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VERA, TEXAS. Vera is on U.S. Highway 82 sixty miles southwest of Wichita Falls in east central Knox County. The site is a flat strip of land with grass of a whitish color, and the community was originally known as White Flat. In 1890 another Texas post office already had that name, and G. W. Ballard renamed the settlement Vera, after Vera Kellog, the daughter of Holt Kellog, an early pioneer. Ballard, the owner of a grocery store and mill, was the first postmaster. With fertile land at their disposal, the early settlers made a good living raising stock and farming. As cotton became an important crop about 1900, Peter Loran built the first gin, which he sold in 1902. The gin burned during World War II.^qv Over the years several rural schools have been consolidated with the Vera school. When it was discontinued in 1960, pupils began attending school in Benjamin or Seymour. The population of Vera rose from 100 in 1960 to 276 by 1970, then decreased to 176 in 1980, when the community had two businesses. Local farmers raise cattle and hogs. In 1990 the population of Vera was 276. By 2000 the population had dropped to fifty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mrs. R. D. Gray, Early Days in Knox County (New York: Carleton, 1963). Knox County History Committee, Knox County History (Haskell, Texas: Haskell Free Press, 1966).

Edloe A. Jenkins

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/VV/hlv9.html (accessed May 15, 2008).

(NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")

The Handbook of Texas Online is a project of the Texas State Historical Association (http://www.tshaonline.org).

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Last Updated: January 10, 2008
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