Historic Midland

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Above: Fire Department, 1910,
Lonnie McCormick, Frank Prothro,
and Luther Tidwell manning the twowheeled,
hand pulled hose cart.
Below: Luther Tidwell; Mayor Frank
B. Haag; Abe Colts, City Engineer;
J.C. Hudman, City Secretary; Jerry
Phillips; Goody Schroder; and Red
Roller pose with the new engine at
Fire Station No. 2 in 1928.
their supper. Often several people would share
the meat of an antelope for a meal.
While Germania remained a viable community
for several years, a cotton exporter from
Hillsboro named W.E. Jackson bought the land
around Germania in 1924, built six houses as
homes for farmers and their families, and Mr.
and Mrs. Jim Glass of Whitney came to
Germania as managers of the property.
Ector Thorton of Stanton opened a store in
Germania in 1924 and hired Grady Dawkins as
manager. It operated as a company store for years.
During World War II, Ms. Foster said,
Charlie and Olga Williamson, who lived in a
house behind the Germania store, got the name
of Germania changed to Paul out of patriotism
and a fear of prejudice. Several years after the
war, the Lesters reopened the store and
reclaimed the name of Germania.
Although the old Germania section house
and other buildings associated with the
Germania community are long gone, as late as
the 1990s 27 people still resided at Germania. It
remained a farming community.
Dameron City was established in 1909 at a
site 1.5 miles from the original site of the
Midkiff post office by promoters who even purchased
materials at Midland lumber yards and
began construction of buildings in southeastern
Midland County. However, after two years, the
promoters left the area without paying the lumber
yard owners for the supplies, and the dream
of Dameron City came to an end.
Lumber yard owners were able to reclaim
some of their materials from the tiny community.
Other Midland County communities—most
of them long gone, but some still most identifiable—include:
Antelope, Benge Corner, Boone, Bounce,
China Grove or China Mott, Chub, Cloverdale,
Cotton Flat, County Line, Curry, Dwight, Estes,
Estes Ranch, Fighting Hollow, Ingram, Kennedy,
McClintic, Midland Army Airfield, Montgomery,
Nobles, Paul, Peck Springs, Pegasus, Pleasant
Valley, Prairie Lee, Ragsdale, Robinson,
Slaughter, South Camp, Sprayberry, Stephenson
or Stevenson, Stokes, Strickland, Terminal,
Thaxter, Toad Loop, Tubb Wells, Valley View,
and Warfield.
Fire Department History
Full of Protection
By Eddie Klatt
The Midland Fire Department has a proud
tradition of serving the citizens of Midland
County and the surrounding area. From the volunteers
of old up to the modern day firefighter,
there has always been a compassion for their fellow
man and an unselfish attitude towards duty
that has bound them together.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s,
Midland was a dusty, West Texas cowtown. Real
36 ✦ HISTORIC MIDLAND