Loma Alta

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what happened out in McMullen County at a place called Loma Alta. The first settlers moved into this region in the early 1880s. Rolling into country like that, wide and quiet and ranching all the way to the horizon, a community took root and took a name, Loma Alta, named for the hills, the Loma Alta hills themselves.

Not a bad way to introduce yourself to a place. The school came along in 1896, and if you think a school out here had the luxury of staying put, well, think again. That schoolhouse moved.

More than once. It wandered around the area the way a good story does, settling here, settling there, until the whole thing finally resolved itself in 1943 with consolidation. Meanwhile the post office had its own chapter.

Opened January 3, 1910, it served this big stretch of ranching country, connecting folks spread thin across the land. Then, on April 15, 1921, it was discontinued. Just like that, the mail stopped coming to Loma Alta under that name.

But for the years it stood, school and post office together, they were the spine of something real. A community in the middle of a whole lot of Texas, doing what communities do, holding people together across the miles.

What the marker says

First settlers moved into region in early 1880s. Community was named for Loma Alta/Hills. School, built 1896, moved several times in area until consolidation, 1943. Post office, established Jan. 3, 1910, was discontinued April 15, 1921. School and post office served large area of this ranching country. (1973)