Lost Communities of Belton Lake

Belton Lake is located on the Leon River 16.7 miles upstream of the confluence of the Leon River and the Little River. It is in the northern part of Bell County, Texas about three miles north of the City of Belton and approximately eight miles west of the City of Temple, Texas. The Lake area lies within Bell and Coryell Counties. Belton Lake was completed in 1954 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding within the Brazos River Basin. Before the waters of Belton Lake filled the Tennessee Valley, sixteen communities flourished there. The histories of these communities provide great insight into rural life before and after the turn of the century. Each town had its own individual characteristics, but it is obvious that as a whole, the residents were hard-working, God-fearing, and industrious people. They endured Indian raids, the Great Depression, and consecutive World Wars. Go back in time to the early days of Bell County, Texas, and discover the unique communities of Brookhaven, Sparta, and Pokerville/Bland.

One of the lost communities of Bell County is the small town of Brookhaven, Texas. At its zenith, the town boasted of a growing economy with a number of successful businesses. The population fluctuated and reached a high point of fifty-two people. However, the town also faced its share of violence from the Comanche Indians. 

Brookhaven was on Oak Branch twelve miles northwest of Belton in northwestern Bell County. Before 1882 the community was loosely known as Post Oak Branch and was the site of numerous revivals and camp meetings. In the summer of 1882, when a local school was constructed, the community's name was changed to Brookhaven at the suggestion of Charlie and Ed Oswalt, who named it for the town in Mississippi where they had previously lived. In 1896 Brookhaven had a population of seventy-five and a Masonic hall, a district school, a cotton gin, two general stores, two drugstores, and three churches (Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian). After repeated Indian raids by the Comanches and other tribes, the town of Brookhaven declined in population and eventually died.

Another of the lost communities is Sparta, an exemplary example of the frontier spirit. Before being submerged beneath the waters of Belton Lake in 1954, Sparta’s tenuous history included a school district, several businesses, a post-office, and thirty-five homesteads. Early residents of Sparta made their living off the fertile soil and green pastures supplied by the lower Cowhouse Valley. At the time of the settling of Sparta a diverse wildlife population of deer, wild turkeys, wolves, bear, buffalo, antelope, wild horses, ducks, geese, and wild hogs roamed the lands of Bell County. This prime location and natural resources enabled residents to be self-sufficient. They had the ability to grow, hunt, or build everything needed for survival. It wedged a shield between them and the economic woes of the industrial world. With land they did not use to grow their own food, many planted and grew cotton for profit. In the early days, Sparta farmers transported their cotton to the gin in Belton. The sixteen-mile trip took the entire day by wagon. These visits to town represented a special occasion for Sparta families.

In 1879, however, the first store in Sparta opened followed by a cotton gin soon after. This Cooperative Grange Store in Sparta, one of eleven Grange stores in the Bell County area, proved to be the most successful. That success was attributed to the store manager, T.E. Tomilson. After working as the manager for several years, Mr. Tomilson purchased the store himself. He gained popularity by paying 100% of the stock inventory. His gesture of honesty would carry by word of mouth throughout the area, bringing in customers from all around. The early 1890s also brought a second store to Sparta, owned by Frank and Joe Morgan. It was common for customers to trade items with the stores, rather than paying in cash. T.A. Wilhite, recalled cutting down cedar posts to trade for groceries. Both stores sold groceries, housewares, tobacco, and fabrics. The gin processed cotton that local farmers produced. By the turn of the century, the more self-sufficient residents of Sparta no longer made the trip to Belton for goods and services.

Sparta absorbed two neighboring communities: O’Hair’s Mill and Taylor’s Branch. At one time, O’Hair’s Mill had a Blacksmith shop, a store, a flour and saw mill, and a cotton gin. One by one, each of these establishments left town, either due to a lack of customers or fire. The citizens of O’Hair’s Mill then began patronizing the establishments of Sparta. Eventually, it was decided that the O’Hair’s Mill school did not have enough pupils and those students were moved to Sparta. 

The Sparta school began in a building donated to the community by Ney Walton in 1895. The school district encompassed fifteen square miles and employed two teachers. Chastain demonstrates that farm families allowed teachers to live with them, free of charge, because the drive back and forth to one of the larger towns was too far. 

Self-reliant communities in rural Bell County depended on someone willing to take care of medical needs, and Sparta’s sketchy history finds few doctors. Evidence identifies a Dr. Cole, who established a practice in Sparta in 1884. Although the record does not show why, he was not well received by the community and left town a few years later. Another doctor, a Dr. Cummins, picked up where Cole left off. Cummins became the community doctor and a well-liked member of his community. He served Sparta for more than 10 years. 

The turn of the century Blackened the horizon for Sparta. In 1903, a fire devastated downtown. No businesses remained after the fire. Photographic evidence shows that one store, Robertson’s, was in operation at Sparta during 1938. Evidence also suggests a church remained. Despite the decline in its economic resources, Sparta still managed to maintain status as a haven of life for its citizens.Sparta remained a viable community in Bell County until the federal government removed its residents in 1954 for the construction of Belton Lake.

Another lost community is Bland. All that remains of Bland, Texas, a community that embraced a simple way of life, can be found near Owl Creek in northern Bell County under the waters of Belton Lake. The population of this small Texas town never rose above sixty-three inhabitants between 1880 and 1954. However, despite its small numbers, the people of Bland maintained a very rich sense of community and kept their way of life alive until 1954 when the waters of Belton Lake inundated the town. This can be seen both literally and figuratively. Although the waters represented progress, they washed away the old way of life that flourished in rural Texas. 

A common activity in the community of Bland was moonshining or making illegal alcohol. A quote from the former postmaster of Bland, Mrs. T.J. Ludwick, provides a glimpse of how the people of Bland felt about Prohibition. “There has been enough ‘likker‘ made in ‘them there‘ hills to float the Queen Mary...”, and to show why the farmers needed to do this during those times in rural towns she added, “ In those days man could not live on bread alone, so a little extra income was necessary.” According to her words, it was well known that laws posed no barrier to the people of Bland getting their alcohol by any means, legal or not. It has been suggested that Bland's population peak of sixty-three residents in the year 1925 was connected to a form of anti-prohibition. Many local law enforcement officers turned a blind eye to moonshiners due to bribes or empathy for the people who had no other means of making a living. During the Great Depression, townspeople turned to moonshining as a preferable alternative to farming or trying to find a employment. Moonshine was simple to make and they could do it where they were.

Few farmers preferred moonshining to farming, so they sold their farms for money. Most farmers only ran their stills seasonally due to obligations to their crops. Because moonshine required corn as one of its main ingredients, farmers had ready access to the much-needed vegetable. The four main ingredients for moonshine were corn, sugar, yeast and water. A common distillery received its supplies from an outside supplier. Not all the people of Bland were moonshiners. Some people purchased it from the producers.

Bland's original name was Pokerville when it was founded. In 1880, John Atkerson opened the first general store in the area. Rumor has it that when Atkerson sold a bill of goods, he asked customers to come to the back of the store to “play for their change”. Atkerson had a great love for the game of poker; therefore, the name Pokerville was selected for the community. Poker in the general store only preceded the other vices that soon surfaced in the area. Everyday activities among the residents included school, farming, moonshining, and searching the land for Indian artifacts. According to The Story of Bell County, the primary recreational activity involved digging up Native American burial grounds. For whatever reason, the residents of Bland found this quite enjoyable. There were many graveyards throughout the area in Owl Mountain, down in the valley, and around the streams that surrounded the area. The people also enjoyed swimming in the place near the Baptist Church where baptisms were held. Some of the citizens said that on Sundays the swimming hole was holy and washing sin away and come Monday, they were all swimming in everybody’s sins.

In 1894, Pokerville changed its name to Bland upon the establishment of a post office. Pokerville might not have received a post office if the community had not changed its name. Bland was perhaps named after D.T. Bland, an early settler of that area in the 1840’s. On the other hand, perhaps it was intended to be witty due to the rowdy nature of the residents. However, no concrete explanation exists for the name change. 

Overall, given the recorded history, Bland is an implausible name for a not so “bland” little community. As exciting as this way of life might have been, all things come to an end. In 1933, prohibition on a national level came to a close and World War II caused an increase in the price of sugar, a vital component for moonshine. These factors among others caused a rapid decline in the illegal alcohol industry, crippling it severely. The establishment of Camp Hood in Coryell and Bell counties took away a large portion of farmland and thrust Central Texas in an urban direction. After Camp Hood was established, the idea for Belton Lake was introduced. Many communities like Bland were faced with moving or being swallowed by the waters. Not only were physical communities washed away but a unique way of life was destroyed by the coming of the lake. Little remains of life in "them there hills" next to Owl Creek 

Lost Communities of Belton Lake: a project of UMHB's Historical Inquiry, Research & Method Class, 2013. https://dkarimkhani.weebly.com/