Selden

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Now, out here in Erath County, a lot of places carry names that go back further than most folks remember, and Selden is one of those places with a story hiding right underneath its name. It wasn't always Selden, you see.

It started out as Garrett Springs, named for an early settler by the name of J. B. Garrett, who owned land along Sims Creek.

You can picture it, a man plants himself along a good creek, works his land, and the community around him just naturally takes on his name. That's how it was in the mid-1800s in this part of Texas. But then, sometime after the mid-1850s, a man named John Selden moved to the area, and the settlement became known as Selden.

Just like that, one name quietly steps aside for another. That's a thing that happens to places, same as it happens to people. Now here's the part worth sitting with for a moment.

Selden wasn't just a wide spot in the road. This little community grew into an honest-to-goodness commercial center for the farms all around it. We're talking a grist mill, a cotton gin, a school, a post office, a lodge hall, and stores.

Think about what that means to a farming family riding in from the surrounding land. Everything they needed was right there. The grist mill to grind their grain, the cotton gin to process their crop, the school for their children, the post office to keep them connected to a wider world.

That's not a small thing. That's a community doing the heavy lifting of civilization in the middle of Erath County. The marker put up in 1988 calls Selden a reminder of the important role farming communities played in the agricultural development of Erath County.

And that's the right word for it. A reminder. Because places like Selden did the work long before anyone was writing it down, and the least we can do is remember the names, both of them.

What the marker says

This community was originally named Garrett Springs for early settler J. B. Garrett who owned land along Sims Creek. It became known as Selden after the mid 1850s, when John Selden moved to the area. The settlement developed as an important early commercial center for nearby farms. It was the site of a grist mill and cotton gin, as well as a school, post office, lodge hall, and stores. The history of Selden is a reminder of the important role farming communities played in the agricultural development of Erath County. (1988)