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Tilmon – Eva –
Putnam’s Store ~ ca 1850
The first church in the area was a Primitive Baptist
Church, organized in 1856 by Elder Bill Flemming [sic]. A Methodist Church,
Shiloh, was established in 1890 and was first served by Reverend Oliver Franks.
Shortly afterward, a Missionary Baptist Church was also constituted with
Reverend Jesse Cox as pastor.
A post office was established in 1890 with Joseph
Putman/Putnam as postmaster and was located in his drug store. It operated until
1906 and then the mail was delivered from Dale until 1910. Tilmon at one time
was known by several names: "Eva", "Putman's Store" and "Tilmon's Mill." Joe
Putman was one of the first merchants in the village and was credited with
naming the community “Tilmon” after his partner, Tilmon Monk.
Besides Putman's
drug store, there was a large grocery and there were some smaller general
merchandise stores. Several blacksmith shops, barbershops, two cotton gins, and
a grist mill were operated during the 1890s and early 1900s. Southwest of Tilmon
on Plum Creek a saw mill is supposed to have existed at one time, sawing post
oak trees into lumber. Six doctors practiced medicine at various times over
several years. Tilmon even had its own baseball team in the early 1900s.
Tilmon was one of several towns in the county that had a justice court. The judge and
attorneys would drive out from Lockhart and conduct court proceedings for cases
filed in Tilmon and the immediate area. The one-room, wooden-framed Courthouse
existed until the early 1950s although there is no record of court being held
there after about 1920. The building was also used for elections and as a
community center.
The first school in the vicinity, called Shook, was located
about three miles east of Tilmon on property owned by Daniel Reed. That building
was later moved to the property owned by J. W. Bishop and used as a church
building by the Primitive Baptists. The first school in Tilmon itself was
established on land owned by Marcus Williams. In 1905, the school reported
having one teacher and forty-seven students. The Tilmon and Shook schools were
consolidated in 1913 and listed two teachers and a good pupil attendance. Two
separate schools, Hardshell and Tilmon, were conducted in the vicinity for Black
students until the Lockhart Independent School District took over the Tilmon
District in 1950.
Over the decades, the population dwindled and, by 1990, the
census showed only 25 households and one business. All traces of the churches
have now vanished, and only the Daniels Chapel Church with a traditionally Black
congregation remains.
Sources The Plum Creek Almanac is a project of
The Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County.
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