SALTILLO, TEXAS. Saltillo is at the junction of U.S. Highway 67, Farm Road 900, and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, sixteen miles east of Sulphur Springs in far eastern Hopkins County. It was first settled around 1850 by John Arthur, who opened a store, mill, and gin and named the place for Saltillo, Mexico. The settlement's location on the old Jefferson wagon road made it a popular camp for teamsters. A post office was established there in 1860 with Moses F. Russell as postmaster. A second store was opened on the opposite side of the road, and for a time the community was also known as Twin Groceries. By 1885 Saltillo had a water-powered gristmill, two churches, a school, and a population of sixty. The St. Louis Southwestern built a line 1½ miles north of the settlement in 1887, and one of the stores and the post office moved to the train station site. A public school was in operation by 1905, when it had an enrollment of eighty-four. In 1909 the Gulf Pipe Line was laid through the county a half mile east of Saltillo, further spurring its growth. By 1914 the town had an estimated population of 350 and a number of stores, several barbershops, and a bank, a printing shop, and a newspaper (the Saltillo Signal). The town continued to prosper during the 1920s, but in the early 1930s its population decreased. By 1933 Saltillo had an estimated 250 residents and eleven businesses, and in 1940 it had a consolidated school, a Masonic lodge, three churches, six businesses, and a population of 250. At that time a Methodist church and a cemetery remained at the old townsite. In 1964 Saltillo still had a high school, three churches, four stores, and a population of 270. By 1990, however, it had 200 residents and two businesses, while Old Saltillo had the church and cemetery. The population remained the same in 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Florene Chapman Adams, Hopkins County and Our Heritage. (Sulphur Springs, Texas: 197-?).
