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Directions
furnished by McCulloch Countian Jim Johnson:
About 7 miles west of Brady
on US 87, north of the highway at a "T" intersection of 2 gravel roads
there is sign on the highway pointing to the West
Sweden cemetery. Three miles west of this point - is the turnoff
for West Sweden. The gravel road
goes south another 3 miles where you cross on a small bridge over
Brady Creek and up around a 90° right turn (west). Before you make
the corner to should be able to make out the old railroad bed. Within
a ¼ mile drive, you are in the middle of "downtown" Whiteland. The
school building is in a field to south. The cotton gin and the loading
pens were in the pasture to the north of the county road. |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Whiteland was named
to honor the White family who donated land for the townsite. A post
office open the following year and by 1914 the town reported a population
of fifty. The prosperity of the 20s boosted the population to 125
by the middle of that decade, but the Great Depression took its toll
and by 1943 only 40 people were enumerated. The post closed sometime
before the mid-1950s. |
Additional
History
by
Jim Johnson:
"Whiteland is another Texas ghost town to have just about blown
away with usually present winds. It is / was located in McCulloch
County, about half way between Brady
and Melvin. When the railroad continued
on westward from Brady, the line branched at Whiteland (also listed
on the railroad map as Homer Junction). The earliest line,
the Frisco, was built through on it way from Brady
to Menard in 1910. In 1911,
the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe was extended to Melvin
and Eden.
The Frisco Railroad came south from Brownwood
into Brady in about
1903. When the Santa Fe came from the east, Lometa
to San Saba and on, the two lines
joined near the East Sweden community and shared trackage from there
into Brady and on
west to Whiteland (Homer Junction).
Whiteland developed into a small town with live stock shipping pens
and a cotton gin on the south side of the railroad. A school, store,
and ( I think ) a post office came into being. The 2 story brick school
building still stands, lonesome in the middle of a field. As with
many of these towns, automobiles and World
War II signal their demise. The school was consolidated with the
Melvin system. Cotton
had replace grain crops and in about 1948 the gin burnt down. Finally
the rails were pulled up and Whiteland was pretty much just a memory."
- Jim Johnson, October 29, 2006
Our thanks
to Jim Johnson for suggesting Whiteland and West
Sweden for inclusion in Texas Escapes |
 |
Photographer's
Note
My father was born in Melvin, Texas
on March 3rd 1915. He owned a farm there for many years. He told me
many times about the Whiteland school and spoke fondly of it. He used
to tell me that he and his brothers would occasionally ride the train
which passed by to and from school. The tracks are gone now (I have
some great glass insulators from when they removed the track) but
I wondered how my father did that...the train must have moved slow!
He told me that once he fell from the train and ripped a leather coat
my grandparents had given him. His father was quite upset with him.
My father passed away in 2005, and I wish he were still around to
share his stories about Melvin, Texas.
- William Perez, December 06, 2007 |
Photographer's
Note:
The 1940 Texas Highway Map showed an impressive little town at Whiteland.
We weren't going any closer through that pasture as the area was crawling
with rattlesnakes. - Stephen
Taylor, Austin TX, October 28, 2007 |
| 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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