DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's worth every mile to hear. Way out in Coleman County, the story of Atoka starts with soldiers and cavalry boots in the dust. Back in the 1850s, the United States Army established Camp Colorado right here — a cavalry outpost planted on the edge of a vast and unsettled land.
That camp drew attention. It drew people. And when the Civil War broke out, Texas State Troops and Texas Ranger units moved in and occupied the camp, keeping it alive through the turbulence of that war.
The presence of that outpost did something powerful — it spurred permanent settlement in the area. After the war, families came rolling in from across the southern United States, and they came to stay. They built farms.
They raised ranches. They put down roots so deep you can still find them if you know where to dig. The Atoka community took shape around a general store run by two men — D.A.
Parker and S.N. Edenborough. There was a building that did double duty as a church and a school, the way frontier communities often had to get creative with what little they had.
And D.A. Parker — that same Parker from the general store — went and built a cotton gin too. The man was busy.
Then, in 1880, a piece of ground was set aside. C.E. Bush deeded the land, and the Atoka Cemetery was established — a place where the community would eventually lay to rest its own.
And what a collection of souls found their way here. The Reverend Hugh Martin Childress, Senior — a man who had ridden as a Texas Ranger and served as a soldier of the Republic of Texas. His son, Elisha Childress, who carried on that legacy of service by becoming the very first sheriff of Coleman County.
Civil War veterans, names now weathered on stone. And then there are others — several workers who died in an explosion during the construction of a Santa Fe Railroad bridge across Jim Ned Creek. That was 1910, and whatever bright future that bridge was being built to carry came at a terrible cost to the men swinging hammers and hauling iron that day.
The cemetery is still tended — maintained by an association of descendants of those buried here. Most of what Atoka once was has faded into the pasture and the sky. But this ground remains.
One of the few physical reminders, the marker says, of the Atoka community and its pioneer settlers. Some communities leave behind courthouses and main streets. Atoka left behind the ones it loved — and that turns out to be enough to remember it by.
What the marker says
Settlement of this area began in the 1850s with the establishment of Camp Colorado, a United States cavalry outpost. At the outbreak of the Civil War the camp was occupied by Texas State Troops and Texas Ranger units. The existence of the camp spurred permanent settlement in the area, and many families moved here from the southern United States after the Civil War. The settlers established farms and ranches, and the Atoka community included a general store operated by D.A. Parker and S.N. Edenborough, a combination church/school building, and a cotton gin built by D.A. Parker. This cemetery was established in 1880 on land deeded by C.E. Bush. Among the early pioneers buried here are the Rev. Hugh Martin Childress, Sr., a former Texas Ranger and Republic of Texas soldier; his son, Elisha Childress, who served as the first Coleman County sheriff; veterans of the Civil War; and several workers killed in an explosion that occurred during the construction of a Santa Fe Railroad bridge across Jim Ned Creek in 1910. The cemetery, which is maintained by an association of descendants of those buried here, is one of the few physical reminders of the Atoka community and its pioneer settlers. (1996)