Copeville
Copeville, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
KENTUCKY NATIVE JOHN MILES COPE, WHO SETTLED IN COLLIN COUNTY IN 1848 WITH HIS PARENTS AND BROTHER, HELPED ORGANIZE THE COPEVILLE COMMUNITY (ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS BLACK SPOT) IN THE 1850s ON LAND IN THE WILLIS ROBERTS AND HEZEKIAH WALTERS SURVEYS. IN 1878, HE BECAME THE TOWN’S FIRST POSTMASTER. BY 1885, THE COMMUNITY HAD A CHURCH, BANK, COTTON GIN, SAWMILL, FLOUR MILL, SALOON AND A GENERAL STORE THAT ALSO HOUSED A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. IN 1877, THOMAS KING PLATTED THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE BUT IN 1886, THE COMMUNITY MOVED TO A SITE ONE MILE NORTHEAST NEXT TO THE NEW GULF, COLORADO, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD TRACKS. LOCAL MERCHANT JAMES E. JONES, WHO GAVE THE RAILROAD LAND FOR ITS RIGHT OF WAY AND DEPOT, OPERATED THE TOWN’S FIRST GENERAL STORE AT ITS NEW SITE. COPEVILLE BECAME THE SHIPPING POINT FOR THE AREA’S FARM PRODUCTS AND BOIS D’ARC TIMBER, VALUED FOR ITS DENSE, TOUGH WOOD. THE KARO SCHOOL, LOCATED AT THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE, STARTED IN 1895. ALTHOUGH THE COMMUNITY NEVER INCORPORATED, BY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, COPEVILLE HAD GROWN TO ABOUT 300 RESIDENTS. THE COPEVILLE SCHOOL OPERATED FROM 1913 INTO THE 1940s. IN 1921, COPEVILLE BECAME ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S FIRST TOWNS TO HAVE A FEMALE POSTMASTER, WHEN ELIZABETH PEARCE TOOK THE POSITION. IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, TWO LOCAL CONGREGATIONS, THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE AND THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE (ORGANIZED AS MOUNT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1857) RELOCATED TO THE TOWN. IN THAT ERA, THE TOWN’S BUSINESSES INCLUDED THE CRAFT HOTEL, A DRUGSTORE, A PICKLE FACTORY AND SEVERAL GENERAL STORES. JUST AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE TOWN HAD ABOUT 150 RESIDENTS, TWO CHURCHES, FIVE BUSINESSES AND A SCHOOL. COPEVILLE CONTINUES TO SURVIVE AND GROW.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kentucky-born John Miles Cope settled in Collin County in 1848 and helped organize this farming community—first called Black Spot—in the 1850s, becoming its first postmaster in 1878. When the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1886, the town shifted a mile northeast to trackside, becoming a shipping point for farm produce and prized bois d'arc timber. Copeville grew to about 300 residents and in 1921 gained one of the nation's early female postmasters, Elizabeth Pearce.
Why it matters
Copeville's rise, relocation to the rail line, and quiet endurance capture the typical life cycle of the countless small farm towns that the railroads made and remade across the American heartland.
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Related people
- · John Miles Cope
- · James E. Jones
- · Elizabeth Pearce
- · Thomas King
Themes & tags
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