RIDGEWAY, TX

RIDGEWAY, TEXAS. Ridgeway, on State Highway 11 and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway ten miles west of Sulphur Spring in western Hopkins County, was named for a pioneer family named Ridgeway and because of its location on a drainage ridge between White Oak Creek and the Sulphur River. A store was opened in 1887 to accommodate the construction gang for the railroad, and a post office was established in 1888 with J. A. Leeman as postmaster. By 1890 the community had two general stores, three mills and gins, two blacksmiths, a druggist, and an estimated population of 100. A public school was in operation by 1905, when it had an enrollment of forty-five. By 1929 the population had grown to 250. During the early 1930s, however, Ridgeway began to decline and by 1933 had fallen to a population of 150 and four businesses. In 1948 the community had three stores, two churches, a gin, and a school. The school was later consolidated with the Sulphur Springs school district, and in the early 1960s only two churches, a cemetery, and a number of scattered houses remained. The population in 1966 was estimated at 130, but by 1976 it had fallen to fifty-four. In the late 1980s Ridgeway was a dispersed rural community with approximately fifty residents. By 2000 the population was listed as fifty-four.