Pearl 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 ...

Coryell County Coryell County ( ) is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 83,093. The county seat is Gatesville. The county is named for James Coryell, a frontiersman and Texas Range ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

, the community had a population of 125 in 2000. It is located within the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area.

History

Wayback was the original name of Pearl. In honor of Swayback Mountain, which lies close to the hamlet, a petition was made asking for the opening of a post office with the name Swayback. In 1884, the post office was given the name "Wayback" due to a typing error. The community was renamed Pearl after Pearl Davenport, a local store owner's son, on March 28, 1890, after which the post office continued to operate under that name. In 1871, G. Dallas Edmondson and his brothers, J. Polk and Sam, were among the first settlers. Three Pearl doctors, Drs. H. Davenport, Taylor, and Ralph Bailey, engaged in a "price war" for patients' services in the early 1900s. A baby might therefore be born at that time for just $2.50. Dr. B. F. King, who relocated to the town in 1920 and died in 1947, was the final rural physician. The Methodist church was founded in Pearl in 1854, followed by the Church of Christ in 1878, the Baptist church in 1889, the United Baptist Church of Jesus Christ in 1896, and the Nazarene church in the first decade of the twentieth century. All of Pearl's congregations held ten-day revival meetings in July and August up until the mid-1920s. Some of the churches rented tents, and people packed food, utensils, and mattresses into their carts. The biggest social occasion of the year was these revivals. Pearl once possessed a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

, a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, and a steam-powered

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

. The "Price System" telephones arrived in Pearl in 1908. People were required to purchase their own telephone boxes, wire, posts, string, and lines, as well as to maintain them. There were forty cents in the average monthly bill. There are still gatherings, quilting bees, and parties held at the Pearl Community Center. In 1892, Pearl had 125 residents. From the 1920s to the 1940s, that number dropped to 75, and from 1943 to the 1970s, it was 220. From 1970 to 2000, 125 people were living there. Pearl hosts a Bluegrass festival at its community center every second Sunday in September.

Geography

Pearl is located west of Gatesville, west of

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

, and northeast of

Lampasas Lampasas ( ) is a city in Lampasas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 7,291 at the 2020 census. It is the seat of Lampasas County. Lampasas is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan statistical area. History ...

in northwestern Coryell County.

Education

Ellen Reily donated a plot of land for a school called Cowhouse School in May 1875. Its name changed to Sweet Home School in the 1890s. Voters approved a $4,000 bond to construct a new school on July 21, 1917. The Pearl School was a brick structure with four rooms. It joined the Evant Independent School District in 1958.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Coryell County, Texas