Dennis Fagan is a photographer and filmmaker who first visited the town of Jonah in 1990. Because of friendships made there, he continued and eventually became a friend of the initiative to save the Jonah School. Dennis did a series of photos to accurately record all sections of the mural art within the school and did video oral histories of past graduates of the school.
This is not Fagan’s first foray into artfully documenting small town Texas agricultural culture. His project called PEACHTOWN; about the multi-generational peach growing families of Gillespie County and Stonewall, Texas. PEACHTOWN was featured at the International Biennial FOTOFEST held in Houston, Texas.
Jonah, Texas is one of many examples of Texas rural farm life that is vanishing. The people, their stories and faces are disappearing. The land is not gone, but its usage is changing dramatically. This is no great surprise to those of us who live here but the speed at which it is disappearing might be a surprise.
Population growth is the biggest culprit in counties that include mid to large size urban areas. With added tax rolls in play, it becomes natural for communities and their county governments to welcome growth and expansion rather than creation legislation to limit growth or preserve agricultural cultures like that which Jonah has enjoyed for over one hundred years. The process of working land conversion and loss is driven by economic and population growth.
Sadly, growth dynamics like these increase land values and markets, creating incentives for landowners to subdivide and sell their land. As acreage size decreases, the likelihood of maintaining a profit with traditional farming and ranching uses decrease as well. All this facilitates the conversion of working lands to non-agricultural uses.
Disappearing with the weathered faces of Jonah is the rich immigrant culture which grew in this corner of Williamson County. Immigration patterns for Swedes and Germans led the way in the late 1800’s. Many family names to this day reflect their European heritages.