INDIAN GAP, TEXAS. Indian Gap, at the junction of Farm roads 218 and 1702, in the hilly section of far western Hamilton County, was named for the Comanches' use of a mountain gap on their raids. Hawley Gerrells and others settled there in 1857, and the first post office was opened in 1879 in Gerrells's home, which also served as a church and social center for the community. H. A. Shipman bought the townsite and farmed it for several years, then took over Gerrells's store and post office in 1889. In 1892 he moved his business closer to the gap and sold town lots. The community remained small, with a population of ninety in the 1920s and following decades. At its peak it had a hotel, a bank, three stores, a gin, a blacksmith shop, a barber shop, churches, schools, and a weekly newspaper named the Arrow. The school closed about 1950, and the post office closed in 1972. By the 1970s the population had dropped to thirty-six, where it remained through 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hamilton County Historical Commission, A History of Hamilton County, Texas (Dallas: Taylor, 1979).
