Eagle Colony
abilenet October 29th, 2006
In this episode, we will talk about an early failed attempt to create a town in Taylor County. This attempt is often referred to as “Eagle Colony.” Approximately two months before Taylor County was organized and a temporary county government and county seat was established, about 15 or so German families, 25 people in all, arrive in Taylor County and settle on the banks of Lytle Creek. Their intention was to establish a new community in Taylor County named Eagle City. The area encompassed by this new town went from one or two miles south of present-day Lytle Lake up to and including present-day Shoreline Drive in the Lytle Shores subdivision. The story of Eagle Colony comes to us from a number of sources. First is a work by Mary Hampton Clack entitled, “Early Days in West Texas.” Mary Clack settled on Lytle Creek with her father, mother and siblings shortly after the dissolution of Eagle Colony. Second is an interview with S.L. Chalk in the Morning Reporter-News dated May 20, 1928. Mr Chalk was a land surveyor in Taylor County from 1877 to 1880. Mr. Chalk states that he only knew of the colony in a general way and was aware of the whereabouts of two families after the breakup of the colony. Third is an interview with Miss Tommie Clack in the Morning Reporter-News, also on May 20, 1928. She obtained the story she tells directly from Albert Betcher, Sr., who was a boy of 13 when he came here with the German colonist and settled on Lytle Creek.
