The Community of Huckabay

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the community of Huckabay, out in Erath County. Now, every good Texas community has a beginning, and this one starts the way the best stories do: with a small group of people who decided to put down roots somewhere nobody else had claimed yet. In 1875, pioneers from Arkansas and Tennessee acquired land here on the headwaters of the Bosque River.

They called it the Flat Woods settlement. Modest name. Ambitious people.

The first order of business, as it tends to be with folks who mean to stay, was education. Confederate veteran John Copeland, born in 1841, opened his own home for the first school sessions in 1876 and again in 1877. Then, in 1879, he gave land for a cemetery.

And in 1883, he gave land for a school. A man who had served in a war, survived it, and came out the other side still giving. He died in 1886.

Meanwhile, the community was taking shape fast. A Church of Christ congregation formed in 1876, the same year those first school sessions met. G.

W. Glenn opened the first store in 1878. Baptist and Methodist churches followed in 1881.

By 1890, the town had general stores, groceries, drugstores, two blacksmiths, barber shops, and an undertaker. There was even, briefly, a bank. The Flat Woods were filling in.

Now, about that name change. There was a farmer and storekeeper by the name of John Huckabay, and he had a habit of riding to Stephenville to bring the settlers their mail. That kind of reliable, unglamorous service has a way of earning a man some standing.

He led the effort to secure a post office, which arrived in 1888, and when they named it, they named it for him. John Huckabay served as postmaster from 1888 to 1891, and then again from 1893 to 1895. In 1891, he and a man named W.

C. Rigsby opened a cotton gin together. A man woven into the fabric of the place, quite literally.

But here is where the story picks up something close to legend. In 1902, a teacher named C. H.

Hale, described as outstanding, founded the Huckabay Academy. It started as a high school and eventually stretched to offer college courses. And then there is this line on the marker, delivered without a single wink: it is said the Academy won every debate, every oratory event, and every athletic contest it ever entered.

Every. Single. One.

You can decide what to do with that. The marker just puts it out there, flat and proud as the Texas sky. The Academy closed in 1914.

The village dwindled as economic and travel conditions shifted. One by one, things that had rooted the community, the stores, the bank, the gin, started to fall away. But the school, the churches, the cemetery, and the tabernacle held on.

They became the focus. The post office, the one John Huckabay himself had helped bring into existence, finally closed in 1965. Some towns make a loud exit.

Huckabay just got quieter. But the places where people buried their dead, prayed, learned to argue and to win, those are still there. And that is not nothing.

Out here on the headwaters of the Bosque, that is quite a lot.

What the marker says

In 1875 a small group of pioneers from Arkansas and Tennessee acquired land here on the headwaters of the Bosque, starting the "Flat Woods" settlement. Confederate veteran John Copeland (1841-86) taught the first local school sessions (1876,1877) in his home, and gave land (1879) for a cemetery and (1883) for school. A Church of Christ congregation was formed in 1876. G. W. Glenn opened the first store in 1878. Baptist and Methodist churches were founded in 1881. John Huckabay, a farmer-storekeeper who brought the settlers' mail from Stephenville, led in securing a post office (1888), which was named for him. He was postmaster in 1888-91 and 1893-95. By 1890, town had general stores, groceries, drugstores, 2 blacksmiths, barber shops, an undertaker; and later (briefly) a bank. John Huckabay and W. C. Rigsby opened a cotton gin, 1891. C. H. Hale, an outstanding teacher, founded (1902) the Huckabay Academy, a high school that later offered college courses. It is said the Academy won every debate, oratory event, and athletic contest it ever entered. It closed in 1914. The village dwindled in changing economic and travel conditions. The school, churches, cemetery, and tabernacle became focus for the community. The post office closed in 1965. (1975)