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Medicine Mound, Texas was once a thriving rural town with 500 citizens and 22 businesses. But in the 1930s an arson fire destroyed most of the town. By the great depression the population dropped to 210 people with 6 buildings. Today there are handful of people living in the area, 3 buildings (the school outer walls are still standing), and 3 historical markers left.
More about Medicine Mound, Texas
The historical marker says that the Comanche and Kiowa Indians had their campsites around the four dolomite hills called the Medicine Mounds and those mounds were known for their healing properties.
In 1854 the area was deeded to a railway company. Settlers came to the area in the 1870s. A small town developed but moved 2 and half miles north in 1908 when the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient Railway was built. By 19ll a townsite was platted and fully established. The town toped out with a population of 500 people and 22 businesses. But economic hardships including the Great Depression and a fire in 1933 burned the entire town.
Hicks & Cobb General Merchandise Store – Medicine Mound, Texas
When brothers-in-law Lon L. Cobb and Ira Lee Hicks and their families arrived in Medicine Mound, Texas in 1927 it was already prospering village and opened a general merchandise store. The store sold work clothes, cloth, shoes, cotton sacks, groceries and horse feed. The regular customers would hang out around the fire during the winter months and visit with the checkers.
In 1933 the wooden structure was destroyed by fire along with the rest of town. But Mr. Hicks and Mr. Cobb rebuilt the store that year with imported round granite cobblestones from Oklahoma.
In 1942 Mr. Cobb died and Mr. Hicks ran the store until he died in 1966. The general store was one of the last stores to operate in town and it served area residents and migrant agricultural workers for years. After Mr. Hicks died, the store became a community gathering place and later the Medicine Mound Museum. – Source: Historical Marker
W.W. Cole Building – Medicine Mound, Texas
The W.W. Cole Building was built in 1933 after the fire was originally the bank, drugstore and post office. The structure was also built from solid granite round cobblestones from Oklahoma. The cobblestones are prehistoric gravel!
I still need more information about the Cole Building. Once I have that information, I will add it here.
The Old Schoolhouse – Medicine Mound, Texas
The old school is nothing more than a few walls and ruble. There isn’t much information about the school online. All I have been able to find is that the school was closed in the 1940s or 50s and after it closed the building served as a community service until the 1970s.
I plan on making another trip out to the area in the near future and photograph the remains of the school and possibly talk with the Museum owners and see what else I can learn about the school.
If you know more about the buildings in town and the school or you want to share vintage images, contact me and I will share them.
About the Images
We arrived in Medicine Mound, Texas about 30 minutes or so before sunset. We did not have a lot of time to explore the area. We plan to go back and explore the area and get some pictures of the Medicine Mounds and see how close we can get to them and maybe get permission to climb them.
The images were shot close to sunset or just after sunset with my Sony a6000and the Sony 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS Power Zoom Lens. We plan to go back and shoot the area again in the fall or next spring.
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