Ripley

A second Ripley was on the Paris and Mount Pleasant Railway some seven miles northwest of Mount Pleasant in northern Titus County. This community was founded around 1912, when the Paris and Mount Pleasant line was being built through the county. Four Titus County businessmen-J. V. Moore, E. S. Lilienstern, H. A. Wilson, and W. V. Mason-purchased a tract of land along the proposed rail route and had it surveyed, filing the plat with the county clerk in 1914. The railroad company built a depot, a post office was opened, and the sale of lots began. At its height the community had two stores, three blacksmith shops, a gin, and probably a mill. There was also a community church in which the local Methodist and Baptist congregations held services on alternate Sundays. The upstairs part of the church was used for meetings of the two local lodges, and the building was also the site of summer singing schools for young people. After World War I the population of the community declined. The post office closed in 1926, businesses gradually moved away, and the depot eventually closed. By 1984 Ripley no longer existed as a named community.