William and Lucinda Haley, they farmed, hunted game
and cut timber. Ed Sowers also served as a blacksmith. Sowers opened
a general store on his property in the late 1870s, and a small business
district developed around it.
As additional families came to the area, Sowers donated land that
was added to an adjacent burial plot to form the community cemetery.
In 1881, he applied for a mail route and opened a post office in his
general store. During that same time, Sowers built a schoolhouse for
local children. In the 1880s, several physicians came to the Sowers
community, including William Wilson, Alfred Gregory and Daniel Webster
Gilbert, who had a local drugstore. Dr. John Haley, a Sowers native
who would later serve as mayor of Irving, began his medical practice
here in 1897. With medical services and the post office, the Sowers
community served as a center for area farming communities. Ed and
Freelove Sowers held annual Fourth of July picnics and other festivals,
inviting families from the region to camp, dance, compete in baseball
games and enjoy barbecue dinners.
Despite the growth of nearby Irving, the Sowers community, with strong
foundations in the dairy and poultry businesses, survived until the
1950s. The Sowers School consolidated with Irving schools in 1955,
and Irving annexed the community itself in 1954 and 1956. Today, the
businesses and homes are gone. Only the cemetery
remains as a link to the Sowers community.
(2003) |
Edmund
Sowers
Oct. 4, 1826 - May 13, 1909
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Historical Marker:
3115 W. Pioneer Dr., Irving
Sowers Cemetery
Burial plot was
begun in 1868, when a woman and her daughter, whose names have been
lost, were interred on the land of Seveir Smalley, a local landowner.
In 1874, Edmund D. Sowers (1826 - 1909) and his wife, Freelove, donated
one adjoining acre as a public burial ground.
In his family lot, Sowers had an impressive monument erected, using
proceeds from sale of 65 acres of his land. Additional property was
donated by Otis Brown (1879 - 1958). Many pioneer settlers of this
area are buried here. Cemetery is maintained by Sowers Cemetery Association.
1973 |
"BABY"
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
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Jonathan
Story
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010
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| "'Story'
is a major road in Irving and sure enough, there are people with that
name in the cemetery." - David Cole |
"Gone
Home"
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Broken
Tombstone
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
| Photo
courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Woodsmen
of the World Monument
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
| Photo
courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Broken
Tombstone
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
| 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. |
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