A Tale of Two Towns

Let’s play a little Texas trivia. What small town sits at the heart of Stephen F. Austin’s original four-league land grant, began life on a historic roadway, packed up and moved a few miles down the road, played host to a CBS broadcast, and produced the very first poster child for a major national nonprofit?

The answer: Dime Box, Texas—a town so unique it comes in two versions: Old Dime Box and New Dime Box.

From Brown’s Mill to Dime Box

Dime Box got its start along the legendary El Camino Real, the Spanish trail stretching between Nacogdoches and San Antonio. Back then, the settlement was called Brown’s Mill. But when the U.S. Postal Service grew worried about mixing it up with Brownsville, the residents had to find a new name.

Legend has it, the name came from a simple frontier practice: folks would leave a dime in a wooden box for the mail carrier, either to pay for goods or to place an order. The carrier would return with the supplies, and the nickname “Dime Box” stuck.

Old vs. New Dime Box

The town’s split personality began around 1910. When the railroad bypassed Old Dime Box on the El Camino Real, settlers who wanted easier access to commerce relocated three miles away, creating New Dime Box. But not everyone wanted to move, so today both towns remain—side by side, carrying the same quirky name.

Lights, Camera, CBS

Dime Box stepped onto the national stage in 1945 when CBS chose the town to launch its March of Dimes campaign. Local girl Mildred Kocurek, stricken with polio, became the nonprofit’s first official poster child.

In a symbolic gesture, Postmaster D.F. Stamps mailed a large mail box to President Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. The President returned it, addressed only with the hand-painted town name—proof enough that Dime Box had made its mark. Today, Main Street proudly displays a large replica of a dime, a nod to its unusual history.

Life in Dime Box Today

With fewer than 500 residents, Dime Box is the kind of place where everyone waves at everyone else. The local school district, Dime Box ISD, serves about 150 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Agriculture and ranching still fuel the economy, with a bit of help from oil and gas.

The town’s essentials are humble but strong: a bank, a lumber yard, a welding shop, a tiny off-beat grocery, and a small but mighty Heritage Museum, open by appointment.

Every first weekend in October, the Lions Club hosts the much-loved Black Bridge Festival, complete with a BBQ cookoff, street dance, vendors, and a parade that winds its way proudly through town.

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A Family’s Slice of Dime Box

For me, Dime Box isn’t just a dot on the Texas map—it’s home. Our family farm sits right between Old and New Dime Box, and we jokingly call it “Nickle Box.” The land has been in our family for well over a century, and my grandmother, Louise Dube, ran it single-handedly after being widowed at 52.

Whenever we arrived to help her on the weekends, the smell of her fresh coffee cake filled the house. That recipe, passed down through the years, is still the flavor of Dime Box for our family.  

Grandma regularly served this coffee cake as part of enjoying the German Sunday afternoon tradition of “Kaffee and Kuchen”. Family and friends would gather around 3-4 PM to enjoy freshly brewed coffee accompanied by cakes, tortes, or streuselkuchen (coffee cake)

Recently, my sister and I gathered in the kitchen to bake it again, filling the air with the same comforting aroma that once greeted us at Grandma Louise’s farmhouse. 

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👉 And now, I’d love to share Grandma Dube’s Coffee Cake recipe—the sweetest way to honor a little Texas town with a big history.