Balch

Tin Top, a farming community on Farm Road 2580 nine miles south of Weatherford in south central Parker County, was settled in the mid-1880s. It was first called Smith after an early settler, and later, Irby, after local rancher Benjamin F. Irby. The name Tin Top derived from a cotton gin built there in 1909; it had a galvanized-metal roof that could be seen for miles. The community lay dormant until 1949, when its few scattered residents combined with those of nearby Balch, Horse Shoe Bend, and Hightower under the name Tin Top; they built a community center and reestablished churches. From 1980 through 1990 the community reported a population of twenty-five. The Tin Top Suspension Bridge, which spans the Brazos River, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.