Mustang Prairie

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Mustang Prairie, Falls County. Sounds like open country, and it was.

Included in the Sterling Robertson grant of 1834, this stretch of Texas prairie had only a handful of settlers before the Civil War. Only a handful. You could ride a good while and not see much.

Then came Reconstruction, and then came 1870, and with 1870 came the railroad arriving at nearby Bremond. And when the railroad comes, people follow. Business people, families, whole communities on the move.

Most of the settlers who put down roots here had come up from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. They were starting over on new ground, and they meant to stay. The first dated burial in Mustang Prairie Cemetery tells you something about how hard that starting over could be.

It was a seven-year-old girl, Laura M. Jones, laid to rest in 1869. Seven years old.

Most of the families of Mustang Prairie are interred in that same cemetery. Generation after generation, right there together. By 1872, Jonathan B.

Davis had established the New Hope Baptist Church, and for a while that church building did double duty, because it was also where the schoolchildren first attended classes. Then in 1877, a three-room frame schoolhouse went up, its own building at last. The community was building something real.

Come 1910, Mustang Prairie was granted a conditional eighth grade, and they added a two-story addition to the schoolhouse to hold it. But here's where the story takes a turn. By 1921, a storm had destroyed that building, addition and all.

They rebuilt. They always rebuilt. By 1939, though, the numbers had dwindled down to thirteen students.

Thirteen. And in 1940 the school closed, the students transferring first to Kosse, and later to Bremond. Within the decade after that, New Hope Baptist Church services were discontinued.

And then, in the early 1980s, a tornado demolished the church building itself. The railroad had brought people in. The years, the storms, the slow pull of time, drew the community down.

But Mustang Prairie is still here, a small community now, carrying a proud history of influence in Falls County and beyond. Some places don't need to be loud to leave a mark.

What the marker says

Though included in the Sterling Robertson grant of 1834, Mustang Prairie had only a handful of settlers prior to the Civil War. With Reconstruction and the 1870 arrival of the railroad at nearby Bremond came many business people. The majority of settlers were from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The first dated burial in Mustang Prairie Cemetery was that of seven-year-old Laura M. Jones in 1869. Most of the families of Mustang Prairie are interred here. By 1872, Jonathan B. Davis had established the New Hope Baptist Church. Schoolchildren first attended classes in the church building; a three-room frame schoolhouse was built in 1877. In 1910 Mustang Prairie was granted a "conditional" eighth grade, and a two-story addition was built. By 1921 a storm had destroyed the building and its two-story addition; the original building was rebuilt. By 1939, only 13 students remained in the school, which was closed in 1940; students transferred to Kosse, later to Bremond. Within the decade, New Hope Baptist Church services were discontinued; the church building was demolished by tornado in the early 1980s. Now a small community, Mustang Prairie upholds a proud history of influence in Falls County and beyond. (1997)