Cuney

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth sittin' with for a minute. It starts with two men and a piece of East Texas earth. Andrew Bragg — folks called him Andy — and Nelson Sneed.

Black farmers, both of them former slaves, who made their way to this corner of Cherokee County in 1870. They were the first. They broke ground when breakin' ground meant something far heavier than just turning soil.

Other freedmen followed. Farmers, landowners, tradesmen — men and women building lives on land they now called their own. The settlement that grew up around all that effort took its name from one of its founders.

They called it Andy. That was the name it carried into the new century. Then came 1916, and a former Palestine banker by the name of H.

L. Price moved into the community. He looked around and he saw potential — real, tangible potential — as a commercial and agricultural center for black Texans.

So he did what a banker does: he organized. He directed the formation of the Andy Real Estate Company, and he didn't do it alone. His son Cuney Price came in with him, along with W.

D. Thomas, J. Z.

Thomas, W. A. Hall, and John Bragg.

Six men with a shared vision and a firm to carry it. Now here's the detail worth pausin' on. That name — Cuney Price.

H. L. Price had named his son for Norris Wright Cuney, a prominent black business and state political leader.

That name carried weight. And when the Andy Real Estate Company decided to rename the town, they chose it. Andy became Cuney, in honor of the younger Price, who himself carried the honor of a man who'd made his mark on Texas.

What followed was something. Statewide promotion brought rapid growth, and Cuney filled out fast — churches, stores, cotton gins, sawmills, a railroad station, a hotel, and yes, a baseball team. And Nelson Sneed, one of those two original men who'd arrived back in 1870, donated land so the community could have schools.

The man who helped start it all made sure the next generation had somewhere to learn. But after World War I, agricultural prices fell. People left for other towns looking for work.

Cuney declined, as so many towns do when the economics shift beneath them. What remains today stands as a reminder — of Andy Bragg and Nelson Sneed arriving in 1870 with nothing but freedom and determination, of the men who incorporated a real estate company and renamed a town, of a community that for a time had everything a town needs to thrive. The marker calls it a significant contribution to the heritage of Texas' black community, and that's not the kind of language you use lightly.

Some towns fade. Their stories don't have to.

What the marker says

The earliest area settlers were Andrew "Andy" Bragg and Nelson Sneed, black farmers who moved here in 1870. Former slaves, they were later joined by other freedmen farmers, landowners and tradesmen. The settlement that resulted was known as Andy. In 1916 former Palestine banker H. L. Price moved to the community. Encouraged by the area's potential as a commercial and agricultural center for blacks, he directed formation of the Andy Real Estate Company. He was joined in the operation by his son Cuney Price, W. D. Thomas, J. Z. Thomas, W. A. Hall, and John Bragg. The firm renamed the town Cuney for Price's son, who was named for the prominent black business and state political leader Norris Wright Cuney. Statewide promotion of the town resulted in rapid growth for Cuney, which soon included churches, stores, gins, sawmills, a railroad station, a hotel and a baseball team. Nelson Sneed donated land for the establishment of community schools. Cuney declined after World War I as agricultural prices decreased and area residents moved to other towns for work. Today it serves as a reminder of the area's pioneers and the significant contribution they made to the heritage of Texas' black community. (1982)