Fairview
Floresville, Wilson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Near this crossroads was once the flourishing community of Fairview. The village began shortly after the Civil War, when Henry Hudson opened a store on the Old Oakville Road. A post office was established in the store in 1868. Fairview grew to include homes, churches, doctors' offices, a blacksmith shop, cotton gin, public school, Masonic Lodge, and telephone exchange. The area's economy was based on agriculture, and the main crop was cotton. The advent of the boll weevil and other pests which attacked the cotton crop played a large part in the eventual decline of the town following World War I. Fairview was the hometown of twenty-seven Texas peace officers, including twenty Texas Rangers. Among the Rangers was Frank Hamer (1884-1955), who is best remembered for his role in pursuing notorious Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Still remaining and in use in the area is the Fairview Cemetery, originally called the Rock Church Cemetery due to its position next to a Methodist church built in the 1870s. With grave markers dating from the 1860s, it is one of the few remaining physical reminders of the town. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fairview sprang up after the Civil War when Henry Hudson opened a store on the Old Oakville Road, gaining a post office in 1868 and growing into a cotton town with churches, a school, a gin, and a Masonic lodge. The boll weevil and other pests ravaged the cotton crop, and the community faded after World War I. Fairview's proudest legacy was its lawmen — twenty-seven peace officers including twenty Texas Rangers, among them Frank Hamer, who pursued and helped bring down Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
Why it matters
A vanished cotton town that produced a small army of Texas Rangers, Fairview links the rise and fall of the cotton economy to the frontier tradition of frontier law enforcement.
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Related people
- · Henry Hudson
- · Frank Hamer
- · Bonnie Parker
- · Clyde Barrow
Themes & tags
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