The town today refers to itself as Blossom Prairie, the original
name of the community.
History in a Pecan Shell
is said to have entered Texas near present Blossom. William Patton,
Crockett’s nephew crossed the Red River into Blossom Prairie in November
of 1836 and a three year-old who later became Texas Ranger Ben Dragoo
came to Blossom Prairie with his family in 1838.
By 1873, The roadbed for the Texas & Pacific Railroad was graded,
but no track materialized. For three years there was a gap between
and Brookston. Freight was transported by wagon, to bridge the gap
- passing through Blossom. Later, a passenger and freight depot was
built on Front Street.
Blossom Prairie Academy was established in 1884 at this time the town’s
population was around 1,000. The town of Blossom Prairie was incorporated
on January 8, 1886 and the name was shortened to the present Blossom
two years later. Lamar College was founded in 1889.
Vice President John Nance Garner, who is usually associated with Uvalde,
Texas once attended school in Blossom. His lifelong friendship
Rayburn was based on their common NE Texas upbringing.
Blossom was once famous for its mineral water and wells were said
to have numbered one hundred. The only one remaining today is in Blossom’s
Professor J. Valenza’s excellent Taking
the Waters in Texas (UT Press, 2000) includes Blossom on her map
of Springs and lists Bell’s Mineral Wells, Blossom Wells and Beauchamp
Wells as three different names in the Blossom vicinity.
Hotels opened to house the patrons “taking the waters.” A portion
of the former Burke Hotel is now a residence.
Cotton growers could have their
cotton ginned and baled at one of the two Blossom gins. There were
also two brick manufacturers. A hardware store is one of two remaining
buildings in town made of Blossom Brick. By 1903, Blossom had one
bank, two in 1910, and a third in 1919.
Blossom still has mineral water in the City Park although the hotels,
bathhouse and brickyards are now gone.
Blossom’s population dipped down to about 650 people at one point
during the Great Depression. Today many Blossomites commute to Paris
and the population is now a respectable 1,533.
The Blossom Museum and Civic Center is located at 215
Pine Street in Blossom
Directions: South of Highway 82 on Faucett Street. Go one block and
turn left on Pine Street. Museum is on the left. Hours: Fridays from
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Chamber of Commerce: None
City Offices: 903-982-5900 is the number we received from the telephone
company for the city offices in Blossom.
& Co. Store, Blossom, Texas." Early 1900s.
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com
More Texas Stores
If you will go to Lamar Co TX Genweb, then scroll down to Blossom
Museum, you will find a short history of Blossom, TX. I live there,
and work at the Museum.
Blossom has lots of history, and we work to preserve the history
in our genealogy section, and museum which has small items that
were either used by Blossom residents, or happen to be items like
those that Blossom people probably used. We have information about
Blossom from the time it was incorporated, up to the present time.
Our genealogy section has family files, which are furnished by family
members interested in preserving their family history and sharing
it with others. At the present we have six ladies that do volunteer
work there, and we're all very proud of what has been accomplished
in just a few short years.
The museum is also a library, utilized by people that live in and
around Blossom. - Peggy Johnston, March 18, 2005
in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas,
asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic
photos, please contact