REAGAN, TEXAS. Reagan is at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Farm Road 413, nine miles southeast of Marlin in southeastern Falls County. It was established in 1873, shortly after the Waco and Northwestern Railroad completed the section of track between Bremond and Ross. A post office opened that year and was named for William Reason Reagan, who gave land for the townsite. During the mid-1880s the community had two steam gristmills, nine cotton gins, five general stores, two hotels, a church, a district school, and 250 residents. By 1890 Reagan had grown to 500 residents and had a weekly newspaper, the Herald. The community in 1905 had two one-teacher schools with 117 black students and one three-teacher school with 140 white students. The reported population of Reagan reached a high of 600 in 1914, when the town included a bank and assorted other businesses. The number of residents fell to 500 by the mid-1920s and to 353 by the early 1940s. The Reagan schools were consolidated with the Marlin Independent School District in 1948. Reagan lost its rail service in 1965, when the Southern Pacific abandoned the section of track between Bremond and Waco. By the early 1970s the Reagan population had fallen to 200, and it remained at that level through 1990. In 2000 the population was 208.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jana Hubby, "Folklore and Legends of Falls County," Texas Historian, November 1980. Vertical File, Texas Collection, Baylor University.
