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KENTUCKY NATIVE JOHN MILES COPE, WHO SETTLED IN COLLIN COUNTY IN 1848 WITH HIS PARENTS AND BROTHER, HELPED ORGANIZE THE COPEVILLE COMMUNITY (ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS BLACK SPOT) IN THE 1850s ON LAND IN THE WILLIS ROBERTS AND HEZEKIAH WALTERS SURVEYS. IN 1878, HE BECAME THE TOWN’S FIRST POSTMASTER. BY 1885, THE COMMUNITY HAD A CHURCH, BANK, COTTON GIN, SAWMILL, FLOUR MILL, SALOON AND A GENERAL STORE THAT ALSO HOUSED A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. IN 1877, THOMAS KING PLATTED THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE BUT IN 1886, THE COMMUNITY MOVED TO A SITE ONE MILE NORTHEAST NEXT TO THE NEW GULF, COLORADO, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD TRACKS. LOCAL MERCHANT JAMES E. JONES, WHO GAVE THE RAILROAD LAND FOR ITS RIGHT OF WAY AND DEPOT, OPERATED THE TOWN’S FIRST GENERAL STORE AT ITS NEW SITE. COPEVILLE BECAME THE SHIPPING POINT FOR THE AREA’S FARM PRODUCTS AND BOIS D’ARC TIMBER, VALUED FOR ITS DENSE, TOUGH WOOD. THE KARO SCHOOL, LOCATED AT THE ORIGINAL TOWNSITE, STARTED IN 1895. ALTHOUGH THE COMMUNITY NEVER INCORPORATED, BY THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, COPEVILLE HAD GROWN TO ABOUT 300 RESIDENTS. THE COPEVILLE SCHOOL OPERATED FROM 1913 INTO THE 1940s. IN 1921, COPEVILLE BECAME ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S FIRST TOWNS TO HAVE A FEMALE POSTMASTER, WHEN ELIZABETH PEARCE TOOK THE POSITION. IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, TWO LOCAL CONGREGATIONS, THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE AND THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF COPEVILLE (ORGANIZED AS MOUNT PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1857) RELOCATED TO THE TOWN. IN THAT ERA, THE TOWN’S BUSINESSES INCLUDED THE CRAFT HOTEL, A DRUGSTORE, A PICKLE FACTORY AND SEVERAL GENERAL STORES. JUST AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE TOWN HAD ABOUT 150 RESIDENTS, TWO CHURCHES, FIVE BUSINESSES AND A SCHOOL. COPEVILLE CONTINUES TO SURVIVE AND GROW. |
