The town of Silver Valley actually had two locations.  The original settlement was made in 1886 by B. E. Smith, B. R. Brown, and J. B. Lowrie in the northwestern part of the county three miles southwest of the present store building in Silver Valley which is on Highway 84, thirteen miles northwest of Coleman.  This is now called “Old” Silver Valley as the “New” settlement was made in 1909 with the building of the Santa Fe Railway.  The town from 1886 to 1909 developed rather rapidly.

The land was very rich, cheap, fertile, the valley was beautiful, the climate was wonderful, and when it rained, the crops were great.  There were many small farms and truck gardens, small grains did well, and dry land farming of cotton was profitable from the beginning.  B. E. Smith built the first cotton gin near his home in 1890 and this helped the farmers greatly. Cotton was the “money” crop for the county.

Business buildings and homes were built along both sides of a lane or main street which ran almost north and south from the B. E. Smith home north to Marlin Smith’s home.  The school building was erected in 1896 or 1897 across the lane from the B. E. Smith home, and its functions were social and religious as well as educational.  The A. A. Dunn store and post office with J. B. Lowrie as the first postmaster was across the street from the J. B. Lowrie home.  Dr. R. H. Cochran began his practice at Silver Valley with his office in the J. B. Lowrie home, and Dr. Biggers had a separate building for his office.  A two-story building was built for a Woodman’s Hall, and the blacksmith of the town was Jim Grimes.

The new settlers continued to arrive and the town grew until 1909 when it was announced that the Santa Fe Railway would be extended from Coleman to Sweetwater.  This news was to permanently alter the face of “Old” Silver Valley, as the Western Land Corporation of Houston bought the land for a townsite three miles northeast of “Old” Silver Valley along the proposed railroad route and dubbed it Silver Valley.

Only two houses remain along the main street of Old Silver Valley today.  Zelma Ray occupies the Dr. Lowrie home while the B. E. Smith home has been completely restored and the Robert Arnolds reside there.

The first train arrived in Coleman from Coleman Junction in March of 1886, and according to the Coleman Voice of December 24, 1909, the railroad track had been laid within one mile of the new town of Silver Valley.  This news helped to bring about a rush to buy lots in the new location.  The land for the new town was purchased from Walter and Pelham Burroughs for $13,092.50.  This agreement was signed October 2, 1909.  The courthouse records show the Western Land Corporation’s townsite map of Silver Valley with 31 blocks on the north side of the proposed railway and 20 blocks on the north side.

With the coming of the railroad in 1910, and the working, constructing and advertising of the Western Land Corporation, much was happening at the new townsite of Silver Valley.  Advertising in the December 24th, 1909 issue of the Coleman Voice reads like this: 
 “Twelve months from now Silver Valley will be the most attractive new town in West Texas .... Think for a moment what the many free public improvements we are putting in at Silver Valley will mean to the growing little city, graded streets, cement sidewalks, good water supply, splended church and fine school buildings, all put in at our expense - will insure a rapid growth.  When trains are running to Silver Valley within a short time, a big building boom will commence, there already being about fourteen homes built or under construction.”  The land Corporation kept its word to develop the area south of the railway as they surveyed the lots, graded the streets, built sidewalks, curbed and paved the main street for the business area, built a tank to furnish water, built a church building and a fine school facility as well as a two-story brick building to house a general store, bank, and hotel.

With these improvements and the loss of the A. A. Dunn building by fire, J. A. Mitchell’s grocery store and other businesses and the post office were forced to move to the new location.  However, a new post office named “Pelham” had been established at the new town, but was soon closed by a postal inspector.  One of the early post masters was Lev Windham, but many more served in that capacity.

Silver Valley was becoming a booming little town and prosperity was evident.  Businesses opened along both sides of Main Street as the First Guaranty State Bank began operation with L. H. Vaughn as Cashier; the hotel in the brick building was leased and L. M. Wyatt opened another one; Mitchell, Bryan, and Orr opened a general store in the brick building; others were operated by Mr. Fain, T. J. Clark, Mr. Pringle, L. H. Smith, and F. E. Rich; Howard Kelley and Austin Buck were the barbers; Dr. Biggers and Dr. Harrell were the M. D.’s and Mr. Butler and Dr. Biggers had drug stores; Jim Grimes and H. A. Dees had blacksmith shops; Mr. Zirkle ran a lumber yard and Burton Lingo Lumber Co. was managed by Edgar Manning; Pelham Burroughs had a livery stable and feed store; Walter Burroughs and his sons, Randolph, Mike, and Joe ran the gin; Hill Stovall operated a cafe; Woodman’s Hall was built; services were held in the new church; Mrs. Ada Saunders Croom was principal of the first school in the new building with Gladys Townsend and Ola Berry as teachers; a locally owned and printed newspaper, the Silver Valley Sun, was published regularly by Mr. Kerr for two or three years; the railroad company built a beautiful depot as well as a large loading platform and stock pens to hold cattle for shipment to market.  Cattle were driven from the Scott and Criswell ranches located along the Jim Ned Creek.

The town did well for a few years, but the area was hit with adverse conditions in 1919 and was never able to overcome them.  Some of the obstacles were:  World War I in 1917 and 1918 took many of the young men away and some people left to work in war camps; no crops were made in 1919 due to the severe drouth and dust storms; the flu epidemic of 1918 took the lives of some and many were ill; many men left for work in Ranger digging graves and building boxes for caskets as the flu took so many lives; many worked in the oil field during the Ranger oil boom; a large cotton crop was made in 1919 and 1920 and the price of cotton went from 75 cents to 5 cents per pound, and many people were forced to leave their farms.  Conditions didn’t improve, and by 1921 the Mitchell general store, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, the post office, and maybe a drug store were the only businesses left.  February 17, 1925, Mr. Mitchell sold his home and business to W. H. McKenzie of Peacock, Texas, and the business was operated by Mr. Brannon for several years.  Quinton Burroughs operated a store in the late 1920’s where Mr. Brannon’s store was, and in 1932, when the Coleman-Abilene highway was changed to its present route, he built the store building where it is now located on Highway 84 along the railroad, and operated a general store there until 1942.  Foy Tomlinson operated the store from 1942 to 1983.

The little town of Silver Valley, so called by some early settlers because of the fertility of the soil and to possible hopes that there was silver in the nearby hills, goes unnoticed today with the exception of a few residences, the vacant store building, and the sign, SILVER VALLEY.