VIVIAN, TEXAS. Vivan is located at the northern end of Farm Road 2566 in northwest Foard County, thirteen miles northwest of Crowell. The settlement was briefly known as Pealoreville, presumably after Joseph H. Pealore. In 1890 a nearby post office named Yampareka closed, and rather than take that name for the new community, the Pealore family chose the name Vivian from a list sent by the postal department. The new office was established on April 18, 1891, with Joseph Pealore as postmaster. By the next year the town had grown to include the Pealore general store, a butcher shop, a shoe store, a hotel, a Methodist church, and a population of 200. A school was established around 1890. It was destroyed by fire twice but remained in service until the consolidation with the Crowell schools in 1949. Blue Hole Spring, located a short distance from the school, was an early local gathering place and source of water. Vivian was bypassed by railroads and main highways and located in an isolated part of the county. The post office was moved to Crowell on January 15, 1930. A population of forty and two businesses were reported in 1945. Although recent Texas Almanacs omit the settlement, Vivian appears on 1980 county maps just northwest of the Raseberry oilfield and east of Blue Hole Creek.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bailey Phelps, They Loved the Land: Foard County History (Quanah, Texas: Quanah Tribune-Chief, 1969).

Charles G. Davis