DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Six Mile-Royal, out in Calhoun County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a deed and ends with a community that just flat refused to quit. Back in December of 1894, the Phillips Investment Company issued deeds to a stretch of property on this very site, putting the land in the hands of Josef Marek and John Drgac.
Czech and German settlers started showing up, drawn to a place that was already being called Marekville, and here is where the story gets its first good hook: that very first year, the land threw a bumper cotton crop. A bumper crop. Right out of the gate.
Word travels fast when the earth is being generous. By 1895, there was a school building standing. By 1905, a post office had opened up, and it took a new name, Royal, after the county commissioner.
Two names, then, floating around the same patch of Calhoun County ground. Now about that other name, the Six-Mile part. The marker says it's believed to come from a local watering hole.
From Port Lavaca, it was six miles to water. Six miles. You start to understand why a man crossing that ground in the Texas heat might remember the number.
That name was being used formally as early as 1907, when the Six Mile Farmers Union put it on paper. The post office closed in 1910, which in some towns would have been the beginning of the end. Not here.
The area kept right on growing. And by 1997, about two hundred families were still living in Six Mile-Royal. Two names, one community, and a cotton crop that started it all.
What the marker says
The Phillips Investment Company issued deeds to the property on this site to Josef Marek and John Drgac in December 1894. The area, soon called Marekville, attracted Czech and German settlers with a bumper cotton crop in its first year. The first school building was erected in 1895; a post office opened in 1905, taking the name Royal after the county commissioner. The Six-Mile name is believed to come from a local watering hole; from Port Lavaca, it was "six miles to water." This name was used formally as early as 1907 by the Six Mile Farmers Union. The post office closed in 1910, but the area continued to grow. In 1997, about 200 families still resided in the area. (1998)