Camp Springs

Camp Springs is on Farm Road 1614 ten miles east of Snyder in east central Scurry County. Lush grass and springs made the area a popular camping spot, first for Indians and later for travelers and such army men as Gen. Robert E. Lee, who camped there in 1856 with his troops while on the trail of the Comanches. In 1878 the benefits of the area attracted a sheepherder named W. H. Camp, who settled on Spring Creek. Residents called their town Afra after the postmistress's son when a post office was first established in 1891. They later renamed the town Camp Springs. After reaching a population high of fifty between 1920 and 1940, when it also had a bank, a school, stores, and churches, the town declined. By the early 1950s the post office had closed. In 1990 and again in 2000 ten people were still living there. Camp Springs is an important site for archeologists, who have unearthed a number of Indian artifacts and bones.