It’s hard to know if Lillian, Texas is coming or
going. It is located along Farm to Market Road
 |
| Downtown Lillian |
2738, about fifteen miles
northeast of Cleburne. Never having been a large town, it appears as though the
only business operating at all is a pizza place. There is not a single
historical marker nearby, but there is at least one building old enough to
warrant a plaque. Some new houses being built close to what was downtown, so
who knows what the fate of this hamlet is going to be. Named for the wives of G.
J. Renfro and J. W. Cunningham, Lillian hit
its heyday in the 1920s as a stop for the International-Great Northern
Railroad. At that time it was a retail center for farmers and ranchers, hosting
churches, a school and an active mercantile area; the original post office
building is gone, but there is a new post office just off the main street. Growth
of business centers in Dallas and Fort Worth, as well as World War II and the
Great Depression, changed the development of the area, leaving Lillian behind.
The population of 350 shrank to less than 100 but has slowly rebounded to
around 400, today. Children from this community go to school in Alvarado, and
most business is carried out in other surrounding towns, making Lillian a
quiet, rural community.
