Como, Texas, Hopkins County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

The area was settled around 1846 when a man named Ferdinand Carroll established a camp on the Jefferson Road. In 1858 a store opened and in 1870 a post office named Bacchus was opened.

The community was renamed Carroll's Prairie in 1876 and in 1879 it changed to Carrollton. By 1885 the town had 200 people, six stores, two gristmills, cotton gins, a blacksmith, and a saloon. In the late 1870s the East Line and Red River Railroad arrived.

The name Carrollton was causing some confusion with the Dallas County Carrollton, and so a new name was sought. Settlers from Como, Mississippi suggested the name of their former town and so it became.

Coal was discovered in 1900 and became an important industry. A fire in 1910 burned much of the town. 900 people lived in Como in 1914 and they had a weekly newspaper.

In 1932 the community incorporated about the time many of the mines were closing. The population declined to less than 400.

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