USA > Texas > Cherokee County > A history of Cherokee county (Texas) > Part 13
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Music was an important part of the curriculum. A few Rusk women still remember dancing the square dance, during the two- hour noon intermission, to music played on its rosewood piano, "with a back like a bookcase." During some years the sessions were very short and the entire time devoted to one subject. At the close of one of Doctor Bacon's grammar schools he offered fifty dollars to anyone who could give his students a sentence which they could not parse. The doctor saved his money.
In 1885 Rusk levied a special school tax and four years later the Rusk free school district purchased the Rusk Masonic Institute building and established a public school.3 In 1912 it was made a four-year high school, attaining first class rank two years later. A. S. Moore is the 1934 superintendent. The faculty member with the longest service record is the beloved Miss Ruth Gibson. During almost a quarter of a century this member of one of the earliest pioneer families has helped to mold the lives of Rusk children.
The story of early Rusk newspapers has been given in Chapter IV. In 1879 the Texas Observer was succeeded by the Rusk Ob- server, published by J. E. Shook. In 1882 the Cherokee Standard succeeded the Rusk Observer, being published in turn by W. E. Miller, J. E. Shook, R. E. Hendry, Jernigan & Shook, F. R. Trimble, A. J. Owen and John B. Long. In January, 1888, the Cherokee Standard was consolidated with the Labor Enterprise, which had been published for a short time by W. F. Black of Box's Creek, and became known as the Standard-Enterprise. Rev- erend I. V. Jolly was later associated with John B. Long as editor.
In 1889, J. A. Padon and a Mr. Kirkpatrick established the Cherokee Herald which was afterward sold to John B. Long, the consolidated papers becoming the Standard-Herald. This was sold to Reverend J. S. Burke and his son, R. A. Burke, who changed its name to the Industrial Press. In 1906 the Burkes purchased the Weekly Journal, which had been published by William C. Cloyd since 1901, and continued to publish the consolidated papers as the Press-Journal. Among its later owners were F. B. and Charles R. Guinn and W. M. Ellis. In 1919, W. L. Martin estab- lished the Rusk Cherokeean which was consolidated with the
3See Chapter XI for the story of the Institute and other Rusk schools.
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Press-Journal in 1923 and sold to H. O. and Mrs. Pearl Ward in 1925. Mrs. Ward is the present owner and editor.
Rusk has also had the following papers : Cherokee Blade, estab- lished in 1893, and published in turn by Priest & Adams, J. E. Shook and C. F. Gibson; Sentinel, published for a few months in 1913 by E. A. Priest; Cherokee Sun, established in 1914 and pub- lished in turn by W. P. Singletary and Walter Hodges ; Standard, having a brief existence in 1933 with W. I. Breedlove as editor ; Cherokee County Chief, established by Granville Williams in 1934. In February, 1934, the Daily Ranger, the first daily in Rusk's history, made its appearance, with Granville Williams as editor.
Two pioneer hotels stood high in public favor. The Bracken House, known in the '40s as the Union Hotel and later temporarily operated as the Irby, Thompson and Rusk hotels, stood on the still popular southeast corner of Block No. 10, the present Ford Station site. In the early '50s the Cherokee Hotel was opened near the southwest corner of the public square by Varnum Ozment and operated in turn by Alfred Fox and William T. Long until the '90s. The house still stands, known as the Lang building.
The first brick hotel was the Comer-Fariss Hotel, built in 1885. Five years later Theodore Miller erected the Acme Hotel on the Bracken House site. Opening with a grand banquet and ball, it enjoyed a wealthy patronage in the boom days of the iron rush.
Business activities center around the courthouse square. The first merchants were on the north side (Lots 6 and 9), Granville J. Carter and Theron L. Philleo carrying stocks of general mer- chandise, including liquor. On the south end of the west side Givens & Haydon had a grocery and saloon in 1847. First Mon- days were trades days on which farmers gathered in the village to exchange surplus products and stray animals and incidentally gathered around the hotel and saloon to exchange news.
Among other firms existing prior to 1850 were Allan A. Cameron & Company ; Able, Brittain & Parsons ; Oglesby & Mon- gold. Merchants advertising in the early '50s included B. F. Roun- tree, Varnum Ozment, James Rowe, John K. McGrew, Osgood & Jennings, Dickinson & Sterne, R. B. Martin & Brother, William A. Morrison, B. Miller, Schmeder & Company and John Findley.
Cicero Broome had "a large and extensive gin and mill factory, keeping constantly on hand cotton gins and mills, wheat fans and threshers, and furniture made in the cabinet shop," situated northwest of the original town site in what was called Broome Town. It has been remarked that gin machinery in those days was made of wood, not iron.
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Among the new firms in the later '50s were W. S. Parks, Cramer & Oppenheimer, B. W. McEachern, J. M. Jones & Com- pany, Casper Renn Wholesale and Retail Drug Store, Renn & Veitch Family Grocery and Provision House, and E. W. Bush. Many of the stores had barrooms.
Advertisements in the '60s included the following new firms : J. C. Francis & Son; Miller & Williams (wholesale and retail) ; Boyd, Frazer & Parks; S. B. Barron; Hicks, Aycock & Mallard; Philleo & Herndon ; J. J. Mallard; S. J. Lewis & Company ; Gam- mage & Reed; Whitescarver, Hughes & Company (gunsmiths and cabinet makers) ; and the Cherokee Iron Works (manufac- turing plows "unsurpassed by any northern make"). In 1874 the Tillotson & Stallings furniture, wagon and buggy factory offered to exchange its products for country produce. Its motto was, "Live and let live."
Among the carpenters who helped to build early Rusk were Robert Green, John M. Evans, Duncan McEachern and Luther Johnson. Blacksmith shops, so essential in early days, were oper- ated by John Findley, Austin Jones and J. L. Whitescarver. James Cook had, among other business enterprises, a livery stable. Wil- liam N. Bonner operated a tanyard, another vital factor in the pioneer community.
A number of Rusk business houses deserve especial mention for longevity. The J. J. Mallard general merchandise store, opened in 1864, was continued by his son, T. B. Mallard, as a grocery store until 1930. The Old Corner Drug Store, owned by J. F. Mallard, passed its thirty-ninth birthday before being sold to A. G. Odom in 1920. Doctor E. M. Moseley has been in the drug business over thirty years, A. G. Odom being a partner in the original business. Beginning in the '70s, three generations of Neelys have sold goods in Rusk. The Pryor Machine Shop and Foundry, now operated by Alvin Pryor, has existed more than forty years. The W. H. Wallace Hardware Company dates from 1895.
For more than a quarter of a century the C. & W. Bauer Con- fectionary and Cafe (south side of the courthouse square) was noted throughout East Texas. Its history even antedates the Bauer name. In the early '50s Casper Renn, an enterprising Ger- man who became one of the town's most extensive real estate owners, established a bakery and confectionary on the site. After the Civil War his brother, Benedict Renn, made it famous as a gingerbread and beer parlor. Hops were grown at the rear of the shop and the beer was kept in tubs of cold water. On Christmas
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Day he kept open house. With the children "Uncle Bennie" was a prime favorite. In 1896, in return for their care during the remainder of his life, he transferred his business to Mrs. Cather- ine Bauer and her son William, who had some years previously made a small investment in it. When Mother Bauer retired, Mr. and Mrs. William Bauer continued to render the service which had made the cafe famous, until they moved to Colorado in 1923.
In 1853 Andrew Schmeder and his wife Christina opened a store on the west side (Lot 8), which the latter still owned more than a half century later. After being left a widow Mrs. Schmeder married B. Miller. They continued to operate the business under three successive firm names-B. Miller, Miller & Cannon, and Mrs. Christina Miller-until death claimed them both in 1905. Even then the business survived. By their will two long-time employees, W. T. Caver and W. H. Tucker, inherited it. Tucker eventually became the sole owner and continued to operate it until 1932.
B. Miller, coming from Germany as a boy without a dollar, acquired a large fortune through his shrewdness as a businessman and trader. The bulk of his wealth was bequeathed to orphans' homes and churches.
Rusk's ranking merchant, a gracious, snowy-haired woman of eighty-one years, retired in 1934. For more than half a century Sarah Rebecca Curtis sold hats. Her first stock of millinery was hauled from' Jacksonville, the nearest railroad point, by wagon. She outlived every Rusk business in operation when she opened her doors.
The first Rusk charter was approved in 1850 but no record of city organization has been found. In 1856 a second charter was granted and E. W. Bush was elected mayor. Among his successors were John L. Whitescarver, Thomas J. Johnson, Jefferson Shook, E. L. Givens, Charles A. Miller, A. J. Owen, R. E. Hendry, R. B. Martin, J. O. Coupland, E. H. F. McMullen, L. D. Guinn, W. H. Shook, William M. Ellis, G. S. Huston, Doctor J. L. Summers, and E. R. Gregg, the present mayor.
Outstanding among the marks of progress during the past two decades have been the waterworks system (1914), the million- gallon reservoir and the sewerage system (1925), the pavement of the courthouse square and the approaching blocks (1927), the gas system (1927), the erection of a modern post office (1928) and additional paving (1934).
Among the organizations promoting the town's development during the earlier decades of the present century were the Boosters
JACKSONVILLE PIONEERS Top, left to right: M. L. EARLE, J. A. TEMPLETON Bottom, left to right DRURY H. LANE, MRS. AMANDA FREDERICK, and THOMAS GREEN BAYS
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Club and the Commercial Club. The Kiwanis Club, organized in 1923 with thirty-six members, is now the leader in civic programs. W. W. Finley is president.
JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville of today, the largest town in the county, is the second Cherokee town to bear the name. Undaunted by being left some one and one-half miles southwest of the International Rail- road, the first Jacksonville picked itself up and sat down again where trains did stop. Subsequent growth has brought an over- lapping of the two town sites.
Not even Old Jacksonville, however, was the original settle- ment in the neighborhood. In the middle '40s, David Tumlinson, F. C. Hardgraves, E. J. Debard, Huntley Wiggins, J. S. Lind- sey, James G. Earle, David Templeton and others established the settlement known as Gum Creek, taking its name from a near-by stream. In 1847 Jackson Smith joined the group, settling on the James Ford Labor. Soon after building his log house and a blacksmith shop, Smith laid out the Jacksonville town site north- east of his house. The name Gum Creek, however, was not immediately abandoned. Even the post office, established in June, 1848, was designated as the Gum Creek office.
Jackson Smith, a Kentuckian, had served the Texas Republic as Indian scout in 1838. Charmed by the beauty of the Cherokee country, he determined to make it his home. Returning in 1847, he remained a Cherokee County citizen until his death in 1897. Appointed Gum Creek postmaster, he kept the office in his black- smith shop. In later years he served as county commissioner.
Tradition has long had it that Smith gave the town its name. Whether he named it for himself, the Illinois town where he learned the blacksmith trade, or for Doctor Jackson, whose office was the first building on the town-site, has been a matter of much friendly controversy. In 1915, Thomas Green Bays, a Cherokee County lad of fifteen when Absalom Gibson surveyed the town site, returned to Jacksonville after an absence of sixty-three years and added an entirely different version of the town's christening. According to Bays, a crowd gathered around a fire in front of Tom Dean's store, just east of the town site, while Surveyor Gibson was completing his notes. Gibson remarked that the town must have a name. Dean suggested that, since it was on Jackson Smith's land and Doctor Jackson was the first man on the site, Jacksonville would be a fitting name. The crowd cheered its approval. Jacksonville it was called.
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Among the town's earliest citizens were the Ragsdales, Jowells, Lanes, Yarbroughs, Kinchelos, Rushings, Giffens, Isaacs, Wat- sons, Martins, Wootens, Glidewells, Kinbros, Hughes, Maples, Mckinneys, Ingles, and Kennedys.
In November, 1848, Jacksonville was made a voting precinct, with E. B. Ragsdale as returning officer. In 1849 the Gum Creek School, which had been opened in 1845, was replaced by another log house near the present West Side School. Here Joe C. Rushing, Richard A. Wooten, Doctor Abraham Glidewell, E. E. Armstrong and Reverend Mccullough, a Scotch minister, were teachers. In 1856, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Bridges taught in the new Masonic Hall. In 1860, H. L. Martin and N. A. Men- denhall closed their school in the Methodist Church to enlist in Confederate service in Virginia. T. B. Matlock was probably the most prominent of the later teachers.
Two denominations, the Methodists and the Baptists, built churches in Old Jacksonville prior to 1850. Later the Cumberland Presbyterians built just east of the town. Among the ministers were Doctor Orceneth Fisher, Reverend A. H. Shanks, Reverend Jefferson Shook, Reverend Robert Finley, Reverend John B. Renfro, Reverend Robert Rountree, Reverend D. M. Stovall, Reverend Isham Lane, and Reverend G. W. Slover.
Despite competition with Larissa, business must have been profitable. In his reminiscences the late M. L. Earle lists forty- eight firms in Old Jacksonville's mercantile roster. The first three, all of whom carried general stocks in log houses on different sides of the public square, were A. S. Johnson & Company, Hughes & Maples, and J. B. Able & Son. W. T. D. Guy, then manager for the Johnson Company, is credited with having sold the first bill of goods. He was also the first postmaster after the name was changed from Gum Creek to Jacksonville in 1850. In 1855 Peter G. Rhome opened a stock of goods bought in New York, shipped to Houston and hauled to Jacksonville in ox-wagons.
The town's hotel, built partially of logs, was opened by Joseph Turney in 1850. In this popular community center General Thomas J. Rusk4 and many other Texas heroes were served by a succession of managers, including Thomas D. Campbell, father of the future governor. The last proprietor was W. C. Cobb, who established the first hotel in present Jacksonville (Lots 17-18, Block 137).
4In 1855, General Rusk was chief speaker at a barbecue. His mission was to persuade citizens who had deserted the Democratic ranks for Know Nothingism to return to the fold.
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In 1871 railroad surveyors passed the old town by. Two town sites were laid off before E. B. Ragsdale, officially consulted as to a suitable site, suggested the division between the waters of the Neches River and Mud Creek. His suggestion was followed and on July 27, 1872, Sarah Fry sold the International Railroad Company seventy-five acres of land with the stipulation that the road run its cars to Fry's Summit and permanently locate a depot on the land on or before January 1, 1873. Thus the pres- ent site of Jacksonville was established.
Gay in the face of its death warrant, Old Jacksonville, already noted for its "feuds, fights and homicides," opened five new saloons for its sporting newcomers, took one last wild fling at living and moved bodily to the new town site. When the exodus ended only two dwellings and one store building were left. Getting into new quarters became a race. Maples, Ragsdale & Company unloaded the first building material in the business section, but overnight George Tilley put up his saloon. Allen & Lawlor, Peter G. Rhome, B. K. Smith (all general merchants ), H. Gover & Company (drugs), W. H. Lovelady and A. J. Chessher (groceries and saloons), the Masonic Lodge and the Methodist Church soon followed. Houses, one side at a time, were loaded on ox-wagons, hauled to their new sites and put together again. New Jacksonville came partially ready-made! Had it not been for the panic of 1873 its early development would doubtless have been even more rapid.
Only one of the old town firms is represented in the Jackson- ville business directory of today. Ragsdale Brothers, present Jacksonville's oldest firm, is the direct descendant of Maple, Ragsdale & Company. Among other early firms were J. & C. Bolton, Clapp & Brown (J. H.), J. P. Douglas & Company, Two Brothers Saloon, B. B. Cannon, L. Grimes, N. G. Gragard, Jarratt & Goodson, Thompson & Dellis, S. T. Spruill (carriage and wagon maker), J. A. Templeton & Company, and Mckinney & Brown (W. A.). W. H. Lovelady built the first brick store. E. B. Ragsdale & Sons and Mckinney & Brown built the next two in 1882.
In addition to Ragsdale Brothers, Jacksonville's 1934 busi- ness directory shows a number of firms with distinguished service records. Among the oldest are the Jacksonville Drug Store, established by John H. Bolton in 1882 and now operated by the Parker-Tipton Drug Company under the same name: J. L. Brown, a drygoods business established in 1895; and the Sam D. Goodson Hardware Company just a year younger.
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The dean of Jacksonville merchants, however, was the late W. A. Brown, with sixty-one years of continuous service to his credit. After two years' employment as clerk for Clapp & Brown he formed a partnership with William Mckinney in 1874. For the next fifty-nine years he operated on a strictly cash basis, never swerving from his original "buy as you need and pay as you go" policy. While others fell victim to panics and bank failures the Brown business stood on this rock foundation, a marvel to many who deemed adherence to such a plan impossible. In this pioneer store Jacksonville farmers found not only a source of supplies but an outlet for surplus produce hitherto largely unmarketable. In his untiring efforts to create markets W. A. Brown rendered invaluable service.5
The Cobb House, which had been moved from the old town to the corner of Kickapoo and Main Streets, and the Spear House, on the present Liberty Hotel site, were the most noted of Jack- sonville's early hotels.
The old town never had a charter. Jacksonville of today was incorporated in May, 1873, the I. & G. N. station being the center of the original city limits. J. H. Martin was the first mayor. His successors include M. D. Morris, W. M. Andrews, R. H. Small, N. M. Fain, J. H. Thompson, Sam A. Cobb, W. H. Sory, John C. Box, M. L. Earle, J. E. McFarland and T. E. Acker. In 1931 the city manager form of government was established.
The Methodists had the first church, a box house near the W. A. Brown residence, which also served as a union Sunday school until the Presbyterians built on their lot about 1880. In 1882 the Baptists added their church to the group. The Christian Church is the youngest of the organizations. During a six-year period, 1908-14, the present Methodist, Presbyterian, Central Baptist and First Baptist Church buildings were erected.
Jacksonville's earliest educational center was the Jacksonville Collegiate Institute. Its history has been given in Chapter XI. In 1882, Professor J. M. Fendley advertised the Jacksonville Male and Female Academy in the same building :
"Board in the best families. Young men and ladies who desire an education that will fit them for the practical part of life or prepare them to enter any of the higher colleges and universities will do well to attend this school."
In November, 1885, W. H. Lovelady and other trustees of
5 After the retirement of William Mckinney, A. C. Dixon, a stepson of Mr. Brown, was a partner in the business for more than forty years.
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the Jacksonville Institute, a school conducted in the old Collegiate Institute building, sold its property and added the proceeds to the fund raised by Jacksonville citizens for a new public school. A two-story frame building was erected on the site of the present East Side School. In 1890 it was destroyed by a storm. Financial difficulties and disagreement concerning the proper site for a new building left the town without a public school until the first brick building was erected on the corner of East Rusk and Austin streets in 1892, now the Beall Apartments. In 1893 school opened with one hundred and sixty students.
To provide a school during the above crisis John H. Bolton, W. A. Brown, J. A. Templeton and others incorporated the Jacksonville Educational Association, which established the Sunset Institute on the present site of the M. P. Alexander home. In 1894 the association graciously donated the property as a part of the bonus offered for the selection of Jacksonville as the new site for the Methodist school at Kilgore, now Lon Morris College. The building was later torn down.
In 1895 Jacksonville voted a school tax and ten years later became an independent school district. J. W. Shipman, G. L. Newton, John C. Box, M. H. Fite, E. H. Goodridge and R. E. Troutman were the first trustees. The present school plant, consisting of five brick and stone buildings, was built between 1910 and 1925, the East Side School being the first unit and the high school the last. The current enrollment is 2,016, of whom 1,476 are white and 540 negroes. In 1913, under the superin- tendency of B. J. Albritton, the Jacksonville high school attained first class rank. Four years later it became a fully accredited four-year Class A high school. Larue Cox is the present superintendent.
The first Jacksonville newspaper was the Texas Intelligencer, published by A. R. McCallom and J. H. Mason. In 1881, John H. Hutchinson established the Cherokee Argonaut. Three years later the Jacksonville Intelligencer appeared, with R. H. Small as editor. Begun as a "six-column folio," extensive patronage by Jacksonville merchants necessitated enlargement before its first birthday. In 1886 it was sold to T. M. McClure. Later C. L. Finlay became his partner. In 1888-89 the Boomer was published by J. A. Padon.
The Jacksonville Banner, now the Cherokee County Banner, succeeded the Boomer. The Banner was first published by O. W. Dodson and J. E. McFarland. For some ten years after Dodson's death, in 1890, McFarland continued its publication. About 1900
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he sold out but soon repurchased the plant. In 1913 he again sold half interest to B. F. Davis, the firm McFarland & Davis being the present publishers.
The Jacksonville Times, published by D. A. McNaughton, had a brief existence in the early '90s. About 1894, S. R. Whitley, Sr., published the East Texas Reformer, afterward the Jackson- ville Reformer. Before the paper was discontinued in 1914, H. W. Whitley, C. F. Drake and A. A. Lyford were associated with him in the business. After leaving Jacksonville, Drake was connected with the Manufacturers' Record of Baltimore.
In the beginning the Reformer was a Populist paper. Preceding it two other Populist papers had a brief existence. The Cherokee News was suspended after thirteen weeks. In 1894 the Sun was reported appearing semi-occasionally.
The first daily newspaper, the Jacksonville Journal, made its initial appearance June 15, 1903. A. K. Dixon was editor. Its life was limited to weeks. In 1904, J. E. McFarland published the Daily Banner. He, too, found the town too small to support a daily. The Banner failed to survive its first birthday. In June, 1909, Roy Phillips and Gus Mecklin, two transient printers, ventured starting the Daily Progress. After several changes in ownership S. R. Whitley, Jr., sold it to McFarland & Davis in 1918. Since then it has been the daily edition of the weekly Cherokee County Banner. In September, 1933, Whitley estab- lished the Jacksonville Daily News.
In recent years the Newburn Sanitarium and the Nan Travis Memorial Hospital have gained for Jacksonville wide recognition as a hospital center.
The past twenty-five years have been characterized by growth which not even the depression following the Wall Street crash in 1929 could stop. Outstanding features of the past five-year building program have been the city hall, the Williamson Funeral Church, the Texas State Bank and the $135,000 post office. In 1933, through the efforts of the Federated Clubs, a public library was established. On March 8, 1934, the municipal airport was used for the first time, a tri-motored, sixteen-passenger plane making the first landing.
In 1932 Jacksonville celebrated her fiftieth anniversary with
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