Phalba

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Van Zandt County, every little community has got a story tucked inside its name, and Phalba is no exception. Pull up a seat, because this one's got springs, a road, a rename, and a cannery running on steam before it's through.

It starts not with the name Phalba at all, but with a man named John Snider. In 1853, Snider bought a piece of land that happened to sit right on top of some springs, and the community that grew up around that spot took his name for its own. They called it Snider Springs.

Then in 1858, a road opened up, running from Canton all the way out to Snider Springs. That road would later be designated State Highway 198, but in 1858 it was just a new route bringing people and commerce rolling into town. And the town took notice.

Before long, Snider Springs was boasting several businesses. It had the feel of a place going somewhere. But here's where the name gets swapped out.

Somewhere along the way, citizens decided to change the town name to Phalba. Now, the reason is a practical one with a personal touch. Another Texas postal station was already called Snider Springs, which creates the kind of confusion the postal service tends to frown upon.

So the town turned to something closer to home. The new name, Phalba, came from the daughter of a local gin owner. Just like that, a young woman's name became the name on the map.

Then the hard years came. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration stepped in and opened a cannery right there in Phalba, built for local and charitable uses. And what did it run on?

Those same springs John Snider had bought back in 1853. The cannery used the spring water to power five steam-operated canners. Five of them, turning out goods for people who needed them.

That's not a small thing. That's a community using what it had to take care of its own and then some. After World War II, the area suffered neglect, the marker doesn't shy away from saying so.

But neglect is not the end of the story. Phalba carried on as a rural farming and ranching community, and it continues as a thriving small community to this day. From Snider Springs to Phalba, from 1853 to a Depression-era cannery fed by the same springs that started it all, this little corner of Van Zandt County has been quietly persisting all along.

The historian credit on the base goes to Donald and Annette Plemmons, who made sure the story got told right.

What the marker says

This community was first called Snider Springs for John Snider who bought the land on which the springs were situated in 1853. A road, later designated State Highway 198, opened from Canton to Snider Springs in 1858, and the town soon boasted several businesses. Citizens changed the town name to Phalba after the daughter of a local gin owner because another Texas postal station was already called Snider Springs. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration opened a cannery for local and charitable uses. It used the water from the springs for five steam-operated canners. Though it suffered neglect in the years following World War II, the rural farming and ranching area of Phalba continues as a thriving small community. (1999) Incise on base: Historian Donald and Annette Plemmons