Boyd Chapel Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Boyd Chapel Community out in Jones County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a place that rose up out of open Texas land, shaped itself into something real, and then quietly let go. Settlements began to develop in Jones County by the mid-1800s, first gathering around the abandoned Fort Phantom Hill site, and then spreading out as ranches founded in the 1880s took root, with farms established shortly after.

At this particular site, in 1895, three men named Reese Davis, Joe Swent, and Alex Boyd put their hands to work and built the Boyd School. And the community that grew up nearby came to be known as Boyd Chapel. That name, that place, would be shaped over the coming decades by the people who claimed it as their own.

Take Guy Arthur Hillier, a New York native who found himself herding sheep all the way up from south Texas to this corner of Jones County. Somewhere along that journey he met Minnie Estes, and he married her, and he stayed. Then there was Alexander Brown Young, who arrived in 1897 along with his wife, coming in from east Texas.

They brought five sons with them, including their oldest, Thomas O. Young, who arrived with a wife and family of his own. The Young family did something that tells you everything about how communities get built.

They deeded land for Methodist and Baptist churches, and for a tabernacle, a school, and a teacherage. That is a family planting roots deep enough to hold other people's roots too. And then there was Judge L.

Crow and his wife Dora, who built a house unlike anything around. They set it up on a rise, using concrete and stone gathered from around the entire United States, and they cultivated an orchard and berry fields alongside it. Picture that.

A house made of the whole country, sitting on a hill in Jones County. In 1916, Raymond Young built a general store and gas station, the only one in Boyd Chapel. As the farming community grew, cotton became its primary crop, and for a while things had a good, settled rhythm to them.

But World War II came, as it came to much of rural Texas, and it hit hard. Young adults left to serve in the Armed Forces or to find work in urban centers in support of the war effort, and the population shifted in ways that a small community doesn't easily recover from. By 1947, the school had consolidated into the Anson school district.

And then, slowly, Boyd Chapel became the kind of place that only memory can fully see. Today, the agricultural fields stretch out where that community once stood. The only thing connecting the present to the Boyd Chapel that was is the Neinda Cemetery, nearby, where the burials remain.

A school, two churches, a tabernacle, a general store, a house built from stones gathered across a nation, all of it quiet now. But the ground remembers.

What the marker says

Settlements began to develop in Jones County by the mid-1800s, first around the abandoned Fort Phantom Hill site and then around ranches founded in the 1880s and farms established shortly thereafter. At this site in 1895, Reese Davis, Joe Swent and Alex Boyd built the Boyd School. The community that developed nearby came to be known as Boyd Chapel. Over the next decades, Boyd Chapel was shaped by early area landowners. These included Guy Arthur Hillier, a New York native who herded sheep from south Texas to this area, where he met and married Minnie Estes. Alexander Brown Young and his wife came to this area in 1897 from east Texas. They settled in the Boyd Chapel community with five sons, including their oldest, Thomas O. Young, who had a wife and family of his own. The Young family deeded land for Methodist and Baptist churches, and a tabernacle, school and teacherage. Judge L. Crow and his wife Dora built a unique house on a rise, using concrete, as well as stone gathered from around the U.S.; they cultivated an orchard and berry fields. In 1916, Raymond Young built a general store and gas station, the only one in Boyd Chapel. As the farming community grew, cotton became its primary crop. As in much of rural Texas, World War II greatly impacted the community's population, with young adults serving in the Armed Forces or finding work in urban centers in support of the war. In 1947, the school consolidated into the Anson school district. Today, only burials in the nearby Neinda Cemetery link the present agricultural fields to the community known as Boyd Chapel. (2006)