Site of Town of Cuthbert

Duane's take

Here's the marker's own account, as best as I can tell it. Somewhere out here in Mitchell County, sixteen miles northwest of Colorado City, a man named D.T. Bozeman had a vision.

A teacher and a merchant both, Bozeman founded a town in 1890 right on a main wagon road. Now, you might expect a founder to name a town after himself. Not Bozeman.

He named it for his neighbor, T.T. Cuthbertson. That's a particular kind of modesty, or a particular kind of friendship, and this place would carry that neighbor's name forward.

The first postmaster was Mrs. Bozeman, so the family was well represented even if the founder wasn't on the sign. What really put Cuthbert on the map, though, was something humble and essential: a good well, right next to Bozeman's general store.

Freighters coming through on that wagon road knew where to stop, and when freighters know where to stop, a town has a heartbeat. By 1893, Cuthbert had its first school. By 1898, it had something that must have seemed like pure sorcery to anyone who'd spent time in that rolling West Texas country: the first rural telephone line in the county, strung all the way from Bozeman's home into Colorado City.

The same man who dug in and built a town was now connecting it to the wider world by wire. And by 1907, Cuthbert was doing just fine, thank you. There was Bozeman's store, and G.W.

Womack's general store right alongside it, a gin, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, a church, and a school. A full town. A real place.

But out here in West Texas, towns have a way of testing your patience over the long run. The post office, which had been the heartbeat of a community's connection to everywhere else, closed in 1959. The well is quiet now, the freighters long gone.

What's left is this marker, and the story of a man who built something worth naming after somebody else.

What the marker says

Founded in 1890 by D.T. Bozeman, teacher and merchant, on a main wagon road, 16 miles northwest of Colorado (City). Town was named for Bozeman's neighbor, T.T. Cuthbertson, first postmaster was Mrs. Bozeman. A good well by Bozeman's general store attracted freighters. First Cuthbert school opened in 1893. First rural telephone line in county was built in 1898 from Bozeman's home to Colorado (City). In 1907, Cuthbert boasted Bozeman's store, G.W. Womack's general store, a gin, blacksmith shop, barber shop, church, and school. Post office closed, 1959. (1969)