Community of Jermyn

Duane's take

The official marker for the Community of Jermyn is what I'm going on here, and it's a story worth telling slow. Out on the western edge of Lost Valley — a twenty-square-mile stretch of Jack County — there's a place called Jermyn. And like a lot of Texas towns, it didn't just happen.

It was built with purpose, built with ambition, and built fast. The year was 1909. The Gulf, Texas and Western Railroad needed a home for its roundhouse, its depot, and its office building, and Lost Valley was the chosen spot.

The town took its name from the railroad's own president, J. J. Jermyn, born in 1852, died in 1928 — a man whose name got nailed to a place on the map in a county he probably didn't visit every Sunday.

Now, the land itself didn't come from nowhere. Oliver Loving the Second — grandson of the man history calls the Dean of Texas Trail Drivers — donated ground for the town. So did a man named W.

P. Stewart. Between the two of them, they handed over the soil that a whole community would plant itself on.

Lots sold. People came. And Jermyn embarked on what the marker calls two decades of prosperity and progress.

That's not nothing. A school went up around 1912. Then came the hotel, the bank, a garage, two general stores, a blacksmith shop, a land office, a cotton gin and warehouse, a restaurant, a drugstore, an ice house, a lumber yard, a confectionary, and a U.S.

Post Office. There was even a newspaper — The Enterprise — which later gave way to The News. For a town sitting out on the western edge of Lost Valley, Jermyn was humming.

But here's where the story turns, and it turns the way these stories always do — quietly at first, then all at once. In 1930, the G.T. and W. Railroad was sold to the Frisco system.

And with that sale, a gradual decline set in. By 1936, the line had curtailed passenger service. Then it cut all service.

Highway construction came along and hastened the railroad's economic demise — and the town's right along with it. Citizens moved to the cities to find work. Businesses closed.

The roundhouse and the depot that had started the whole thing fell silent. What's left today? The post office still functions.

Two churches. A general store. Part of the old school serves as a civic center.

And out on those twenty square miles of Lost Valley, ranching is the economic base now — same as it was before J. J. Jermyn's railroad ever showed up to change things.

Two decades of prosperity. A gradual decline. And a post office still holding the line.

Jermyn didn't vanish — but it sure did get quiet.

What the marker says

Located on the western edge of Lost Valley, a 20-square mile area of Jack County, Jermyn was founded in 1909 as site of the roundhouse, depot, and office building for the Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad. It was named for J. J. Jermyn (1852-1928), line's president. Land for the town was donated by Oliver Loving II (grandson of "Dean of Texas Trail Drivers") and W. P. Stewart. Many lots were sold and the town embarked on two decades of prosperity and progress. A school was built about 1912 and Jermyn came to have numerous businesses, including a hotel, garage, bank, two general stores, blacksmith shop, land office, cotton gin and warehouse, restaurant, drugstore, ice house, lumber yard, confectionary, U.S Post Office, and a newspaper --The "Enterprise" -- succeeded by the "News". With the sale of the G.T. & W. Railroad to the Frisco system in 1930, however, a gradual decline set in. By 1936 the line curtailed passenger service, then all service. Highway construction hastened the railroad's -- and the town's-- economic demise as citizens moved to the cities to find work, and businesses closed. Today the post office, two churches, and a general store still function and part of the school serves as a civic center. Current economic base is ranching. (1972) (1972)