Runnells

McCrosky, possibly also known as Runnells, is in northern Matagorda County eight miles north of Bay City, on Snead Slough and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (formerly Cane Belt) railroad, which came through the area in 1901. McCrosky was located on what was then the Runnells-Pierce ranch and was named after J. N. McCrosky, one of its cowboys. At one time the McCrosky switch had cattle pens and a barn for stock feed. In 1933 the newly established McCrosky Home Demonstration Club (see HOME DEMONSTRATION) was holding meetings at a McCrosky school; the club would remain active until 1964. The 1936 county highway map showed about five farm units clustered near the McCrosky railway station, which was then also accessible by a low-grade road paralleling the railroad up to McCrosky. By the late 1970s the damming of Snead Slough had formed two small reservoirs flanking McCrosky. The site was labeled Runnells on the 1989 county highway map, which did not show any structures there.