Blessing Library Association

Between 1903 and 1905 Blessing already had a library room attached to the train station. The association that took over in 1917 did more than lend books. Its members vaccinated 181 children against diphtheria and 213 against smallpox in the early 1930s, and the community house hosted tuberculosis chest x-rays in 1951 and 1952. It sent relief money to Belgium in 1915 and kept a roll of 61 local World War I servicemen, Black servicemen among them. Citizens signed a $1,150 note to clear the 1921 hall's debt.

What the plaque says

Blessing Library Association In the first years of the 20th century, Jonathan Pierce filed a deed with the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad (Southern Pacific) to lay out a town along the rail line at the junction of two major roads. He named the community Blessing, and a second rail company soon built additional tracks through town. In 1912, concerned about the educational and cultural needs of the community, local women established the Blessing Library Association. Edna Woodruff served as the group's first president. Two years later, the association joined the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, assisting in the organization of the Matagorda County Federation of Women's Clubs in 1916. In 1917, prominent rancher and businessman A.B. Pierce, son of the town founder, donated a former ranch building that had also served as an office and bank. The association converted it to library facilities. Under the direction of Pierce's wife, Adelaide, who also served as president of the county federation, the association funded construction of a community house in 1921. It became a social and cultural center for the town, and was the scene of dances, movies, vaudeville performances, plays, graduations, concerts, immunization programs and many important activities. In the 1950s, the association reorganized as a non-profit charitable corporation, thus ending its longtime partnership with the women's club. The new group continued to offer the community house for events, meetings and services. In 1991, the facilities transferred to Matagorda County, which maintains the property as a social and activity center for Blessing-area residents. (2005)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Half Moon Reef Lighthouse and Linnville — 29 mi
  The last screw-pile lighthouse of the Texas coast, brought ashore at Port Lavaca, a town founded by refugees from Linnville, the port Buffalo Hump's Comanches burned in August 1840.
• Indianola — 30 mi
  The site of Texas's second port, where Morgan's steamships, Army freight and the first refrigerated beef passed until the hurricanes of 1875 and 1886, now mostly under Matagorda Bay.

More markers nearby

• St. Peter's Catholic Church — steps away
• Old Hawley Cemetery — 2.9 mi
• Deming's Bridge Community — 3.1 mi
• William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger — 3.1 mi