Nopal

Cross is on State Highway 16 eight miles north of Tilden in north central McMullen County. It was named for Samuel G. Cross, who opened a grocery store on the site in 1924. The community was originally known as Nopal when it was founded around the mid-1870s; by 1883 it included a small store, two houses, and a one-room schoolhouse. It had a post office from 1889 to 1891, and for a time was designated by the McMullen County commissioners' court as a legal voting place. In 1925 the name was changed to Cross, and the community was granted a new post office under that name. In 1930 a one-room schoolhouse still stood on the site; a larger, stone schoolhouse was built in 1938. During the 1930s and part of the 1940s the town had a small grocery store. In 1933 an estimated fifteen people lived in the settlement. The post office was closed in 1934, and the school closed in 1945. In the late 1940s Cross had twenty-five residents, a few houses, and one business. By 1952 the business had closed, and the old schoolhouse was used as a community center for elections and religious revivals. A 1988 highway map showed one business on the site. In the mid-1980s the community was also known as Franklin Settlement.