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Though included in the Sterling Robertson grant of 1834, Mustang Prairie had only a handful of settlers prior to the Civil War. With Reconstruction and the 1870 arrival of the railroad at nearby Bremond came many business people. The majority of settlers were from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The first dated burial in Mustang Prairie Cemetery was that of seven-year-old Laura M. Jones in 1869. Most of the families of Mustang Prairie are interred here. By 1872, Jonathan B. Davis had established the New Hope Baptist Church. Schoolchildren first attended classes in the church building; a three-room frame schoolhouse was built in 1877. In 1910 Mustang Prairie was granted a "conditional" eighth grade, and a two-story addition was built. By 1921 a storm had destroyed the building and its two-story addition; the original building was rebuilt. By 1939, only 13 students remained in the school, which was closed in 1940; students transferred to Kosse, later to Bremond. Within the decade, New Hope Baptist Church services were discontinued; the church building was demolished by tornado in the early 1980s. Now a small community, Mustang Prairie upholds a proud history of influence in Falls County and beyond. (1997) |
