HORTON, TEXAS (Delta County). Horton is at the intersection of Farm roads 71 and 1531, between the South and Middle Sulphur rivers six miles southwest of Klondike in southwestern Delta County. The area was settled by 1867, when the Horton School was established, but the town did not develop substantially until after 1895, when the Texas-Midland Railroad built a line to Cooper, and Horton became a railroad stop. Its post office was granted in 1900 with Richard L. Horton as postmaster. Despite its location on the railroad, Horton never became a large town, and other rail stops, such as Klondike and Cooper, surpassed it to become the local trade centers. In 1905 Horton's post office was discontinued, and its school became the center of community activity. The Midland line became part of the Southern Pacific system in 1928. The 1936 county highway map identified Horton as one business, two churches, a cemetery, and scattered dwellings. The community reported a population of seventy-five in 1939 and again after World War II; mail was delivered from nearby Commerce. A 1964 map showed Horton as a small church, a cemetery, and five houses. The Horton school had become part of the Cooper Independent School District. The 1984 county highway map showed a business, the church, and the cemetery at Horton. The community reported a population of twenty-five in 1990.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986 Paul Garland Hervey, A History of Education in Delta County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1951 Wilma Ross and Billie Phillips, Photos and Tales of Delta County (1976).
