Ponta

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1901, somebody laid out a brand new townsite right along the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Now, two brothers, Lee D. and William T.

Guinn, were the ones doing the promoting, and they named the place Hubb, after the county surveyor, a man by the name of Hubbard S. Guinn. Whether that surveyor asked for the honor or just found himself immortalized in Texas soil, the marker doesn't say.

But Hubb it was. For a while. Then 1903 rolled around, the post office got established, and the name changed.

The new name was Ponta, which the marker tells us is an adaptation of the Latin word Ponte, meaning bridge. Make of that what you will. Ponta it became, and Ponta it stayed.

And for a town with a name rooted in the idea of crossing over, it sure did build itself into something worth crossing to. Ponta grew into a real shipping center. Lumber, cotton, tomatoes, peaches, all of it moving through that little railroad town.

And the businesses followed, the way they do. General stores, restaurants, banks. Blacksmiths working the iron.

Cotton gins and sawmills running hard. A hotel for the traveler. A Masonic lodge, churches, schools.

The whole machinery of a community humming along. Then came the 1950s, and something new took root in the area, large scale greenhouse cultivation. The land around Ponta found a second calling.

The railroad, though, had already gone quiet after World War II. The post office closed in 1972. Some of what made the old Ponta run had wound down.

But those nurseries, the Ponta Plant Nurseries, they kept growing. And today they remain a major factor in the Cherokee County economy. A town named for a bridge, still carrying things across.

What the marker says

In 1901, a new townsite was laid out on the Texas & New Orleans Railroad. Promoted by brothers Lee D. and William T. Guinn, it was named Hubb for county surveyor Hubbard S. Guinn. It was renamed Ponta (an adaptation of the Latin "Ponte," which means bridge) when the post office was established in 1903. Ponta was a shipping center for such local products as lumber, cotton, tomatoes and peaches. In time, the town boasted such businesses as general stores, restaurants, banks, blacksmiths, cotton gins and sawmills, as well as a hotel, a Masonic lodge, churches and schools. Large scale greenhouse cultivation began in the area in the 1950s. The railroad ceased operation after World War II and the post office closed in 1972. Ponta Plant Nurseries remain a major factor in the Cherokee County economy.