Driving down Kovar Road today, the first question one is likely to
ask is "where's the town?" Today, Kovar consists of two churches (a
Catholic and a Brethren), several cemeteries, and the SPJST Lodge
#38. There are no city limits signs to mark the boundaries of the
community, and anyone who claims to live in Kovar most likely means
that he lives within a two or three mile vicinity of the two churches
and the SPJST Hall, or that his property fronts the winding Kovar
Road.
That is Kovar today. But at one time, Kovar was a thriving little
Czech farming community. Not only did it serve the religious and
social needs of its citizens, but their commercial, business, and
educational needs as well.
Running in an east-west direction across what is now August Hajdick's
property was what was commonly referred to as Kovar Lane, which was
the center of the Kovar community in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Kovar Lane, at that time, ran across the property of the Kubicek,
Kovar, and Stasny families, three of the earliest Czech immigrants to
the area.
After establishing their homes and farms in the 1870s, these three
families, along with other early settlers, began to turn their
attention to other needs of the developing settlement. Along Kovar
Lane were built a general store, a dance platform, a saloon, and a
steam powered cotton gin. A brass band was organized among the
settlers to provide music for dances at the platform, as well as for
weddings and other celebrations. In February of 1904, a post office
was established at the general store, and the community became
officially known as Kovar.
Another early concern for the settlers was education for their
children. In 1891, the Stasny School was built, just south of the
present day Brethren church building. Although the original school
building was later replaced by a larger one, the Stasny school
continued to serve area youngsters from the first through twelfth
grades until the 1950s, when children began to get bussed into
Smithville.
The building was later donated to, and moved by, the Smithville
Independent School District, and is now located on the campus of
Brown Elementary School, where it is used as the Smithville Community
Center.
Lessons at the Stasny school were taught in English, and the children
were expected to speak English while at school on the threat of being
whipped with a willow branch (of their own choosing!) Of course, like
most of Kovar's other citizens at the time, the children conducted
most of their affairs speaking Czech.
The first Protestant church in Kovar was built in 1895 by a combined
group of Presbyterians and Brethren followers. Although built
jointly, the church building was owned by the Presbyterian church,
and this created a controversy when some of the Brethren members
tried to hold separate services in the building. The Presbyterians
promptly locked the Brethren out of the building. This disagreement
has come to be known as "the controversy of Barden's (Barton's)
Creek."
Even today, the cemetery directly east of the present Brethren church
is divided into Presbyterian and Brethren sections. After being
locked out of the Presbyterian church building, the Brethren
continued to meet in homes and at the Stasny schoolhouse until
current church building was constructed in 1949, where the
congregation still meets today.
The Presbyterian congregation did not fare as well after the
incident, however, and their building was eventually torn down.
The first Catholic church was built in 1899, and a cemetery
established. Prior to this, the Catholics had been meeting in homes,
probably since the early 1880s. In 1921, a new Catholic church
building was constructed about a mile east of the original site, and
the active congregation still meets there today.
SPJST Lodge #38 in Kovar was organized on January 26, 1902, and the
large, wooden hall was built in the 1920s. Although originally set up
as an organization to provide fraternal life insurance for Czechs,
membership in the SPJST is now open to anyone. Throughout its many
years of existence, the SPJST Hall in Kovar has seen hundreds of
dances, wedding receptions, and other events.
The decline of cotton as the major cash crop in the area, improved
transportation, young people's flight to the cities, and increased
Anglicization all contributed to Kovar's demise as the thriving
little community it was at one time. Much of the social, religious,
and commercial activities were shifted to neighboring towns such as
Smithville.
By the early 1960s, Kovar looked pretty much as it does today, with
its two churches and SPJST Hall. The other structures had either been
torn down, fallen down of their own accord, or been moved to other
locations. Driving down Kovar Road today, it is sometimes hard to
imagine a prosperous community existing where now all one is likely
to see are trees, brush, and pastureland.
Yet, although the physical reminders of Kovar's past are mostly gone
now, many of the people living in the area today are descendants of
the earliest Czech settlers, and many still remember those bustling
years of of an earlier Kovar. Each of these people has different
memories of growing up and living around Kovar. As long as there are
those people with roots to the community, you can rest assure that
there will always be a Kovar.