Tours Community

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Tours Community in McLennan County. Now, every good Texas town has got an origin story, and this one starts with wagons rolling out of Teutopolis, Illinois, in 1872. A group of settlers packed up everything they had and pointed themselves toward central Texas.

Long road, dusty miles, and when they finally arrived, they looked at the calendar. November 11. St.

Martin's Day. So they called the place Martinsville. Fitting, you'd have to say.

The name didn't stick forever, though. It was later changed to Tours, in honor of the city in France where St. Martin himself had served as Bishop.

So the saint's name traveled, just in a different direction. Once the settlers got their homes built, they turned their attention to something they clearly considered just as important. A church.

St. Martin's Catholic Church went up under the direction of the Reverend J. L.

Bussant, and it was dedicated in 1874. Now, that first building was a small log structure. Humble.

But the community was growing, and by the 1880s they replaced it with a larger frame edifice. The kind of upgrade that tells you people intended to stay. They intended to educate their children, too.

A community school started in 1883, though for the first several years it didn't have a building to call its own. Classes were held on the second floor of the Theodore Schroeder Home, about two-tenths of a mile to the east. Picture that.

Desks and lessons up above somebody's household, kids climbing the stairs every morning. That arrangement held until 1890, when a proper school building was completed right on the church grounds. At its height, Tours was no sleepy wide spot in the road.

The community had a post office, a harness and saddle shop, cotton gins, saloons, blacksmith shops, meeting halls, and, perhaps best of all, a town brass band. That last detail says something about a place. You don't form a brass band if you're just passing through.

But the 1930s came, and with them came hard times. Farm income across the area decreased, and young people began leaving Tours to seek jobs in other cities. The population declined.

The bustle faded. What remains today at the townsite are several homes, a meeting hall, a ball field, and a church building constructed in 1937. The wagons from Teutopolis are long gone.

The brass band has gone quiet. But the town, at least a piece of it, is still standing out there in McLennan County, keeping the name of a French city and an old November saint alive on the Texas prairie.

What the marker says

The first settlers to this area came by wagon from Teutopolis, Illinois, in 1872. Having arrived on St. Martin's Day, November 11, they called the settlement Martinsville. The name was later changed to Tours in honor of the city in France where St. Martin served as Bishop. After the construction of homes was completed, the settlers began building a structure for the services of St. Martin's Catholic Church. Built under the direction of The Rev. J.L. Bussant, it was dedicated in 1874. The small log building was later replaced in the 1880s by a larger frame edifice. A community school was started in 1883. Classes were conducted in the second floor rooms of the Theodore Schroeder Home (.2 mi. E) until 1890, when a separate school building was completed on the church grounds. Tours was once the site of a post office, harness and saddle shop, cotton gins, saloons, blacksmith shops, meeting halls, and a town brass band. As area farm income decreased in the 1930s and young people left to seek jobs in other cities, the population declined. Several homes, a meeting hall, ball field, and a church building constructed in 1937 remain at the townsite. (1980)