New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 1

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416


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HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY R0101150984


HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY,


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation


http://www.archive.org/details/newencyclopediao01davi


The New ENCYCLOPEDIA TEXAS of


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Compiled and Edited by ELLIS A. DAVIS AND EDWIN H. GROBE


Published by TEXAS DEVELOPMENT BUREAU DALLAS, TEXAS


HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY


R01011 50984


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TABLE OF CONTENTS


Page


Foreword


1


Texas, The Lone Star State


2


BY PAT M. NEFF


Ex-Governor


History of Texas


4


BY ELIZABETH H. WEST


Former State Librarian


Public School System of Texas


9


BY ANNIE WEBB BLANTON


Ex-Superintendent Department of Ed-


ucation


The University of Texas.


10


BY DR. ROBT. E. VINSON


Ex-President


Progressive Legislation in Texas


12


BY W. P. HOBBY Ex-Governor


The Texas Judiciary


13


The Relation of the Lawyers to the


Court


BY THOMAS B. GREENWOOD Associate Justice Supreme Court of Texas


Texas Libraries


14


BY ELIZABETH H. WEST


Former State Librarian


History of the Texas Oil Industry


17


BY J. EDGAR PEW


Former President


American Petro-


leum Institute


Oil Production of Texas by Fields


from 1895 to January 1, 1922


19


Agriculture of Texas


20


BY CLARENCE OUSLEY


Ex-Assistant United States Secretary


of Agriculture


The Texas Cotton Industry


21


BY M. H. WOLFE


Page


Cattle Raising in Texas


22


BY E. B. SPILLER


Secretary, Texas


and Southwestern


Cattle Raisers' Association


The Texas Cowboy


24


BY TOM L. BURNETT


History of the Texas Automobile


Industry


26


BY J. W. ATWOOD


Manager of Dallas Branch Buick Mo-


tor Company


Public Health in Texas


28


BY DR. C. W. GODDARD


Ex-State Health Officerr


History of the Texas Medical Pro-


fession


30


BY R. W. KNOX, M. D.


Ex-President State Medical Associa-


tion of Texas


History of the Texas Bar Association 31


BY CLAUDE POLLARD


Ex-President


The Lumber Industry


32


BY JOHN H. KIRBY


The Houston Banks


33


BY J. T. SCOTT


Houston's Industries and Oppor-


tunities


36


BY R. M. FARRAR


President Houston Chamber of Com-


merce


History of Houston


40


BY HOUSTON POST


History of the Houston Bench and


Bar


43


BY JUDGE H. M. GARWOOD


Houston The Center of The Oil


Industry


46


BY W. S. FARISH


President of the Humble Oil and Re-


fining Company. President Amer-


ican Petroleum Institute


70 A 60214


Page


Houston The Cotton Market


47


BY K. E. WOMACK


The Rice Industry


48


BY W. K. MORROW


Future Outlook of Houston


49


BY THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE


Houston The Railroad Center


51


BY W. R. SCOTT, PRESIDENT SOUTH-


ERN PACIFIC LINES OF TEXAS AND


LOUISIANA


City and Port of Texas City


52


Houston Municipal Progress.


53


BY JUDGE A. E. AMERMAN


Ex-Mayor


Rice Institute


54


BY DOCTOR EDGAR ODELL LOVETT


President


The Port of Houston


56


BY COL. THOMAS H. BALL


History of Hotel Activities in Texas .. 57


BY R. E. PELLOW


Chairman Board Directors Texas


Hotel Association


History of Galveston


58


BY ALEXANDER RUSSELL


Galveston Tribune


Galveston Texas Port Gateway of


the Southwest


60


BY EDWIN CHEESBOROUGH


History of Beaumont


63


BY J. L. MAPES


Vice President Enterprise Co., Inc.


Beaumont Metropolis of Southeast Texas 65


BY BEAUMONT CHAMBER OF


COMMERCE


Beaumont and Port Arthur Ship Channel 66 BY HARVEY W. GILBERT Member Waterways Commission


Page


Founding of Port Arthur


67


BY GEORGE M. CRAIG


Port Arthur Where Oil and Water


Mix


70


BY PORT ARTHUR CHAMBER OF


COMMERCE


Orange


72


BY ORANGE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


Corsicana


74


BY CORSICANA CHAMBER OF


COMMERCE


Waco Built in a Park


. 76


BY WACO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


History of Waco


78


BY GEORGE ROBINSON


Prop. Waco Times-Herald


Texas Cotton Palace


80


BY WALTER V. CRAWFORD


Pres, Texas Cotton Palace


Masonry, Its Objects and Influences 81


BY SAM P. COCHRAN


History of Dallas


83


BY E. J. KIEST


Prop. Dallas Times-Herald


Industries


and Opportunities o


Dallas


85


BY DALLAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


Dallas Banking History.


87


BY E. M. REARDON


Pres. American Exchange National


Bank


Dallas Medical Center of Southwest .. 88


BY EDWIN H. CARY, M. D.


History of Bench and Bar of Dallas .. 89


BY F. M. ETHERIDGE


Dallas Municipal Activities


91


BY SAWNIE R. ALDREDGE


Page


Public Schools of Dallas


92


BY JUSTIN F. KIMBALL


State Fair of Texas


93


History of Texas Banking


94


BY W. F. RAMSEY


Mexia The Central Texas Oil City


95


BY MEXIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


Texas Farm Products


96


BY EDWARD M. JOHNSTON


Statistician U. S. Department of Ag-


riculture


Fort Worth Commercial and Indus-


trial Progress


97


BY FORT WORTH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


History of Fort Worth Banks


100


BY G. H. COLVIN


Chairman of Board, F. and M. Bank


History and Progress of Fort Worth 101 BY J. H. ALLISON Prop. Fort Worth Record


Wichita Falls, The City That Faith Built 103


BY WICHITA FALLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


Wichita Falls Irrigation Project. 104 BY J. A. KEMP Chairman Board, City National Bank of Commerce


Transportation and Industries of


Wichita Falls


106


BY FRANK KELL


North Texas Oil Industry 107 BY WALTER D. CLINE Ex-President Texas and Louisiana Di- vision, Mid-Continent O. & G. Assn.


History and Progress of Brecken- ridge 108


BY BRECKENRIDGE S. WALKER


Page Breckenridge The Oil City 109 BY BRECKENRIDGE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


History of Ranger


111


BY M. H. HAGAMAN


Mineral Wells


112


BY MINERAL WELLS CHAMBER OF


COMMERCE


Ray Leeman, Manager


Austin, The Home City


113


BY AUSTIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


The Wonderful Resources of West


Texas


115


BY PORTER A. WHALEY


San Antonio


116


BY SAN ANTONIO CHAMBER OF


COMMERCE


The Future of San Antonio.


117


BY CHARLES S. DIEHL


Amarillo, Metropolis of the Pan-


handle


118


BY BOARD OF CITY DEVELOPMENT


El Paso


119


BY EL PASO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE


Cities and Towns of Texas


121-165


Counties of Texas


166-184


Index to Counties, Towns and Post


offices with Population


185


Maps of Texas


192-195


Maps of Texas' Leading Trade


Areas


194-196


Men of Texas


.201


Governors of Texas


202


FOREWORD


EXAS comprises a vast area with a wide diversity of soil, climate and industries and a wealth of re- sources, products and opportunities which make the Lone Star State an empire within itself. The History of Texas, the only State of the Union that has lived under six flags, is rich in traditions and filled with picturesque lore that thrill with romantic interest.


In the preparation of the Encyclopedia of Texas, our aim has been to make it a publication of practical utility that will be educational, interesting and attractive to the greatest pos- sible number of people. In addition to a History of Texas and Historical sketches of the leading cities, we have compiled and tabulated the principal facts of interest regarding every city, town, county and district of the State, which we have alphabet- ically arranged and carefully indexed. [In view of the many topics of interest on which it is important that full and reliable information should be published, we have secured the collabor- ation of many eminent Texans and Texas Organizations who have contributed articles covering subjects on which they are recognized as competent authorities. " "So that this volume is not a work of any one man or group of men, but the product of a great number of the most capable men of Texas, a work of Texans, by Texans and for Texans, as well as a source of infor- mation for the people throughout the world who are interested in the Great Southwest. [The work is illustrated with appro- priate pictures showing scenic beauties, types of architecture, panoramic views, street scenes, public buildings, and views representative of Texas industries. Maps of railroads, electric lines, public highways and geographical and political divisions of the State, accompanied by an index to all towns and coun- ties, are an attractive feature of the work.


We offer this volume to the reading public, not only as a Historical and Pictorial Review of the Lone Star State, but as a Standard Reference Encyclopedia for Public and Private Libraries, Banks, Business and Professional Offices, Schools, Hotels, Newspapers, Civic, Social and Publicity Organizations and all others seeking reliable information upon Texas.


THE EDITORS.


TEXAS, THE LONE STAR STATE By PAT M. NEFF Ex-Governor


T EXAS, popularly known as the Lone Star State, occupies a vast area of over a quarter of a million square miles, has perhaps a greater diversity of climate, soil, industries and products than any other state in the Union.


Texas measures eleven hundred miles from east to west. Its greatest distance from north to south is nine hundred miles. Although a state with every variety of industry, the most important is agriculture. The surface of Texas is mountainous in the northwest and rolling prairies and lowlands. The soil consists of fertile black land, red land and sandy loam. In parts of West Texas irrigation is necessary to get the best results from the soil. In the eastern, central and southern portions, there is sufficient rainfall for any kind of agricultural produce. The climate is so varied that it is not so unusual in the winter time for ice to be found at Amarillo, while fresh straw- berries are being picked at Alvin.


Texas leads all states in the production of pure bred live stock. It also has a long lead as a cotton producing state. The total value of agriculture, according to the 1921 census was $727,400,000, while its nearest competitive state, Iowa, had but $459,191,000. In 1921 Texas also led all states in the production of oil and the unde- veloped oil fields no doubt still hold possibilities of a greater pro- duction than any other state. Texas also leads in the output of refin- eries. More than one-fourth of the oil consumed in the United States is being refined here. The income from Texas oil fields alone amounts to near- ly five billion dol- lars.


Texas is rich in mineral deposits, leading the Union in the production of sulphur and second to Cali- fornia in the pro- duction of quicksilver.


per cent of the yellow pine timber of the United States stands within its borders.


Although fundamentally an agricultural state, Texas has more rapidly growing cities than any of her sister states. The wide area of west Texas, no doubt offers greater inducements for prospective settlers than any of the northern states.


Although Texas, through her extensive areas and large population has led in aggregate total of agri- cultural products, there is a large opportunity for greatly increasing the output and much can be done by the application of scientific principles of farming and the education of those who live upon the soil to enhance the value of their farm products, thus in- creasing the prosperity of the farm district. This can be done by the practice of greater diversified farming and rotation of crops. The agricultural department of Texas has done much and in the future will do a great deal more in the education of the farmer to get the most possible from his land. The chief fault, if it may be called a fault, of the Texas farmer is, to stake too much on one product. In the rich cotton raising areas it has been the habit to devote his entire time and available land to raising nothing but cotton. In the cattle raising districts, to raising nothing but cattle, in the wheat raising districts, to raising nothing but wheat, etc. This system has many drawbacks, as in case of a large crop of cotton, the price of the product might be too small to give much of a profit. The same principle will apply to the other products. In case of an over production, of low price or entire failure of a crop of any particular kind, it leaves the


THE STATE CAPITOL, AUSTIN


Built in a Park on a Hill, Surrounded with a Luxuriant Growth of Trees and Herbage is the Largest and one of the Finest State Capitols in the United States


Large deposits of lignite and brown ore lie in central and east Texas.


The state ranks high in the lumber industry. There are seven hundred saw mills producing up- wards of three billion feet of lumber annually. Ten


farmer with little, if any profit for his labors. With a systematic study of the kind of products that each district can produce and a diversity of the crops upon each farm, the land owner will always be assured a fair profit for his labors.


2


NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS


The variety of soil, climate and rainfall in the different districts of the state has naturally made possible the different kinds of produce. In East Texas great emphasis has been given to the fruit and vegetable industry. A wide area in this section is devoted to tomatoes, which has possibly been the greatest vegetable crop. Peaches are also an im- portant crop in this area while sweet potatoes and watermelons are raised in abundance.


In Southern Texas small fruit and vegetables pre- dominate. Strawberries in the late winter and early spring are an important crop. Alvin is one of the leading centers. Farther south, near the Mexican border, the Bermuda onion, cabbage, cucumbers and watermelons have brought the farmer handsome re- turns. Laredo, on the border, is one of the prin- cipal centers for these products.


The lower Rio Grande Valley, with its ample rain- fall and mild winter climate has become a profitable section for citrus fruit. Grape fruit and oranges of exceedingly delicious flavor are raised in abundance in this area and the acreage devoted to this product is being greatly increased. Cante- loupe raising is another profitable industry. Pe- cans, the fruit from the most popular Texas tree, has long been a profit- able industry and the cultivation of pecan trees has brought this delicious nut to the fore- ground in agricultural districts throughout the state. There is a bound- less opportunity for a great increase of the pecan growth on land which has hitherto been considered unproductive. The value of pecans as a food is becoming more and more appreciated.


Texas is well provided with transportation facili- ties. Railroads penetrate all the rich agricultural and oil regions with transportation accomodations to the local as well as foreign markets. Electric roads radiate from the leading cities to the interior towns. The city of Dallas is the center of more miles of electric lines than any other city of its size in the United States. Public highways are being rapidly improved and a veritable net work of paved automobile roads will surround the leading cities and connect the larger centers with the most modern means of travel.


Texas is composed of a progressive and energetic people. The refined culture and hospitality, char- acteristic of the southern people, tempered with the enterprise and broad vision of the western type, make a distinct personality which characterizes the true Texan, who radiates that charming quality, known as the Texas Spirit, giving the Texan the de- served reputation of being the greatest people of the greatest state of the Union.


A great deal has been written about the great area of Texas and the state has been generally


Executive Mansion, Home of Texas' Governors, Austin


known throughout the North and East as a great unbroken range and many of the descriptions of Texas express distances and terms of miles and even hundreds of miles and the great ranches of the West in terms of thousands of acres. This, of course, has appealed to the imagination and lent a great amount of romantic interest to those who are attracted by the spirit of adventure. These de- scriptions have in the past been accurate to a more or less degree but in a treatise of the conditions as they are today, consideration must be given to the development which has taken place during the last few years. In large sections, where recently countless herds of cattle roamed over the unbroken range, large ranches have been divided into smaller ranches, the soil which is capable of producing cereals has been planted to small grains and the raising of wheat, oats, rye, kaffir corn, cotton and other profitable farm products have taken the place of stock raising. Al- tho it must be admitted there are still large dis- tricts of Texas where the rainfall is too small and the land too barren to become productive for the raising of grain or even for grazing, yet there are still large areas that are capable of being made far more productive than they have been in the past and if the population of the productive areas were as dense per square mile as the states of Missouri and Iowa, the state of Texas would have more than double its present population.


Possibly one of the greatest opportunities for the increasing of productivity of Texas, would be in the conservation of the water sup- ply and the irrigation of large tracts of land which could thereby be brought under close cultiva- tion and the production vastly increased. This opens up a great field for the investment of capital. Dams could be built on many of the Texas streams and reservoirs maintained which would fill up during the rainy seasons and conserved for a time when the water is needed for the crops during a season when there is a lack of rainfall. An example of this kind may be seen in Wichita County and through the activity of enterprising citizens, the county has been bonded for four and a quarter million dollars for the building of a dam on the Wichita river where a reservoir will be maintained, which will irri- gate an area of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of rich Wichita Valley land, thus bringing non-pro- ductive districts into a rich and intensified farming area. This plan could be duplicated in many of the districts of North and West Texas, where the amount of rainfall is scant and large districts be brought under cultivation, thus increasing the productivity and hence the value of the lands.


3


HISTORY OF TEXAS By ELIZABETH H. WEST Former State Librarian


S PANISH discoveries and discoveries of the fif- teenth and sixteenth centuries notably those of Columbus, Pineda, Cabeza de Vaca, Coronada and De Soto, formed the basis of Spanish claims to the country which is now Texas.


Remembering that the Spaniard has ever been a better dreamer than a doer, one is not surprised that the elaborate plans of Spain to occupy the North Ameri- can mainland were but slowly put into effect. New Mexico, the first settled part of our present Southwest was per- manently occupied almost a century, Texas almost two centuries after Columbus' discovery.


The Spanish were temporarily driven out of New Mexico by the Indian uprising of 1680. The fugi. tives gathered into a settlement which formed the beginning of El Paso del Norte, or Paso del Norte, now the Mexican City of Juarez. This settlement, which was kept up after the reoccupation of New Mexico, in time overflowed to the Texas side of the Rio Grande thus furnishing a nucleus about which grew the present city of El Paso, Texas.


abortive attempt to settle a French colony on the Garcitas River, an inlet of Matagorda Bay, under the impression that he had reached the mouth of the Mississippi River.


In their efforts to find the French intruders the Spanish made friends with a Tejas Indian chief and in 1690 founded a mission among these tribes. This mission, San Francisco De Las Tejas, was in 1693 abandoned.


The first permanent settlement was also the di- rect outcome of a Frenchman's entry into Texas, the Frenchman in this case being Louis de Saint Denis, who in 1715 came in from Louisiana to the Rio Grande in the interest of French trade.


This easy, albeit peaceful invasion showed the Viceroy of New Spain the need of prompt action towards carrying out Spain's long cherished plans for the occupation of Texas. Accordingly an expe- dition was sent out in 1716 under Domingo Ramon and St. Denis, which resulted in the founding of a group of Missions and presidios in the vicinity of the present Nacogdoches and St. Augustine. Save for the brief period between 1719, when the Span- iards were driven westward by a French invasion and 1721 when they were brought back by the Marquis de Aguayo, this mission group was kept up as a Spanish frontier outpost until 1762 when the cession of Louisiana to Spain making an Eastern outpost less important, the settlement was broken up by the Government.


The occupation of Texas by of- ficial intent was the outcome of long years of in- vestigation and planning on the part of the Span- ish Government. Back of it lay economic, relig- ious and political motives. The eco- nomic motive was the desire, which had led to plans and royal orders to settle a colony on Matagorda Bay, for a port closer to New Mexico than was the port of Vera Cruz, which was needed to shorten the long expens- ive overland trade route for goods imported Spain. The religious motive was the desire to Christianize the Indians. The political motive was the desire to hold the country against foreigners, especially the French.


Surrender of Santa Anna, April 22, 1836, to General Sam Houston After the Battle of San Jacinto


The execution of these plans, somewhat modified by circumstances was stimulated by La Salle's


Seventeen years later, however, some of those colonists impelled by longing for their old homes, came back under the lead of Antonio Gil Ybarbo, and founded Nacogdoches, which in turn became an important Spanish outpost when the United States acquired Louisiana in 1803.


4


NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS


At the close of the eighteenth century Nacogdo- ches, Goliad and San Antonio constituted practically the net result of the various Spanish experiments in the colonization of Texas.


Goliad was the settlement clustered about the third site of the Spanish missions which had origi- nally been established on the site of La Salle's at- tempted colony.


San Antonio or San Antonio de Bexar, had, so far as official records go, begun in 1718 with the removal thither of Rio Grande missions which, officially known as San Antonio de Valero, has come down in history as the Alamo, and the Marquis de Aguayo had completed its official establishment in the course of his entrada of 1719-1722. The settlement consis- ted of the civil establishment, San Fernando de Bex- ar, and the group of missions in and about San An- tonio, which still remain.


All the other mission buildings, those in East Texas, those near Rockdale, near Menardville on the


In the early years of the nineteenth century, the infiltration of republican ideas that Spain had dreaded brought about a revolt which beginning in 1810 with the sounding of the GRITO by the poet- priest Hidalgo, ended in 1821 with the separation of Mexico from Spain.


Spain was powerless to prevent the incoming of Anglo-American ideas.


The intruders came as filibusters, notably under Philip Nolan, who led several expeditions, the last in 1800, under Augustus Magee and under James Long, both of whom came in to co-operate with the Republican forces.


They also came in as settlers. Little is known of this phase of early nineteenth century history; unpublished documents however indicate that from 1800 on there was considerable unofficial activity in this direction. Officially, so far as published history goes, the Anglo-American colonization of Texas began in December 1821, when Stephen F. Austin brought in the First Anglo- American colony. The grant had been made by the Spanish govern- ment in 1820 to Austin's father, Moses Austin, after the father's death the grant was passed to the son; and it was confirmed by the Mexican govern- ment which suc- ceeded the Span- ish.


Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, at which Texas Secured Liberty from Mexico. Gen. Sam Houston with Eight Hundred Texans Attacked Gen. Santa Anna with an Army of Thir- teen Hundred Mexicans and Killed or Captured the Entire Command.


lower Trinity, on the Coast, have long since crum- bled into ruins and disappeared.


The readjustment which in 1763 followed the French and Indian war divided the Mississippi Val- ley, or Louisiana, between Spain and England, Span- ish Louisiana lying West, English Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. The readjustment, which in 1783 followed the American Revolution made Eastern Louisiana a part of the United States of America.


Spain was much disturbed at the close neighbor- hood of a republican government, fearing a de- moralizing influence in Texas and the Floridas. This concern was deepened when in 1803, only three years after Spain had returned Western Louisiana to France, the latter conveyed it to the United States. Clashes occurred in the early nineteenth century in the Floridas and on the Texas-Louisiana frontier which threatened serious trouble. So far as the Tex- as-Louisiana boundary was concerned the trouble was temporarily settled in 1806, by an agreement between the United States and Spain designating a frontier strip as the neutral ground, and permanently settled by the treaty of 1819, which definitely fixed the boundary.


Far from try- ing to keep for- eigners out, Mex- ico at first held out liberal in- ducements to en- courage foreign immigration. Austin took out several other colon- ization contracts, as did other empressarios. By 1835, it is estimated, there were at least 25,000 Americans in Texas, who, being energetic and re- sourceful, had made an excellent beginning in de- veloping the resources of Texas.


At first the centers of government were too far away for the Texan to feel much governmental re- straint in everyday affairs. Under the Mexican government developed early in the Anglo-American period, Texas with Coahuila formed the state of Coahuila and Texas; the state governor and legisla- ture were at Saltillo, the state capital. Closer to the individual colonists was the departmental gov- ernor, the closest of all was the local government.




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