Buffalo Gap
Buffalo Gap, Texas is an incorporated community at the intersection of Farm Roads 89 and 613, thirteen miles southwest of Abilene. It was founded in 1857 and has had a post office since 1878. The Callahan Divide, the topographic boundary between the Brazos and Colorado basins, crosses Buffalo Gap from east to west. Elm Creek passes through and once served as a watering hole for buffalo. The present Buffalo Gap highway (Farm Road 89) follows the old Center Line Trail, which was surveyed in 1874 and ran from Texarkana to El Paso. The earliest history of Taylor County centers around this gap in the divide, where in the 1860's and 1870's buffalo hunters made winter camp and from there transported their kill to Fort Griffin and other convenient centers of trade.
As it was the only town in Taylor County, Governor Richard B. Hubbard, acting Texas secretary of state, approved the selection of Buffalo Gap as the temporary county seat of Taylor County, on April 30, 1874. On July 3, 1878, this action was formalized. Twenty days later the judge, sheriff, clerk and commissioners met. The first general public election was held with eighty-seven voters. By 1800 Buffalo Gap had 1,200 people , a drugstore, a carriage and blacksmith shop, a big hotel, a jail, three or four grocery stores, and a saloon. Buffalo hunting was popular in 1875. The carcasses sold for five to fifteen dollars, and the bones were used to refine sugar. In 1895 the Santa Fe Railroad was built through town.
In 1883 the cornerstone of Buffalo Gap college was laid, and documents pertaining to the times were sealed within the rock. Later, vandals tore out the stone and removed the contents. This Presbyterian college, the first formal attempt at higher education in Taylor County, opened in June 1885. Buffalo Gap called itself the "Athens of the West." The Baptist church at Buffalo Gap is the oldest Baptist Church in Taylor County and is celebrating it's 120 year anniversary this year. About 1885 Marshall G. Jenkins began a weekly paper, the Buffalo Gap Live Oak and in the mid 1890'2 the Buffalo Gap Messenger was circulated.
When the Texas and Pacific Railway established headquarters in Abilene, a competition to be county seat began, and in 1883 Buffalo Gap lost the battle. By 1884 Buffalo Gap had decreased in population to 600. Presbyterian , Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist and First Christian churches were established in the community, which also had a newspaper, sixteen businesses, and a high school. In 1890 the population had dropped to 300 and the number of businesses to seven. In 1892 Buffalo Gap had a population of 400, eleven businesses, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches, and Buffalo Gap College. The college declined and its charter expired in 1902. In 1914 the town reported 500 residents, ten businesses and a bank. Between 1925 and 1980 the population fluctuated between 250 and 400 and businesses between two and twelve. In the 1930's Buffalo Gap had five churches, a number of farms and dwellings scattered along the main roads and a camp and small park. In 1990 it had 409 residents and six rated businesses.
The town has carved out an identity as an "old-time" cultural and commercial center. In the 1920s its Old Settlers Picnic was a well-attended annual event. The Ernie Wilson Museum of the Old West opened in 1959, as a result of the work of the family of R. Lee Rode, who purchased the Old Buffalo Gap Jail and Courthouse and restored it with help from the community. The native limestone jail dates from 1879, the sandstone blocks were concave in the center and mortared together with cannonballs to keep prisoners from chiseling their way out. The jail is listed in the National Register of Historic Buildings. The museum is named for its first curator, who was also a lawyer and publisher of the Buffalo Gap Messenger. In the 1990's this museum was part of the Buffalo Gap Historical Village.
Submitted by
Debra Carter
February 1999