Royston Townsite

The Handbook of Texas says Royston was named for 'Aunt' Katie Royston, who owned the site, and dates the town to 1907. It grew quickly as a shipping point on the Texas Central, but declined sharply after 1909, when its population had reached 500, as local cotton farming fell off and prosperity did not return. By 1940 Royston had three businesses, a post office and seventy-five people, with only four houses on the original townsite. Thirty people were counted in 1980 and 1990, and in the early 2000s much of the land was still owned by Royston family descendants.

What the plaque says

The town of Royston came into existence in 1906, when the Texas Central Railroad built a line through this area. In addition to the railroad depot, homes and businesses were soon established in the new town. The Royston Post Office was established in 1907. Businesses included a 30-room hotel, the "Royston Record" weekly newspaper, the Royston Mercantile Company, the Royston State Bank, a cotton gin, tin shop, grocery and hardware store, drug store, restaurant, and two lumberyards. A public school was in operation until 1947, when it was consolidated with McCaulley School. Churches in the town included Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal. The center of a rich agricultural area, Royston's economic base was broadened after the discovery of oil in the area in 1928. The railroad continued both freight and passenger service until 1972, and Royston was an important supply center for the surrounding agricultural area for a number of years. The town of Royston gradually declined, and the rails were removed by the railroad company. This site marks the approximate southern boundary of the town square. Now a ghost town, it is nevertheless an important part of Fisher County history. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pioneer Museum — 24 mi
  Nolan County's settlement story in a dozen rooms of Judge R. A. Ragland's 1906 house in Sweetwater, a town that started as a dugout store for buffalo hunters and a post office called Blue Goose.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 26 mi
  Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, where the women of the WASP trained to fly every aircraft in the Army's arsenal in World War II, then waited thirty-three years to be called veterans.

More markers nearby

• D. W. Stephens No. 1 Discovery Oil Well — steps away
• Roby Cemetery — 5.9 mi
• Organization of Fisher County — 6.5 mi
• Fisher County — 6.5 mi