Site of Hitson Community
Rotan vicinity, Fisher County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Ranchers John and William Hittson were among the first to settle in this area in about 1870; the area around their homes became known as Hittson or Hitson. Fisher County was created in 1876, and settlement began to increase. A post office opened in 1885. A school began operation in 1888 and by 1896 Hitson had a general store operated by C. W. Morris as well as a Methodist church. The Hittson brothers were the major landowners in the area, but the community included a number of large farming families who cleared the fertile land and planted crops. Though the post office was moved to Swedonia in 1906, the community of Hitson continued to grow. Oil was discovered in the area after World War I, providing an additional means of income for the townspeople as well as the Hitson school for a time. In 1925 there were 32 families with 120 school-age children living in the area. By 1940 the town had a school, a church, three businesses and scattered dwellings. As was the case in many small towns across Texas and the U.S. during World War II, most of the town's young people enlisted in the armed forces or moved to cities to take part in the war effort. With their labor force thus depleted, Hitson farmers were unable to survive. Small family farms were sold to larger enterprises. Most of the new owners lived in nearby Hamlin or Rotan. Hitson school was consolidated with Hamlin schools in 1947; the white frame church building used by the Hitson Baptist Church was moved to Roby in 1959 and by the end of the 20th century all that remained of the community were a few homes and a cemetery. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ranchers John and William Hittson were among the first to settle here around 1870, and the community that grew near their homes took their name. A post office, school, store, and church followed, and oil discovered after World War I brought new income. Yet the labor drain of the Second World War left its small family farms unable to survive, and by the century's end only a few homes and a cemetery remained.
Why it matters
The full arc of Hitson — from ranch beginnings to schoolhouse and church to abandonment — is the life cycle of countless rural towns that rose and faded with the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · John Hittson
- · William Hittson
Themes & tags
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