, Cherokee County
Fry's Gap A gap in a ridge near Gum Creek headwaters made a natural trail for early travelers, including Kickapoo Indians. The Fry family settled along the creek in the 1840s. Early industry in the Fry's Gap Community included Joseph Fry's grist mill and blacksmith shop, as well as Rhome Ragsdale's brickyard, kiln, paint factory, cotton gin and corn mill. When the Texas & New Orleans Railway came through in 1902, it used the old trail for the line. The depot at Fry's Gap soon became a shipping point for produce, lumber and oilfield supplies. Fry's Gap was also winter home to the J. Doug Morgan traveling tent show in the 1920s. Fry's Gap faded, but descendants of its early settlers remain. (2002)