Indian Gap is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located between two hills in western Hamilton County in Central Texas.

History

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

Indians would use these hills to begin their raids, inspiring the name of the community. The community was settled in 1877. Hawley Gerrells was an early settler who opened a post office in his home in 1879. At various times his home served as a store, a church, and a social center. H.A. Shipman bought the townsite and farmed it for several years. In 1889, he took over Gerrells' store and post office, and in 1892 he sold town lots. The population was 90 in the 1920s. At one point, Indian Gap had a bank, a hotel, three stores, a blacksmith shop, a gin, a barber shop, churches, and a weekly newspaper, ''The Arrow''. The post office closed in 1972. By the 1970s the population had dropped to 36 and remained there through 2000. The population was recorded as 27 in 2010 and went up to 35 in 2019.

Geography

Indian Gap is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 218 and 1702, west of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, east of Brownwood, and south of Stephenville in the hills of far-western Hamilton County.

Education

Indian Gap had its own schools at its peak, which closed about 1959. Today, the community is served by the Hamilton Independent School District.

Notable person

Indian Gap is the hometown of

Frank N. Mitchell Frank Nicias Mitchell (August 18, 1921 – November 26, 1950) was an American who served in World War II as an enlisted Marine and was killed in action as a Marine first lieutenant during the Korean War while serving with the 1st Marine Div ...

, awarded a

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

for his actions in the Korean War.Korean War Educator
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In popular culture

In 2009, author Dee Kelly wrote a book, ''A Good Man's Sin'', centered around a boy who moves from a large city to play

six-man football Six-man football is a variant of gridiron football played with six players per team, instead of the standard 11 or 12. It is generally played by high schools in rural areas of the United States and Canada. History Six-man football was developed ...

in Indian Gap, before making it into the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Hamilton County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas {{HamiltonCountyTX-geo-stub