Pearl, Texas, AKA Pearl City, Collingsworth County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Pearl�s brief life was totally associated with the 1890 election for a Collingsworth County seat of government. The candidates were Aberdeen, Wellington and Pearl.

The name for the would-be county seat comes from Pearl Kennedy, the daughter of J. S. Kennedy, a Fort Worth land promoter.

Early in 1890 it appeared as if Pearl was a shoe-in for county seat. Kennedy stacked the deck by bringing in �prospective� settlers - who may or may not have become permanent residents. A school was built as well as a saloon (perhaps to celebrate a victory).

As election day approached, Wellington was aided by a business faction from Childress. Kennedy raised the pot by offering a town lot to every voter if Pearl won, but Wellington trumped that offer with a bigger prize - five town lots for each voter.

After Wellington won the election, Pearl faded almost immediately while Aberdeen managed to hang on into the 1960s when it finally became a full-fledged ghost town.

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