Copeville

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight out of Collin County. Now, every town's got a name, and sometimes that name carries a whole story inside it. The community we're talkin' about today — before it was Copeville — was known as Black Spot.

Make of that what you will. What changed things was a Kentucky native by the name of John Miles Cope, who came to Collin County in 1848 with his parents and his brother. In the 1850s, Cope helped organize the community on land sitting in the Willis Roberts and Hezekiah Walters surveys.

The place eventually took on the Cope name, and John Miles Cope himself became the town's first postmaster in 1878. But let's back up a moment, because by 1885, this little community had built itself into something worth mentionin'. A church.

A bank. A cotton gin. A sawmill.

A flour mill. A saloon. And a general store that also, quietly, housed a doctor's office — because in a town like that, you sometimes needed both under the same roof and weren't particular about which you visited first.

Now in 1877, a man named Thomas King had platted the original townsite. Looked like everything was settled. Then came the railroad.

In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad laid its tracks through the area — one mile to the northeast of where the town stood. And Copeville did what practical Texans do: it picked itself up and moved. The whole community relocated to sit right next to those new tracks.

A local merchant named James E. Jones sweetened the deal by giving the railroad land for its right of way and its depot. Jones then operated the town's first general store at the new site, and Copeville became the shipping point for the area's farm products and its bois d'arc timber — that dense, tough wood the marker makes a point of calling out by name.

Over at the original townsite, the Karo School got its start in 1895. Then in 1913, the Copeville School opened and ran on into the 1940s. The town never incorporated — never did get around to making it official — but by the early twentieth century, Copeville had grown to about three hundred residents.

The businesses of that era had real character: the Craft Hotel, a drugstore, a pickle factory, and several general stores. Two congregations made their way into town as well — the First Methodist Church of Copeville and the First Baptist Church of Copeville, that last one having originally been organized way back in 1857 as Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. And then there's 1921, which is where Copeville quietly made a kind of history.

That year, Elizabeth Pearce took the position of postmaster, making Copeville one of the country's first towns to have a female postmaster. One of the first. In the whole country.

Tucked right there in Collin County, Texas. Just after World War II, the town had settled to about a hundred and fifty residents, two churches, five businesses, and a school. Smaller, sure.

But still there. The marker's last line doesn't reach for anything dramatic. It just says: Copeville continues to survive and grow.

And after nearly two centuries, a railroad relocation, a name change, and a spot in postal history — sometimes that's exactly the right thing to say.

What the marker says

KENTUCKY NATIVE JOHN MILES COPE, WHO SETTLED IN COLLIN COUNTY IN 1848 WITH HIS PARENTS AND BROTHER, HELPED ORGANIZE THE COPEVILLE COMMUNITY (ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS BLACK SPOT) IN THE 1850s ON LAND IN THE WILLIS ROBERTS AND HEZEKIAH WALTERS SURVEYS. IN 1878, HE BECAME THE TOWN'S FIRST POSTMASTER. BY 1885, THE COMMUNITY HAD A CHURCH, BANK, COTTON GIN, SAWMILL, FLOUR MILL, SALOON AND A GENERAL STORE THAT ALSO HOUSED A DOCTOR'S OFFICE. IN 1877, THOMAS KING PLATTED THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE BUT IN 1886, THE COMMUNITY MOVED TO A SITE ONE MILE NORTHEAST NEXT TO THE NEW GULF, COLORADO, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD TRACKS. LOCAL MERCHANT JAMES E. JONES, WHO GAVE THE RAILROAD LAND FOR ITS RIGHT OF WAY AND DEPOT, OPERATED THE TOWN'S FIRST GENERAL STORE AT ITS NEW SITE. COPEVILLE BECAME THE SHIPPING POINT FOR THE AREA'S FARM PRODUCTS AND BOIS D'ARC TIMBER, VALUED FOR ITS DENSE, TOUGH WOOD. THE KARO SCHOOL, LOCATED AT THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE, STARTED IN 1895. ALTHOUGH THE COMMUNITY NEVER INCORPORATED, BY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, COPEVILLE HAD GROWN TO ABOUT 300 RESIDENTS. THE COPEVILLE SCHOOL OPERATED FROM 1913 INTO THE 1940s. IN 1921, COPEVILLE BECAME ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S FIRST TOWNS TO HAVE A FEMALE POSTMASTER, WHEN ELIZABETH PEARCE TOOK THE POSITION. IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, TWO LOCAL CONGREGATIONS, THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE AND THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE (ORGANIZED AS MOUNT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1857) RELOCATED TO THE TOWN. IN THAT ERA, THE TOWN'S BUSINESSES INCLUDED THE CRAFT HOTEL, A DRUGSTORE, A PICKLE FACTORY AND SEVERAL GENERAL STORES. JUST AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE TOWN HAD ABOUT 150 RESIDENTS, TWO CHURCHES, FIVE BUSINESSES AND A SCHOOL. COPEVILLE CONTINUES TO SURVIVE AND GROW.