Carbon, Texas, Eastland County. (original) (raw)

John's Cafe in Carbon
Note volume of empty soda bottles (see Forum) on the right.

History in a Pecan Shell

In 1881 a man named Hayes (or Haynes) opened a store and became the town's first postmaster when the PO opened the following year.

Once considered one of Eastland 's "six principal towns;" it ran for county seat in 1887 but came in third. By 1904 Carbon had a population of 600. Between 1924 and 1942 Eastland County had nine independent school districts - Carbon being one. The population was 281 in 1980, 255 in 1990 and 224 in 2000.

The former high school has been bought by a religious institution.

Carbon, Texas Landmarks ›
Carbon, Texas Vintage Photos ›
Life in Early Carbon ›

Cabon, Texas Landmarks

Historical Marker: Avenue D and Anthracite St., CarbonCarbon Methodist Church Building

Organized in 1890 by I. N. Reeves, the Carbon Methodist Church met in the section house of the Texas Central Railroad and a mercantile store until a sanctuary was erected in 1914. This structure was rebuilt in the 1920s after a fire. The building is an important example of the Craftsman style of architecture. Features include a corner entrance, decorative window details, and bracketed eaves. The church disbanded in 1991.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996

Railroad building and post war Quonset hut
1950s photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com
More Texas Depots

Carbon, Texas Vintage Photos

Vintage photos courtesy of Webb Jordan of Eastland, Texas

"I think it was used up until the 1940's. It had no restroom, no lights, no heater, no kitchen, no exercise area, and no seats. Just concrete walls and a steel door." - Webb Jordan

Historical Marker:

Carbon City Jail

During a jailbreak, Carbon�s 1905 jail was destroyed, resulting in the need for a more substantial calaboose. Built in 1921, this unadorned square plan building is composed of reinforced concrete walls and a steel door. The structure had no lights or heat, and was intended as temporary holding until prisoners were transferred to other cities. The building often stood vacant, and during WWII it was used for occasional scrap drive collections. Local brides and grooms were sometimes locked up on their wedding nights. Today the jail is a rare surviving example of a once-common building type in Texas towns.
2013

"This is probably one of the best school building in the county in 1908. It was made of pine. It burned down after only a few years. The next building was a masonary structure that was added onto in the late thirties. That building still stands today. I finished in 1951 and the school closed in 1990. In the late 1880's and 1890's there were over 150 schools in Eastland County. There are just five left today." - Webb Jordan, December 11, 2007

"No there are no bunnies inside. Just some older men that played domino's. Might be a cottontail on the outside. I think this building was used regularly through the 80's. It has since been torn down. It was a mighty popular place at the time." - Webb Jordan, December 14, 2007

John's Cafe Interior - A staff-to-customer ratio of 3 to 1

"I think this was the best place in the county to buy a hamburger in the 1950's. John Phillips began his Cafe in 1938. They hid the punch cards* when the police came around. John served in the Navy from 1943 to 1945. His wife Shorty ran the Cafe during those years." - Webb Jordan

* Punch cards were a cheap form of gambling where people would buy 3 chances for a quarter and "punch" a small paper roll from a thick paper card. Unrolling the paper revealed the pay out (if there was one). - Editor

"The Carbon Trading Company. It fell down in the mid 1990's. This was the biggest store in Carbon during its heyday." - Webb Jordan

The Carbon Trading Company interior with merchandise

The Carbon Trading Company interior without merchandise

The Mineral Water Bath House in Carbon - note windmill far right behind middle man on wagon

The Boles Drug and Dry Goods Store
Webb Jordan Collection
More Texas Stores

The Puett and Son Store and the Post Office
Webb Jordan Collection

The Puett and Son Store
Webb Jordan Collection

The Boston Hotel
"It was just a few blocks from the train station." - Webb Jordan
More Rooms with a Past

Carbon, Texas Forum

Subject: Carbon, Eastland County
"I have been to most of the places listed and shown, except for the bathhouse. It was across the corner from my Grandfather's gas station in later years. A portion of that building was converted into a dwelling. My mother was born in that house made from the old bath-house.

The soft drink bottle stacks on the porch of the old diner served a purpose. If you were a local kid, you were not charged the bottle-return price on the bottle, providing you promised to return the bottle to the empty cases on the porch when you had finished. We never failed to do so. (The Cokes/RC colas were 5 cents and the bottle return value was a whopping 40% - 2 cents.) My brother and I were accorded the same priviledge, even though we were from Arizona, based on having all relatives except our parents being residents of Carbon and the surrounding area. I do miss the "old Texas" friendliness and mutual respect and trust. (My Father and Mother were burned in the gasoline explosion at Ranger in 1941. 77 people were killed and Mom and Dad were burned to an extent that neither should have survived. They were still recovering when Pearl Harbor was bombed and shortly thereafter, they moved to Arizona where Dad went to work in a critical war industry - copper mining - as he was crippled and not able to be inducted. He was a watchman. My brother and I were both born and raised in a mining camp.) I always disliked not being a Texan - to this day. When I was grown, I moved to Texas and lived there for thirty years before retiring back to Arizona, in the mountains I missed and my wife had come to love. I still prefer Texas, but the die has been cast. I'm old and fixed in place, like the mountains.

My family had been in Eastland County since the late 1800s until my last cousin retired from Eastland National Bank in 1990 something. Mom and Dad and my Grandparents, and great-grandparents are buried in three cemeteries in the Carbon vicinity, and uncles and cousins are buried in Eastland. I surely have ties, and miss that country. Texas would be my escape of choice forever." - Ron Ramsey, Alpine, Az. , November 20, 2021

Subject: Carbon, Eastland County
My Grandfparents lived there and my Aunt was postmaster. I'm old and on the way out, and must say I miss that small, friendly, wonderful town as it was when I was a kid visiting relatives. - Ron Ramsey, Arizona, October 23, 2021

1882 map showing "Carbon or Jewel" S of Eastland in SW Eastland County
From Texas state map #2134
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Eastland County TX 1907 Postal Map showing Carbon
S of Eastland
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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