Carter, Texas

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Carter, originally called Carterville, was ten miles north of Weatherford in north central Parker County.

History

Carter was established by Judge W. F. Carter and two partners, T. Parkinson, and H. C. Vardy, in 1866–67. The three men built a flour mill near the banks of Clear Fork Creek and added a cotton gin within a year. A general store, a blacksmith shop, a common school, and a church soon were erected. The community, originally called Cartersville or Carterville, established a statewide reputation for its flour, which was judged the best in Texas at the State Fair of Texas in Houston in 1873. In 1888 the seventy-five residents of the community received a post office branch and adopted the town's present name. Postal service to the community was discontinued in 1907. The population gradually declined, and by the 1920s the town was a memory.

Carter. Old Carterville was founded October 3, 1867 and named in honor of Judge W. F. Carter, who together with H. C. Vardy and T. Parkinson, established a flouring mill. The flour manufactured there was regarded with so much favor at the Houston State Fair, in 1873, that the premium for the best Texas flour was awarded to it. The name was changed on January 23, 1888 to Carter, by which it has since been known.

In 1867 a postoffice was established there with H. C. Vardy as postmaster. He was succeeded by H. C. Gilliland (father of Jim Gilliland of Weatherford). The second Methodist Church in Parker County was erected there at an early day through the efforts of Rev. Pleasant Tackett, H. C. Vardy, H. C. Gilliland, Anderson Green and his son, William Green (father of Mrs. J. D. Doughty of Weatherford, and who was also the County’s first district clerk), Andy Hemphill and family and his son, Joe Hemphill (who was later killed by Indians), Major Borden and family, Sam Shadle and family, Robert Montgomery, H. M. Stewart, William Brawley, and Jim Sullivan. - History of Parker County and the Double Log Cabin: being a brief symposium of the early history of Parker County, together with short biographical sketches of early settlers and their trials, Weatherford, Tex, 1937, page 117