BELL BRANCH, TEXAS (Atascosa County). Bell (Belle) Branch was a rural community three miles south of Fashing in eastern Atascosa County. The settlement was a stage stop on the San Patricio Trail in the 1870s. A local post office opened in 1871, but service was removed to Campbellton in 1879. Bell Creek, which runs through the area, is probably the source of the name. By 1936 Bell Branch was no longer indicated on highway maps, and by 1963 only ruins marked the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Atascosa County History (Pleasanton, Texas: Atascosa History Committee, 1984 Margaret G. Clover, The Place Names of Atascosa County (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1952).
