DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out in Baylor County, if you blink at the right moment on the right road, you might just catch the ghost of a town called Westover — and friend, it had all the makings of something real. The year was 1910, and the Gulf, Texas and Western Railroad had laid its iron promise across the land.
That's usually all it took back then. A railroad showed up, and a town showed up right behind it. Westover was platted that same year, ready to be somebody.
Now, a town needs ground to stand on, and a man named J. W. Stevens provided it — carved out part of his own ranchland and offered it up for the townsite.
Then came the question every new town has to answer: what do you call this place? Well, the name they settled on came from the maiden name of Stevens's mother-in-law. That's the marker's word on it, and we'll leave it right there.
Westover. It had a ring to it. It had ambition.
James H. B. Kyle stepped up as the first postmaster when the post office opened in 1910, and the businesses followed like they always do when people smell opportunity — a bank, barbershops, cotton gins, dry goods stores.
Churches went up. A school went up. They even set aside ground for a cemetery, which tells you folks were planning to stay a good long while.
For over a decade, Westover did exactly what it was supposed to do: it served the farmers and ranchers spread across that stretch of Texas. It was a market center, a meeting place, the kind of town where you could get what you needed and see who you needed to see. Then 1921 arrived, and the commercial area suffered a fire.
That's a hard thing for a small town — lose your business district and you've lost your heartbeat. Westover tried to hold on. And for a while, it did.
But in 1942, the rail line was abandoned. The railroad that had called this town into being simply... stopped. And when the railroad left, so did the people.
So did the businesses. Many of them made their way to Seymour. Westover didn't disappear all at once.
It never does. But a town without rails and without its storefronts is a town that's mostly memory. And now the marker's the one doing the remembering.
What the marker says
Westover Platted in 1910 on the gulf, Texas and Western Railroad, Westover developed into a small market center providing goods and services for area farmers and ranchers. J. W. Stevens offered part of his ranchland for the townsite, which was given the maiden name of his mother-in-law. James H.B. Kyle served as first postmaster when the post office was established in 1910. Businesses, including a bank, barbershops, cotton gins and dry goods stores, as well as churches, a school and a cemetery were established to serve area residents. After the commercial area suffered a fire in 1921 and the rail line was abandoned in 1942, many settlers and businesses moved to Seymour. (2002)