Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Myra Myra, TX

Myra is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in western Cooke County, twelve miles west of Gainesville just off U.S. Route 82, at an elevation of 935 feet.

Myra was founded in 1887 when the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway built its line west from Gainesville, and it was named after the daughter of the railroad's superintendent of construction.

In 1900 a land company platted a rival town called Aldridge on the south side of the tracks, but the post office kept the name Myra, and the two settlements eventually merged into one community.

One of the first oil wells in Cooke County was drilled at the Myra townsite in 1898.

Myra was an early local hub of modern services — water works and telephone service began in 1902, a hospital was established by the town druggist in 1914, and electricity arrived in 1919.

Myra declined after U.S. Highway 82 bypassed it in the early 1930s, shrinking to about 70 residents by the late 1980s, when it still had a volunteer fire department, a Masonic lodge, and two churches.

Myra's post office, ZIP code 76253, closed in early 2013.

Myra was counted as a census-designated place for the first time in the 2020 census, which recorded 202 residents; recent Census survey estimates put the community at roughly 77 households.