Cometa, Texas. (original) (raw)

Once a Spanish campsite called Loma de Cometas (Hill of the Comets) the site had the rare blessing of a natural spring-fed lake. Some alert traveler noticed the place after the Civil War (it was even populated with free range longhorns) and settlement was soon in coming. First settlers in 1867 were quickly joined by other families in the early 1870s.

Cattle raising remained the principle industry for the remaining years of the 19th century. T. A. Coleman established his ranch on Cometa hill in the mid 1880s. His brand appropriately resembled a moving comet.

1885 was also the year the first Zavalla County school was opened. The schoolhouse doubled as a church for the congregation of the Church of Christ, Baptists and Methodists.

In the early 1890s the community received its first store, which later housed the post office. Sometime around 1900 the community laid out a plot for the Vivian Cemetery.

The post office appeared in 1905 and the available water made irrigation possible. Although they had bumper crops of watermelons, tomatoes and pumpkins, without a railroad the farmers lost much of their crops to spoilage before it could be carted to market.

In the early 1900s the inventor Thomas Edison contracted with local farmers to raise experiment crops. The water was insurance against drought and area ranchers invested in purebred stock, including poultry, cattle and swine.

But after WWI, Cometa started to decline. In 1919 the post office was discontinued and within a few years, the general store closed its doors.

But thanks to the regions water, farmers continued to grow bountiful crops which were generously donated to people coming down from northern states during the Great Depression.

In 1942 the school closed. And by the end of WWII, the population was hovering at 100 residents spread over a wide area. The water table began falling and what had been the lifeblood of the community was fast drying up. By the late 1980s most residents had moved. Today only ten people represent Cometa. The most noticeable proof of a substantial past is the Vivian Cemetery.