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History in
a Post Office Box
Settlement dates
from the 1850s but things didn’t really get started until the railroad
arrived in 1882 to exploit the timber in the region.
A Houston company set up
a sawmill there and the community that grew around it became known
as Stryker, after the mill’s manager. A post office opened
under that name in 1885 and with the available lumber, a school, church
and residences were built. As the timber played out, the people moved
on and by the 1890s the sawmill closed shop. By 1913 the post was
discontinued and the town sat in limbo for five years – without a
post office and unsure of their name.
In 1918 a new post office was applied for and application after application
was rejected by the postal authorities as unsuitable. Impressed by
the persistence of the populace and wishing to end the naming process,
the Post Office Department simply assigned the town a name. Pluck.
Another story attributes the name to a man who complained that the
rough life there required “pluck” from the residents. The population
remained below 30 people and the second post office closed in 1953.
Eventually the town disappeared from maps and today is a mere footnote
in Polk County history.
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1907 Polk
County Postal Map showing Stryker (Pluck)
(Above "K" in "POLK")
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history
and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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