Community of Sidney

Sidney wore other names first. The Handbook says it was called Jimmie's Creek, for the stream, and Round Mountain, for the hill nearby. The name Sidney came in 1883 from the son of John Stapp, who was first postmaster when the post office opened in 1886. After the 1918 Desdemona discovery in Eastland County, drillers moved into northern Comanche County and brought in wells at Sidney as well as at Sipe Springs, Comyn and Proctor. In 1940 the town had four stores, three churches and a consolidated school, and the Handbook reported 196 residents through 2000.

What the plaque says

Community of Sidney Began about 1870 when William Yarborough and J. A. Wright, early settlers, located on Jimmie's Creek. As a community developed, the settlers built a log schoolhouse near a spring, in 1877. W. D. Cox was the first teacher. The Methodist church was also founded in 1877 and a few years later the Baptist church and Church of Christ were started. All denominations took turns using the log schoolhouse for worship. In 1883 Tom Davis opened a store and soon J. C. Stapp bought an interest in it. In 1886 Stapp became the first Postmaster, naming the post office after his young son Sidney. Holstein dairy cattle, basis of a major industry, were brought here in the 1880s. Between 1890 and 1910 Sidney had several doctors' offices, drug stores, gins, a general store, barber shop, lodge hall, and telephone exchange. Reorganized in 1902, the school became an accredited high school. Around the turn of the century, the town shared in the national attention focused on nearby Round Mountain--first field laboratory of the remarkable Dr. Robert T. Hill (1858-1941), world-famous geologist. His studies vastly increased knowledge of the geology of North America and Texas, and after his death, he had his ashes scattered atop the mountain. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Brownwood State Park — 18 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.
• Dublin Bottling Works — 25 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.

More markers nearby

• Bibb Community — 3.4 mi
• Mollie E. Moore — 7.8 mi
• Hardin, John Wesley — 7.8 mi
• Comanche County — 8.0 mi