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History in
a Pecan Shell
London,
aka London Town materialized sometime in the late 1870s or early 1880s
when former Union Army officer Len L. Lewis moved into the area to
trade horses. Lewis married locally and with holdings of a half-section
of land, he planned the future town. Ed, Tom, and Robert Stevenson
opened a store there in 1881 and the town was platted to include a
square and forty town lots.
A post office opened in the Stevenson store in 1892 under the name
London and it was used to denote the town as well. |
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Photo
2:
(Left to right) An old hotel, an old dance hall, and not in view was
a small cafe
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 |
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Photo
3:
The McKinney Windmill and Pump building across the street from the
town hall above
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005 |
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Photo
4:
An old store a block down the road. This was Gussabees Cafe
in the mid 60's
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, August 2005
More Texas Stores |
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two years the population had increased to 30 people and by 1896 it
was up to 100. In 1914 London's populatin was 175 and by 1930 it was
up to 360. The Great Depression, reduced the population by half and
many of the town's businesses closed but by 1943 the town had grown
to over 400. After WWII a decline brought the population down to 250.
There were only 110 Londoners by the early 1970s and it has increased
somewhat in recent years to 180. |
London
Texas Forum
Subject: London,
Texas Photos
Photos 2 was 3 buildings made into one. First one was an old hotel,
I played in this hotel in the middle 60's. The middle building was
an old dance hall. I believe the first name it had was Tom's place.
It had large wooded windows that open to the outside. The end not
in view here was a small cafe. In late 70's they were added all together
as a dance hall/housing upstairs and the rock was added. It was all
wood except the small cafe on the north end.
Photo 4: In the mid 60's this was Gussabees Cafe, little lady of late
70's made the best hamburgers here. Notice it did not have a restroom
had to go to London hall for restroom needs.
In mid 60's when I lived there and played ball on main street population
was 90. There was a school there on the right going toward Junction
, later was turned into a dance hall also and later burned down. Now
is the London Park I believe. There is a lot of good old time stories
of London if u find the right people to tell them.- Judy Kimmell,
September 18, 2006 |
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