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We would like to provide the residents of  De Leon  a basic history overview.

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De Leon, TX - History


We would like to provide the residents of  De Leon  a basic history overview.


Welcome to the De Leon Home page. The De Leon Home page provides as much information as possible on De Leon. Knowing De Leon’s history is essential to guiding its future. Within De Leon’s Home page, you will also find De Leon’s Founders, Holiday, and Birthday sections.

De Leon has a population of 2497. 49.9% of De Leon’s inhabitants are Male, and 50.1 are female. 46.8% of De Leon is married and 74.6% own their own home. The Average Home price is $67,351, and the average rent is $539. Household median income in De Leon is $35,000, and the individual median income is $22,629. De Leon’s Ethnic is the following: White(89.4%), Hispanic(28.9%), Multiple(6.8%), Other(1.7%), Black(1.3%), Native(0.8%).


The population of De Leon remained under 1,000 until 1910, when a branch of the Texas Central line, then leased by the Katy Railroad, was constructed from De Leon to Rising Star and Cross Plains. It was the only town in Comanche County with railroad service and a station.: 415  De Leon then became the center point for the Katy between Waco, Albany, and Cross Plains, thereby relocating numerous railroad crew members and their families to the city.


The census of 1910 showed 1,015 citizens. De Leon continues to retain its rail service and the former Texas Central Katy line from Dublin to Gorman, nicknamed the "Peanut Line", is currently operated by the Fort Worth and Western Railroad. On Labor Day night 1918, oil was discovered north of De Leon just inside the Comanche County line near Desdemona.


During the next two years, nearly 1000 wells were drilled in the area, and the population of De Leon rose to an estimate of more than 5,000 people. The boom was short-lived, though, and by the time the actual was census taken in 1920, the population was only 3,302. Since World War II, De Leon's population has stabilized around 2,500. Ranching dominated Comanche County until the coming of the Texas Central in 1881.


Cotton soon became the primary crop, as immigrants from the Southern states, and in particular the area around Oxford and Pontotoc, Mississippi, came to the De Leon vicinity starting in 1890. When the boll weevil began to make inroads in the area after 1910, farmers just west of town began to plant the small Spanish peanut.


That quickly became the dominant crop, and in 1913, the De Leon Peanut Company was organized. Over time, Comanche County became the leading peanut-producing county in the U.S. Coupled with production around the neighboring community of Gorman in Eastland County, most of the peanuts went into candy, particularly Curtis Candies' Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars.


Nabisco eventually purchased the De Leon Peanut Company. In the 21st century, peanut production has dropped dramatically. De Leon has one of the oldest festivals in Texas, the De Leon Peach and Melon Festival, which had its beginnings in 1914. Celebrated during the first full week in August, it draws thousands to its numerous events, including a carnival, tractor pulls, car show, and a free cold watermelon slicing.


The current watermelon seed-spitting distance record, as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, of 75 feet 2 inches, was set at the festival on August 12, 1995, by Jason Schayot, then of Georgetown, Texas. Schaynot is a descendant of two long-time De Leon families. Among De Leon's unique events is the only paid appearance by Elvis Presley in which he sang only gospel music.


It occurred at Hodges Park on July 4, 1955, when he followed his friends, the Blackwood Brothers, at the Battle of Songs show. The Blackwoods had lost family members in a plane crash in Alabama the previous year, just prior to a scheduled appearance in De Leon, and had remembered them in a performance immediately preceding Elvis' performance.


Elvis followed with more gospel music. It was one of three appearances Elvis made that day for promoter W.B. Nowlin, then mayor of De Leon. The other two were in Brownwood and Stephenville.Included among De Leon's most distinguished citizens are former Texas Speaker of the House and later Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, a protégé of John B.


Connally and Lyndon B. Johnson, and the 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner William White, whose The Taft Story focuses upon Republican presidential contender Robert A. Taft. Winston Lee Moore, composer and singer of "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes", was reared just north of De Leon. He is better known under his stage name, Slim Willet.


Former State Representative Sid Miller was born in De Leon in 1955; he was a candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner in the Republican primary election scheduled for March 4, 2014. Buried in the De Leon Cemetery is Cyrus Campbell, an early resident, who was the blacksmith who made the leg irons placed on Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna following his capture at the Battle of San Jacinto.


According to Campbell's family tradition, his three brothers and he were the men who actually captured Lopez de Santa Anna the day following the battle.The town motto, "Busiest Town, Friendliest People", is a reminder of the slower-paced lifestyle still available in a few communities in this country.


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