Garden Valley

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Garden Valley, up in Smith County. Pull up a chair, because this one starts on New Year's Day. January 1, 1851.

Now, most folks spend that day sleeping off the night before, but James L. Davidson spent it buying more than a thousand acres in northwestern Smith County. That's the tract where he went on to found the town of Garden Valley.

And once Davidson got going, he did not slow down. The very next year, Garden Valley had itself a post office and its first public road, running roughly the same route as Farm Road 16 today. Two years after that, the commissioners court of Smith County opened another road, the Tyler to Garden Valley Road.

Two roads meeting in one spot. You can probably guess what happened next. Davidson built a store right there at that intersection.

He called it J.L. Davidson and Company, which is the kind of name that says exactly what it is and doesn't apologize for it. And by 1860, he'd also installed a mill in town.

The man was building something, piece by piece. The community was keeping pace. Garden Valley had a Methodist church by 1854, and come the 1860s, that same building was pulling double duty as the community school.

By 1870, the town was drawing new residents, including two blacksmiths and several physicians. Then in 1871, the William Taylor Masonic Lodge, originally organized over in nearby Flora, picked up and moved their meeting place to Garden Valley. The Baptists joined in too, raising their own church here in 1877.

For a stretch in the early twentieth century, Garden Valley held steady. Several stores, cotton gins, the rhythm of a working town. But the 1930s brought decline, quiet and steady as a slow leak.

One thing after another. The school merged with Van Independent School District. The Methodist church dissolved.

A new state highway went around town instead of through it, and that bypass forced the post office to close in 1952. The business district, the foot traffic, the daily commerce, it all drifted away. But here's the thing about Garden Valley.

It didn't disappear. The Garden Valley Resort and Golf Club came along in the mid-1970s and kept the name alive. The Baptist church is still standing.

A few residents remain. And the place is still counted among the area's historic settlements. James L.

Davidson bought a thousand acres on the first day of 1851, and more than a century and a half later, the valley he named still answers to that name. Some things, it turns out, are harder to bypass than a highway.

What the marker says

On January 1, 1851, James L. Davidson purchased more than 1,000 acres in northwestern Smith County, the tract where he founded the town of Garden Valley. The next year, Garden Valley had a post office and its first public road, the approximate route of Farm Road 16 today. Two years later, the commissioners court of Smith County opened another public road, the Tyler to Garden Valley Road. Shortly after, Davidson built a store, which he named J.L. Davidson & Company, at the intersection of the two roads. In addition to his store, Davidson also installed a mill in Garden Valley by 1860. The town had a Methodist church by 1854, which also doubled as the site for the community school beginning in the 1860s. By 1870, Garden Valley saw an increase of residents, including two blacksmiths and several physicians. In 1871, the William Taylor Masonic Lodge, originally organized in nearby Flora, moved their meeting place to Garden Valley. Baptist worshippers also built a church here in 1877. During the early part of the twentieth century, the town experienced stability with several stores and cotton gins, but began to decline in the 1930s. The school eventually merged with Van Independent School District, the Methodist church dissolved and a new state highway bypassed the town, forcing the closing of the post office in 1952. The Garden Valley Resort and Golf Club, developed in the mid-1970s, preserves the name, and while the business district is gone and only the Baptist church and a few residents remain, Garden Valley remains one of the area's historic settlements. (2017)