Freestone County, Texas
Communities


Old Ghost Towns - Post Office:


Shanks/Liberty Hill/Nip and Tuck

  Shanks had a small thriving community in the 1890s to the 1920s. Between May 
27, 1899 *1* and Nov. 15, 1906 *2*, Shanks had a post office despite being close 
to Kirvin and Cotton Gin.  The Shanks community lay adjacent to the Trinity and
Brazos Valley railroad on the western side, just south of Kirvin which also 
is on the same railroad.  The land of the Shanks community fields are drained
by the Campbell Branch of Little Tehuacana Creek.  
  A historical marker for the community's cemetery writes:  "Shanks Cemetery- 
Matthews and Robert Shanks of Alabama settled here with their families in 1859. 
A small farming community developed, and in 1870 a school was built on a one-
acre site donated by R. C. Murray. Land beside the schoolyard became a public 
burial ground, known as Shanks Cemetery after Shanks Post Office opened in 1896. 
The earliest recorded burial was Burgess A. Whatley  (1854-1892). In 1893 G. W. 
Bell deeded another half acre east of the graveyard. The school building was 
torn down in 1917. Shanks Cemetery Association has maintained the site since 1935."

Known Past Residents:

Aaron, Mrs. Alice
Ausley, Eunice 

Baldree, Arkansas 
Baker, R. M. 
Batchelor, Dr. C.
Bell, G. W. 
Burns, Mary Lucille 

Capp, Helen 

Fagan, William James 
Freeman, Thomas Charles (Jake) Sr.

Hays, Richard 
Hudson, Emma 

Killgor, W. T. 
King, Permelia

McKinney, Audrey (Moore) 
Meadows, Catherine 
Moore, Cora D. 
Moore, Ella Jane 
Moore, Ivy Beulah 
Moore, James Alexander
Moore, Marguaritte 
Moore, Martha Faye
Moore, Bro. T. J.  (Primitive Baptist)
Moore, William Edward 
Mulkey, Felix G 
Murray, R. C.

Prowell, John Mitchell 

Scarborough, Marvin Richmond Jr.
Sealey, Matthew 
Shanks, Geo. Wesley 
Shanks, Harvey
Shanks, Matthew
Shanks, Oda 
Shanks, Robert
Sharp, Jesse Ezell 

Tisdale, Martha Eleanor 

Ward, Edward 
Webb, Harry F. 
Whatley, Burgess A.
Wilson, Blanche Evelyn 

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SOURCES:

*1* = Dallas Morning News (of Dallas, Texas) - July 25, 1899

National Capital News
Rural Free Mail Delivery

Special to The News
  Washington, July 24 - A post office has been established at Shanks, Freestone county, 
Tex., with Harvey Shanks as postmaster.
  The post office of County Line, Cooke county, Tex., will be discontinued after ...

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*2* = Dallas Morning News (of Dallas, Texas) – Nov. 8, 1906 – Page: 9

Orders of Postal Department

   Effective Nov. 15, postoffices at … Shanks, Freestone county, … will be 
discontinued and superseded by rural free delivery.