USA > Texas > Harrison County > Marshall > History Of Marshall Texas > Part 10
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16 Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
17First Methodist Church, Marshall, Texas, 1845-1945.
18Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
19 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941.
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MARSHALLITES WHO HAVE GAINED FAME
in Marshall and Harrison County, even though it was at a loss of money. He owned the Noonday Sentinel that lived for several years. In 1919 he and Bryan Blalock began publication of the Marshall Morning News. He and W. A. Adair sold their newspapers at the same time to the same people. The two newspapers were combined in 1937, and made the Marshall News Messenger. Price, during later years, wrote a column, which was published daily in several newspapers throughout East Texas. The column was known as "Heard on the Street Corners."
W. A. Adair, who was a native of Marshall, Texas, being born in 1857, is remembered for his outstanding work as a publisher and writer in the newspaper field. He operated and published the Marshall Messenger from 1884 to 1925.20 He was the "Kadi" of the Texas Press, and was known in the newspaper world from Texas to New York. He had a high sense of honor, intellectual integrity, and was very courageous.21 He was a progressive and a leader in the community. 22
Charlie A. Beehn is remembered for the work he did as an editor of a newspaper at Marshall.23 He worked on Marshall newspapers for forty-one years. He worked also on the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, and others.24 He is remembered for winning the only large portrait picture of Robert E. Lee at Memphis, Tennessee in 1871. It is still held by his wife, Mrs. C. A. Beehn. 25
T. Whitfield Davidson of Marshall was a candidate for Governor of Texas in 1924. He make a good race but lost. He ran against Lynch Davidson and others in a field of nine. He placed fourth with barely over 125,000 votes. He served as Lieutenant-Governor of Texas during the two terms of Pat Neff.26 He has for many years and still is Federal District Judge in Dallas County, Texas.
Ben Woodall, a well known lawyer of Marshall, was the first assistant to the Attorney General of Texas, Gerald C. Mann and Grover Sellers.
Marshall today is fairly well represented in the literary and artistic field. Don Brown of Marshall is well known, over East Texas and in the northwestern part of Louisiana
20 Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936. 21 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941.
22Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936. 23Mrs. C. A. Beehn.
24Marshall News Messenger, August 25, 1940. 25Mrs. C. A. Beehn.
26 White and Richardson, East Texas, Its History and Its Makers, vol. 1, p. 355.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
as an artist. He is at present, in 1947, art instructor at Centenary College. 27
Miss Carolyn Ramsey is a writer for a national maga- zine and writes articles in the Reader's Digest as well.
Michael Scully is a writer for a national magazine and writes articles in the Reader's Digest. 28
Many Marshallites have achieved prominence in the business world. Oscar B. Jones of Marshall in 1946 was elected President of the Texas Chamber of Commerce Manager Association. 29
Frank Davis is remembered throughout East Texas and Louisiana as owner and operator of one of the best feed mills in this part of the country. He bought feeds from far distant. points over Texas and made into brands of his mill which sells them to a large majority of East Texas. Often there were as many as twenty-five, or more, complete carloads of feed on the railroad tracks per day.30
Bryan Blalock was in the early part of 1947 elected for the seventh time to be President of Texas Milk Pro- ducts Company. It is a state wide company.
Among other prominent Marshallites today there is Ladd Moore, a captain in the Air Forces, and one of the few Americans who flew with the Chinese Air Forces for Chiang Kai-Shek. 31 Still another man widely known' today in the political field is Myron G. Blalock, national committeeman for the Democratic Party of Texas. 32
.Another, who has become highly successful in the medi- cal world, is Dr. Frank Shelby Groner, Jr., who is today administrator of the largest and most complete hospital in the world, located at Memphis, Tennessee. 33
John V. Berglund of Marshall is a well known pastor of Methodist churches over Texas. In early 1947 he is teaching Bible and Religion at Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas. 34
As we examine this roll call of names we see that Mar- shall has made, over a period of many years, constant and outstanding contributions of leadership to her state and to her country.
27Mr. R. P. Watson, Jr. 28Mr. J. W. Cyphers.
29Mr. R. P. Watson, Jr.
30 Sketches Drawn From Marshall and Vicinity, Past and Present.
31Mr. R. P. Watson, Jr. 82Mr. Fred Armstrong. 33Mr. R. P. Watson, Jr.
34Mr. J. W. Cyphers.
Chapter IX
Organizations in Marshall
There are a number of clubs and organizations in the City of Marshall that provide leadership, support commun- ity drives for better government, and otherwise encourage good citizenship. This support has been a prime factor in the city's development in the past, and remains so today.
The City Federation of Women's Clubs was organized around 1900. The five charter clubs that make the City Federation today are the Ingleside Club, the Woman's Club, the Rainey Civic League, the Music Club, and the Sesame .Club. The Marshall City Federation of Women's Clubs has supported all worthwhile improvements in the city and county. It is this Federation that organized the Mar- shall Public Library in 1900, and it is they who sponsor it today.
Miss Katherine Recknagel was a charter member when the City Federation Club was organized, and was at the time a member of the Ingleside Club., The Ingleside Club was the first library in Marshall, as it began as a circulating book club in 1886. It re-organized and became a study club when the City Federation was first organized. Miss Reck- nagel was formerly a librarian of the Marshall Public Library.
The Marshall Public Library was organized over forty- six years ago when Mrs. E. Key, Mrs. T. B. Owens, and Professor W. D. Allen met with a group of far-sighted persons in the old Knights of Pythias lodge building, and discussed ways to raise funds to make a library. This happened around 1900. There was a social held where if anyone came they had to bring at least one book or more and the library got four hundred and eighty-three books that night. Mrs. E. Key is called the "Mother of the Li- brary" as she worked so persistently in getting it started. In 1925, the present two-story red brick building of colonial type was constructed. At the start the library was kept by a librarian who volunteered to work for one week; the next week someone else would volunteer. Ralph Spencer was the first paid librarian, getting $10 a week. The city has supported the library from the start.
There are five clubs that sponsor shelves in the Marshall Public Library. The Amaryllis Beaty Garden Club sponsors a shelf on gardening. Ernest Powell started giving books to the library in 1929, and the Sesame Club today gives a
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
large number of books. This club organized a shelf called the Ernest Powell shelf. The Ingleside Club, sponsors the shelf on Texas and the information of Texas. The Optimist Club also has a shelf in the library. Various other clubs give memorial books in honor of departed members. These shelves that are maintained by clubs are kept as a yearly project.
The Marshall Music Club, up till last summer, had given over five hundred copies of music and material of music. There are many highly useful books on music in the library that are used by choir directors. The auditorium is used for all kinds of programs of culture, such as book reviews, musical programs, and others.
The Marshall Camp Fire Council president, Mrs. John Taylor, reported to the president of the City Federation of Clubs, Mrs. George Recknagel, that they would have as a yearly project a shelf in the Marshall Public Library. The Woman's Club has contributed much to the library by being a charter club of the City Federation and giving most of its time and funds to the library. The Rainey Civic League has a very good history of civic support and has given much support to the library. It also granted to the school board the land on which Van Zandt School is located today. The Sesame Club has been active and help- ful to the library.
Four other member clubs are the Marshall Literary Club, Talmidim Club, College Women's Club, and the Modern Mother's Club. All have contributed books to the library and have shelves as a yearly project.
During the early days there was held in the old Taber- nacle Building, located on the corner of North Washington and Grand Avenue, a bazaar, much the same as a county fair. Mrs. B. J. Eads, mother of the late Dr. Galen Eads, was the chairman. It was a successful bazaar, netting $1,600 for the Marshall Public Library. The money was used to construct a library building. The Marshall Public Library is run by a governing board that is composed of one representative from each charter club, making it five in all. Mrs. W. A. Nunley is the secretary and is librarian of the Marshall Public Library. Mrs. George Recknagel was the City Federation of Women's Club president in 1946.1
The Progressive League, somewhat similar to the Cham- ber of Commerce, was first organized in Marshall in 1912.
1Mrs. W. A. Nunley. Newspaper clipping.
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ORGANIZATIONS IN MARSHALL
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Marvin Turney was president of the organization until it was suspended with the outbreak of World War One. 2 The Marshall Chamber of Commerce was founded on April 23, 1919. The first officers of the organization were: J. H. T. Bibb, president; W. L. Pitts and B. C. McElroy, vice- presidents; and Marvin Turney, treasurer. The first sec- retary was Mr. Sam Foulks. It is non-sectarian and non- political. It believes in taking the lead in worthwhile public projects. 3 The Marshall Chamber of Commerce can best be defined as a community clearinghouse, where projects and policies are inaugurated, which are the communities' business and not any one person's business. The projects and policies have a tendency to aid the people as a whole. The Marshall Chamber of Commerce today has a total membership of five hundred. The membership elects its Board of Directors, composed of eighteen members of the organization for three-year terms. The Board of Directors then elect the officers of President, 'First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, and Treasurer. The Board of Di- rectors meet once each month. All of the officers, the immediate president, and the manager make the Executive Committee of the organization. The Marshall Chamber of Commerce has grown from a one man organization in 1919 to a staff of four people in 1947. It operates on a departmental basis, where an extensive program of work for the promotion of civic, industrial, and agricultural im- provements of the Central East Texas territory is carried out. The organization's financial support comes from the members and from firms, individuals, and other organiza- tions. 4
The Marshall Chamber of Commerce has accomplished many things in the past. To list a few, the chamber spon- sored the bond issue for hard-surfaced highways; financed the white-way; influenced the location of the Darco Corpor- ation; organized the Industrial Gas Company; saved the M. and E. T. R. R. from being junked; organized the country club; sponsored the carbon black bill in the legis- lature; organized, the Central East Texas Fair; sponsored the bond issue for a new high school and other civic im- provements; helped to finance the constructing of Kahn Memorial Hospital; helped to finance the constructing of the Marshall Public Library ; saved Caddo Lake dam; organ- ized the Texas Milk Products Company ; sponsored the city manager form of government; helped to finance erecting
2Mr. Marvin Turney.
3Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
4Mr. Oscar B. Jones.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
of the Hotel . Marshall; organized the East Texas Dairy Show; helped to finance and sponsor extension work and projects for the county ; helped to organize the East Texas Chamber of Commerce; operated the Emergency Seed Loan office from 1932 to 1936; designated and constructed Caddo State Park; secured CCC camp for soil erosion in Harrison County for two periods - one year; located and organized the regional Credit Production Association of Marshall; sponsored the feed and food control campaign in Harrison County; paid for thirty-six canning units for rural communities; secured district office of WPA and TRC in Marshall; operated the emergency relief for one and one-half years until the state could set up an organiza- tion in the county to take over its operation; secured the only rural resettlement project in East Texas and one of the three located in Texas; raised over $45,000 for the College of Marshall from the time Dr. F. S. Groner became president in 1928 up till 1936, and the enrollment increased in that time from sixty to five hundred; the chamber was indirectly responsible for securing approximately three million dollars of state and federal money for highway construction in Harrison County in five years, 1931-1936; it protected Marshall industries on proposed changes in freight rates and truck load limits that would have been detrimental to the operation of local industries; and fi- nanced trips for Harrison County farm boys, girls, and women to the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College short course at College Station.5 Some of the important accomplishments of the Marshall Chamber of Commerce since 1936 are its participation in the installation of the city swimming pool, and the acquiring and establishing of the National Youth Administration, operated until 1944, and then converted into an engineering plant called the Sollberger Engineering Company. During 1945 the Soll- berger Engineering Company manufactured one million valves for the Maritime Commission in one year as some skilled mechanics were once members of the NYA school. The Chamber of Commerce has founded and has sponsored annually the Junior Livestock Show and Sales and the annual Texas Polled Hereford Association Sales. The Mar- shall Chamber of Commerce is to continue the Central East Texas Livestock Exposition where a greater dairy prog- ress is perpetuated and made one of the principal educational factors. It has developed more than one and one-half million dollars local market for the dairyman's products.
5 Marshall News Messenger, August 23, 1936.
ORGANIZATIONS IN MARSHALL
It has made a complete program of reforestation. One of the main accomplishments made by the Marshall Chamber of Commerce was the establishment of the Blue Buckle Overall Company, where a minimum of three hundred people will be employed with an annual payroll of $600,000. , The plant's first year production has been set at four million dollars. This increased the number of plants which the Mar- shall Chamber of Commerce has been responsible in obtain- ing for Marshall. These firms, among them being the Darco Corporation, Marshall Manufacturing Company, and others, place Marshall in tenth place of manufactured products, (about $17,500,000 a year), in Texas. The organization has continually sponsored every movement, civic, economic, agricultural, and industrial, possible for the advancement of the local people. 6
The presidents of the Marshall Chamber of Commerce beginning with the Progressive League were: Marvin Turney, J. H. T. Bibb, P. H. Manire, W. L. Pitts, B. C. McElroy, Hobart Key, Frank Davis, Knox Lee, E. L. Wells, Jr., Aug. G. Carter, E. B. Hayes, E. Key, Jr., S. E. Wood, Jr., A. D. Kerr, Richard W. Blalock, Jack Mann, and O. H. Clark. 7
The Marshall Rotary Club was first organized on June 15, 1919. The charter members of the Club were: F. A. Alexander, August G. Carter, Hon. T. W. Davidson, Frank Davis, Ray Daniels, E. J. Fry, I. Hockwald, Joe Hirsch, Clarence Hall, L. H. Irvine, John Keifer, R. P. Littlejohn, E. W. Mahone, H. M. Price, W. L. Pitts, H. E. Pelz, Will Pierce, C. W. Pierpoint, Web Rogers, Dr. C. S. Sargent, G. P. Steadman, Fred Schulle, H. O. Wilson, E. B. Wilson, and P. G. Whaley. The two special projects of the Mar- shall Rotary Club have been the Student Loan Fund and the Crippled Children's Fund. The purpose of the Student Loan Fund has been to enable girls and boys to get an education who otherwise would not. The purpose of the Crippled Children's Fund has been to help to get medical treatment for children who otherwise would not get it.
The Marshall Rotary Club is non-political and non- sectarian. It is the only one of its kind that is an inter- national organization.8 The symbol of the club is the wheel. The Rotary Club's mottos are "Service above Self"
6Mr. Oscar B. Jones. 7Marshall Chamber of Commerce. 8Mr. N. D. Goldberg.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
and "He profits most who serves best."? It has one hun- dred and ten members in 1947.10
The Marshall Lions Club: was first organized in 1921. The charter members were Dr. G. P. Rains, Dr. G. R. Oden, A. F. Ramsay, G. J. Rousseau, Joe S. Brown, Gordon R. Bell, Myron G. Blalock, R. A. Barksdale, F. M. Armstrong, H. T. Windt, W. E. Harrington, J. W. Pitts, George'J. Reck- nagel, W. C. Homeyer, S. H. Cook, John E. Hill, P. O. Beard,, J. B. Baldwin, Joseph H. T. Bibb, G. H. Keoun, O. M. Battle,' Hobart Key, and F. W. Rives.11 According to Mr. Solon G. Hughes the Marshall Lions Club went out of existence in 1936.
The Marshall Lions Club was re-organized on May 10, 1938. The charter members were T. R. Adams, Fred, Armstrong, F. K. Bengtson, Allen H. Burbage, J. Hubert Boyd, John Hugh Covin, J. D. Denney, B. B. Foster, E. U. Holder, J. C. Horton, S. G. Hughes, H. C. Keys, R. E. McClaran, M. T. Morrison, J. W. Nichols, Robert E. Pritt, E. N. Power, Jack Stephens, Winston Taylor, W. M. Thacker, Stanley Timmins, Edwin A. Wagner, R. E. Walker. O. Womack, and L. T. York.12 The largest project they have is the Lions Park on the North Side. The land was bought and the park was constructed by the club. The city backed the club in making the park.
The Lions Club each year buys eye glasses for children who need them and whose parents are unable to buy them. Up till November 22, 1946, Beginning with January 1, 1946, they had bought five pairs. The Lions Club each spring, either in March or April, have a party or carnival at which they make somewhere near one thousand dollars.
The Lions Club each Christmas take and buy presents and food to give to the people who are needy and could not have Christmas otherwise. The Lions Club in the Christmas of 1945, spent around $700 in this way. The Lions Club gets its money through two ways: (1) each member pays one dollar a month dues, and (2) the carnival and parties they have bring in the rest of it.
The ideal of the Lion's Club is to give assistance to the poor and needy in the community. It wants its members to have mutual understanding, friendship, fellowship, and co-operation with each other, and with the community as
9Marshall News Messenger, February 24, 1947.
10 Mr. J. Wesley Smith.
11Mr. R. C. Ladymon. Letter.
12Mr. R. P. Watson, Jr.
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ORGANIZATIONS IN MARSHALL
a whole. It wants to make civic improvements in the com- munity. The club does not believe in taking sides in parti- san politics or sectarian religion. There are at least one hundred members in the Marshall Lions Club in 1947.13
The Marshall Kiwanis Club was organized in 1923.14 The club's charter members were: Chas. W. Hollins- head, H. D. Puckett, C. W. Lisenby, L. Kariel, C. A. Kennedy, Dr. W. G. Hartt, Reagan R. Huffman, N. A. Green, R. L. George, W. H. Bennett, Chester S. Atkins, N. P. Cockrell, B. J. Reagin, J. W. Cyphers, J. B. Stevens, J. A. McPhail, M. R. Martin, B. F. Badgett, Newton M. Shank, Galen Eads, Chas. R. Martin, R. A. Sexton, John W. Scott, Dr. W. H. Rickles, Geo. T. Trammer, J. F. Wilson, H. L. Smith, Barry D. Greer, D. M. Moore, Dan S. Bedell, Paul Whaley, S. P. Jones, Nathan D. Goldberg, E. E. Sulli- van, Julius A. Brown, Fred P. Phillips, Bert Bergson, F. H. Sanders, and Hugh Lane.15 The club gets its finances from the dues of the members of the club. Starting with 1945 it has sponsored a playground program for children in the City of Marshall; paying the instructors or directors who headed the program.
The Kiwanis Club has seventy members and represents a wide portion or good cross section of the people of Mar- shall. The club supports any civic improvement for the city and community. It does not support political parties, clubs, or candidates for office. If there is a civic improve- ment to be voted the club supports it, as the club did in the city bond election in November 1946, in which the members voted 100% for it.
If there is a child that is'in need of medical or dental care the club will see that they receive it. The club has fifty-two meetings each year, once a week, and has fifteen committees. The club is non-sectarian and its motto is "We Build." They build the character of both young and old, and build the life of the City of Marshall to a higher standard.16
The Marshall Junior Chamber of Commerce was organ- ized in 1936. It co-operates with the Marshall Chamber of Commerce. The officers are' elected semi-annually. The members of the Marshall Junior Chamber.of Commerce have to be in the age limit of twenty-one to thirty-five. At Christmas time the Junior Chamber of Commerce gives
13Mr. Ernest Smith.
14Mr. Arnold Milner.
15Mr. . Ben Woodall.
16Mr. Arnold Milner.
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL
toys, food, and clothing to the children and needy people.17
The Marshall Altrusa Club was organized in February 1942. It is in many ways similar to the Marshall Rotary Club. Its members are executives who own and operate businesses in the City of Marshall. Only one lady can come from the work of Home Demonstration Agent and others. The club has thirty-five women that makes up its member- ship.
The finances come from the membership dues of ten dollars per year. There are held two meetings each month, one a business meeting and the other a dinner meeting. It gets finances from projects.
The Marshall Altrusa Club's purpose is to help to im, prove the City of Marshall in its civic affairs. The club wishes to make civic improvements in the city and commun- ity. The club sponsored the USO during the war. It has given to the Marshall Public Senior High School Library many vocational books for the students of the school to study. It has now planned to make a site where a Youth Camp may be organized for the youths of the City of Mar- shall. The club is non-sectarian and does not support candi- dates for offices, nor concern itself in any way with politics.18
The Marshall Optimist Club was organized in November 1945, when it elected H. R. Freeman as its first president to serve until March 31, 1946. J. E. Freeman was elected its second president and served from April 1, 1946, into the summer, when he resigned. Max Lale was elected president to serve the remainder of the term. The purpose of the club is to develop Optimism as a Philosophy of Life and to have mutual understanding and friendship with the people of the community and surrounding area. It back's all civic im- provements of the community. It helps to keep children off the streets and have pleasure in play and work. The club's motto is "Friend of the Boy." The club has helped individual boys by aiding them to find jobs and by getting them out of jail, and by getting them clothes when needed. The club has a total membership of fifty-nine. The club's finances' come from plays put on by the club and the dues from the members, paid annually.19
Such organizations and clubs have aided tremendously in the city's growth.
17 Marshall News Messenger, October 26, 1941. 18Miss Margaret Bracher.
19Mr. Max Lale.
Chapter X
Miscellaneous Facts About Marshall
There are several miscellaneous facts about the City of Marshall, Texas that are very interesting.
For instance, on a lot on the corner of North Franklin and West Burleson Streets there is an old oak tree under which General Sam Houston spoke when he was running for Governor in 1849.1 He was introduced by the father of C. F. Adams, 2 and spoke to an audience of Harrison County and Marshall people. It was his last visit to Mar- shall. The people of the city were against annexation ,to the United States. The Sesame .Club in 1913 put a tablet on the tree, memorializing the event, with this inscription : "Under this tree General Sam Houston spoke to a Harri- son County audience in 1849. This tablet was erected by the Sesame Club in 1913."3
Every land title of Marshall dates back to Peter Whet- stone. He, his wife, and four children settled at Marshall when it was created. 4
Harrison County, which Marshall has been county seat of since 1842, was created on September 8, 1839, being carved out of Shelby County, one of the original twenty- five counties of Texas. The county was named in honor of Jonas Harrison, a famous lawyer in this section of Texas, who once lived in this county. Harrison County was. in a senatorial district with Shelby and Sabine Counties and was given one Representative by itself.
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