A variation on this anecdote suggests that the relatively isolated spot, long popular as a site of Sunday school picnics, offered little else for picnickers to do after they ate than watch the bugs tussle.
A third story tells of an argument between two old-time residents who wanted to change the name of the town. Their attention was diverted by the spectacle of two tumblebugs fighting. “Look at those bugs tussle,” one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town.
Bug Tussle in far north Texas. More than seventy Bug Tussle highway signs have been stolen over the years, and for a time it was fashionable for couples to come there to be married, just so that they could say they had been wed in Bug Tussle.
resource Texas State Historical Association | photo by Mike Mezeul
