The city of Munday began, not as one, but two separate towns one thousand yards apart, located in the heart of Knox prairie. R.P. Munday, one of the first settlers to arrive in the area, found the two towns divided not only by distance, but by a simmering feud over the building of its first church, which was to be located nearer East than West Munday. Parson Hanks, Munday's first Methodist minister, came up with the novel idea of literally bringing the two towns together.

Hanks went to the citizens of the East town and convinced them to donate land and help move the people from the West onto it. The East town would be nearer the coming railroad. He reasoned if one town could not be induced to move, then let them bear the expense of moving the other. "Two 'thresher' engines were put to work pulling houses, besides the teams that were used; and in time there was one town instead of two, and with but little exception, a good spirit and a good brotherly feeling prevailed."

"The manner of moving the houses was to put long skids under the house, and from two to four wagons on a side, then with strong cables, fasten an engine to each string or train of wagons and both pull together. The contents would be removed from the shelves and placed on the floor and allowed to remain in the house while it was being moved. Small houses were moved with teams of mules. The families were not required to vacate their homes, unless they chose to do so. It was a time of joy for the country people, for they did not want two towns. It only cost about five hundred dollars to move them; and yet, one made that amount in one deal based on the towns coming together."

From "My Home Town" A History of Munday Texas, 1981.

 

Munday, Once Upon a Town

 

 

Nothing Mundane About Munday...Visit Soon

MUNDAY, TEXAS. Munday is on the Burlington Northern line at the junction of U.S. Highway 277, State Highway 222, and Farm roads 1587 and 2811, in the region of southern Knox County known as Knox Prairie. The community dates from 1893, when a store was established there. The settlement was originally called Maud for a local resident, Maud Isbell, but was renamed for postmaster R. P. Munday when the first post office was established there in 1894. W. A. Earnest built a gin in 1900, and in 1903 West Munday merchants, separated by a thousand yards from East Munday, moved their buildings to the east. The Wichita Valley line provided service beginning in 1906, and that year Munday incorporated. It rapidly became the largest town in the county. By 1940 Munday had 1,545 residents and seventy businesses, including a gin, a cottonseed-oil mill, grain elevators, and a compress. Its population was 2,270 in 1950. Thereafter cotton processing remained significant, but Munday also became a center for vegetable processing, since irrigation encouraged local farmers to raise onions, potatoes, cucumbers, melons, and other produce. Fertilizers and insecticides were manufactured at Munday, and the town became a petroleum center for two counties. Texas A&M University opened a vegetable research center in Munday in 1971. The population of the community was 1,978 in 1960, 1,762 in 1970, 1,738 in 1980, and 1,600 in 1990. The chamber of commerce sponsors a Knox County vegetable festival each June.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Knox County History Committee, Knox County History (Haskell, Texas: Haskell Free Press, 1966). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St. Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe Graphic Arts, 1982).

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