BLAND, TEXAS. Bland was ten miles northwest of Belton on Owl Creek and Farm Road 184 in northwestern Bell County. The community was founded about 1880 by John Atkerson, who opened a store on the site. His name for the community, Pokerville, was supposedly derived from his fondness for playing poker with his customers. In 1894, when a post office was granted to the community, a more seemly name, Bland, was chosen; the name was possibly from that of D. T. Bland, an early settler in the area. Twenty people lived in the community in 1896. In 1925 Bland had sixty-three residents, but by 1949 its population had declined to twenty, and the community had one business. In the mid-1950s the site was inundated by Lake Belton.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Belton Journal, April 6, 1950.
