History :

Hood County was organized on November 1, 1866. After three elections Granbury was named the county seat. There were many people in the Tolar area before it became a town, even before Hood became a county. Early settlers were in the Paluxy Valley, the area southeast of Tolar near the Powell Cemetery, and the Antioch area, as well as the Tolar area.

The Paluxy Valley had many settlers according to Janet L Saltsgiver author of "Tour of the Dinosaur Valley and Paluxy Town-Site". There were people in the valley as early as the 1840's. Many people were attracted to the fertile land around the Paluxy River. The water supply along the river helped in making good farms and homes. A mill was located near Paluxy on the banks of the river. In the early days people would come from miles around to have corn and other grain ground at the mill. Some people would camp out for as long as two weeks to have their grain ground at the mill.

In 1920 Ray Shaver, a Tolar School student, wrote an essay about the Antioch area, another site of very early settlers. Mr. Shaver interviewed many older people who could remember living in the Antioch area before Tolar was a town. People came to this area after the Civil War looking for farming land. They settled near the headwaters of Squaw Creek. The creek starts on the old Barton place on land now owned by the Lofton Family. There were at least three schools and a church in the area. In later years all of the schools and church have been moved to Tolar.

About three miles south-east of Tolar was the land settled in the late 1850's by W.C.M. "Uncle Billy" Powell. He cleared the land and farmed in a time before the Civil War. The settlement was called Amulet. A church and school were also in this area. The school was the first to be moved to Tolar. The church was also moved at the same time. The church was the Amulet Christian Church, now the Tolar Church of Christ.

In the Late 1881 John R, Powell, "Uncle Billy's" son, moved to the location that is now Tolar. He started a store on the location of the now Tolar Church of Christ. His one room frame store was thought to be the first business in Tolar. Another early merchant was G.W. Fitzhugh. Mr. Powell and Mr. Fitzhugh were the first people with stores in the area. Colonel W.L. McGaughey was an early leader of the town. He was a former state Land Commissioner who came to Tolar to farm and do business. Colonel McGaughey later donated the land the Tolar School has built all of their school buildings on.