Salem

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Salem, over in Victoria County. Now, not every town gets a name that means something, but this one does. Salem, from the Hebrew word for peace, took shape in the early twentieth century in the northeast corner of Victoria County, and the story of how it got there is worth telling slow.

In 1910, the Higginson Colonization Company came along and mapped out acreage in this stretch of Texas, laying plans for a townsite, orchards, and farms. The man behind that effort, organizing the company and working as its colonization agent, was David Gehman Musselman, known to most folks simply as D.G. Musselman.

He owned the tracts of land that would become the very heart of what Salem was to be. Word traveled. Settlers came from Ohio, Kansas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, pulling up roots in other states to try their luck on small tracts in a community some folks called Colony, and others called the Colony of Brotherly Love.

That name alone tells you something about the spirit these people brought with them. By 1911, Salem had a post office. Not long after that, it had stores, a two-room schoolhouse, and a church.

Not just any church, either, but a multi-denominational one named Brethren in Christ. By 1915, dozens of settlers were living in Salem, with more residing nearby, and most of them were farmers working that land they had come so far to tend. The 1930s brought ranching into the picture alongside the farming, giving the community another way to hold on.

And there were people doing the holding. One of the most important civic figures in Salem was Rose Lambert Musselman, wife of D.G., who had worked as a Mennonite missionary in Armenian Turkey before returning to the United States. She served for a time as Salem's postmaster.

She ran a general store and a filling station out of the couple's homestead. That is not a quiet life. That is a full one.

Alongside her, the Reverend T.A. Long pastored the community's church, another anchor in a place that needed anchors. But Salem's challenge was always the land itself.

Agricultural yields were inconsistent, and when you are counting on small farm and orchard tracts to carry a community, inconsistency is a quiet kind of disaster. By the late 1930s, the community had declined. The appeal of those little tracts faded as the harvests proved unreliable.

Salem never became what the Higginson Colonization Company once mapped it out to be. But here is the thing about peace. You do not always hold onto it.

Sometimes you just carry the memory of it. And Salem, as the marker makes clear, continues to be remembered as a historic rural community and an early attempt at something hopeful in the northeastern corner of Victoria County. Some things are worth remembering even when, maybe especially when, they did not quite work out.

What the marker says

The community of Salem (“Peace” in Hebrew) developed in northeast Victoria county in the early 20th century. In 1910, Higginson Colonization Company mapped out acreage in this area to be developed as a townsite, orchards and farms. The company was organized by David Gehman (D.G.) Musselman and others, with Musselman working as colonization agent. He owned tracts of land which would become the heart of the Salem community. Many settlers came to Salem from other states, including Ohio, Kansas, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Settlers purchased small tracts of land in the community, also known as “Colony” and “Colony of Brotherly Love.” In 1911, a post office opened; soon, the town also had stores, a two-room schoolhouse and a multi-denominational church named Brethren in Christ. By 1915, dozens of settlers lived in Salem, with more residing nearby. Most early residents were farmers. By the 1930s, ranching also became a common activity. An early civic leader was D.G. Musselman’s wife, Rose (Lambert), who worked as a Mennonite missionary in Armenian Turkey before returning to the United States. She worked for a time as Salem’s postmaster, and operated a general store and filling station out of the couple’s homestead. Another important local figure was the Reverend T.A. Long, who pastored Salem’s church. The community declined in the late 1930s. Since agricultural yields were inconsistent, the small farm and orchard tracts in the community lost their appeal. However, today Salem continues to be remembered as a historic rural community and an early attempt at development in northeastern Victoria County. (2008)