Sharp, Texas

Sharp is an unincorporated community located in Milam County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 75 in 2000.

History
The community developed around a Presbyterian church that was built in the 1870s and named for nearby Davilla physician William Franklin Sharp. In 1900, a post office was established in Sharp; it closed its doors in 1906. In 1933, Sharp had 25 residents. The population had reached 100 by the early 1940s but had decreased to 60 by 1952. On county highway maps from the 1980s, the hamlet was indicated by two churches and three businesses. From 1988 through 2000, 75 residents were reportedly present.

Sharp, a farming and ranching hamlet, can trace its beginnings to the years immediately following the American Civil War, when settlers were drawn to the region by its fertile black soil. A store, the first establishment, debuted in 1892. A blacksmith shop and the Davis General Store joined it shortly after in 1896. The Davis General Store was constructed by Civil War veteran Daniel G. Davis Sr. over two years in 1895 and 1896. It was the largest commercial building in the region and the primary market for regional commodities, which Davis and his family ran here until 1985. It provided a location for locals to congregate, use public scales, and obtain water from a barrel on the porch. It also offered banking services. It is a superb illustration of free-standing commercial architecture from the late 19th century. The area's main crop was cotton, and a gin started operating in 1896. Sharp locals have gathered yearly since 1978.

The Mt. Herman Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which served as the forerunner of the Sharp Presbyterian Church, was established in 1872. In 1893, it was split into the congregations of Davilla and Leachville. The Sharp church was renamed the Leachville church in 1902, the same year that this building was constructed. The local church's structure, which displays Italianate architectural elements, has a truncated tower, window hoods, and siding that has been milled horizontally.

Susan F. Dilworth, who died in January 1880, has the oldest grave in the Sharp cemetery that is clearly marked. In 1882, John Gordon and his wife M. L. Gordon gave the trustees of Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church two acres of land on this location, specifying that the western half of the land be used for burials. The cemetery served the Sharp community even after the church was relocated and then dismantled, despite gravestones that were cracked and leaning. At the turn of the 20th century, there were roughly 56 marked burials, many of which belonged to children and infants. In 1949, a cemetery organization was established to manage the upkeep and management of the location. The cemetery received additional land that had previously belonged to the church through a deed. Nearly 400 burials were present in the cemetery at the start of the 21st century.

Geography
Sharp is located on Farm to Market Road 487, 13 mi southwest of Cameron, 8 mi east of Davilla, and 12 mi northwest of Rockdale in western Milam County.

Education
In 1931, Sharp became a school district that also included the nearby communities of Lilac, Duncan, and Oakville. Three other communities that joined the district were Friendship in 1948, Val Verde the next year, and Tracy in 1956. All seven of these communities came together to join the Rockdale Independent School District in 1960.