VERBENA, TEXAS. Verbena, Texas, is located on Farm Road 2008 about twelve miles northeast of Post in northeast Garza County. The community began in the early 1900s as settlers of area ranches gathered for church meetings. A post office opened in the home of J. B. Cotton on December 16, 1901, and was named after his wife Verbena. The Verbena Baptist Church organized on August 24, 1902, with nine charter members and was reportedly the first church in Garza County. In 1903 residents built a brush arbor for religious meetings, and they constructed a church building in 1904. Twenty or more members belonged to the church, which became the centerpiece of the hamlet and functioned as a facility for various denominations, a community center, and a shelter for travelers. Early families in the area included the Barrow, Cotton, Askins, Nichols, Kennedy, Cravy, Faulkner, and Lindsey families.

A Methodist church was organized in 1906 and held services in the Verbena church building. The Verbena post office closed on December 15, 1912, with the growth of the county seat of Post. In 1922 the Verbena School opened, and classes met in a building located just north of the church. The school closed in 1945 and was eventually consolidated with the Post Independent School District. By the late 1950s the Baptist and Methodist churches had disorganized, and the Verbena church building stood silent. It served as a community center in the 1960s and received a Texas Historical Building Medallion in 1964. By that time, many of the descendants of the founding families had moved away. The community was still identified on state highway maps in the 1990s, but no population figures were available.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Charles Didway, ed., Wagon Wheels: A History of Garza County (Seagraves, Texas: Pioneer, 1973). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin. Women's Division of Post Chamber of Commerce, comps. and eds., Foot Prints: A History of Garza County and Its People (Post, Texas: Taylor, 1986?).

Laurie E. Jasinski