Sanctuary, Texas, is alive and well. But it’s probably not what you think.

With sanctuary cities now banned in Texas, one such town stands strong in North Texas.

But in name only.

Sanctuary, Texas, population 380, borders both sides of Texas 199 in Parker County, and comprises several subdivisions in between Azle and Springtown.

The town’s most visible business, the Azle Antique Mall, is named after its much-larger neighbor. There’s no police force — that’s handled by the Parker County Sheriff — and fire calls are answered by the Briar-Reno Volunteer Fire Department.

The majority of the town is composed of homes with a little acreage, some of which include horses, miniature donkeys and even a llama or two.

Sanctuary has such a low profile that most Azle residents aren’t aware of its existence, joked Sanctuary City Councilman Paul Reeves.

“They think we’re another neighborhood in the city,” Reeves said. “They probably don’t realize there’s a town here.”

The politics surrounding so-called “sanctuary cities” is not lost on Sanctuary’s residents, but they really don’t want to talk about it. On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law that targets sanctuary cities by allowing police to ask people during routine stops if they are in the country legally. Previously, cities that had policies preventing police from enforcing immigration laws were considered so-called sanctuary cities.

Reeves said he’s received a few inquiries — some joking, some serious — about whether Sanctuary is a sanctuary city.

“I tell them ‘no,’ ” Reeves said. “We’re a little redneck place out in the country where everybody can do their own thing. We’re pretty low-key out here.”

‘Try to keep it simple’

Sanctuary was formed in 1969 and has an annual budget hovering around $50,000. It’s mostly white and middle class, and Sanctuary takes small government to the extreme.

The part-time city secretary is the town’s lone employee and this year’s City Council election was canceled because no one chose to run against the incumbents. City Hall is tucked amidst homes a few blocks away from the highway.

The city had a website but it is not updated very often; the last time a city council meeting was posted was on Dec. 13, 2013, but agendas and notices are placed out front at City Hall.

A typical issue for Mayor Cliff Scallan is dealing with too many cars in a pasture or some trash in a yard. Usually, a conversation with the property owner takes care of the problem.

“We just try to keep it simple around here,” Scallan said.

So how did Sanctuary get its name?

Mayor Pro-Tem Meg Elliott said local Realtor Marie Pigg, who had died, built many of the homes in town and helped organize the drive to incorporate. Elliott is the daughter of long-time Mayor Floyd Galloway, who died in 2014.

“They didn’t want to be a part of Azle so they created their own city,” Elliott said. “They didn’t want to pay city taxes.”

A June 24, 1973, Star-Telegram classified ad from Pigg touted a 3-2-2 brick home and said the town was a “sanctuary against high taxes.”

Azle would fight the incorporation and the legal battle would go all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.

Azle had claimed Sanctuary was within its extraterritorial jurisdiction when Parker County approved its incorporation in 1969. Sanctuary ultimately won when it was determined that Azle had failed to prove it was an incorporated city and could not lawfully challenge the creation of Sanctuary, according to Star-Telegram archives.

Home to an author

Author Joe Coomer — perhaps best known for The Decatur Road and The Loop — and whose family has operated the Azle Antique Mall in Sanctuary since 1986 and Maine Barn Attic and Antiques since 2013, recently added a Spanish Colonial Revival stone facade to one of his storefronts where he had “Sanctuary, TX” and “Find The Lost” cast in concrete over the doors.

“Some now think we’re the town office or a lost luggage depot rather than an antique shop,” Coomer said via email.

He was sometimes challenged by readers about whether there was actually a town named Sanctuary.

“I’ve put ‘Sanctuary, TX’ at the bottom of some of my forwards and been accused of making it up: too good to be true for an author’s home,” Coomer said.

But Coomer, who splits time between the family farm near Springtown and a home in Maine, was disappointed to hear Sanctuary’s name may have simply been about avoiding taxes or not being part of Azle.

“I’d rather folks think we’d protect immigrants,” Coomer said

This is Trump country

Make no mistake. Sanctuary is in the heart of Trump country like most of red-state Texas.

Trump carried Parker County with nearly 82 percent of the vote, and 83 percent of the precinct that includes Sanctuary — though the town made up only about 10 percent of that precinct’s voters — went for Trump.

“We’re a high percentage of conservative people out here for sure,” Scallan said.

But Sanctuary has avoided the heated political battles of neighboring towns like Reno.

The town’s motto, which is listed on the city’s website, states “City of Sanctuary: Where Good People are Good Neighbors.” And Scallan said he doesn’t try to impose his views on anyone.

“The council controls things,” Scallan said. “I just monitor the meetings. I think the simpler that you can live, the easier it is for everybody to get along.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Sanctuary, Texas, is alive and well. But it’s probably not what you think.."