Coughran

Coughran was four miles southeast of Pleasanton near the termination of Farm Road 1334 and the Missouri Pacific line in east central Atascosa County. The settlement was named for W. A. "Abe" Coughran, who in 1912 began to develop the town and in 1913 built a store, a bank, a gin, a school, and a post office and located artesian wells to make the place attractive to prospective settlers. Coughran also donated the right-of-way for the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad the same year. In 1914 the community had a population of 100, a weekly newspaper called the Coughran Observer, a hotel, and several retail and manufacturing establishments. The school had sixty-six students in 1913. During the 1920s Coughran marketed cotton and watermelons. Although the population dropped to fifty, a new school building was constructed in 1924 and enlarged in 1933 to accommodate 134 students. The reported population dropped to twenty-five in the mid-1930s but rose again to fifty in the 1940s and remained at that figure until 1964. In 1956 the school was consolidated with the Pleasanton schools. In 1986 the area was owned by the Eichelberger family, who operated the Big Oak Antiques complex. The population was twenty in 2000.