Odd Town Names in Texas

November 9, 2011

It is cold and windy, but sunny this morning. We got a nice rain yesterday afternoon.

I had a checkup with the eye surgeon Monday afternoon and he was very pleased with the results of the cataract surgery. My eye is now 20/25-1. He made an appointment for me to see an HMO optometrist the week after Thanksgiving and I will be tested for new glasses then. In the meantime I am using drugstore "readers" as needed, and of course the goggle-type sunglasses when I go outside. The difference in my sight is wonderful.




Strange names dot Texas map

And there's a tale behind each one.



By Roy Bragg, rbragg@express-news.net

Updated 12:58 a.m., Sunday, November 27, 2011


It was 1880 and the residents of a tiny Travis County community were ready to make the jump to the big leagues by getting a post office.

That required getting the town name approved. The locals applied, but federal postal officials rejected their town name. So they suggested another. It was turned down, too. So they tried a third name. It was denied.

After the sixth rejection, historians and folklorists say, residents sent a curt note to the U.S. Postmaster: “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!”

And thus the town of Nameless, Texas, was born.

The town long since has been abandoned and exists only as a stretch of Hill Country waiting to be developed by rich guys from Austin. But it's one of the hundreds of oddball and unusual names dotting the maps of the Lone Star State.

While a complete list would include hundreds of names, it's possible to pick up on certain patterns.

Towns usually adopted names for specific reasons, says Rhett Rushing, a folklorist at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Still others, he said, named their small towns after large cities as a way of garnering attention.

That explains the Texas World Tour of town names, which includes Atlanta, Detroit, Paris, Carthage, Dublin, Naples and Port-Au-Prince.

Other names, Rushing says, describe a town's roots.

Bovina sprouted at a rail terminal where cattle were shipped to market. Muleshoe grew around a blacksmith's shop.

There are American Indian names, such as Bedias and Nacogdoches and geographic names, such as Brushy Creek and Plains.

Other times, there's geographic irony. Grandfalls is in a desert. Maple sits on treeless plains. And Big Lake doesn't have one.

Domicile-themed names include Home, New Home and Mountain Home, but the most inviting name of all might be Sweet Home.

More good vibes can be found in Happy, Joy, Utopia, Paradise, Eden, Placid, Prosper and Loyal Valley.

Some town names beckon for action: Grow, Draw, Tell, and Crow. Others are downright bossy, such as Needmore and Circle Back.

Hungry? There's Oatmeal, Okra, Muenster, Lollipop and Apple Springs.

Male names are found loitering all over the map, including Melvin, Nolan, Seymour, and Chester.

Not every town is that casual. Please address the following towns by their full name: Ben Arnold, Ben Wheeler, George West and Tom Bean.

Women are represented, too: Celina, Anna, Maud, Louise, Edna, Sarita, Alice,Donna, Mercedes, and Maybelle. Some places just wanted a vague female vibe, such as Sisterdale and Lovelady.

Iraan combines the names of Ira and Ann Yates, children of a local rancher. There's a town named after brothers I.B. Bell and Z.O. Bell, who were known to locals as Ding and Dong. Hence Ding Dong, a wide spot in the road near Killeen.

Sacul and Reklaw, both in East Texas, were intended to be Lucas and Walker, respectively. But when the post office turned them down, town leaders reversed the spelling of each. Byspot, another East Texas town, reverses the first name of Topsy Bennett, wife of a local mill owner, with a “B” tacked on the front for good measure.

Sometimes, there's confusion when towns are placed in counties.

Seguin is in Guadalupe County, but Guadalupe is in Victoria County. Mentone is in Loving County but Loving is in Young County. There are other examples, but the winner is a long one: Athens is in Henderson County, Henderson is in Rusk County, Rusk is in Cherokee County and Cherokee is in San Saba County, which, surprisingly, is home to the town of San Saba.

And then, there are the names that are flat-out bizarre: Weeping Mary, Zipperlandville, Fly Gap, Looneyville, Fluvanna, Loco, Noodle, Cut And Shoot, Gun Barrel City, and Lazbuddie.

Some names have simple back stories.

Bug Tussle got its name, according to one story, because the bugs were so thick, residents had to fight their way through the swarms.

Uncertain (located near Marshall in Northeast Texas) either comes from tugboat captains uncertain of how to navigate Caddo Lake or residents uncertain whether they lived in the United States or the Republic of Texas.

Dime Box sprang forth from nearby Old Dime Box. New Braunfels comes from the German town of Braunfels. But in the case of North Zulch, the original town of Zulch is gone, which makes it even sillier.

It's difficult to list every unusual Texas town name. The perfect place to do it, however, would probably be in Jot 'em Down, a bustling town of 10 residents in Delta County.



















































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It was 1880 and the residents of a tiny Travis County community were ready to make the jump to the big leagues by getting a post office.

That required getting the town name approved. The locals applied, but federal postal officials rejected their town name. So they suggested another. It was turned down, too. So they tried a third name. It was denied.

After the sixth rejection, historians and folklorists say, residents sent a curt note to the U.S. Postmaster: “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!”

And thus the town of Nameless, Texas, was born.

The town long since has been abandoned and exists only as a stretch of Hill Country waiting to be developed by rich guys from Austin. But it's one of the hundreds of oddball and unusual names dotting the maps of the Lone Star State.

While a complete list would include hundreds of names, it's possible to pick up on certain patterns.

Towns usually adopted names for specific reasons, says Rhett Rushing, a folklorist at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Still others, he said, named their small towns after large cities as a way of garnering attention.

That explains the Texas World Tour of town names, which includes Atlanta, Detroit, Paris, Carthage, Dublin, Naples and Port-Au-Prince.

Other names, Rushing says, describe a town's roots.

Bovina sprouted at a rail terminal where cattle were shipped to market. Muleshoe grew around a blacksmith's shop.

There are American Indian names, such as Bedias and Nacogdoches and geographic names, such as Brushy Creek and Plains.

Other times, there's geographic irony. Grandfalls is in a desert. Maple sits on treeless plains. And Big Lake doesn't have one.

Domicile-themed names include Home, New Home and Mountain Home, but the most inviting name of all might be Sweet Home.

More good vibes can be found in Happy, Joy, Utopia, Paradise, Eden, Placid, Prosper and Loyal Valley.

Some town names beckon for action: Grow, Draw, Tell, and Crow. Others are downright bossy, such as Needmore and Circle Back.

Hungry? There's Oatmeal, Okra, Muenster, Lollipop and Apple Springs.

Male names are found loitering all over the map, including Melvin, Nolan, Seymour, and Chester.

Not every town is that casual. Please address the following towns by their full name: Ben Arnold, Ben Wheeler, George West and Tom Bean.

Women are represented, too: Celina, Anna, Maud, Louise, Edna, Sarita, Alice,Donna, Mercedes, and Maybelle. Some places just wanted a vague female vibe, such as Sisterdale and Lovelady.

Iraan combines the names of Ira and Ann Yates, children of a local rancher. There's a town named after brothers I.B. Bell and Z.O. Bell, who were known to locals as Ding and Dong. Hence Ding Dong, a wide spot in the road near Killeen.

Sacul and Reklaw, both in East Texas, were intended to be Lucas and Walker, respectively. But when the post office turned them down, town leaders reversed the spelling of each. Byspot, another East Texas town, reverses the first name of Topsy Bennett, wife of a local mill owner, with a “B” tacked on the front for good measure.

Sometimes, there's confusion when towns are placed in counties.

Seguin is in Guadalupe County, but Guadalupe is in Victoria County. Mentone is in Loving County but Loving is in Young County. There are other examples, but the winner is a long one: Athens is in Henderson County, Henderson is in Rusk County, Rusk is in Cherokee County and Cherokee is in San Saba County, which, surprisingly, is home to the town of San Saba.

And then, there are the names that are flat-out bizarre: Weeping Mary, Zipperlandville, Fly Gap, Looneyville, Fluvanna, Loco, Noodle, Cut And Shoot, Gun Barrel City, and Lazbuddie.

Some names have simple back stories.

Bug Tussle got its name, according to one story, because the bugs were so thick, residents had to fight their way through the swarms.

Uncertain (located near Marshall in Northeast Texas) either comes from tugboat captains uncertain of how to navigate Caddo Lake or residents uncertain whether they lived in the United States or the Republic of Texas.

Dime Box sprang forth from nearby Old Dime Box. New Braunfels comes from the German town of Braunfels. But in the case of North Zulch, the original town of Zulch is gone, which makes it even sillier.

It's difficult to list every unusual Texas town name. The perfect place to do it, however, would probably be in Jot 'em Down, a bustling town of 10 residents in Delta County.


Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Ding-Dong-Noodle-and-Bug-Tussle-among-funny-2291232.php#ixzz1ezFMBmKD

Oct 25, 2011

The computer tech brought back my office computer. He had to remove a virus. He also reformatted the hard drive and installed Firefox instead of Explorer and Vipre instead of AVG.

I ordered the 2012 version of Quick Books tonight for my home computer.

The computer repairman came this morning and checked my office computer. He thinks it has a virus as well as many other problems and took it with him. He will back everything up and reformat the hard drive. He will also install a new antivirus program that shouldn't slow down the computer as much. He thinks he can have it back tomorrow.

Sunday, Oct 23

We got new neighbors this week on the side where the house has been empty for a couple of years and before that the old lady who lived there was like a recluse. She died a couple of years ago. The new neighbors were sure noisy last night. They were out in the back yard - not far from my bedroom window talking and laughing really loud for at least an hour between 1 and 2 a.m. I got up and went out to the recliner in the living room for awhile. Then I went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours.

I drove to church. I hadn't driven since I had my cataract surgery last Tuesday. It was fine. We took in a new member today - Gary R.

After church we went to Olive Garden for lunch. I had the Venetian Chicken with apricot sauce, broccoli, asparagus and tomatoes. We had salad and bread sticks too. Phoebe got the spaghetti and meat sauce.

October 1-22, 2011

We went to a Lion's Club pancake and sausage breakfast this morning. I took along all my old pairs of glasses and gave to them. They aren't any good to me now that I have had my cataract surgery. I will be going back to the eye doctor on Nov 7th and I will probably get tested for new glasses then.

Then after the breakfast we went to Wal-Mart and did some shopping.

This afternoon we went to the Pumpkin Patch. They were selling pumpkins all day, but from 4 to 7 was the pumpkin festival. We stayed from 1:30 until about 6 p.m. and helped, but then we were both late for our medicines, so we left and came home. We were both tired. They did good on the pumpkins. I don't know how many tickets they sold for things at the festival. There was a cake walk, a dunking booth, face painting, a woman making things out of balloons for the children and the church youth group was singing and playing guitars. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Both pastors got dunked in the dunking booth.

Wednesday, Oct 19, 2011

I went back to the doctor for a follow-up exam this morning. He thinks it looks great and will have me see him again in a few weeks, at which time he will probably give me a vision test to prescribe new glasses. I can see so much better. I need to wear black goggle-like sunglasses when I go outside.

I took off work both yesterday and today, but plan to go back tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, Oct 18, 2011

I had my cataract surgery this morning. All went well
and I go back tomorrow morning for a follow-up. I had to wear gauze
covering it until 5 p.m. Then a clear shield to protect it. I will have to have eyedrops several times a day for awhile.

Monday, Oct 17, 2011

We are having pleasant fall weather but could really use some more rain.

My cataract surgery that was scheduled for Oct 11th had to be postponed because all the paperwork hadn't come through, but will be trying again tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to having it over with.
Tuesday, Oct 11
Today was when I was supposed to have cataract surgery. I started the eye drops Sunday as scheduled and Sis took me downtown to the eye center by 8:30 a.m. as instructed. After awhile, the nurse came out and said, "I am so sorry, but we are going to have to cancel your surgery."

It seems that they had been unable to get my primary doctor's office to get his final clearance signed and faxed over to them. This is after them calling back and forth to his office off and on for two days. The office staff in my doctor's office was very rude to them on the phone as well. I am so upset.

They did reschedule for next Tuesday morning in the hopes that this can be straightened out by that time. So I came back to work and will have to try again next week. I just don't understand why all of this is happening. I have been trying for nearly a year to get this done.

We got a really good rain over the weekend. It started Saturday evening
with small bursts of rain and then rained nearly all day Sunday. We have had such a serious drought this year that every drop is welcome. We got around 3 inches on Sunday. It did spawn a small tornado on the west side of the city and damaged a fairly small area but there were no injuries reported.

The pumpkins for the 2011 Pumpkin Patch were supposed to be delivered to one of the churches in our group Saturday evening, so Sis and I went over to help. There were about fifty of us there waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Finally we got word that the truck wouldn't arrive until Sunday evening so we all went home.

The pumpkins arrived this afternoon (Sunday) for the 2011 Pumpkin Patch. It is at one of our Corredor churches, but not the same one as last year. I think I have an ear infection starting so I didn't go this afternoon. Phoebe went over to help them unload, but the truck had arrived an hour and a half earlier than had been expected and they were nearly finished unloading when she got there.

Oct 6
My doctor's appointment went okay. Actually, he was out of town, but the nurse had me go next door to the lab for blood tests. Then she did the EKG and sent me to the imaging unit nearby for a chest x-ray. The doctor had seen me a couple of weeks ago. Now they need to fax the results to the eye center. As far as I know, everything is okay for me to have the surgery next week. I sure will be glad when it is over with.

We are having cooler weather - in the 80's this week and expecting rain over the weekend.

One of our other churches is celebrating their 100th anniversary this Sunday, so there will be no services at our church Sunday so that everyone can go celebrate with them. The bishop is to speak.

May Catch-Up Time

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I went to the downtown eye center this morning to get my eye measured for the cataract surgery I am scheduled to have next month. Sis drove me there and back. I asked the technician who was doing the measurements what size my cataract is and she said it is a 3. Another friend had told me her ophthalmologist said they range from a scale of 1 to 4 and when they get to a 4, there isn’t much that can be done to help the vision. So I definitely don’t want to put it off any longer. I also got a kit from them that contains dark glasses, shields and gauze to protect the eye after the surgery.

It was after 11 am when we got back, so we had lunch with Sis’s craft group; then I went back to the office for the afternoon.

Sis talked to the veterinary office staff and Precious had 8 teeth pulled, as well as a lot of other things. It was expensive. The itemized list was a 2-page print-out. I picked her up after 4 pm. She has three bottles of medicine to take and it is hard to give them to her, as she doesn’t want to eat or drink.

Later we went to Wal-Mart and I picked up my blood pressure prescription, left the prescription for the eye drops I will need to take for three days prior to my cataract surgery; and did a little shopping.

Monday, May 16, 2011
M
Precious hasn’t eaten or drank anything for three days so Sis took her to the veterinarian this morning. He checked her did blood work and said her mouth is a mess and she needs some teeth pulled and others cleaned. He kept her overnight to do all that.

 

 

Sis went to work with me yesterday morning and sat in for me in the office while I went to the funeral of my friend, Betty. Then she helped downstairs at the funeral dinner for awhile.

When we got home a little after 3 p.m., the smoke alarm/carbon monoxide alarm in our house was shrieking every little bit, proclaiming "low battery". Precious was cowering in my bedroom looking traumatized.  It must have been doing that for hours.

I had a 9-volt battery so I thought I could change it. It is attached to the ceiling. I got a step stool and got it unlatched from the top piece, but couldn't figure out how and where to open it to replace the battery. It didn't help that my knees are stiff, I am short, and have such a vision problem that I couldn't begin to see any instructions that may have been shown on the smoke alarm. Sis tried. She is a little taller than me, but she couldn't see any instructions either. In the meantime, every little bit, it would let out this loud shriek and the voice would again inform us that the battery was low. It is wired in electrically, but has a battery backup.

We knew of no one around close that we could call, so I called the hot line 211 and they told me to call the fire department. I did and told them the problem and that we were too old, stiff and vision-challenged to get up there and get it changed. They were very nice and immediately sent someone out to change it. Three cheers for our fire department! We are both pretty independent and try to do as much for ourselves as possible, but now and then something comes up that we just have to ask for help.

I was finally able to convince Precious that it was safe to come out from behind the bed where she was hiding.  She was terrified.