DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the original site of Valley Mills, out in Bosque County. Now, most towns grow up around something — a crossroads, a river bend, a dream somebody had on a Tuesday. Valley Mills grew up around two men and three hundred acres.
In 1868, A. H. Steagall and Dr.
E. P. Booth purchased that land on the north side of the Bosque River, mapped it out, platted a townsite, and gave it a name: Valley Mills.
The first settlers to arrive built their homes of logs — which is what you do when the land is what you've got and lumber is what you lack. But that changed. A local sawmill started producing, and pretty soon homes of sawn lumber were going up all across the valley.
And it wasn't just a sawmill, either. Flour and grist mills were built in that valley as well, and cotton gins followed to process hundreds of bales coming in from neighboring farms. The place was humming.
At its peak, Valley Mills had homes, general stores, a drugstore, a blacksmith shop, a boardinghouse, and a stagecoach stop. Even a United States post office had been established — back in 1867, in fact, with a man named Moses Isenhower serving as its first postmaster. This was a real, living, breathing Texas town.
And then came 1881. The Santa Fe Railroad built its line through the area that year. Now, you might think that's good news for a growing town — and it would've been, except for one thing.
The tracks were laid on the south side of the river, about one mile from the original townsite. One mile. Not far in a car, not far on horseback — but far enough, it turns out, to decide the fate of a town.
The residents of Valley Mills looked at those tracks, looked at their town, and made their choice. They moved. The whole town packed up and relocated to be closer to the rail line.
By 1900, the original site of Valley Mills — the place Steagall and Booth had platted out with such care, where the sawmill had whirred and the cotton gins had roared and Moses Isenhower had sorted the mail — had become a ghost town. One mile. That's all it took.
What the marker says
A. H. Steagall and Dr. E. P. Booth purchased 300 acres of land on the north side of the Bosque River in 1868. They mapped out and platted a townsite, which they named Valley Mills. As settlers began arriving in the area, the first homes were built of logs. Soon, however, with products provided by a local sawmill, many more homes were constructed of sawn lumber. In addition to the sawmill, flour and grist mills were also built in the valley. Cotton gins were soon built, as well, to process hundreds of bales from neighboring farms. A United States post office was established in Valley Mills in 1867, with Moses Isenhower serving as first postmaster. Experiencing steady growth, the town at its peak boasted homes, general stores, a drugstore, blacksmith shop, boardinghouse, and stagecoach stop. In 1881 the Santa Fe Railroad line was built through the area, but the tracks were laid on the south side of the river about one mile from the original townsite. Soon thereafter the residents of Valley Mills moved their town to be closer to the rail line. By 1900 the original site of Valley Mills had become a ghost town. (1990)