Era, The Town of

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm tellin' it to you. Out in Cooke County, there's a little place called Era, sitting in some of the most fertile farming country Texas has to offer. People started putting down roots there in the 1870s, and before long, a merchant by the name of J.

N. Gist took it upon himself to lay the whole thing out proper. Gist, born in 1827 and gone by 1893, platted the townsite.

That's the kind of man who looks at open land and sees streets. Now, the post office came along in 1881, and here's where the name enters the story. They called it Era, after a little girl named Era Hargroves, daughter of an early resident.

Era Hargroves was born in 1875 and died in 1880. Five years on this earth, and a town carries her name still. You sit with that a moment.

Once the post office opened, the place grew the way frontier towns do, fast and purposeful. A blacksmith shop went up. A cotton gin.

A hotel. Several stores. Three churches.

The kind of inventory that tells you people weren't just passing through, they were planting lives. Then, in 1897, Era Institute was chartered, offering primary through college level classes. A town that small, reaching that high in education.

That's ambition with its boots on. And the town produced some remarkable people. Robert E.

Thomason, born in 1879 and still around until 1973, went on to serve as both a U.S. Congressman and a Federal Judge. That is a resume that doesn't quit.

And Era itself didn't quit either. In 1973, this little Cooke County community won first place in the Texas Community Improvement Program. A town settled in the 1870s, still competing, still winning, more than a hundred years on.

Named for a child who barely had the chance to know it. That's Era, Texas. Small town.

Long memory.

What the marker says

Located in a fertile farming region, Era was settled in the 1870s. Merchant J. N. Gist (1827-1893) platted the townsite. The post office was opened in 1881 and named for Era Hargroves (1875-1880), daughter of an early resident; the village soon had a blacksmith shop, cotton gin, hotel, several stores, and three churches. Era Institute was chartered in 1897 with primary through college level classes. Among the town's prominent citizens was Robert E. Thomason (1879-1973), U.S. Congressman and Federal Judge. Era won first place in the Texas Community Improvement Program in 1973. (1978)