Jones Old Country Store
by Jonnie Miller
Jones Old Country Store was opened in 1919 by David Franklin Jones, (age 32) and his wife Bessie Bell Boyett and closed in December of 1999. When the store closed it was due mostly to the closure of Bleakwood Elementary School, the school was 125 years old and the store was eighty. The community was left with one small family-owned sawmill, one county precinct barn and a handful of country churches. Bleakwood itself was about 163 years old. It was once a railroad town but the trains, even though they still go through, seldom stop and when they do to through on the track beside the store, they're mostly full of gravel and waiting on engines that will take them elsewhere as most of the people have gone elsewhere, too. The tracks pass through the heart of Bleakwood beside FM 87 and state highway 363. No more do the log trucks stop in Bleakwood.
The Newton County school board voted unanimously to close Bleakwood Elementary in April 1999 citing budgetary reasons. Across the highway Kenneth Jones (David Franklin's son) closed his store fours month later. Kenneth's daughter, Bonnie (named after her aunt, Bonnie Smith) tried to keep the store open for a while but it soon became evident without the students and teachers from the school (just a block away) it would not be possible to keep it open. The teachers visited the store every morning and the children visited after school for ice cream. Jones Store was famous for its ice cream-dipped from large containers and placed on waffle cones or cups.
The school was fundamental for the community and the store. They both were where everybody met, where relationships developed. You could get bait for fishing as well as watch Kenneth or Chester slice lunchmeat or cheese from large elongated rolls. You could get the latest community gossip and pass it on. When the school and the store closed the community lost its anchor. Now most of the residents are retirees and youngsters raised by their grandparents. Many who had left have returned to their roots. Your roots take you back to where you came from.
Bonnie Smith, the granddaughter of the man who opened the Jones Country Store came back from San Antonio to help with creation of the Newton Country Historical Commission.
Chester Jones, Kenneth's dad, ran the store for nearly fifty years. His dad ran it for 30 years before that. Chester died on June 15, 1995 and Kenneth and Bonnie were only able to keep the store running for the next four years.