Phalba, Van Zandt County
This community was first called Snider Springs for John Snider who bought the land on which the springs were situated in 1853. A road, later designated State Highway 198, opened from Canton to Snider Springs in 1858, and the town soon boasted several businesses. Citizens changed the town name to Phalba after the daughter of a local gin owner because another Texas postal station was already called Snider Springs. During the Depression, the Works Progress Administration opened a cannery for local and charitable uses. It used the water from the springs for five steam-operated canners. Though it suffered neglect in the years following World War II, the rural farming and ranching area of Phalba continues as a thriving small community. (1999) Incise on base: Historian Donald and Annette Plemmons