In 1881, there were two stores at the famous Trap Crossing, which was the crossing on the Colorado of the road from Coleman City to Fort Concho, now San Angelo.  Thousands and thousands of cattle being driven up the trail to Kansas also crossed at this point.  A store on the Concho side of the river was called “The Trigger,” and the one on the Coleman side was “The Trap.”  In the Trap store was a post office named “Rich Coffey” Texas.  This store was washed away in 1882.  An old grave yard is located on a high point near the Trap Crossing, where the earliest white persons in this area were buried.

Until 1900, the Day Ranch was operated as a cattle ranch.  During her life, Mrs. Day struggled with a very heavy debt of over $100,000 on which she had to pay as high as 18 percent interest.  Finally, at the turn of the century, she decided to cut the ranch up into small tracts and sell it to settlers.  By this action, she brought into the southwest part of Coleman County more than 500 families.  The Day Ranch was the first of the Coleman County ranches to be opened for settlement.  With the coming of settlers, Mrs. Day sought to establish towns as trading centers.  It was on Dec. 19, 1904, that she staked the town of Leaday for her daughter, Mrs. J. Tom Padgitt, the former Willie Day, who owned the land there.  A post office was established there and the name of Leaday was taken from a combination of Mrs. Day’s two husbands’ names.

Leaday was built one mile east of the Trap Crossing on higher ground and on the banks of Grape Creek.  It was originally surveyed out to be a town larger than Coleman.  Mrs. Lea made a determined effort to have the Santa Fe Railroad built through this location in 1886.  A Mr. Moore built the first store at Leaday in 1905.  Then work started on a 2-story hotel which stood in Leaday many years.  Excavations were made for a bank building which was never completed, but the hole is still in evidence on Main Street.  Between the hotel and the bank location was the public square.  At the other end of the street was the school and nearby, at the bluff overlooking the Gin crossing on the Colorado, was the cotton gin.

On the river between the gin lot and the mouth of Grape Creek was Chataqua Park, which was to be the campus of an industrial college which never materialized.  At this time, or soon afterwards, Leaday had three stores, a Woodman of the World hall, a blacksmith shop and a population of over 100.  Mr. H. T. Crenshaw had the first mail contract and drove a one-seated hack daily from Leaday to Valera and returned.  He then lived in a dugout on the west side of town.  Mr. Faircloth was a merchant in Leaday for several years, and Mr. H. W. Wireman operated the main store there for over 20 years.

Until after World War I and the coming of the automobile and good roads, Leaday did a large business.  People living in the country seldom went to Coleman or Ballinger more than twice a year.  Roads were rough pasture trails, and they traveled in wagons.  The Leaday stores carried shoes, hardware and farm supplies, and there was little need to go the long way to town.  But with the coming of the automobile and paved roads, the country cross roads went into eclipse, and the Leaday farmer, along with others, found that he could haul his cotton to town and while it was being ginned, he could take in a movie, and have a wider selection of things he needed to buy.  That killed the country gin, and threw the village into a rapid decline.

Even so, as late as 1930, weekly rodeos were held.  They were held every Saturday afternoon during the summer in the rodeo arena just south of the Wireman store.  It was a three event rodeo, with calf roping, goat roping, and bullriding being the main attractions.  The affair gained fame, and it was not uncommon to see over 50 contestants and some 500 spectators at the shows.  They lasted until the early 1940’s when the second World War broke up so many things - one of which was the Leaday Rodeo.

At the close of World War II, Leaday had a population of about 100, a cotton gin, and four stores.  Today, the area population is 55 and there is less than 20 people in Leaday itself.  All these families have been there for generations:  Allen, Stephenson, Jamison, Walden, Hudson, Pyburn, and Padgitt.