Gordon

Gordon, on State Highway 193, Farm Road 919, and the Missouri-Pacific Railroad in southern Palo Pinto County, was named for H. L. Gordon, an engineer for the Texas and Pacific Railway during its construction in 1880. The town gained importance when the railroad bypassed nearby Hampton and when Thurber declined years later. A Gordon post office was opened in 1883. The notorious train robber Rube Burrow hit his second train at Gordon in January 1887, successfully taking $4,200 from the express car. By the 1920s Gordon had been incorporated. In 1926 it was a market and agricultural shipping center with a population of 650. The population fell to 532 in 1940 and 358 in 1968 but rose to 516 in 1980. In the 1980s Gordon had a post office and a bank. The population was 465 in 1990. In 2000 the population was 451.