Jones County, TX - History - Jones City's Name Changed to Anson ************************************************************************************* This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Dorman Holub Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************************************************* The Abilene Reporter News Abilene, Texas Sunday, 29 October 1978 TO MAKE ANSON JONES Jones City's Name Changed to Anson ANSON - The earliest settlements in Jones Cunty were establsihed some seven years before Jones County was officially created, at Fort Phantom Hill near the present site of Hawley. Jones County officially came into being in 1858 and was named for Anson Jones, last president of the Republic of Texas. Fort Phantom originally was called Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos and was established 14 November 1851. Jones County was recreated in 1876 and organized in 1881, with Phantom Hill serving as its temporary county seat. In 1879 a group of immigrants headed by Creed, John and Emmett Roberts, settled at the site of Fort Phantom Hill. Within a year there were 546 "heads of households" in Jones County, according to the 1880 census. Four places: Phantom Hill Jones City The Lightfoot Survey Brazos City sought the county seat in 1881. Jones City was the winner, sponsored by M.D. Bowyer and Martin Duvell, owners of a section of land which John Merchant had originally laid out for a townsite when it was thought that the T&P Railroad would go throug Jones County. Jones City had only three buildings. Bowyer's store, the Tipton Inn and Duvall's residence at the time. A boxed and stripped building, 24 x 32, was erected with lumber hauled from Abilene by J.F. Huie. This served as the first Jones County court house when records were moved from Phantom Hill on 1 January 1882. When Jones City applied for a permanent post office in 1882, the name of the county seat was changed to Anson to match the name of the county - Anson in Jones, Anson Jones. Census figures from 1890 show Jones county with a population of 3,797. By the turn of the century the figure had nearly doubled, thanks mainly to the building of the Texas Central Railroad across the country. The coming of the Texas Central brought a new town to the county, Stamford. In anticipation of the extension of the rails from Albany, the Stamford townsite company was organized in 1899. THe site located was on Swenson land, part of the holdings of S.M. Swenson, a Swedish immigrant who came to Texas in the 1830s. The town was born overnight. Many Anson businesses moved to Stamford so they could have the services of the railroad. A second railroad for Jones county brought about the location of another town, Hamlin, near the northwest corner of the county. It was chosen by the railroad because of the supply of water afforded by California Creek and because it was locatd in a prairie country with thousands of undeveloped acres spreading out in three counties: Jones, Fisher and Stonewall. Anson did not get a railroad until 1908 when the Wichita Valley line was extended from Seymour to Abilene. As the county great in this century, other towns appeared. Hawley, Truby, Lueders, Avoca, Neinda, Funston, Tuxedo and the like.