The last vestiges of the town of Cuthbert in rural Mitchell County Texas, northwest of Colorado City, is this cemetery and a nearby historical marker.
To get to this location, from Westbrook take FM 670 north about 7 miles north. Continue straight on county road north about 5 miles to cemetery, at junction with FM 1229.
Blasterz were here in the middle of a severe dust storm, with 70 mile an hour winds and dust that reached 25,000 feet in the air blowing in from west of Lubbock. The blowing dust was absolutely miserable, and eventually reached all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast.
So in the 30 seconds that we were out of the car looking at the Cuthbert Cemetery, Blasterz estimated there are about 100 people buried here, and maybe a few ranch buildings we could see on the horizon.
A nearby historical marker reads as follows:
"SITE OF THE TOWN OF CUTHBERT
Founded in 1890 by D.T. Bozeman, teacher and merchant, on a Main Wagon Road, 16 miles northwest of Colorado (City). Town was named for Bozeman's neighbor, T.T. Cuthbertson, first Postmaster was Mrs. Bozeman. A good well by Bozeman's General Store attracted freighters. First Cuthbert School opened in 1893. First rural telephone line in county was built in 1898 from Bozeman's home to Colorado (City). In 1907, Cuthbert boasted Bozeman's Store, C.W. Womack's General Store, a gin, blacksmith shop, barber shop, church, and school. Post office closed, 1959. (1969)"
From the Handbook of Texas Online:
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visit link)
CUTHBERT, TX.Cuthbert was on Farm Road 1229 some fourteen miles northwest of Colorado City in northwestern Mitchell County. The community began in 1890 when D. T. Bozeman, a teacher in a nearby country school, settled in the area and built a wagonyard and a store. A post office was granted to the community in 1891, with Bozeman's wife, Ellen, as postmistress; the office was named for a family friend, Thomas Cuthbertson. A school was started at the community in 1893 but lasted only four years. Bozeman installed a telephone switchboard in his home in 1904, and his wife served as the operator for local subscribers. In 1907 a new county school district was established in Cuthbert. During the teens and early 1920s Cuthbert grew to include two stores, a church, a blacksmith shop, a gin, a school, and a telephone office. In 1920 the T. and P. Abrams No. 1 oil well, one of the first commercial oil ventures in the Permian Basin, was drilled just over a mile north of the town. A post office, two businesses, and a population of twenty-five were reported at the community in 1936, the year that its school was consolidated with that of Colorado City. After World War II the improvement of rural roads in the area led to Cuthbert's decline as it lost its trade to Colorado City. The Cuthbert post office was discontinued about 1960, when the town reported one business and a population of twenty-five. By 1974 only a cemetery and scattered farms remained in the area."