Sheridan, Texas, Colorado County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

In 1908 Hugh Sheridan sold land to a loan company who in turn partnered with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. The plan was to subdivide the acreage into small farms and town lots. The town was granted a post office that opened in September of 1908 and early the following year a plat was filed and a hotel opened in anticipation of potential buyers. Advertisements were placed in various newspapers across the midwest and soon the town was thriving with future fig farmers who thought the "tropical" climate was heaven compared to their frozen farms up north. Sheridan was soon a fig capital - if there ever was such a thing - and trainloads of figs were shipped out to wherever figs were shipped back then. In 1914 the town had a population of 150 and all essential businesses.

The Shell Oil Company drilled a well in 1940 which brought in the Sheridan oil and gas field. Farms declined as wells were drilled and soon a plant was built which exploded in the mid-1950s.

The Rock Island Gas Plant Explodes in the mid-1950s
Photo Courtesy Nesbitt Memorial Library # 00652
More Texas Disasters

The railroad stopped running after WWII.

Today the Sheridan water tower proclaims the town to be the "Deer Hunting Capital of Texas." Small cattle ranches have replaced the farms and the oil and gas field is still producing.

There is no evidence of a "downtown" since over the years the Sheridan's businesses have migrated over to the highway.

	Sheridan's Water Tower TE Photo, February 2006

"H. E. Griffith, in wheel barrow, being pushed from Sheridan to Rock Island by Oscar Houchins, August 24, 1942. Houchins had lost a bet to Griffith on the governor's race. Large crowds gathered in Sheridan and Rock Island to see the departure and the arrival. The photograph, taken at Sheridan just before the two men departed, ran in the Colorado County Citizen of August 27, 1942"
- from the Nesbitt Memorial Library #01083

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and recent or vintage/historic photos, please contact us.