CHILTON
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CHILTON |
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NAME: Chilton COUNTY: Falls ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Hot in the summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: anytime,the trees are greenier in the spring |
COMMENTS:
There isn't anything left of the main street business area after a fire that burned down what was left of shops in 2007. REMAINS: Just a small eatery,post office |
| HISTORY OF CHILTON, FALLS COUNTY, TEXAS The first white settlers in the Chilton area (that was originally called was originally called Abney's Farm) were five Missouri families who arrived in 1854 by oxen-pulled covered wagons and by horseback. These initial five families were all from Missouri andincluded the Dixons, Grahams, McCutchans, Maxeys and Weathers. They crossed the Brazos river at the Falls of the Brazos, and located in the settlement now known as Chilton. "Father built a log house south of where the depot now stands. He was the first white settler in the present town of Chilton. The nearby settlements were Durango to the southwest, and old Carolina to the south, and Mooreville five miles northwest. The county was wild and unsettled, we all lived in log cabins. The roads were just cow trails and when we needed any supplies we sent our produce-- corn, hogs and later on cotton, to Millikens, where they were exchanged for farming implements, clothes and groceries. They drove through in the ox-drawn wagons and would be gone from five to six weeks. Newton B. Maxey, one of the early settlers, established a wagon line to Galveston to bring in supplies. It was just a few weeks after they reached Texas that Mr. Weathers was killed accidentally by the hired man who mistook him for a bear. They were out hunting and had killed a deer, grandfather Weathers had on a coat made of bear skin and was leaning over the deer, skinning it, when the hired man saw him and thinking it was a bear eating the deer, he fired the fatal shot which cost Weathers his life. He was the first person buried in old Carolina cemetery. Carolina was once a settlement between the present town of Durango and Chilton, some few miles west of the town of Marlin and in what we called West Falls County. Today all that remains is the old cemetery . In 1873, the site that later became Chilton was bought by James C. Gaither who was to become one of the most prominent citizens of Chilton. Gaither was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, the son of Forest and Lamira Caldwell Gaither and came to Texas as a first lieutenant of Captain Evans' regiment in the war with Mexico (1846). The early settlers attended the Cow Bayou Baptist Church, the minutes dating from its organization are in possession of Mrs. Susie Miles, of Chilton. This old church was rebuilt once, the members worshipped there on the banks of the bayou for many years, and at times at old Cottonwood school house, finally building a church on the hill at Mooreville (five miles away), overlooking Cow Bayou, not far from where the early Mooreville school house stood. Later lightning struck the church after it had been moved to the hill and it burned to the ground. The congregation met for a number of years at the school house. Some time after the World War, this church dissolved, members having moved away. The Methodist Church established on its present site in 1874 served the community since. In 1876 Lysias B. Chilton, in partnership with W. J. de Bardeleben, opened a store near the present site of Chilton. CHILTON POST OFFICE (1882) The Chilton post office opened in 1882 and was named after Lysias B. Chilton who had opened the first store in the region. By 1884, the Chilton settlement had a population of 100, a steam flour mill, a cotton gin, a Baptist church, a First Christian church, and a district school. On December 17, 1886, Chilton Lodge No. 639, AF&AM, was chartered. In 1887, James C. Gaither sold land to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway for the new townsite that was built along the tracks in 1888, and officially designated Chilton by the Texas Townsite Company. Chilton then became one of several railroad stations in Falls County and served as a shipping center. By 1896 the Chilton school had three teachers. By 1914 Chilton had a bank, three churches, a large lumberyard, two cotton gins, a new schoolhouse, a telephone system, and a weekly newspaper, the Chilton Homeland. The first oil well in the county was brought in on Deer Creek southeast of Chilton in April 1922. During an attempt to find oil in 1924, hot artesian wells were discovered, and the water was piped throughout the town. In 1935 the Chilton school district had 585 students, 8 percent of the students in Falls County. By the mid-1950s, when the Chilton district was one of only four independent school districts in the county, the town's population reached 750. It stayed at that level until the mid-1970s, when the number of residents dropped to 310, which was still the reported population in 1990. In the 1930s the town had twenty-five businesses, but by 1966 the number had dropped to eleven. In 1988 Chilton had ten businesses, six churches, one school, a town hall, and a recreation center. BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Leshner, "Rosebud, Lott, and Chilton, Texas," Texas Magazine, January 1911. Lillian S. St. Romain, Western Falls County, Texas (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1951). Eye Witness Account of the Settlement of Chilton The following interview with Mrs. Amanda E. Lockered of Chilton, Texas many years ago gives us an eye-witness account of the history of the area. "I was born in Falls County in 1856. My parents were Newton B. and Susan Weathers Maxey. Father was born May 6, 1832 in Kentucky, while mother was born in Indiana. To them were born seven children, namely: Billie Maxey, of Marlin, Texas, Deceased; Steve Maxey of Chilton, deceased; John D. Maxey, Lorena, Texas, deceased; Mrs. Dicey Hyden, Chilton, Texas, deceased; Mrs. Mattie Shields of Mart, Texas, and Albert Maxey of Waco, are still living, the only two besides myself left of this large family. "During the Civil War father served under the Confederate flag, and was stationed at Calveston, Texas. He was home on a sick furlough when the war closed. He came to Texas about the year 1851 or '52. There were five families who came through driving oxen to their wagon train. They were all from Missouri, and were the Dixons, Grahams, McCutchans, Maxeys and Weathers. The daughter of Mr. Weathers, Susan, being my mother. They crossed the Brazos river at the Falls of the Brazos, and located in the settlement now known as Chilton. "Father built a log house south of where the depot now stands. He was the first white settler in the present town of Chilton. The nearby settlements were Durango to the southwest, and old Carolina to the south, and Mooreville five miles northwest. The county was wild and unsettled, we all lived in log cabins. The roads were just cow trails and when we needed any supplies we sent our produce-- corn, hogs and later on cotton, to Millikens, where they were exchanged for farming implements, clothes and groceries. They drove through in the ox-drawn wagons and would be gone from five to six weeks. "Another early settlement over towards Marlin was Cedar Springs, so called from a number of springs. One spring was located in the valley near the cross-roads to Marlin where [?] store stands today. Near the spring stood a large cedar tree and nearby a group of smaller cedar trees. Hence the name of "Cedar Springs". These springs are near the river and only a few miles south of the spot conceded to be the old site of Vienea. The mail carrier was "Croft Downs", so Mr. Green Roberts recalls. He was a bachelor and he always seemed to derive special pleasure from a plug of chewing tobacco and an occasional drink of whiskey, and carrying the mail in all kinds of weather. He rode horseback and carried the mail from Marlin through [Viones?] and on to the other communities. Later it was carried from Marlin to Eddy by a negro named John Love. This route went through Chilton and Mooreville. "The mail carrier's had the Brazos to ford at the Falls, or when it was on a rise if they did not appear on schedule--we knew the old river was on a rise and they could not swim their horses over it. There was a story of Croft Downs trying to swim the river while it was on one of these rises. The water was swift and near the flood stage, when he started across eye-witnesses said they saw the mail carrier, mail and all, slip under the pressure of the current, plunge over the falls and disappear in the deep, whirling water below. A party hurried to the rescue, expecting to drag a corpse from its depths. But they were mistaken. The mail carrier, horse and mail, had drifted down past the bend, through treacherous Sumpter Hole, and had climbed out on the west side of the river. The mail went through--after having been delayed only an hour! "The Brazos bottom at that time was densely timbered and all kinds of wild animals lived in it. There was wild game to satisfy the greatest of hunters. Deer, bear and wolves, as well as all kinds of birds abounded in the timber. While on the banks of the river occasionally an alligator could be seen as he slept in the sun by the bank. This reminds me of a story of my father. It may sound a little far-fetched, but nevertheless it is true. He often hunted fifteen or twenty miles from home on the river. On one of these trips he carried several hunting dogs. They came upon one of these alligators on the river bank and the dogs attacked it. The alligator turned and swallowed the dog. My father immediately stabbed the huge alligator with his large dirt hunting knife, rescued the dog alive, from its stomach. It was all over in just a few minutes, only the time it took to stab the animal through the heart and cut it open and rescue the dog. Another time he killed a bear with this knife. "It was just a few weeks after they reached Texas that my grandfather [Weathers?] was killed accidentally by the hired man who mistook him for a bear. They were out hunting and had killed a deer, grandfather Weathers had on a coat made of bear skin and was leaning over the deer, skinning it, when the hired man saw him and thinking it was a bear eating the deer, he fired the fatal shot which cost my grandfather his life. He was the first person buried in old Carolina cemetery. Carolina was once a settlement between the present town of Durango and Chilton, some few miles west of the town of Marlin and in what we called West Falls County. Today all that remains is the old cemetery where our loved ones lie. We went to the old Cow Bayou Baptist Church, the minutes dating from its organization are in possession of my daughter, Mrs. Susie Miles, of Chilton. This old church was rebuilt once, the members worshipped there on the banks of the bayou for many years, and at times at old Cottonwood school house, finally building a church on the hill at Mooreville (five miles away), overlooking Cow Bayou, not far from where the early Mooreville school house stood. Later lightning struck the church after it had been moved to the hill and it burned to the ground. The congregation met for a number of years at the school house. Some time after the World War, this church dissolved, members having moved away. The Methodist Church established on its present site in 1874 served the community since. Its Sunday School being regularly attended by children and members of other denominations in the community. Submitted by: Lisa kidd |
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