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Tilmon – Eva – Putnam’s Store ~ ca 1850

This community was once one of the larger settlements in the county. It is located on Farm Road 3158 some ten miles southeast of Lockhart. Families began arriving in the area from Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama during the 1850s. Early settlers found large amounts of cane growing in nearby creek bottoms and soon built a molasses mill.

The first church in the area was a Primitive Baptist Church, organized in 1856 by Elder Bill Flemming [sic]. A Methodist Church, Shiloh, was established in 1890 and was first served by Reverend Oliver Franks. Shortly afterward, a Missionary Baptist Church was also constituted with Reverend Jesse Cox as pastor.

A post office was established in 1890 with Joseph Putman/Putnam as postmaster and was located in his drug store. It operated until 1906 and then the mail was delivered from Dale until 1910. Tilmon at one time was known by several names: "Eva", "Putman's Store" and "Tilmon's Mill." Joe Putman was one of the first merchants in the village and was credited with naming the community “Tilmon” after his partner, Tilmon Monk.

Besides Putman's drug store, there was a large grocery and there were some smaller general merchandise stores. Several blacksmith shops, barbershops, two cotton gins, and a grist mill were operated during the 1890s and early 1900s. Southwest of Tilmon on Plum Creek a saw mill is supposed to have existed at one time, sawing post oak trees into lumber. Six doctors practiced medicine at various times over several years. Tilmon even had its own baseball team in the early 1900s.

Tilmon was one of several towns in the county that had a justice court. The judge and attorneys would drive out from Lockhart and conduct court proceedings for cases filed in Tilmon and the immediate area. The one-room, wooden-framed Courthouse existed until the early 1950s although there is no record of court being held there after about 1920. The building was also used for elections and as a community center.

The first school in the vicinity, called Shook, was located about three miles east of Tilmon on property owned by Daniel Reed. That building was later moved to the property owned by J. W. Bishop and used as a church building by the Primitive Baptists. The first school in Tilmon itself was established on land owned by Marcus Williams. In 1905, the school reported having one teacher and forty-seven students. The Tilmon and Shook schools were consolidated in 1913 and listed two teachers and a good pupil attendance. Two separate schools, Hardshell and Tilmon, were conducted in the vicinity for Black students until the Lockhart Independent School District took over the Tilmon District in 1950.

Over the decades, the population dwindled and, by 1990, the census showed only 25 households and one business. All traces of the churches have now vanished, and only the Daniels Chapel Church with a traditionally Black congregation remains.

Sources
1. Caldwell County Kin: The First 150 Years published by the Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County. November 2000, C-47
2. Historical Caldwell County: where roots intertwine, originally published by The Mark Withers Trail Drive Museum, Caldwell County, Texas, 1984, pages 161-162
3. History of the Schools of Caldwell County to 1900, Master’s Thesis prepared by Carroll L. Mullins, August, 1929, pages 55-56 and 117
4. The New Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, Vol. 6, page 449
5. Tilmon, and It’s School, The Broadcaster, Caldwell County, Lockhart, Texas, 01 May 1923

The Plum Creek Almanac is a project of  The Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County.

The Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County Copyright © 1963
Updated 10/15/2019