Eola, Texas

Eola is an unincorporated community in northwestern Concho County in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 218 in 2000.

History
Since 1901, when it was known as Jordan, the community has maintained a post office. The name was changed to Eola in 1902, supposedly honoring the Greek god of the winds, Aeolus, and a tiny local brook. The tract of Lipan Flat, which extended eastward from San Angelo to the Colorado River, was the product of a land boom sparked by railroad advertising. During this period of growth, many immigrants from central and eastern Europe founded settlements like Eola. Over 100 individuals in the Eola area were said to be of Czech ancestry in 1920. Asher L. and Lizzie Leona (Hollman) Lollar were the first family to settle in the area; they did so in 1898, establishing themselves at a location 3½ miles southeast of Eola. In 1902, four families lived in the village when the first local store was constructed. In the following two years, a Baptist church was built. There was an Odd Fellows lodge and a windmill in the village in 1908. Eola had 25 residents, a general store, and a drugstore by 1914. By 1931, its population had increased from 35 in 1925 to 240. There were five churches, three general stores, three filling stations, two gins, a drugstore, a barbershop, a beauty salon, a laundromat, a shoe store, and a wholesale oil company in the 250-person village in 1940. Eola consisted of five other enterprises, five churches, and one industrial concern in 1963. The population of the town peaked in 1947 at 350, and between 1974 and 2000, it was recorded at 218.

On May 14, 1995, an F0 tornado struck Eola.

Eola is home to the Earnest and Dorothy Barrow Foundation Museum.

Geography
Eola is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 381 and 765 on Dry Hollow, 13 mi southwest of Paint Rock and 21 mi east of San Angelo in northwestern Concho County.

Education
Public school properties in the county were offered for sale at fifty cents per acre in the middle to late 1890s. On Will Stephenson's ranch, the first school was held in a church. In 1906, a two-story, two-room schoolhouse was constructed. Classes in elementary and high school were taught by nine teachers. Following consolidation, the Eola school district was one of Concho County's four surviving districts by 1955. Eola School remained open in 1963. Today, the community is served by the Eden Consolidated Independent School District.

The former Eola Independent School District building is now a restaurant and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Media
Television station KLST has its transmitter located near Eola. It is a guyed mast standing at 457.2 meters high, making it one of the tallest structures in the United States.