Wentworth

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to do it justice: this is Duane, and this is Wentworth. Now, out here in Sutton County, there's a name on the map that most folks drive right past without a second thought. Wentworth.

Blink and you'll miss it, and honestly, that's fitting, because Wentworth itself blinked, and then it was gone. It all got started in the 1880s, out at the water well of a man named A. J.

Winkler. Winkler platted the townsite, gave the title bond, and named the place for a rancher from the Fort Terrett area; a man by the name of P. H.

Wentworth. So right there you've got a town named for a rancher, built around a well, and platted by a fellow with ambition. That's a Texas origin story if I ever heard one.

Now, the folks who showed up to make something of Wentworth weren't exactly moving into grand accommodations. They were living in tents and picket homes. But they had their sights set high, because the principal building in town was a two-story structure, and that building had to do triple duty as a school, a church, and the hall of Dee Ora Lodge No. 715, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Two stories tall, and carrying the weight of an entire community on its shoulders. For a hot minute, Wentworth even had a post office; August of 1890 through August of 1891, one year almost to the day. The postmaster was a man named Thomas Stevenson, and here's the detail that'll make you do a double take: Stevenson was the uncle of a future Texas governor.

The marker doesn't say which governor, and we're not going to speculate. We're just going to let that sit there the way a good hand of cards sits face down on the table. But here comes the part where the music changes. 1891.

Sutton County needed a county seat, and Wentworth was in the running. The election was held, the votes were counted, and Wentworth lost; to Sonora. And when a town loses a county seat election in 1891 Texas, that isn't a setback.

That's a verdict. The citizens of Wentworth read the verdict clearly, and they moved away. Late in that same year of 1891, the lodge hall (that proud two-story building that had been school and church and meeting hall all at once) was relocated to Sonora.

And even in its new home, it kept working. That building served as a school and community building in Sonora all the way until 1938. Nearly half a century of service, long after the town it was built for had ceased to exist.

Wentworth lasted about as long as its post office. One good year, give or take. Tents and picket homes, a two-story hall, a postmaster with a notable nephew, and a county seat vote that didn't go their way.

Sometimes a town's whole story fits in a single paragraph, and sometimes that's exactly enough.

What the marker says

Situated in 1880's at water well of A. J. Winkler, who platted townsite, gave title bond, and named place for Fort Terrett area rancher P. H. Wentworth. The residents occupied tents and picket homes. Principal building was two-story school, church, and hall of Dee Ora Lodge No. 715, A.F. & A.M. Town had a post office Aug. 1890 - Aug. 1891. Postmaster was Thomas Stevenson, uncle of a future Texas governor. Losing 1891 county seat election to Sonora, Wentworth citizens moved away. Lodge hall, relocated late 1891 in Sonora, served as school and community building until 1938.