Name/Title
James “Name Change” [Cover]Description
A “Name Change” cover postmarked on June 30, 1954, and signed by the postmaster, on the final day using the "old name" James Post Office. On July 1, 1954, the name changed back to Diana.Context
James, on Farm Road 3245 twelve miles southeast of Gilmer in southeastern Upshur County, grew up just after 1900 near the junction of two railroads: the Marshall and East Texas and the St. Louis and Southwestern. The community was originally named Jamestown, for W. P. James, a prominent local citizen; in 1915 its name was shortened to James. A post office opened there in 1914. Around the eve of World War I James had several stores, a cotton gin, and a depot. The community continued to grow during the 1920s and by 1929 reported a population of 150. In the mid-1930s James had two churches, several stores, a number of houses, and fifty residents. Its population peaked at 200 in 1952, but many of its residents moved away, and by the mid-1960s all that remained of the community was a cemetery and a few scattered houses. In 1990 James was a dispersed rural community.