Wikipedia says "The community was named after Italy by a settler who had visited the European country." I guess they had to take his word for it.

Also: "The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad reached Italy in 1890, with the railroad stop making the town an important market center. The population grew steadily, from 1,061 in 1900 to 1,500 in 1925, until the Great Depression sparked a decline lasting over three decades. The town began to see economic and population growth again in the 1970s, with the population rising to nearly 2,000 residents by the year 2000."

Let's see how it fared the last time the Google Cars went through.

JELOYD

From what I can glean, the building was constructed by a local businessman named Loyd. J. E. Loyd, to be exact. He also built a hotel. Wonder if we’ll find it.

Hey, I don’t know! I clipped these things a year ago, haven’t looked at them since.

Does not give them impression of a thriving place.

Why make the street facade a different color? A matter of money and style? Was the red brick cheaper?

If you’re going to stick one of those things on the building, at least have the decency to maintain it.

f people of limited imagination were running a fertility cult center:

There’s a whole lotta nothing-going-on here. All those sign scars.

The OUMB reinforces our suspicion that it either rained a lot, like, constantly, or the awning was to protect from the relentless Texas sun, or they just thought it was a good id

Ahh, that’s more like it.

You wonder if something old was hollowed out for this, don’t you?

Again, a reminder: the old storefronts had big glass over the main display windows, so more natural light could flood the store.

I’ll bet the last man who remembers what the sign said is still alive. Wish someone would ask him.

IS THERE ONE GOT-DAMNED BUILDING THAT DIDN’T GET A SHINGLED AWNING AROUND HERE

A rare example of a gas station layout that proved not to be particularly popular . . .

. . . for good reason.

Finally, a look at one spot in 2013 . . .

. . . its subsequent renovation, which revealed the old original buildings . . .

. . . and subsequent abandonment, it seems.