Italy, Texas History, Genealogy and Trivia
History in a Pecan shell
A timeline of significant events in Italy, Texas:
1860: Scattered settlement begins
1879: the brothers Aycock built the first house and use it as a combination of
house, store and post office. The town was split over what the name should
be - some wanting Egypt and others Italy. Gabriel J. Penn, the Waxahachie
postmaster settled the matter for them by filling in the blank on the application
with the name Italy. The postal authorities gladly accepted Italy (there was
already an Egypt in Wharton County).
1890: The population reaches 500 Italians (not really Italians, but what
else are you going to call them?)
1891: A big year for Italy. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad arrived
(actually in December 1890), the first newspaper was published, and the town
was officially incorporated.
1900: population is 1,061
1913: The Electric Interurban between Waco and Dallas comes through Italy (Electricity for the city was provided by Waco)
1920s: Italy had five gins, a compress, and a cottonseed oil mill.
1925: The population reaches 1,500 and the Italy Independent School District was established.
1930: Italy starts the Great Depression with a population of 1,230 people and 45 businesses.
1960: Italy's population remains nearly the same with only 1,183 people and half the businesses. - M. Litchfield
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