SWINNEY SWITCH, TEXAS. Swinney Switch, also known as Swinney, is a rural community at the intersection of Farm roads 534 and 3024, twelve miles southeast of George West in southeastern Live Oak County. It was named for Sid J. Swinney, who in 1917 bought about 300 acres of land on a hill and built a store there, which he named Swinney Switch to encourage a railroad to build through the area. In the early 1930s he also helped to organize a church congregation, which at first met under a brush arbor. Later a small chapel was built. Despite Swinney's hopes, no railroad ever extended its tracks near the town. In 1936 the community consisted of the church, two businesses, and a few scattered dwellings. By the late 1970s the church was no longer shown on maps of the area, but in the 1980s Swinney Switch had an active volunteer fire department and a ladies' auxiliary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ervin L. Sparkman, The People's History of Live Oak County (Mesquite, Texas, 1981).
