Coughran

W. A. Abe Coughran built his town as a product. In 1912 and 1913 he put up a store, bank, gin, school and post office, located artesian wells to attract farmers, and gave the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad its right-of-way. By 1914 the town had a hotel and a weekly paper, the Coughran Observer. In the 1920s it marketed cotton and watermelons. A new school went up in 1924 and was enlarged in 1933 to hold 134 pupils. In 1956 that school was consolidated with Pleasanton's.

What the plaque says

Coughran Established on land purchased in 1901, the town of Coughran was named for founder and early settler W.A. "Abe" Coughran. He persuaded the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad to build tracks through his property. The town was platted in 1913; by 1914, Coughran boasted a cotton gin, a post office, a school and creamery, a general store, a hotel, a bank, a weekly newspaper, and a railroad station. The town thrived until about 1918. Coughran's fortunes dwindled in the early 1920s but the town recovered and prospered until another decline following World War II. Postal and rail service were discontinued in 1945, and in 1956 the school was closed. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Longhorn Museum — 4.0 mi
  Atascosa County in one roadside museum: longhorn-and-mustang ranching, a moved railroad depot and caboose, a horse-drawn hearse and the town that calls itself the birthplace of the cowboy.
• Atascosa County Courthouse — 8.2 mi
  The only surviving Mission Revival courthouse in Texas, built in 1912-13 on Jourdanton's town circle after a county seat vote that some residents still call a theft.

More markers nearby

• Dr. Ben and Mona Parker and KBOP Radio — 4.1 mi
• George Washington Marion Duck — 4.4 mi
• Pleasanton — 4.4 mi
• North Pleasanton — 4.5 mi