RENDHAM, TEXAS. Rendham was two miles south of the site of the present Rendham Pool oilfield area in eastern Baylor County and was settled by the Thomas C. Haddox family in 1906. A settlement developed around 1909-10 when the Gulf, Texas and Western Railroad, building west from Jacksboro and Olney, reached the area. A depot, several stock pens, a cottonseed house, and the Haddox store were soon in business, as was a post office, granted on January 18, 1910, with James W. Hamlin as postmaster. Early settlers included the Bryan, Guthrie, Renner, Haddox, and Vickers families. The name Rendham was given by the postal department. The post office was moved to Westover on January 15, 1912. A school existed in Rendham from around 1910 to the late 1920s. The demise of the community was brought about by the abandonment of the Gulf, Texas and Western in 1940. No evidence of the town exists on present county maps.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ed Ellsworth Bartholomew, The Encyclopedia of Texas Ghost Towns (Fort Davis, Texas, 1982). Baylor County Historical Society, Salt Pork to Sirloin, Vol. 1: The History of Baylor County, Texas, from 1879 to 1930 (Quanah, Texas: Nortex, 1972); Vol. 2: The History of Baylor County, Texas, from 1878 to Present (1977).

Charles G. Davis