DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, most folks who get rich sellin' breakfast cereal would call it a day. Build a house somewhere pleasant, maybe buy a boat.
But Charles W. Post — born 1854, died 1914 — was not most folks. He was an internationally known creator of Post Cereals, an advertising genius, an inventor, an innovator, and apparently a man who looked out at the rolling plains of West Texas and thought: I can do more with this.
So he did. He started purchasin' land — the Curry Comb Ranch and the acres surrounding it — until he had assembled something in the neighborhood of two hundred and twenty-five thousand acres. That is not a ranch.
That is a kingdom. And what Charles W. Post intended to build on that kingdom was something nobody had quite tried before: a self-contained model community of towns and farms.
In 1906, he founded Post City. And here's the part worth leanin' in for. He financed it.
He supervised it. He built it. And he did it without profit to himself.
Not a single dollar of gain. Settlers who came looking for a place to put down roots were offered ownership of business sites or farm sites far below cost. The man was essentially giving the place away.
What Post was after was a community of debt-free private ownership — in every field of endeavor. He wanted people to own their own piece of it, free and clear, and he was willin' to spend his own fortune to make that vision true to its purpose. You can agree with the philosophy or you can argue it over a campfire all night long.
But you cannot say the man didn't mean it. Two hundred and twenty-five thousand acres, a whole town built without takin' a profit — Charles W. Post put his money exactly where his vision was.
And out here in Garza County, that vision still has a name on the map.
What the marker says
(1854-1914) Internationally known creator of Post Cereals, advertising genius, inventor and innovator, founder of Post City in 1906. Through the purchase of the Curry Comb Ranch and adjacent land approximating 225,000 acres he began his dream of building self-contained model community of towns and farms. Mr. Post financed, supervised and built town without profit to himself. Settlers were offered ownership of business or farm sites far below cost. Mr. Post planned community of debt-free private ownership in every field of endeavor, and sought to make his vision true to its purpose. 1968