Gem “Last Day” [Postal Card]
Name/Title
Gem “Last Day” [Postal Card]Description
A “Last Day” postal card postmarked on March 31, 1954, on the final day of business of the Gem Post Office. Signed by the postmaster.Context
Gem was on the divide between the Washita and Canadian rivers near State Highway 33 in east central Hemphill County. The community, built on land owned by the Moody Land Company, was named by rancher Thomas F. Moody for his wife, Gem Hibbard Moody. In 1909 the site was surveyed, and town lots were sold on July 4. That year also a post office opened there. Though Gem was meant to be a trading point for the farmers and ranchers of southern Hemphill County, the community eventually died because of other nearby settlements and the advent of faster transportation in the area. In the mid-1920s Gem had five businesses and an estimated population of seventy-five, a number which it continued to report through the early 1960s. The community's post office was closed in March 1954, and sometime thereafter Gem was abandoned. Only a church remained at the site in 1984.Category
Ghost Towns
Urbanization, TSHA Categories