PINKSTON

THE LAND ON WHICH THE PINKSTON COMMUNITY WOULD BE ESTABLISHED WAS OWNED BY DR. ALEXANDER COLVIN SLOAN, WHO WAS BORN IN 1843 IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.  HE SERVED IN THE CIVIL WAR AND AROUND 1870 MIGRATED TO NAVARRO COUNTY.  IN 1887, HE SOLD PROPERTY TO THE ST. LOUIS, ARKANSAS AND TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY, WHICH INTENDED TO BUILD A TRACK FROM CORSICANA TO HILLSBORO AND COMPLETED A BRANCH BY 1888.  BY 1894, DR. SLOAN SOLD PROPERTY TO D.K. McCAMMON, WHO BUILT A COTTON GIN, WHICH FURTHER AIDED IN DEVELOPING THE SETTLEMENT THEN KNOWN AS SLOAN SPUR. BY 1895, THE COMMUNITY HAD A POST OFFICE.  SOON, IT WAS RENAMED FOR LUCIAN A. PINKSTON, A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER FOR THE RAILROAD AND LATER A PART OWNER OF THE SETTLEMENT'S COTTON GIN.

AT ITS PEAK, PINKSTON HAD A BLACKSMITH SHOP, A STORE AND A POPULATION OF APPROXIMATELY 75 RESIDENTS. THERE WERE NO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OR CHURCHES ON THE TOWNSITE, BUT STUDENTS ATTENDED NEARBY SCHOOLS IN THE LITTLE BRIAR, FISH TANK, WHITES CHAPEL, BLACK HILLS AND BARRY SCHOOL DISTRICTS; THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS OFTEN ALSO SERVED AS PLACES OF WORSHIP.  PINKSTON BEGAN TO DECLINE AS SOME RESIDENTS MOVED TO THE LARGER COMMUNITY OF CORSICANA.  IN 1932, A HIGHWAY BYPASSED PINKSTON, LEADING TO BUSINESS CLOSURES.  IN 1940, THE RAIL LINE WAS ABANDONED, FURTHER WEAKENING THE COMMUNITY'S ECONOMY. DEPRESSION, DROUGHT AND LOW COTTON PRICES ALSO AIDED IN THE RURAL SETTLEMENT'S DECLINE.  BY THE 1980s, ONLY THREE BUILDINGS WERE LEFT IN THE AREA, ALL OF WHICH WERE BEING USED AS BARNS. TODAY, NOTHING REMAINS OF THE HISTORIC PINKSTON COMMUNITY. (2009)