Coker, Texas

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Coker was a community located in north central Bexar County, Texas (USA) now within the city limits of San Antonio, near Hill Country Village, along the present north loop road between the San Antonio streets of Nacoma Avenue, West Avenue, Bitters and US 281.

[edit] History

The Coker Community was founded in 1841 by John Coker on 1,920 acres of land he had been awarded for his service in the Texas revolutionary war. Coker's home was built of cut limestone blocks twelve inches thick and also served as the first stop on the cattle trails from San Antonio headed north, the cattle traveled 12 miles a day so the community was just the right distance from San Antonio at that time. There was a watering hole at the site dug for Coker by friendly Native Americans; the depression is still there at the foot of a 500 year-old live oak tree. The one room Coker School was constructed nearby and also served as a church. John's nephew James Harrison Coker was the first school teacher.

One day James was approached by an Indian who demanded a gallon of syrup. James refused since he only had one gallon for his family for the winter, this apparently angered the Indians who surrounded the cabin that night, yelling and dancing war dances the frightened family were up all night expecting them to attack but by the morning they were gone.

In the 1880's a Methodist circuit rider named A.E. Rector visited the community about once a month; services lasted all day while horses, wagons, and oxen were tethered nearby. Mr. Rector once performed a wedding at the church and was paid $5 and a pig. The first church was built there in 1885 it was a wooden building put together with square nails. The people of the community made their living by farming. The community experienced a decline in the 1930s as people moved from rural areas into the city. The present day rock church was constructed by the community members in 1937. In 1949 the Coker school and six other schools were consolidated into a rural high school district which later became the North East Independent School District, Coker elementary school in the area still preserves the community name. By the 1950s all that remained of the community was the present day church and family cemetery.

[edit] Sources

• "Our Coker Ancestors" By the Autry Family Association
• "Unpublished Genealogical Research" By Richard B. Autry
• "Coker Community Has Experienced Scope of Area Development" By Susan Goodell
• Article in San Antonio Express News.
• "Coker Community Church Facts" By J. William Roten, Bulletin of Coker Community Church.
• "John Coker" A Texas Historical Commission historical marker.