Blum

Blum is on Farm roads 933 and 67 and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe tracks near the northern edge of Lake Whitney, fifteen miles northwest of Hillsboro in the northwestern corner of Hill County. Philip Nolan reportedly captured mustangs in the area, and settlers moved into the region before 1880. The community was established in 1881, when the tracks of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway were extended through the county. The railroad company, in planning the line's route through Hill County, had designated a station in the Nolan River valley on the edge of a farm owned by W. H. Taylor. Taylor surveyed a townsite on his property and sold lots. The resulting community was named for Leon Blum, a railroad official and prominent Galveston merchant. The new town grew rapidly. A post office opened there in 1882, and in 1883 a school subscription drive was successful. By 1890 Blum had 315 residents, and by 1908 it had 1,000 residents, four dry-goods stores, four grocery stores, two banks, and two hotels. In addition, that year local cotton gins processed over 5,000 bales and the Blum Independent School District was established. Blum incorporated in 1913. In 1925 it had a population of 550 and thirty businesses. By the mid-1930s its population had fallen to 403, served by twelve businesses. In 1977 Blum had 382 residents and eighteen businesses, and by 1990 it had 358 residents and twenty-one businesses.