Barksdale

Barksdale, formerly known as Dixie, is on the Nueces River at the intersection of Farm Road 335 and State Highway 55, twenty-four miles southeast of Rocksprings in southeastern Edwards County. The community is named for Lewis Barksdale, who patented a league and a labor of land in the area in 1847. Settlers moved into the area in the 1860s, and Barksdale moved to the site of the community in 1869. A settlement gradually developed there, and in its early years the community was called Dixie, for nearby Camp Dixie. By 1880 Dixie had a saloon, a hotel, and a small store. When the community applied for a post office in 1882, its residents were told that another community named Dixie had already secured that name, so citizens selected Barksdale as the name. In 1884 the community had a population of twenty, and by 1890 Barksdale had two general stores and a grocery. School was held in a small house until a school building was erected in 1887; the new schoolhouse doubled as a church. Over the next two years a gristmill and a cotton gin were built in the town, and by 1900 Barksdale had 106 residents. The community received telephone service soon thereafter, a Baptist church was built in 1906, and a bank opened in 1907. Barksdale's population was estimated at 200 through the mid-1940s. In 1948 the town had a school, a church, and five businesses, but by 1950 its population had fallen to an estimated 150. A Methodist church was built there in 1950, and a new high school building was built in 1957. By 1973 Barksdale consisted of the high school, two businesses, several dwellings, and a cemetery, and its population had fallen to seventy-one. The town grew dramatically in the late 1980s as a number of housing subdivisions were built there. In 1990 Barksdale had 617 inhabitants and six businesses. By 2000 the population grew to 1,081 with sixteen businesses.