Rural Shade
Kerens, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As early as 1850 there were several families living in the area near the Wildcat Ferry on the Trinity River. In 1852 a gravel road designed to be the best route from Corsicana to the Wildcat Ferry ran directly through this community. In 1858 Washington Ingram became the first postmaster of Rural Shade. A school district was created in 1867. In 1888, Rural Shade Baptist Church of Christ was established and land was deeded to the community for a school and a church to be shared by the Methodist Episcopal, Christian, and primitive and missionary Baptist churches. Many early settlers were farmers living in log cabins with dirt floors. By the turn of the century there were several fine large homes, most still surrounded by barns filled with livestock. In 1917 church membership was 237. School enrollment had reached 305 pupils by 1929. Rural free delivery began in 1912; Rural Shade continued to grow until World War II, when many young people departed for cities and did not return. In 1953 a community center was created in the school building on this site. Ex-students reunited each July through the 20th century. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By 1850 families had gathered near the Wildcat Ferry on the Trinity River, and a gravel road from Corsicana soon ran through the settlement that became Rural Shade. A post office arrived in 1858, a school district in 1867, and by the century's turn the community of log-cabin farmers had grown to include fine homes, churches, and hundreds of schoolchildren. Rural Shade thrived until World War II drew its young people to the cities, after which its old school became a community center kept alive by yearly reunions.
Why it matters
Rural Shade is a portrait of the small farming communities that filled rural Texas—rising with the ferry and the country road, and fading as 20th-century America moved to the cities.
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Related people
- · Washington Ingram
Themes & tags
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