Love Bug-Old Glory Scalloped Wood

I maintain records on my trackables. For a US-based trackable, this one is unusual for its longevity and movement. In the six-year period, 2010-16, the owner released a total of 2563 trackables in the United States (96%) and Europe (4%). This trackable is one of the 5% of the total that circulated for at least 5 years and had been moved at least 25 times. That is a target rate of at least five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days. The average drop rate of my trackables in the US is 124 days, in Europe it is 71 days. As of 25-Feb-23 this trackable had survived for 7.7 years and had been moved by 34 cachers, for an average drop every 83 days. Please keep it moving, then drop it in a safe place!

No permission is needed to leave the U.S. While in the US, please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security. Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean and dry, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items. Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

This is one of a series of heart-shaped items obtained from different places and converted into travel bugs. They are named either for the places of their origin or for Texas Panhandle-South Plains towns with interesting names or histories.

Old Glory is in eastern Stonewall County.  Development began with a few ranches and scattered farms in the late 1880s.  By 1904 a group of German Americans had settled east of what is now the townsite of Old Glory.  They laid out the site for the town of Brandenburg, but only a schoolhouse and a general store were constructed.  Other families continued to move into the area northwest of the proposed Brandenburg.

In 1909 the Stamford and Northwestern Railway Company was chartered to build a railroad from Stamford to Spur. The Swenson Land and Cattle Company provided a townsite on the rail line two miles west of the original Brandenburg site. The name of the new town became New Brandenburg, or simply Brandenburg, and the old community then became known as Old Brandenburg.  The new town grew with the coming of the railroad, and a mercantile store, a gin, and a post office soon served the community.  A one-room school was constructed.  In 1917 with anti-German sentiment running high because of World War I, the town changed its name to Old Glory, a vernacular name for the US flag. The name became official in 1918.

The community's growth continued through the 1920s, and its population reached a peak of 275 in 1929.  With the consolidation of five local community schools, a building was erected at Old Glory in 1930 to serve an enrollment that peaked at 280 in 1936–37.  The school stood at the center of activities within the community, serving as a civic center as well as an educational institution. The town's population has been up and down, but generally in decline.  In 1990 it stood at about 60.   At that time the community still had its post office, as well as a church and a combination gas station and grocery store.