Post Oak Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Post Oak Community in Somervell County. Now settle in, because this is one of those stories that starts quiet and ends with something you absolutely did not see coming. After the Civil War, settlers began making their way into Somervell County and putting down roots in what would become an agricultural community — one that would take its name from the post oak trees common across that stretch of Texas.

By 1896, the name was solidified in the most official way a frontier community could manage: School District No. 2 took on the name Post Oak, and that was that. Three churches rose up to serve as the spiritual and social backbone of the place. Pleasant Point Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1893.

A Christian church followed in 1895. And a Primitive Baptist church was organized in 1907. But of the three, it was the Missionary Baptist church that played the largest role in Post Oak's development — and a good deal of that comes down to one man.

The Reverend Seaborn J. Foust, who pastored churches across both Hood and Somervell counties, donated adjoining parcels of land that formed nothing less than the heart of the Post Oak community. Land for a school in 1892.

Land for a community church building in 1905. And land for a cemetery in 1913, though residents had already been using that burial ground for several years before it was officially set aside. Now, the residents of Post Oak were working people.

Cotton was the early crop of choice, though many hedged their bets by also planting fruit trees. In time, peanuts became a vital crop, and some landowners took to raising cattle as well. It was a full, rooted life — the kind built on seasons and shared labor and Sunday mornings.

Then came 1931. The church and the school both burned. The church disbanded.

But Post Oak folks were not the quitting kind — they rebuilt the schoolhouse the very next year. And later still, the Mitchell family restored that former school building as a community chapel, a memorial to the pioneers who had made Post Oak what it was. Still, the mid-twentieth century brought the same quiet exodus it brought to so many rural Texas communities.

By the 1940s, many residents left for the cities, and Post Oak's population thinned out the way tall grass does after a dry summer. You might have expected that to be the end of the story. And then — 1972.

Texas Utilities began construction of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant right on the settlement's eastern edge. A post-Civil War farming community, named for trees, built on donated church land, that had weathered crop shifts and fire and population loss — and what finally secured its future was a nuclear power plant. Post Oak had survived just long enough to get interesting all over again.

What the marker says

Settled in the years following the Civil War, post Oak was an agricultural community for most of its history. Its name, derived from trees which are common in Somervell County, was solidified by 1896, when School District No. 2 took the name Post Oak. The lives of Post Oak residents revolved around a number of community institutions. Three churches have served as spiritual and social establishments: Pleasant Point Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1893; a Christian church, established in 1895; and a Primitive Baptist church, organized in 1907. Of the three, the Missionary Baptist church played the largest role in Post Oak's development. The Rev. Seaborn J. Foust, who pastured a number of churches in Hood and Somervell counties, donated adjoining parcels of land that formed the center of Post Oak community with land for Post Oak School (1892), a community church building (1905), and a cemetery (1913), although residents had used the burial ground several years earlier. In 1931, the church and school buildings burned. The church disbanded, but the community rebuilt the schoolhouse the following year. Later, the Mitchell family restored the former school building as a community chapel in memory of Post Oak pioneers. Most early residents grew cotton, though many diversified by also planting fruit trees. Later, peanuts became a vital crop, and some landowners also raised cattle. By the 1940s, many residents left this rural area and moved to cities. In 1972, however, Texas Utilities began construction of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant on the settlement's eastern edge, reviving Post Oak's population and ensuring the continued growth of this historic community. (2007)