CHILTON, FALLS COUNTY, TEXAS
CHILTON, TEXAS. Chilton is on State Highway 7 a mile east of U.S. Highway 77,
twelve miles west of Marlin, and twenty-one miles south of Waco in northwestern
Falls County. The first settlers in the Chilton area were five Missouri families
who arrived in 1854. Newton B. Maxey, one of the early settlers, established a
wagon line to Galveston to bring in supplies. In the first year of settlement
John Wethers was mistakenly shot by another settler, who thought he was a bear.
The man who shot him lost his mind and was sent back to Missouri. In 1873 the
site was bought by James C. Gaither. The town was originally called Abney's
Farm. In 1876 Lysias B. Chilton, in partnership with W. J. de Bardeleben, opened
a store near the present site of Chilton. The post office opened in 1882 and was
named after Chilton. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built through
the county in 1888, the town was moved closer to the tracks and officially
designated Chilton by the Texas Townsite Company. Chilton then became one of
several railroad stations in Falls County and served as a shipping center.
In 1884 it had a population of 100, a steam flour mill, a cotton gin, a Baptist
church, a First Christian church, and a district school. By 1896 the Chilton
school had three teachers. Population estimates for the early twentieth century
vary widely, from 230 to 750 for the same period. They also fluctuate markedly
afterward. By 1914 Chilton had a bank, three churches, a large lumberyard, two
cotton gins, a new schoolhouse, a telephone system, and a weekly newspaper, the
Chilton Homeland.
The first oil well in the county was brought in on Deer Creek southeast of
Chilton in April 1922. During an attempt to find oil in 1924, hot artesian wells
were discovered, and the water was piped throughout the town. In 1935 the
Chilton school district had 585 students, 8 percent of the students in Falls
County. By the mid-1950s, when the Chilton district was one of only four
independent school districts in the county, the town's population reached 750.
It stayed at that level until the mid-1970s, when the number of residents
dropped to 310, which was still the reported population in 1990. In 2000 the
population was 274. In the 1930s the town had twenty-five businesses, but by
1966 the number had dropped to eleven. In 1988 Chilton had ten businesses, six
churches, one school, a town hall, and a recreation center. In 2000, however,
the town had thirty-five businesses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Leshner, "Rosebud, Lott, and Chilton, Texas," Texas
Magazine, January 1911. Lillian S. St. Romain, Western Falls County,
Texas (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1951).
Lisa C. Maxwell
Info from
The Handbook of Texas Online.
TITLE |
DESCRIPTION |
CONTRIBUTED BY |
1994 Chilton Pirates part a part b part c part d Long load time |
1994 Chilton Pirate
- Special 1994 Chilton High School Ex-Students Homecoming Edition. It contains a
vast amount of pictures, history, and firsthand accounts of the town of Chilton
and the Chilton School. | Jason Phelps |
B.B. Phelps Gunshot Long load time |
B.B. Phelps Gunshot-
A Marlin Democrat article written about my G-Grandfather, Barney Bernard Phelps,
gunshot wound. | Jason Phelps |
Chilton Baptist Chruch 77th Homecoming Long load time |
Chilton Baptist Chruch 77th Homecoming Pamplet | Jason Phelps |
Chilton FBC Directory- before 1970 Long load time |
Chilton FBC Directory- before 1970 | Jason Phelps |
Chilton FBC Directory-1983 Long load time |
Chilton FBC Directory-1983 | Jason Phelps |
Chilton FBC Directory-1990 Long load time |
Chilton FBC Directory-1990 | Jason Phelps |
Chilton Senior Class 1940-1941 Long load time |
Chilton Senior Class 1940-1941 | Jason Phelps |
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Charles Newman |
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Main Street |
Gates Family |
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William Abraham Tull |
Roy Juch |
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Roy Juch |
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Thomas Marion and Amy Capel Tull |
Roy Juch |
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Thomas Marion and Amy Capel Tull |
Roy Juch |
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Sara Jane Temple
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Ken Gates |
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Carolina Cemetery Historical Marker |
Ken Gates |
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Ken Gates |
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Chilton Newspaper Articles |
Chilton Newspaper Articles |
Ken Gates |
Joe Bob, Lermon & Darwyn |
Ken Gates |
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Stewart Whitaker |
Ken Gates |
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Pioneer Families Join To Settle Early Day Chilton |
Pioneer Families Join To Settle Early Day Chilton
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Ken Gates |
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Ken Gates |
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Nunn's Drugstore |
Photo donated by: |
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Maxey Drugstore |
Photocopy provided |
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Mounted Horsemen |
Photocopy provided |
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Shankel-Gardner-Levy |
Photocopy provided |
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Pictures of Downtown Chilton Before The Fire |
Another View of Fire |
Mayme Hause |
Downtown Chilton |
Mayme Hause |
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Jo Ann (Steed) Watts |
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Walter Lee & Hattie Coyal Maxey |
Coyal Maxey Gorman |
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Maxey Brothers |
Coyal Maxey Gorman |
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Shelly B. Harrell
Here’s my grandfather, Shelly B. Harrell taken in Paris France during World
War I. |
Mike McKinney |
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Chilton’s Public Water Well
Abt. 1900 |
Mayme Hause |
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ADAMS FAMILY PHOTOS |
Contributors: |
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EAKIN-COOLEY-GATES FAMILY PHOTOS |
Contributors: |