Gladys

Gladys, Texas, is located in the peaceful Clear Creek valley in eastern Montague County, about six miles south of Saint Jo, Texas, on Farm Road 677 at the intersection with Littlefield Road. The community grew up around the farm of Daniel Leatherwood who came with his family from Tennessee and settled the area in 1862, building a log cabin with a "travelers room" rest stop. A member of the family, John Leatherwood, was killed in the Kiowa Indian raid of January 5 and 6, 1868, that ravaged the valley and the nearby stream course of Willa Walla Creek and resulted in the deaths of some fifteen settlers.

The Indian threat faded in the 1870s, and the town grew to three churches, two stores, a cotton gin, a school, and a post office. Antioch Baptist Church and Antioch Cemetery were nearby, a Methodist church stood until 1949, and the Church of Christ met at the Gladys school building. The community was probably named for Gladys Holt, who ran the first post office in 1892. According to the Texas State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1896–97, the town of Gladys received mail daily, and J. W. Adams operated a general store. The post office closed in 1911. Montague County School District No. 5 was established in 1876 at the Antioch location and moved in 1897 to Gladys proper, ultimately to a site donated by the Leatherwoods on their farm. The school district continued to operate until it was consolidated with Saint Jo by the 1940s. Though Gladys still appeared on county maps in the 1960s, no population figures were available.