Cumby

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, before this town was Cumby, before it had banks or a Masonic Lodge or two rival physicians eyeing each other across a dirt road, it had something simpler and something older — a grove of blackjack trees sitting right on top of the highest point in what is now Hopkins County. And that grove wasn't just scenery.

An Indian camping ground lay nearby, and an Indian trail cut right through those trees. In time, that same trail became a major wagon freighting route. So you could say that high grove of blackjacks was marking the crossroads of history long before anybody gave the place a name — though that name came soon enough.

Black Jack Grove, they called it, after the trees themselves. In 1848, the Black Jack Grove Post Office opened in the home of John W. Matthews, who served as the first postmaster.

A post office in a man's home — that's how you know a community is just getting its legs under it. Then in 1851, a fellow named D. W.

Cole purchased a tract of land that included the grove, buying it from Elizabeth Wren, and he got straight to work. Cole began selling town lots, operated a store, and gave land for the first Masonic Lodge building. Henry Bingham ran a tavern that doubled as a hotel, which tells you people were passing through and staying, both.

By 1860, Black Jack Grove was a thriving settlement — several stores, two physicians, two blacksmiths, and other tradesmen filling out the picture. School met in a log structure. Later, a vacant store pulled double duty as both school and church.

A town making it work with what it had. Now here's where the story turns on a technicality, which is sometimes how the best turns happen. There was another Black Jack Post Office somewhere out there in Texas, and the confusion that caused was enough to force a decision.

In 1896, the town was renamed — not for a landmark, not for a geographic feature — but for a man: Robert H. Cumby, legislator and Confederate veteran. Cumby.

The name stuck. After 1900, two banks opened and the town incorporated, which has a solid, settled sound to it. But then the highways improved, and improved highways have a way of rerouting more than just traffic.

As roads got better, Cumby's importance as a trading center began to fade, and the population followed. And yet the town gave the world at least one figure worth remembering by name — noted author Ben K. Green, born in 1912, died in 1974, counted among Cumby's best-known citizens.

A grove of trees on a high hill, an old Indian trail, a post office in a man's front room, and eventually a name borrowed from a legislator to settle a postal dispute. That's Cumby, Texas — built layer by layer, the way most good things are.

What the marker says

The grove of black jack trees which gave this town its original name was near an Indian camping ground. The trees stood atop the highest point in present Hopkins County. An Indian trail that crossed the grove later became a major wagon freighting route. Black Jack Grove Post Office opened in 1848 in the home of John W. Matthews, the first postmaster. In 1851 D. W. Cole purchased a tract of land that included the grove from Elizabeth Wren and began selling town lots. Cole operated a store and gave land for the first Masonic Lodge building. Henry Bingham ran a tavern which also served as a hotel. By 1860, Black Jack Grove was a thriving settlement with several stores, two physicians, two blacksmiths, and other tradesmen. A log structure housed the school. Later a vacant store served as a school and church facility. To avoid confusion with another Black Jack Post Office, the town was renamed in 1896 for legislator and Confederate veteran Robert H. Cumby. After 1900, two banks opened and the town incorporated. Later the population began to decline as improved highways lessened Cumby's importance as a trading center. One of Cumby's best-known citizens was the noted author Ben K. Green (1912-1974).