Newcastle

Newcastle, at the intersection of State Highway 251, U.S. Highway 380, and Farm Road 926 in central Young County, was founded in 1908. The first settlers came in 1906 to nearby Whiskey Creek to work for the Merrill and Clark Strip Mining Company. Rail service started in 1907 with the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway construction from Olney. The Belknap Coal Company sank a shaft in 1908, and the first car of coal was shipped to Wichita Falls later that year. In 1908 a post office was moved from old Fort Belknap to Newcastle, which was named for the English coal town Newcastle upon Tyne at the suggestion of Samuel H. Hardy. That year the Newcastle Register began publication, and within three years residents had a school, a bank, and several churches. The population of Newcastle was 800 in 1909, when the fifty-six miners on the Belknap payroll went on strike and formed a local of the United Mine Workers. Later, during a twenty-two-month-long strike in 1914 and 1915, strike-breaking miners were brought in from Alabama. The railroad used coal from Newcastle, as did other small industries in Wichita Falls and other area towns, but by 1942 coal production had ended. Because Newcastle was near old Fort Belknap, former Indian fighters held reunions there for some years. The population of Newcastle was 1,000 in 1950; income came from farms, vineyards, and oil. In 1965 the town had a bank, a newspaper, a school, and five churches. Its population was 617 in 1960 and 624 in 1970. By 1980 the population had grown to 688, and the town had been incorporated. In 1990 it had 505 residents. The population grew to 575 by 2000.