Bibb Community
Sidney, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The town of Bibb began when Anglo settlers moved to the area in the 1870s to farm cotton. Perhaps among the first settlers was John Wesley (1834-1924) and Floellar (Flullah) (Williams) Morris (1839-1903). The couple arrived from Alabama around 1869. The Bibb post office was established in 1878; located at the Morris home. On March 13, 1891, seven men filed paperwork officially platting the town of Bibb with 44 lots centered on Main and Water streets. The seven included: J.P. Green, W.C. Jackson, C.W. Atchison, A.J. Whitaker, D. Pierce, J.H. Bridges and T.G. Preston. In the 1890s, Bibb had two cotton gins, three general stores, two drug stores, a school, one broom factory, one saloon, a Masonic lodge and an Odd Fellows lodge. The town also had four churches: a Primitive Baptist church, a Methodist Episcopal church, a Missionary Baptist church and a Church of Christ, which met in a building where the roadside park is today. As the population grew, their education needs grew as well. In 1907, an independent school district was formed. Unfortunately, the original schoolhouse burned, but the town rebuilt. The second school was a two-story building with two rooms downstairs, one for lower grades, one for upper grades. The upstairs housed a meeting hall for the Odd Fellows and Masons. In 1912, Bibb had 101 students. In 1926, Bibb ISD folded into Beattie ISD. The Bibb school was subsequently moved to Beattie. The village is shown on a 1920 map, but as transportation and roads began to improve, the town's population began to decrease. Today, Bibb is a ghost town with no trace remaining. Yet Bibb is remembered as an important community in western Comanche County for many decades. (2022)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Bibb sprang up when Anglo cotton farmers settled western Comanche County in the 1870s, and by 1891 seven men platted a proper town of 44 lots. At its height in the 1890s it bustled with cotton gins, general stores, a school, four churches, a broom factory, and Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges. As roads improved and rail bypassed it, the population drained away; today no trace of Bibb remains on the ground.
Why it matters
Bibb is a classic example of the cotton-belt boomtowns that flourished and then vanished as transportation reshaped rural Texas.
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Related people
- · John Wesley Morris
- · Floellar Morris
Themes & tags
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