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More than a Name
Monday, May 19, 2008
By: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
When pioneers made their way to Texas generations ago, many helped establish towns. From Abbott to Zorn, these smaller communities safeguard the Texas ethic, the values that have made our state great.
If you exit the major highways, you can travel to places such as Cee Vee, Tarzan, Tigertown, Ropesville, Petrolia and Notrees. The way these towns were named often reflects the optimism and good-natured outlook of those who helped settle our vast state.
Even today, the real spirit of Texas can be found in smaller towns across our state. Texas names have inspired singers and songwriters for decades. Is there a soul alive who hasn’t heard of Luckenbach? Tex Ritter sang about four East Texas towns in his hit recording of the railroad song “Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo and Blair.”
Texans often showed considerable flair in naming their towns. The inspiration for Tigertown apparently came from a circus poster in a saloon. Tarzan was named by a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.
The name Cee Vee, in West Texas, originated with the nearby CV Ranch. Postal officials rejected using the initials for the town’s name, but agreed to spell it out. Citizens of one East Texas community wanted to name their town Walker, but it was already taken, so they reversed the spelling and called their town Reklaw. It was the same story in nearby Sacul, where residents originally sought the name Lucas.
Cowboys from the Spade Ranch asked to name the railroad depot Ropes. Postal officials told them there was a Texas town called Ropers, but accepted the name Ropesville. Oil has funded Texas education for decades, and it also inspired Skellytown, after the Skelly Oil Co., Oilton, Petrolia and Joinerville. That was named for C.M. “Dad” Joiner, an Alabaman who discovered oil and started the East Texas oil boom in 1930.
Notrees in West Texas got its name after the town’s sole tree was removed to make way for a new gas plant. But nature was honored elsewhere: “When the townspeople gathered to name the community, a thunderstorm broke out, followed by a rainbow,” notes the Handbook of Texas. Rainbow, Texas survives today.
As cities and suburbs expand, small towns in Texas are under increasing pressure. And with agriculture now big business, even as we work to protect family farms, the viability of some smaller communities has declined.
Small town values figured in this year’s presidential race, when one candidate told a San Francisco fundraising audience that workers in rural areas were “bitter” and “cling to guns or religion….as a way to explain their frustrations.”
In my view, this remark showed an amazing misunderstanding of a vital part of our population. As anyone who’s traveled in Texas knows, residents of smaller towns are optimistic and proud of our state and nation. And they know that our first and second amendment rights are critical to America’s exceptionalism.
Small town Texas, where faith and moral principles are deeply held, is an ideal place to raise a family. The ethic that made Texas great—hard work, individual initiative, plain talk, independence, and an innate sense of fairness—remains firmly entrenched.
In these communities, when there is a problem, neighbors help neighbors. In other areas of the state, you might not even know your neighbor.
Sometimes lost in today’s fast-paced world is the importance of ultimate values, including justice, truth, freedom, human dignity and respect for human life.
These were the unflinching credo of many earlier Texans. Maintaining these values is the most important legacy we can leave for our children and grandchildren.
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee. Cornyn served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice and Bexar County District Judge.
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