Tynan

Tynan, on State highway 359, seven miles southwest of Skidmore in southwestern Bee County, was named in honor of John Tynan. J. Thornton purchased the site, and John and Sarah Wade later bought a part of it. In 1888 the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was built from Skidmore to Mathis. Fifteen years later Sarah Wade sold tracts of her land to German settlers from counties to the north of Bee County. According to one local history, the Welder Ranch and the Beasley Ranch gave rise to two coexisting Tynans-Welder Tynan and Beasley Tynan. In 1906 a map of the town was drawn by John R. Beasley, and in 1912 his father, J. C., sold some land to A. W. Steinmeyer, who opened the first business in Tynan later that year. The community acquired a post office in 1911, and its first cotton gin was built and owned by a Mr. Branden. When the original gin was destroyed by fire in 1916, a new gin was built, and area farmers established the Tynan Gin Company. In 1915 Edgar Steinmeyer opened the Bank of Tynan, which operated until the early 1930s. A wooden schoolhouse was built in 1916 and was eventually replaced with a more permanent stucco building. During the late 1940s the local school was consolidated with that of Skidmore to form the Skidmore-Tynan school district. Around that time Tynan reported three churches, several businesses, and a population of 212. In 1990 it had some 200 residents, who were served by three churches, the post office, the Bee County Co-op Association, an insurance company, a beauty salon, and a grocery store. The population was 301 in 2000.