DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Community of Clyde, right there in Callahan County. Now pull up a chair, because this one's got railroads, a water tower with ambitions, and a town that kept getting back up off the ground. December 1880 — the Texas and Pacific Railroad finished laying its line through this part of the country, and settlers didn't waste a single minute.
They started moving in almost before the rails had cooled. And a lot of them, you'll notice, didn't just scatter randomly across the land. They clustered up near a particular commissary — the one run by a railroad crew foreman by the name of Robert Clyde.
That name stuck to the town like red clay to a boot heel, and that's the man the town is named for. By 1881, a post office was up and running. The schoolhouse was pulling extra duty too — not just teaching the children their letters, but hosting church meetings and local court proceedings.
One building doing the work of three. That's Texas efficiency right there. Now, fast forward to 1920.
Somebody in Clyde had a real flair for promotion, because a sign went up on the water tower making a bold declaration to anyone passing through — Clyde was, and I quote, The California of Texas. The reason given? Fertile soil and a shallow water table.
Big words on a water tower. But here's where the story gets its teeth. Three times — three separate occasions — the sky itself seemed to have a different opinion about Clyde's destiny.
Tornadoes tore through the community in 1895, then again in 1938, and once more in 1950. Destructive, every one of them. Most towns might've taken the hint.
Clyde did not. And the marker standing there today, put up in 1980, is proof enough of that.
What the marker says
Settlers began moving to this area when the Texas and Pacific Railroad completed its line in December 1880. Many located near the commissary of railroad crew foreman Robert Clyde, for whom the town is named. A post office was established in 1881. The schoolhouse was used for church meetings and local court proceedings. A sign on the water tower in 1920 proclaimed Clyde "The California of Texas" because of its fertile soil and shallow water table. On three separate occasions, in 1895, 1938, and 1950, destructive tornadoes have hit the community. (1980)