DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'll tell it to you. Back in 1854, two families put down roots in what would become Mills County — the Jenkinses and the Morrises, David Morris among them, who'd go on to live from 1811 all the way to 1889. They planted themselves in this corner of Texas and got things going.
For a good while, the little settlement didn't have much of a formal name — just folks living close to the land. Then along came the 1870s, and a man named W.C. Hughes and his wife opened a store right here.
And the way things go in small Texas towns, the place just started calling itself Hughes Store. That's the natural order of things. You build something, people remember your name.
Now, there was something else here, something older than any of the settlers, older than any deed or plat. An ancient live oak tree — still standing about a hundred yards south of this very spot — that by tradition was once considered the very center of Texas. The center of the whole state, right here.
Under the shade of that tree, folks held temporary court sessions, ran school, and gathered for religious services. When you stop and think about what happened beneath those branches, it gives the place a certain weight. Well, W.C.
Hughes and his wife weren't content to just run a store. In 1876, they platted a townsite. They had ambitions.
They wanted the railroad, and they wanted the county seat. So they gave the place a name that said exactly what they believed it was — Center City. And for a time, it looked like they might be right.
Center City was thriving. Several stores, several businesses, a genuine going concern. People had every reason to believe this was going to be the one.
Then came 1885. The railroad didn't come through Center City. It bypassed it.
And in the slow, quiet way that bypassed towns tend to fade, Center City faded too. The businesses thinned out. The dreams of the county seat went somewhere else.
But the post office — that last stubborn sign of a community still holding on — stayed open all the way until 1920. The railroad missed it. But that live oak is still out there, about a hundred yards south, holding its ground the same as it always has.
What the marker says
Settled in 1854 by the families of William Jenkins and David Morris (1811-89), this community was called "Hughes Store" after W.C. Hughes and his wife opened a store here in the 1870s. They platted a townsite in 1876, hoping to attract the railroad and to become county seat. An ancient live oak (100 yds. S), by tradition once considered the center of Texas, was site of temporary court and school sessions and religious services. Renamed "Center City", this thriving town boasted several stores and businesses until the railroad bypassed it in 1885. The post office remained until 1920. (1977)