Noodle

Noodle is on Farm Road 1812 ten miles north of Merkel in southwest Jones County. It took its name from Noodle Creek; according to folk tradition the name meant "nothing," signifying a dry creek bed. Settlement in the region began in 1882 with the arrival of Anderson Criswell, a sheepherder. Later settlers came for the cheap ($5 per acre) land. In 1898 Noodle acquired a store and in 1900 a post office, which operated until 1924. By 1920 the town had added a gin, a blacksmith shop, and a garage. In 1883 the first school, Willow Creek, was founded on Criswell's ranch northeast of the site of present Noodle. Local residents built a school building in Noodle six years later and named it Cross Roads. Another structure was erected in 1905 through the aid of a bond issue. In 1929, after consolidating with the Horn school district, Noodle used bonds to build another school, the Noodle-Horn school, which was consolidated with the Compere school district in the 1930s and closed in 1978. The first church services in Noodle were held in the original schoolhouse, which the Church of Christ took over when the school moved. During the early days a Methodist church was built to house a union Sunday school and services. The Baptist church was organized in 1924 and by the early 1940s had built a meeting house. In the mid-1980s Noodle had one store, a gin, and two churches. The population did not exceed forty between 1950 and 1986. It was reported as forty in 1990 and 2000.