Oglesby

Oglesby is at the intersection of Farm Road 1996 and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas, thirteen miles east of Gatesville in eastern Coryell County. Although there were settlers in the area as early as the mid-1850s, the community was not established until 1882, when the railroad came through the area. At first the settlement was called Hilltop because it occupied the highest point above sea level on the railroad, but the name was soon changed to Oglesby in honor of William Oglesby, who gave land for the townsite. A post office opened in 1883 with Joseph J. Hackney as postmaster. By the next year the town had gristmills, cotton gins, three churches, a district school, and 100 residents; the principal crops shipped by area farmers were cotton and corn. In the early 1900s Oglesby grew fairly rapidly and reached a population of 500 in the late 1920s. Though the town experienced a severe setback during the Great Depression, it began to recover soon after the United States entered World War II. The naval ordnance plant located between Oglesby and McGregor provided area residents with much-needed jobs. Oglesby was incorporated in 1953 with a mayor-council form of city government. The town's population increased slowly from 400 in 1949 to 515 in 1988. In 1990 it was 452. The population was 458 in 2000.