Gibtown

GIBTOWN, TEXAS . Gibtown is on Farm Road 2210 in the southeastern corner of Jack County. The surrounding countryside was called New Hope City by area farmers before a permanent settlement was established there. More settlers moved into the area during the late 1870s, and a townsite was surveyed in 1883 on land belonging to J. M. Cox and W. M. Burton. Gibtown became the retail and shipping point for truck farmers and stock raisers in Jack, Wise, and Parker counties. By 1895 many residents believed that Gibtown was second only to Jacksboro in wealth and population. Gibtown's population reached 400 in 1896, and around that time the town had three churches, several stores, a school, a hotel, a cotton gin, and a steam gristmill. But when the railroad reached Jacksboro in 1898, many of Gibtown's businesses moved away. Local farmers also left, as soil erosion reduced the land's productivity. The post office, established in 1883, closed in 1927. The population dropped to twenty-five by the early 1950s and remained at that level until 1966, the last year for which statistics are available. The 1983 county highway map showed only a cemetery at the site.