Kirby, Texas, Bexar County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

by Clint Skinner

Located on Farm Road 78 in the eastern section of Bexar County, Kirby stands eight miles northeast of San Antonio, three miles east of Fort Sam Houston Joint Case, and eight miles west of Randolph Air Force Base. Its total area covers two square miles.

The town's history began in 1877 when the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway built a station in the area. This company was actually a part of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Construction began around 1890 and settlers soon followed. By 1900, the town had a cotton gin and blacksmith shop in addition to its one hundred inhabitants. During the first decade of the new century, German immigrants settled on the land.

A post office opened in 1907, prompting the citizens to give their home a name. They decided upon Kirby to honor a South Carolinian who used the trees of his Texas property to produce wooden ties for the construction of the railroad. The office closed its doors in 1916 and forced residents to send their mail to the city of Converse. (See Kirby 1909 postmark)

The population reached eighteen people in 1920, the majority of them being German farmers. Ten years later, that figure rose to twenty-five. The town had six businesses, which decreased by two in 1940. Thanks to the construction of Randolph Air Force Base, Kirby's population skyrocketed to six hundred during the 1950s.

Kirby was incorporated in 1955 with a council-manager government established by its home rule charter. The year of 1957 brought a two-year drought which devastated the farming community, forcing many families to sell their land and move elsewhere. The city bought the land and developed it into suburban neighborhoods. The population reached 680 in 1965 and exploded past the triple digits with the help of San Antonio's growth. In 1990, the city had 8,326 people, which increased to 8,673 at the turn of the century.

The city of Kirby has a current population of 8,000. The educational system is served by the Judson Independent School District. Although Kirby has its own water supply, the San Antonio Water System handles the wastewater treatment. Republic Services deals with waste and recycling while CPS Energy handles natural gas and electricity.

Sources:

Kirbytx.org
Tshaonline.org
Wikipedia