Ashby-Wilson Creek Community

Ashby-Wilson Creek Community

William Erastus Moore, a New Jersey native, settled in Indianola in the 1850s. After serving with Terry's Texas Rangers in the Civil War, he returned to settle on land northeast of Blessing and named the surrounding agricultural community in honor of Col. Henry M. Ashby, a Tennessee field commander with whom he had served during the war.

Moore operated a ranch in the community, as well as a general store that housed the post office where he served as postmaster from 1890 until 1902. He also freighted supplies by boat at a time when the Colorado raft (logjam) made area creeks, such as Wilson Creek, more navigable. An active member of the community, Moore donated land for the Ashby Methodist Church and the Ashby Cemetery.

Concurrent to Ashby's development, a group of freed slaves established the nearby Wilson Creek Community. Residents there organized the Christ Chief St. Mary's Baptist Church and built a sanctuary where, as with the Methodist and Baptist churches in Ashby, local children also attended school.

The combined Ashby-Wilson Creek Community showed economic promise in the early 20th century, with cotton gins, stores and warehouses, but the population gradually declined. When the raft was cleared and the Colorado River became navigable, Wilson Creek was no longer viable. Plans for a railroad connecting Wilson creek to the Colorado were abandoned. The resulting economic downturn, coupled with wartime population shifts to other towns in the 1940s, led to the now sparse habitation of the area. Still, descendants of early residents remain, as do the memories of the many men and women who made their lives here.

(2002)