Chicota, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Originally called Center Springs, the town began life as a trading post in 1879, when storekeeper Captain Robert Draper heard the word Checotah in reference to a place in Indian Territory.

A post office was in operation in the early to mid 1880s, Although the population was a mere 45 individuals, there were over 100 schoolchildren in the vicinity, taught by two teachers.

By 1892 the town had 225 residents, but it had declined to 100 by 1914. By the time the Great Depression was underway, Chicota was down to a few businesses and the church and cemetery.

The postwar population was estimated at 212 from the late 1940s through the 1950s. The 1990 census reported 125 residents, which was the same number given in 2000.

"This is my mom's family taken in Chicota in the early 1940's. This was my grandmother on the far right. Lucy Dawes Skeen. My mother is on the far left. Carlyon. My mom says that is an old smoke house in the background." - Paul Crocker

Chicota, Texas Forum

Subject: Chicota Story
My great grandfather Shelvy Laban Dawes came to Chicota from Missouri in 1895. Shelvy was a blacksmith for 40 years in Chicota. He had two forges and had four people working for him. He built wagons and buggies from the ground up and also built caskets. The blacksmith shop was located just east of the Griffin and Townsend Store in Chicota and on the same ground where the Post Office was located during the time Mrs. Mae Pearl Campbell was Post Mistress. The Masonic Lodge met on the second floor. - Paul Crocker, November 07, 2012 (Researched from Chicota, Forrest Chapel, Rawhide and Razor Revisited, Apr. 1993)

1920s Lamar County Map showing Chicota
(near the Red River)
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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