Coon Creek

Coon Creek is on Farm Road 56 two miles south of Lake Whitney in southeastern Bosque County. It is named for Coon Creek which runs through it. John Jackson Smith and his wife, Margaret, were wealthy plantation owners in Mississippi who bought several thousand acres that became known as Smith Bend in 1854. Their son, Burton Smith, came with horses, cattle, and slaves ahead of his parents. He died before his parents arrived, and his grave was the first in the Smith Bend-Coon Creek Cemetery. In 1936 Coon Creek had a church, a business, a school, and a number of scattered dwellings. In the 1940s the little schools of Coon Creek, Meridian, Clifton, and Valley Mills were consolidated. By 1970 the town had a church, one business, and a community hall. In 1990 four or five large cattle ranches operated in the area, and about twenty families lived in Coon Creek, five of which are direct descendants of the founders of the area. On October 29, 1978, a Texas historical marker was placed at the cemetery's entrance, and a dedication ceremony was held. Coon Creek was shown on county highway maps in 2000, but no population estimates were available.