Barnhart

The Handbook of Texas says Barnhart got a post office in 1912 with C. C. Luther as postmaster, and its first school opened that year with Mrs. Maude Branch as teacher. The Barnhart Independent School District was created on February 27, 1917, and the school ran until 1969. By 1920 the town had the Barnhart State Bank, moved to Rankin in 1927, and a newspaper, the Barnhart Range, published by Ed Downing. Barnhart counted fifty people in 1915, 250 people and six businesses in 1947, seventy-four in 1980 and 160 in 2000.

What the plaque says

Named for William F. Barnhart, an agent of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, this community was founded in 1910. During the 1920s and 1930s it was a major freighting center and considered by many the largest inland livestock shipping point. The Ozona-Barnhart Trap Co. set up cattle holding pens (traps) along the trails into town to protect area ranches. Barnhart declined with decreased rail traffic. It was once the site of a school, post office, newspaper, drugstore, theatre, bank, four cafes, two hotels, three groceries, and a variety of other businesses. (1981)

Where it stands

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