Sharp

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Sharp, out in Milam County. Now, every community has a story, and Sharp's goes back to the years right after the Civil War. Settlers came rolling into this corner of Texas, drawn by something that farmers dream about: fertile black soil, dark and rich and just waiting to be worked.

They put down roots, and a community began to take shape. For a while it was just land and labor and neighbors getting acquainted. Then, in 1892, somebody opened the first business, a store, and just like that, a community had a heartbeat.

It wasn't long before a blacksmith shop joined the scene, and then in 1896, the Davis General Store opened its doors. That same year, a cotton gin came online, which tells you everything you need to know about what this land was producing. Cotton was the principal crop of the area, and if you were growin' it, you needed a place to process it.

By 1901, the community had grown enough to warrant its own post office, and that meant one important question had to be answered: what do you call this place? The name chosen was Sharp, in honor of Dr. William F.

Sharp, a physician over in Davilla, eight miles to the west. So a doctor who worked eight miles away got his name put on a town. That's the kind of quiet tribute a community pays when it wants you to know someone mattered.

The story doesn't end there, either. In 1978, Sharp residents started an annual reunion, coming back together to remember where they came from and what that black soil built. Some communities fade.

Sharp holds a reunion.

What the marker says

A farming and ranching community, Sharp traces its origins to the years immediately after the Civil War when settlers, attracted by the fertile black soil, began arriving in this area. The first business, a store, opened in 1892. It was soon joined by a blacksmith shop and the Davis General Store in 1896. Cotton was the principal crop of the area, and a gin opened in 1896. When a post office was established here in 1901, the name Sharp was chosen to honor Dr. William F. Sharp, a physician in Davilla (8 mi. W). An annual reunion of Sharp residents began in 1978.