2aTexasFootball.com

Just some interesting facts I found on towns that play 2A football. Man there was a ton of name changes.

DIV 1
REGION 1

DIST 1

1. STRATFORD - Named for the boyhood home of Robert E. Lee
2. PANHANDLE - in 1897 after George E. Morrison, a preacher at the Methodist Episcopal Church, poisoned his wife Minnie with a strychnine-laced apple so that he could marry his mistress Miss Annie Whittlesey
3. FARWELL - a dispute has been simmering over of which state Farwell is lawfully a part: Texas or New Mexico.
4. AMAR. HIGHLAND PARK – Home of Pantex, the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility in the country
4. SANFORD-FRITCH Cleo Lee a cigar smoking postmaster who could be crankier than a tool pusher with a hangover
6. WEST TEXAS - Illegal liquor seems to have been the town’s major vice during Prohibition with just about any business in town supplying it.


DIST 2

1. NEW DEAL – Re-named for Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-era program.
2. OLTON - Home of Racing Hall of Famer Carl Nafzger – 2 time Kentucky Derby winner
3. FLOYDADA - Pumpkin Capital USA
4. SUNDOWN - became famous for it’s 2.5 mile long main street
5. TAHOKA - became the first town on the lower South Plains
6. POST - founded in 1907 by C. W. Post


DIST 3

1. SONORA - The Caverns of Sonora
2. FORSAN - name comes from the "Four (oil) Sands"
3. REAGAN COUNTY Santa Rita No. 1 by Big Lake made UT rich.
4. CHRISTOVAL – Popular Baptist camp and mineral wells.
5. OZONA - grew up around a live-oak tree which still stands
6. ANTHONY – Home of La Tuna

DIST 4

1. HAWLEY – Named for C.W. Hawley, a railroad official
1. CISCO - n 1927 the famed "Santa Claus Bank Robbery" occurred two days before Christmas Conrad Hilton's first venture into the hotel business in 1919
3. STAMFORD - has been hosting The Texas Cowboy Reunion every 4th of July since 1930
4. OLNEY – Home of Leland Snow the designer of the crop duster S-2A and S-2b
5. ANSON - home to the Cowboy's Christmas Ball since 1885
6. COLORADO CITY – Oldest town between Weatherford and El Paso, "jail" was a chain attached to a mesquite tree
7. WINTERS - became famous for a travelling brass band that had been organized there in 1901
REGION 2

DIST. 5
1. TOLAR – Was called "Squaw Creek Station" by the railroad
2. COLEMAN – in the 1870s shootout in front of the general store led to the first use of the town cemetery
3. BANGS - the birthplace of Major League Baseball batting champion Debs Garms.
4. HAMILTON - Anne Whitney - a schoolteacher who died protecting her charges when Comanches attacked
5. SAN SABA - wedding oak, the legend is that Indians stood under the tree to be wed and that the tradition was adopted by the settlers.
6. DELEON - has one of the oldest festivals in Texas, the De Leon Peach and Melon Festival, which had its beginnings in 1914
7. GOLDTHWAITE - From 1869 – 1897 struggled with Indian attacks, outlaws, and vigilante justice.

DIST 6
1. TIOGA - was almost renamed Autry Springs in honor of Cowboy Gene Autry
2. NOCONA - H.J. Justin and Sons made boots until his sons moved to Ft. Worth and start Justin Boot Co.
3. ALVORD – Was named Nina then renamed in honor of the president of the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad
4. WHITEWRIGHT - was named after investor William Whitewright in 1878
5. TRENTON - Tennesseans arrived by wagon train in 1852 when known by Wild Cat Thicket
6. TOM BEAN – named after a wealthy Bonham surveyor who donated fifty acres of land

DIST 7
1. CAYUGA - was a place called Wild Cat Bluff
2. AXTELL - established in 1881 South is a religious compound, Mount Carmel
3. RIO VISTA - Anadarco Indians discouraged settlement until 1849
4. KERENS – Birthplace of Big Tex
5. ITALY – Bruco the world's largest caterpillar 60 feet wide 22 feet tall 350 feet long
6. CROSS ROADS - came into existence as a result of the construction of Lake Dallas
7. ITASCA - named after Minnesota's Lake Itasca

DIST 8
1. CRAWFORD – Settled 1850 In 1867 Brownwood stage line had a horse-changing station located at an inn in Crawford.
2. MARLIN - A hot artesian spring was struck by accident in 1893 and the town became known for its curative waters
3. ROSEBUD-LOTT named Pool's Crossing, Greer's Horsepen, Mormon then finally Rosebud
4. RIESEL – in 1880 was called Roddy, then Prospect and then changed in 1891.
5. BOSQUEVILLE - townsite was laid out in 1858 1854 the Bosque Academy was established
5. MOODY - established in 1881, when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway laid track.
5. VALLEY MILLS - Named for a mill built on the Bosque River in 1867
8. BRUCEVILLE-EDDY - Bruceville and Eddy both became stations on the Katy Railroad
REGION 3

DIST 9
1. COOPER - Workers canned chicken here that was sent overseas as troop rations in WWII
2. HONEY GROVE - Davy Crockett had camped here on his way to the
3. WOLFE CITY - was first called Wolfe's Mill but was changed in 1882
4. BOGATA RIVERCREST - supposed to be named Bogotá after the Columbian capital. But the postmaster’s application was misspelled and named Bogata.
5. ALBA-GOLDEN - Lignite coal was discovered around the turn of the 20th Century
6. QUINLAN BOLES - named for George A Quinlan, VP of the Houston and Texas Central RR
7. COMO-PICKTON – 1870 named Bacchus, renamed Carroll’s Prairie in 1876, renamed to Carrollton in 1879, renamed Como before 1900 after a town in Mississippi.

DIST 10
1. BECKVILLE - Named after early settler Matthew W. Beck who arrived sometime around 1850
2. FRANKSTON - was named Ayers and the first citizens relocated from the village of Kickapoo, Texas
3. HARLETON - Founded about 1890, the town was first known as Fontana changed in 1892
4. HAWKINS - began life with the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railroad in 1873
5. BIG SANDY - Originally called Big Sandy Switch when the Texas and Pacific Railroad connected with the Tyler Tap Line Railroad
6. ORE CITY – Named for the ore deposits found here from the 1860s
7. UNION GROVE - was first settled in the mid-1880s

DIST 11
1. TIMPSON - Founded in 1885, named for P. B. Timpson, a railroad engineer
2. JOAQUIN - founded by Benjamin Franklin Morris in 1885 named after Morris' grandson
3. GARRISON - named after Captain. J. H. Garrison in 1884
4. SHELBYVILLE - Originally called Nashville in the 1820s, changed in 1837 when the Republic of Texas decided to honor Revolutionary hero Isaac Shelby.
4. WEST SABINE - Pineland, Bronson, and other communities make up West Sabine ISD
6. SAN AUGUSTINE - Mission Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de los Ais was established in 1717
6. GRAPELAND - Was originally called Grapevine and was a mail exchange point on the Crockett-Palestine road.

DIST 12
1. CENTERVILLE – Lots sold in 1848. A post office was granted in early 1849
2. CORRIGAN-CAMDEN – Named after Pat Corrigan, conductor on the first train to arrive
3. JEWETT LEON - named for Judge Henry J. Jewett
4. GROVETON - In 1881 Sabine Pass L&R built a mill and named Grovetown after trees.
5. WEST HARDIN By Saratoga, which was named New Sour Lake.
6. NORMANGEE - started life as a station on the Houston and Central Texas Railway
REGION 4

DIST 13
1. FLATONIA - railroad president T. W. Pierce founded Flatonia on Oct. 16, 1873, naming it for the Flato family.
2. THORNDALE - shipping point for area farmers most businesses moved to be near the tracks
3. HOLLAND - James R. Holland moved into the area in 1874. Built a steam cotton gin in 1878
4. HEARNE - Christopher Hearne deeded 700 acres to the Houston & Texas Central RR in 1867
5. THRALL - originally called Stiles Switch in 1876
6. WEIMAR - originally named Jackson Station townsite in 1873, named for Weimar, Germany
7. SCHULENBURG - developed from two nearby communities: Lyons, founded in 1842, and High Hill, settled in 1842. Named in 1858.

DIST. 14
1. MASON - Fort Mason was established in 1851 changed name in 1858
2. STOCKDALE - Established during the Civil War in 1863, it wasn’t until 1871 when the town was granted a post office.
2. JOHNSON CITY - Named after James Polk Johnson. Boyhood home of LBJ
4. JUNCTION - Junction gets its name from the merging of the North and South Llano Rivers
5. HARPER - the site of the McDonald Massacre of 1864

DIST 15
1. REFUGIO – Nearly abandoned in 1836 during the "Battle of Refugio" and again during the Civil War. Post office opened in 1847.
2. SHINER - began life in the mid-1880s as a trading post named Half Moon. Home of Spoetzl brewery
3. THREE RIVERS -was named Hamiltonburg. Renamed after the Atascosa, Frio, and Nueces.
4. GANADO - was originally known as Mustang Settlement, after nearby Mustang Creek.
5. KENEDY – named in 1887. It had a Y, splitting railroad traffic to Houston or Corpus Christi.
6. SKIDMORE-TYNAN – Was named River side in 1860, then Lattington then Skidmore in 1887. Tynan post office opened in 1911
6. BLOOMINGTON -1907 Post office was built and town named after Bloomington, Illinois


DIST 16
1. LA VILLA - Vicente de Ynojosa was issued a Spanish land grant in 1797 which included La Villa. By 1800 a community was established.
1. FREER - the state’s last truly wild and wooly oil boom town The first boom came in the late 1920s, but a second boom that began in 1932
3. SANTA MARIA - was included in the José de Escandón colony in the 1750s
4. BEN BOLT - A post office under the name Ben Biolt was granted in 1906
5. PREMONT - In 1831 Ignacio de la Peña got the grant to the land that became Premont
6. RIVIERA-KAUFER - Theodore Koch purchased the land from the King Ranch in 1907. He established the town on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad tracks.

I’ll add something else about Cisco. It was the home of the Barnum and Bailey circus when they wasn’t touring. In fact the animal cages were carved into the side of hills below the Cisco Dam and are still there. Speaking of the Dam that’s whole another thing. At one time you could actually go inside the Dam if you were brave enough, but now it’s completely flooded inside.

The thing about the Indians around Goldthwaite is very true. My grandmother hated Indians until the day she died because of the things she seen them do to the early settlers around here.

Windthorst, there has got to be something about wieners and Windthorst?

That was a good read, pretty interesting!

Very interesting facts. Refugio also birthplace of Nolan Ryan. I appreciate you looking up those cool facts.