Borden, Texas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Borden, Texas
|
|
|---|---|
Gail Borden, the namesake of the community
|
|
 Borden, Texas
Location in Texas
Borden, Texas
Location in the United States
|
|
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Colorado |
| Elevation | 328 ft (100 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code(s) | 979 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1378033 |
Borden is an unincorporated community in southwestern Colorado County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 60 in 2000.
History
Harvey's Creek Settlement was the name of the region before the American Civil War, but soon after the war, the Borden Milk Company's founder, Gail Borden, Jr., made his way back to Texas, naming the hamlet Bordenville after himself, his sons, and his brother John P. Borden. They had built their homes on the hills above the creek. The Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway finished passing through the region in 1872. That year, Borden made a $125,000 investment in the Borden Meat Preserving Company located there. The business constructed a slaughterhouse in 1873 that could process 25 heads a day and included equipment for making "extract of beef," roast beef, and beef hash. Prospective inhabitants came to the new community, lured by the railroad, available jobs, and land that sold for $5 to $57 per acre. A post office was founded on January 19, 1874, and John P. Borden was appointed postmaster. Up until 1905, when mail was redirected to Weimar, it remained in operation. The railroad eventually forced the processing facility to close, even though it continued to function for many years following Gail Borden's death in 1874 due to the higher freight charges associated with exporting processed meat rather than live cattle, but by then, the settlement had grown significantly, with a station, a hotel, a gin, many shops, and over 100 residents. In 1878, it was characterized as a "snug little town" encircled by corn, cotton, and cane fields. A few businesses relocated to the new location after the roadway was rerouted approximately half a mile south of the hamlet in the 1930s. The majority of homes and a railroad section's offices were still situated at the previous site. The highway department created Borden Lake, a 2 acres (0.81 ha) impoundment next to the new U.S. 90, and set up picnic tables along the side of the road. All but one of Borden's businesses had closed by 1948. When I-10 was built in the late 1950s, Old San Antonio Road became Colorado County 217 and even more traffic was diverted away from the area. Less than 50 people still lived there, and just one business was still in operation by the 1980s when the majority of the area's land had returned to pasture. The population in 2000 was 60.
Geography
Borden is located between Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 90 on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 8 mi (13 km) west of Columbus, 4 mi (6.4 km) northeast of Weimar, and 80 mi (130 km) west of Houston in southwestern Colorado County.
Education
Gail Borden built a school for white children and a freedmen's school for black children, which continued to operate in 1874. In 1948, the Borden area schools were consolidated into the Weimar Independent School District.
