Lueders

Lueders is on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, State Highway 6, Farm Road 1597, and the Shackelford county line, in northeast Jones County. It was named for Frederick Lueders, a Texas revolution soldier whose land allotment included the townsite. Development dates from 1899, when the Webb and Hill Land and Cattle Company sponsored a colony, although W. J. Herrington had settled in the vicinity in 1889. M. McDaniel was the original farmer in the area in 1877. He was joined by August Lieb two years later. Lueders gained Texas Central Railroad service in 1900, and a post office was established in 1902. Early businesses included gins and stone quarries. R. H. McCarty started the Lueders Vanguard prior to 1908. The population was 700 in 1915. Overflows of the Clear Fork damaged the Lueders City Park in 1932 and 1957, but did not harm the town itself. The population declined to 625 in 1940, the year of incorporation, when Lueders had a bank and a post office. The population was 654 in 1960 and 511 in 1970. In 1980 the community had 420 residents, six businesses, and a chamber of commerce. Lueders is a center for raisers of cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses and farmers of cotton, wheat, and sorghums. Nearby is the Baptist Double Mountain Encampment, established in 1922. In 1990 the population of Lueders was 365, and in 2000 there were 300 inhabitants. In 2004 the town had a newly renovated school building and was initiating a main-street restoration project, and several large limestone quarries operated in the area.