MELVIN, TEXAS. Melvin, in the late 1980s the second largest town in McCulloch County, is on Farm Road 2087 just south of U.S. Highway 87, fifteen miles west of Brady. It was named for W. H. Melvin, who built a ranch house in the area in 1874. The townsite was laid out in 1904, and a post office was established in 1906. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built through Melvin in 1912. By 1914 the town had two cotton gins, two general stores, and seventy-five residents. The Melvin Rustler began publication in 1915, and the Melvin Enterprise was established in 1923 and was still publishing in the 1980s. By 1931 thirty-eight businesses served a population of 650. Melvin reached its peak population of 925 in 1949; the number of residents declined steadily thereafter. When Melvin was incorporated in the early 1950s, its population was 696. The railroad was abandoned in 1972. In 1988 Melvin reported six businesses and 213 residents, and in 1990, 184 residents. In 2000 the population was 155.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jessie Laurie Barfoot, History of McCulloch County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1937). Wayne Spiller, comp., Handbook of McCulloch County History (Vol. 1, Seagraves, Texas: Pioneer, 1976; vol. 2, Canyon, Texas: Staked Plains Press, 1986).

Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl