Barry

Barry is on State Highway 22 and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway ten miles northwest of Corsicana in northwestern Navarro County. It derived its name from Bryan T. Barry of Corsicana and Dallas, the original owner of at least 300 acres of land sold to early area settlers at the site. In 1886 the town, which had a gin and a newly established post office in Taylor's General Store, was located a mile south of its present site. When the railroad completed a line between Corsicana and Hillsboro in 1888, residents of Barry moved the town to the tracks. The train shipped cotton and delivered the mail. Rural residents of the new site first received mail service on May 16, 1904; E. W. Miller was the first postmaster. The first public school had opened in 1896, and by 1906 it had two teachers and an enrollment of 127 pupils. In 1914 the community had 400 residents and numerous businesses, including two banks, a blacksmith shop, a cafe, a hotel, a gin, general stores, and a newspaper, the weekly News. It supported three churches, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian. In 1939 Barry had 350 residents and seven businesses. In the 1950s the community had a general store, a Masonic lodge, a cotton gin that serviced the nearby farms, a garage, two gas stations, and a post office. The Barry school district was consolidated with that of Blooming Grove in 1958. By 1970 there were only two businesses in the community, and the population had fallen to 143. In 1990 Barry recorded a population of 175 and a single business; in 2000 the town had 209 inhabitants and eighteen businesses.