Simpsonville

Levita is at the junction of Farm roads 930 and 2412, ten miles northwest of Gatesville in Coryell County. The town began when Mont Simpson donated land for public buildings and called the townsite Simpsonville, but the name had to be changed when the post office was established because there was already another Simpsonville in Texas. The Levita post office opened in 1886, and the town had a population of seventy-five and three businesses in 1890; by 1914 the population was reported as 100. In 1909 the community was said to be the greatest buyer of produce in the county after Gatesville and Copperas Cove; this was probably true, as Levita was rather remotely situated. The railroad reached Levita in 1911. The community had a large rural school, two churches, a Woodmen of the World lodge, a large flour mill, a gristmill, an up-to-date gin, a barbershop, several doctors, a justice of the peace, a constable, a number of stores, a blacksmith shop, and the railroad. Court was held once a month. An early school building was a two-storied wooden structure, painted white, with stairs to the second floor on the outside of the building. The younger students were downstairs, where there was a stage for plays. The older students attended classes upstairs. Later a rock schoolhouse was built. The town began to decline when better transportation made it easier for residents to shop in Gatesville; then a fire almost destroyed Levita in 1932. The railroad ceased local service in 1941. Around that time a store was still in operation, a new post office was built, and there were two or three gas stations. Levita reported a population of 200 throughout most of the 1930s and 1940s. The school operated into the 1950s, but eventually the children were bused to another community. The population of Levita had declined to seventy by the late 1980s. The community still reported seventy residents in 2000.