Drop Community
(Home Demonstration Clubs collection)

The little town of Drop is located in the extreme southwestern part of Denton County in the forks of Denton and Oliver Creeks. In the ear1y part of the 18th century there were no bridges in this part of the county and but few people lived here, and they were scattered over a large section of the county. It was very difficult for people to go places or attend church services especially in rainy weather. These facts largely account for the irregular and disconnected early history.

A Baptist church was organized about 1880 and Rev. S. G. Crystal was pastor for some time with a membership of 23. Some of the charter members were J. B. Cope and wife, M. Nix and wife, J. A. Stark and wife, J. G. McNew and wife and possibly others. Members who joined later were Mrs. Bettie Vaughn, W. P. Garrett and wife, J. T. Meneca and wife, C. D. Camp, wife and three children, Grace, Berty and Walter; Mrs. Bud Williams, G. W. Hodges and wife, J. P. Sitz and wife, L. G. and. A. C. Sitz; J. N. Rayzor, wife and two sons, Arthur C. and J. Fred. The membership in 1886 was 61, when the church joined the Denton County Association.

After the coming of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in 1887, Justin and Ponder became attractive towns and settlers naturally drifted to these railroad towns. Drop is about 6 miles west of Justin and 6 miles southwest of Ponder.

A post office was established at Drop January 6, 1886 and John Haynes was appointed postmaster followed by Daniel M. Devasher, January 5, 1895. Then Hiram Purnell became postmaster November 23, 1898 followed by T. J. Hodges, August 1899, and George W. Hodges and D. S. Malone were postmasters until the post office was discontinued September 10, 1904. Rural Route No. 1 was then established and March 16, 1907, R. R. No. 2 was established, both routes originating at Justin.

A school system was organized early, now called District 36. There was a one-teacher school for a number of years. Then the enrollment increased and necessitated two teachers and a new building was erected. Some of the early teachers were Miss Kate Karnes of Justin, Will Nichols of Denton, Miss Mattie Karnes, Miss Lenora Jones (now Mrs. A. B. Minnerly of Drop), Miss Alice Hinson, Ella Mahon, Jennie Egan, Charlie Orr and others. Now the school has been consolidated with the Justin District. The school building is used as a community center.

The Methodist and Baptist Churches have been torn down and the majority of the people worship at Justin.

Pioneer doctors were Dr. W. H. Pennington, Dr. J. H. Miller, Drs. Elmore and Emmett Hayes. Dr. Lindly Hayes of Denton is the son of the late Dr. Elmore Hayes.

A. A. Bumgarner now operates an up-to-date commodity store and filling station. A “Farm to market road " will soon be under construction from Highway 24 to Drop, which will be helpful, especially to the farming and dairying industries.

Mrs. A. B. Minnerly Rt. 1, Justin, Texas.