County, East Texas
Highway 149, FM 124 and FM 959
8 miles NE of Carthage
library and museum|
Photo courtesy Barclay
, April 2006
in a Pecan Shell
Named after early
settler Matthew W. Beck who arrived sometime around 1850, the community was once
a mile east of the present location. A post office opened in the late 1850s when
the population was estimated at 75. The Texas, Sabine Valley and Northwestern
Railroad was headed straight toward Beckville, but local landowners jacked up
the price of a right-of-way to the point where the railroad decided to build a
mile south where landowner Joe Biggs was more amenable.
townsite was deserted as people and businesses relocated to the new townsite.
In 1889 the first school was built. By 1914 the population was up to 750. A fire
in 1917 destroyed buildings in downtown Beckville, and the region suffered a drought
in 1927. The population reached 880 people just as the Great Depression was beginning
and the population fell to just 453. The population remained at that level for
decades. It had increased to 783 in the early 1990s and has since decreased to
: Music from two country masters|
(Excerpted from "THE
EAST TEXAS SUNDAY DRIVE BOOK" by Bob Bowman)
on Texas 43, return to Tatum, take Texas 149 southeast
to the settlement of Beckville, which was founded before the l880s by Matthew
W. Beck, who settled in the area about l850. The town was originally established
about a mile north of its present site but was moved in l887 to be near the railroad.
At Beckville, take FM 124
and proceed in a southerly direction until you come to the community of Fair
Play at the intersection with U.S. 79..."