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Coryell County, Texas from 1850 to 1950 as pictured in archived government photographs, vintage postcards, old school yearbooks and newspapers. This was life in Texas as our parents, grandparents and ancestors from  Copperas Cove, Evant, Flat, Gatesville, Jonesboro, Mound, Oglesby and Purmela saw it.

Jim Leeper and Ed Powell were hanged Sept. 29, 1891, for a robbery and murder they had committed on Dec. 17, 1889.  "In the latter part of 1889, while returning to Gatesville with a wagon train of supplies, John T. Mathes and W.H.H. Harvey were held up and robbed on the Lampasas Road twelve miles southwest of Gatesville...." read more

Precious little girl posing with her Teddy bear in 1912

Coryell County Courthouse in 1930s

Beautiful photo of the Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville Texas in the 1930s

In the 1890s a huge crowd gathered in front of the W. A. Schley & Co store in Gatesville Texas

In 1931 students were cultivating cotton on the state's 1,800 acre prison farm in Gatesville Texas when this photo was captured for the school yearbook. Student prisoners are working behind the plows while guards watch on horseback.

While serving as the Chaplain for the Gatesville School School for Boys, Vergil Lemons also traveled to provide revival services outside the school. Here's a poster on one he did in 1933

Young Woman in Oglesby Texas in 1880s

Sometime in the 1880s an attractive young woman posed for this beautiful picture in Oglesby Texas

Cotton Belt Railroad Station in Gatesville Texas in 1920s includes vintage car to help set the date

Coryell County School 1908

Coryell County school with smoke coming from the chimney in 1908

In 1931 the dairy barn at the Gatesville reform school equipped with cement mangers, floors and gutters, steel stanchions and other modern sanitary devices and large enough to care for 108 cows at one time.

In this rare photo of the class room of the State Juvenile Training School in Gatesville  Texas in 1931 twenty seven boys study at their desk while six work math problems on the chalk board

These young men  from the Gatesville School for Boys (reform school) were all dressed up in their finest suits to attend chapel in 1936. For many of them the suits were probably the only ones they had ever owned and probably made at the school's Tailor Shop.

In 1931 these boys from the Gatesville School for Boys were working hard and learning a trade in the Tailor Shop when this photo was captured for the school's pictorial yearbook.

38 children posed in their school uniforms in Gatesville Texas in 1936

In 1936 ten girls, 10 boys and their teacher posed for their class photo in Gatesville Texas.

In 1928, the Baseball Team of the Gatesville School for Boys posed for this huge highly-detailed photo of baseball teams in Texas.

1931 at the shoe-shop at the Gatesville School for Boys (reformatory) three boys and their instructor posed for this huge highly detailed photo of life in the reformatory in the 1930s.

Virgil Lemons was the Chaplain at the Gatesville School for Boys and his wife Ruby was head of the music department at the school for eight years in Gatesville Texas in the early 1930s.

Sometime in the 1940s Henry and Martha Easterling posed at their home in Evant Texas for this wonderful old photo.

In 1936 the boys in the Gatesville Texas School for Boys (reform school) was marching in formation when this photograph was taken.

Sometime in the 1930s to 1940s the Carter family posed for this photo in Evant Texas. Pictured are David, Sudie and little James Carter seated on the fence post at the Carter family home.

Interesting photo of the Gatesville Texas High School as it was in 1955

Sometime in the 1940s an unknown photographer captured this photo of one of the most beautiful courthouses in Texas, the Coryell County Courthouse

When the Leon River flooded at Gatesville Texas in 1936 a few daring photographers captured the event. In this photo one photographer stood on a high perch above the river and caught another photographer using a box camera to photograph the flooding river.

In 1901 a beautiful little girl named Ellamide Fecner post for her portrait in Gatesville Texas

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Amazing People from Texas County by County