|
|
APPLEBY, TEXAS
Nacogdoches County,
East
Texas
Highway 59, FM 941 and FM 2609
7 Miles NE of Nacogdoches
Population:
444 (2000)
|
History in
a Pecan Shell
Originally the site of a Caddo Indian village, settlers began arriving
in the 1820s. The widely spaced homestead did form into a community
until the arrival of the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad in
the early 1880s.
Rather than local landowners, the railroad itself platted the town
and named it to honor a former auditor of the railway company. By
the mid 1880s the population was 100 and by the end of that decade
the town had been granted a post office. During World
War I the town reached its population zenith with almost 1,000
residents.
But by the mid-1920s the population was reduced by half – due to the
proximity of Nacogdoches.
A tornado did damage to the town in 1942 and the population declined
to a mere 250 by the early 1950s. Businesses closed with the decrease
in patrons and the post office closed. By the mid-1960s all stores
had shut their doors. In the early 1980s Appleby was saved by retirees
and commuters from nearby Nacogdoches.
The 1990 census reported 449 residents and 444 by 2000. |
|
|
