DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Emerald Townsite in Crockett County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a town that had just about everything going for it — and still managed to disappear. Emerald was the first platted town in Crockett County, founded in 1889 by a Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway Immigration Agent named T.
W. Wilkinson. His vision was straightforward enough: an agricultural shipping point on a planned extension of the F.W. and R.G.
Railway. He publicized it from Maine to Minnesota, singing the praises of mild climate and fertile land. And for a moment there, it looked like Wilkinson might just be right.
On April 8, 1890, Emerald got itself a post office. Mail rode in from San Angelo by way of Knickerbocker, fifty miles to the northeast. Charles Hatch and E.
C. Moore served as successive postmasters. Things were movin'.
Now, 1890 was a year that tested Emerald's mettle. In August of that year, a prairie fire bore down on the town. Valiant work turned the fire — they held it off — but that blaze was visible for two nights before and two nights after it circled the town.
Two nights before. Two nights after. You sit with that a moment.
Also in 1890, Mrs. John Noyes held the county's first school session right there in Emerald — in a tent. No building, just canvas and determination.
After a frame schoolhouse was built, Mrs. John Ketchpaw took over the teaching. And Miss Ada Williams taught the last school term in the spring of 1893.
The last term. That detail is already whisperin' something to you, isn't it. Because here's where the story turns.
Emerald was confident — flat-out confident — that it would be named the county seat of Crockett County. And then came the election of 1891. And Emerald lost.
Lost to a place called the E. M. Powell water well site, which is known today as Ozona.
Wilkinson protested. He protested to no avail. Once the residents began moving to the Powell Well, there wasn't much left to hold the place together.
The Emerald Post Office closed on December 7, 1891. And just like that, the first platted town in Crockett County became what the marker calls it plain and simple — one of the many colonization failures in West Texas. A post office, a tent school, a prairie fire it survived, and a county seat election it didn't.
That's the whole of Emerald, right there.
What the marker says
The first platted town in Crockett County, Emerald was founded in 1889 by Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railway Immigration Agent T. W. Wilkinson. It was to be an agricultural shipping point on a planned extension of the F.W. & R.G. Publicized from Maine to Minnesota for mild climate and fertile land, it acquired a post office on April 8, 1890. Mail came from San Angelo via Knickerbocker (50 miles northeast). Charles Hatch and E. C. Moore were successive postmasters. In August 1890 the town was in the path of a prairie fire. Although valiant work turned the fire, it was visible for two nights before and two nights after it circled the town. Also in 1890, the county's first school session was held in a tent in Emerald by Mrs. John Noyes. After a frame schoolhouse was built, Mrs. John Ketchpaw taught there. Miss Ada Williams taught the last school term in the spring of 1893. Confident it would be the county seat, Emerald nevertheless lost in the election of 1891 to the E. M. Powell water well site (now Ozona). Wilkinson protested, to no avail. After the residents began to move to the Powell Well, Emerald Post Office closed on December 7, 1891. The townsite thus became one of the many colonization failures in West Texas.