Manchester

Manchester is at the junction of Farm roads 195 and 2118, seventeen miles northwest of Clarksville in northwestern Red River County. The area was first settled during the antebellum Texas period, but a community did not begin to develop at the site until after the Civil War. A post office, secured by F. M. White, opened in 1870 under the name Taylor. In 1880 Joseph E. Srygley became postmaster and requested that the name be changed to Manchester for the former Illinois home of the Srygleys. In 1880 the town had a population of 100, a church, a school, a mill, a gin, and several businesses; most of the residents earned their livelihoods from lumber and cotton. As late as the 1930s the community had several stores, a church, a school, and a sawmill; the reported population in 1936 was 142. After World War II the population began to decline, and most of the businesses closed. In 1980 the town reported sixty-five residents and one business, a combination grocery store and feed store, which remained open under various owners until 1996. In 1990 and 2000 the community reported an estimated 185 inhabitants. In 2000 a restaurant was open in Manchester on weekends.