Eyes on Texas----Durango Texas, the Town

DURANGO TEXAS

DURANGO, TEXAS. Durango is on Farm Road 935 fifteen miles southwest of Marlin in western Falls County. The site was settled under the name West Falls by members of Robertson's colony, and a post office called West Falls operated there from 1871 to 1883. According to local lore, the community changed its name to Durango when a drunken cowboy, who had recently returned from Mexico, insisted that he was in Durango, Mexico.

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Postal records recorded the name change in 1883. By the mid-1880s Durango had a church, a district school, two gristmill-cotton gins, three general stores, several other businesses, and 200 residents. A public school was established in Durango in 1885. In the late 1880s J. T. Hedrick began publishing a weekly newspaper, the Enterprise.

During the early 1890s the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was built through five miles to the east of Durango, and some local residents and businesses moved to be closer to the railroad. Durango suffered a further setback in 1892, when a tornado killed several residents and destroyed a number of houses. The post office was discontinued in 1906, and mail for the community was sent to Lott. Population estimates for Durango remained around 200 for several decades, though the number of businesses decreased.

The Durango school was consolidated with the Lott Independent School District in 1949. In the mid-1940s residents were reported to number 150; by the mid-1960s the population had fallen to fifty-four. Only a church and two businesses were shown at Durango on county highway maps in the 1980s. The reported population was still fifty-four in 1990.

Mexican food, chicken fried steak or the chef's 'just feed me' option for 5 bucks!

The only remaining business establishment in Durango, Texas. A barbecue/beer joint that indicates it is open, but doesn't appear to actually be open for business when this visit occurred. No Durangoites were seen entering or leaving or anywhere in the vicinity. (incoming new information regarding the Durango Inn from an authentic Durangoite is below the photo)

Email from Durango March 3, 2003---Just so you will know, the Durango Inn is alive and well. No longer a beer joint ( it's now BYOB), it is never the less a joint. It has great food...great chicken-fried steak, a great shrimp dinner, fried or grilled, and great Mexican food. The menu also has one dish called "Just Feed Me". Order this and you will get what ever the chef wants to feed you for $5.00

Historical marker at Durango Union Cemetery.

At some point in history Durango, Texas had a much larger population than present day Durango. The population of the Durango Union Cemetery is many times larger than present day Durango, Texas. This historical marker is one of three in Texas to mention Durango...

The Durango Union Cemetery is well kept with many elaborate headstones and ornate wrought iron. And a few wild cats.

Durango Union Cemetery. The Durango Confederate Cemetery is not to be found.

This is not another view of the Durango Union Cemetery, even though it does look a bit like a graveyard. What the photo actually shows is a residence in the very heart of the original town of Durango, Texas.

email from 3/18/03---

"My grandmother Ella Broaddus use to speak often of Durango, Texas. She died in 1977 in Taylor, Arkansas, but I can still remember her telling of her father either dying or disappearing and her mother, brother (Roy), and she moved to Plain Dealing, Louisiana where she met my grand-dad Ben Mason. Do you know of any records from Durango of anyone named Broaddus."

if anyone has any info about Ella Broaddus you can email Ella's Grandson

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source for Durango, Texas info: "DURANGO, TX." The Handbook of Texas Online.

source for Durango, Texas info:
"DURANGO, TX." The Handbook of Texas Online.