Historic Smith County

HISTORIC
SMITH
COUNTY
An Illustrated History of
Tyler & Smith County
By Archie P. McDonald
A PUBLICATION OF THE SMITH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.

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HISTORIC
SMITH
COUNTY
An Illustrated History of
Tyler & Smith County
By Archie P. McDonald
Commissioned by the Smith County Historical Society
Historical Publishing Network
A division of Lammert Incorporated
San Antonio, Texas

❖
An aerial view of Tyler’s Court House
Square. c. the 1940s.
First Edition
Copyright © 2006 Historical Publishing Network
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing
from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11555 Galm Road, Suite 100, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (210) 688-9006.
ISBN: 9781893619661
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2006936514
Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History of Tyler & Smith County
author: Archie P. McDonald
cover artist: A. C. Gentry, Jr.
contributing writers for “Sharing the Heritage”: Eric Dabney, Scott Williams
Historical Publishing Network
president: Ron Lammert
project manager: Sydney McNew
administration: Donna M. Mata, Diane Perez
, book sales: Dee Steidle
graphic production: Colin Hart, Charles A. Newton III,
Craig Mitchell, Evelyn Hart
PRINTED IN SINGAPORE
2 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CONTENTS
4 INTRODUCTION &ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
5 CHAPTER I beginnings of “a most pleasant place”
11 CHAPTER II adjusting to change
23 CHAPTER III the twentieth century
35 CHAPTER IV happy days
51 BIBLIOGRAPHY
52 SHARING THE HERITAGE
114 SPONSORS
115 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
❖
The Arcadia Theater on North
Spring Avenue.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Contents ✦ 3

INTRODUCTION &
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Tyler and Smith County are quintessential East Texas. Tyler is the largest city located in true East
Texas, which means it is also the leading manufacturing, retail, and medical and entertainment center
in the region as well. Smith County reflects East Texas’ agricultural orientation, from cotton to
fruit to rose bushes.
Learning more about this exciting city and county has been a privilege, for which I am indebted
to Rob Jones, president of the Smith County Historical Society, and Ron Lammert, publisher. I thank
each for their confidence.
I appreciate the wealth of information about Smith County’s and Tyler’s history that Mary Jane
McNamara and Linda Brown Cross shared with me. Mary Jane is an indefatigable worker for the
preservation of that history, and Linda is my former student at Stephen F. Austin State University who
now teaches me.
Appreciation is also expressed to Tom Mullins and Henry Bell for making sources on modern Tyler
available through the Tyler Chamber of Commerce.
A few years ago James Smallwood wrote a magnificent two-volume history titled Born In Dixie: The
History of Smith County, Texas, which provided excellent coverage to 1946. This narrative carries the
story forward and its more than 100 photos and maps provide a visual experience of “a most pleasant
place” as well.
Archie P. McDonald
❖
The original Lawrence’s Grocery and
Meat Market store on West Dobbs
Street in Tyler. The building was
replaced by a brick structure
around 1940.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
4 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CHAPTER I
B EGINNINGS OF “A MOST P LEASANT P LACE”
“Tyler…is already a place of considerable importance, and contains many buildings of taste and
beauty. The public square is very large, and in the center is a natural mound, on which the
courthouse is built. Education has received the special attention of the people of Tyler….”
D. E. F. Braman’s description and evaluation of Tyler in 1857, near the end of its first decade of
existence, is still accurate more than a century and a half later, except the courthouse no longer
dominates the apex of a hill dotted by natural springs. Instead this sentinel of government sits to the
side of traffic passing on Broadway, still the city’s principal thoroughfare and as significant in the
history of Tyler as a similarly named street in New York City.
Not long before 1857, there was no Tyler or Smith County, only land. Everything begins with the
land. This land later designated by the state legislature as Smith County remained a natural
environment before the earliest wanderings of Native Americans, and eventually Europeans, came to
claim it and occupy it and parcel it and use it according to their cultures.
Timber grew there, an estimated two billion board feet of it, in sandy soils creased by numerous
streams, some sufficiently significant that early visitors called them rivers, and eventually those
named Neches and Sabine formed part of the boundaries of the county. Some of the land lay above
❖
A Smith County homestead that
was typical of many early homes in
the area.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
Chapter I ✦ 5

pools of petroleum, unknown to those who
arrived in the area first and little valued until
advancing technology developed machines that
required its substance for lubrication and for
fuel. Other areas hosted saline deposits,
necessary as a preservative and a provider of
flavor. Nearly all the land was fertile, could
be quickened into a life-producing environment
by an annual rainfall of forty or more inches,
and best of all, was abundant, and for the
earliest—free.
Let us begin with concepts: first, no scientist
or theologian claims that human life began
anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, much
less in Tyler or Smith County, so we may assume
that all who ever lived there originated
elsewhere. Secondly, though we have no specific
knowledge of their motivation for moving to the
area, it is safe to assume that all did so in
response to the stimulus of “running from”
some place more fearful or formidable than the
unknown, rather than “running to” something
more attractive. And third, it is obvious that
they came acquisitively and aggressively, taking
the land from whatever or whoever dominated
before their arrival.
The Native Americans identified as Caddos
first occupied the portion of eastern Texas
eventually known as Smith County, as they did
southeastern Oklahoma, southwestern
Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana. Caddos
had arrived in the area by approximately 1000
A.D. They generally lived in extended family
arrangements in conical-shaped huts located
along streams. They harvested the natural flora
and fauna of East Texas’ forests and streams and
cultivated some crops.
Nandacoa or Nadaco groups of Caddos
occupied the area hundreds of years before the
arrival of Europeans, which possibly occurred as
early as the last quarter of the seventeenth
century. Unlike plains Indians, Caddos were not
nomadic, but they were great traders who
carried on a brisk commerce in forest products
for flint and other commodities available from
other Indian groups. Descendants of the original
Caddo inhabitants, called Tejas by the Spanish,
continued to live in the Neches and Sabine
rivers drainage valleys beyond the arrival of
early Spanish and French explorers until the
time of the first Anglos. New diseases, brought
by the Europeans, more than violence, depleted
their numbers rapidly.
By the 1820s and 1830s a new Indian group,
the Cherokee, arrived in Mexican Texas as a
consequence of government policy and private
citizen pressure to remove them from the
Carolinas and Georgia if they would not
abandon Indian ways and comply with eastern
American laws and customs. Following such
leaders as The Bowl, the Cherokee moved to
unsettled lands in Arkansas, then on to eastern
Texas, where the Mexican government seemed
to welcome them but never got around to
issuing promised land titles before losing
control as a consequence of the successful Texas
Revolution and the establishment of the
Republic of Texas. The presence of the Cherokee
in north central Texas remained an irritant to
Anglo settlers until the Indians were expelled
in 1839.
The Cherokees received little better
treatment in Texas than they had experienced in
the United States. Despite abiding by a treaty
negotiated with Sam Houston and others late in
1835 to remain pacific in return for land titles
later, while Texan patriots fought the Mexican
army, the Cherokee nation’s claims were
disallowed and the Congress of the Republic of
Texas refused to ratify the treaty negotiated with
Houston. Worse, the Republic’s second
president, Mirabeau B. Lamar, decided to drive
the Cherokee from Texas. That was
accomplished by defeating the Indians at the
Battle of the Neches in July 1839, and the loss of
their leader, The Bowl. One of those who played
a major role in the battle, General James Smith,
lent his name to a new county carved from a
larger one by the legislature of the State of Texas
in 1846.
ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS
Europeans reached northeast Texas late in
the eighteenth century, considerably after their
initial penetration of the southern and coastal
regions in the 1520s. Pedro Vial, the first with
a specific purpose of determining routes to
connect Natchitoches, Louisiana, and Santa
Fe, New Mexico, had been preceded by Rene
Robert, Cavalier de la Salle in the 1680s on
his ill-fated search for assistance for his Fort
6 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

St. Louis. La Salle’s specific route to his
murder by his own men has not been
determined definitively.
All of Texas located east and north of the
Department of San Felipe, situated on the lower
Brazos River, was considered part of the
Department of Nacogdoches during the final
years of Mexican control of the area, then of
Nacogdoches County when it was organized in
1836. By then, Anglo settlers, some legal and
some not, had drifted into the area, which was
part of a grant of land to David G. Burnet.
In 1839 a group of these early settlers
petitioned the Fourth Congress to organize a
separate county in their region. No action was
taken because the Republic had yet to conduct
an official census, and so could not enlarge the
House of Representatives because the Republic’s
constitution required representation from
each county.
The campaign to make James Knox Polk
president of the United States in 1844
emphasized the “Re-Annexation of Texas and
the Re-Occupation of Oregon,” and Polk’s
election ensured that both would occur. Texas
was annexed to the United States by joint
resolution in December 1845 and the formal
transfer of power over the Lone Star State from
one republic to another occurred in February
1846. Within two months the First Legislature
authorized the creation of “the county of Smith”
separate from its parent, Nacogdoches County.
Enabling legislation specified the boundaries
of the county thusly: “Beginning at a point on
the Neches River due west of the southwest
corner of the Neches (also called Brooks’ Saline)
Saline survey; thence east along the southern
boundary line of said survey to the southeast
corner thereof; thence due east to said western
boundary line of said county of Rusk to the
northeast corner thereof; thence up the Sabine
River with its meanderings to a point thirty-six
miles on a direct line from the corner of said
Rusk County on the Sabine River; thence due
south to the Cherokee County boundary line;
thence south with said line to the Neches River;
thence down said river with its meanderings to
the beginning.” Section one concluded, “…the
same is hereby constituted a county.”
The legislation named the new county in
honor of General James Smith, a native of South
Carolina and later a resident of Nacogdoches,
who led one of the units that had cleared the
region of Cherokees in 1839, and also
designated William B. Duncan, James Hill,
Elisha Lott, John Lollar, and John Dewberry the
first county commissioners “who or a majority
of whom, shall proceed to run the lines as
herein described.” Those “lines,” or boundaries,
never changed, one of the few counties in Texas
❖
Caddo pottery.
PHOTO BY M. S. M. STANDIFER. COURTESY OF THE
SMITH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter I ✦ 7

80
857
1805
UP
1253
JAMES
TOWN
20
1 95
10
1253
1 95
GARDEN
VALLEY
16
1253
110
CARROLL
849
FRIENDSHIP
110
724
20
69
16
64
MOUNT SYLVAN
724
849
NEW HARMONY
DOGWOOD
CITY
1 5
2 61
2 61
HIDEWAY
POP -
279
1 5
UP
110
724
849
2 61
2661
2 61
GALILEE
3 4
64
20
31
1 5
69
344
69
CITY
724
10
346
LINDALE
TEASELVILLE
LINDALE
2868
LIMIT
364
1804
UNION
1 5
2710
THEDFORD
SPRINGS
WOOD
TYLER
POUNDS
AIRPORT
CITY LIMIT
N ONDAY
NOONDAY
Pop 466
LINDALE
POP 2,428
NOONDAY
Pop 466
CITY
PACIFIC
69
346
LIMIT
206
3271
164
344
1 5
RAILROAD
SPRING
LEE
SWAN
364
2868
10
UNION
69
TYLER
31
10
346
PACIFIC
20
2016
UP
(ABAN)
CITY LIMIT
MIDWAY
(ABAN)
57
2493
2493
GRESHAM
FLINT
RAILROAD
323
UP
323
64
2493
346
323
2493
TYLER CITY
TYLER
LIMIT
323
1 5
69
10
235
2813
BU LARD
CITY
LIMITS
31
69
69
235
31
16
C
UP
(ABAN)
323
UNION
69
2493
2493
344
UNION PACIFIC
64
(ABAN)
10
PACIFIC
20
346
2710
TYLER
BULLARD
Pop 890
RAILROAD
UP
155
323
69
64
10
2493
2813
69
69
69
UP
147
64
P16
69
CITY
271
31 31
69
69
69
LIMIT
14
1 5
271
14
10
UP
14
P16
346
14
323
3 4
SAND
FLAT
SHADY
GROVE
14
271
TYLER
Pop 75,450
64
756
124
323
323
BOSTICK
323
323
756
SPRINGS
RED
20
2767
323
COPELAND
10
UP
271
SPRINGS
PINE
2015
2964
124
ANTIOCH
31
756
248
346
WALNUT
GROVE
2964
2767
14
850
64
UNION
PACIFIC
UP
10
16
RAILROAD
2015
WHITEHOUSE
Pop 4,032
110
UP
271
2015
848
346
344
848
248
1 5
10
14
2015
BASCOM
WHITEHOUSE
Pop 4,032
848
16
850
64
3270
OWENTOWN
848
31
UNION
155
2767
311
271
PACIFIC
16
20
1 5
2767
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
2908
RAILROAD
155
WINONA
Pop. 457
CHAPEL HILL NEW
BLACKJACK
2908
2908
346
10
CHAPEL
HILL
Pop 439
1 5
STL
3341
110
3 26
757
757
346
310
UNION
757
10
1089
STARRVILLE
13
OMEN
TROUP
POP 1,659
PACIFIC
MIDWAY
2607
SWINNEYTOWN
271
1252
RAILROAD
16
345
SINCLAIR
CITY
135
64
15
BROWNING
ARP
POP 812
DOUGLAS
80
2767
850
135
UP
R
271
20
31
SALEM
15
1252
64
838
135
Overton City
2089
Limit
WRIGHT
CITY
SW RY
CITY LIMIT
UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
❖
A map of Smith County, c. 2005.
of which this is true. Specifically, the county lies
between the 32nd and 33rd parallels and the
94.54 meridian on the east and the 95.36
meridian on the west.
The commissioners received instructions to
locate Smith County’s seat of government within
three miles of the county’s geographic center,
taking care that the area constitute “a most
pleasant place within said bounds having
elevation and good water….” To secure property
for this purpose, the commissioners could
purchase or accept a donation of up to 300
acres, and in the last resort exercise the state’s
power of public domain for 100 acres, provided
the owner receive “a fair consideration thereof.”
Commissioners were required to reserve lots for
a courthouse, jail, and “other public lots as they
may deem necessary.”
Finally, the legislation said that Smith
County’s seat of government “be known and
8 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

styled ‘Tyler,’” in honor of United States
President John Tyler, who had tried to get Texas
into the Union in 1844 but the U.S. Senate
rejected the treaty of annexation. Thus Smith
County and Tyler began life together, birthed by
the same legislation.
The commissioners commenced meeting in
November 1846, in a log cabin that served as
the first of six courthouses for the county.
Elections for all county offices were held on
August 8, 1846, with S. W. Farmer elected
county judge. Other officers included County
Clerk A. W. Martin; District Clerk C. C.
Alexander; Tax Assessor and Collector W. B.
Thompson; Treasurer Craig Wren; and Sheriff
William Wooten. Robert Bond, Thomas Webb,
James Dollahite, and Samuel Rogers succeeded
those named in the enabling legislation.The new
commissioners court set Thomas J. Hays to
work marking Smith County’s boundaries, and
on February 6, 1847, launched the town of Tyler
by purchasing 100 acres from Edgar Pollitt for
$150. The site on the crest of a hill, with a
plentiful outcropping of natural springs, fit the
legislative mandate of a “pleasant place.” The
springs, in particular, had caught the attention
of commissioners and their purchasing agent,
attorney James C. Hill.
The City of Tyler achieved separate status
in 1850 when the legislature granted it incorporation
with a strong mayor form of
government. Elections held the next year placed
the affairs of the city in the hands of Mayor
William Stringfellow and Aldermen Francis M.
Bell, Dr. William Caldwell, Frederick J. Ham,
and Rufus B. Sigler. The incorporated area
covered 100 acres, which resembled a box with
city limits running for three-quarters of a mile
on four sides with the courthouse squarely
centered. On that site Smith County erected its
first brick courthouse in 1851, so city streets
radiated from it in all directions.
For some time county business focused on
development, especially of roads, which were
largely constructed and maintained via the
corvée system with adjacent land owners being
responsible for roads adjacent to their property.
A court at law began functioning in 1846, with
Judge William B. Ochiltree presiding, and soon
a jail made of logs was constructed to detain
miscreants. Other local judges associated with
Tyler and Smith County included Amos Clark
and O. M. Roberts, but the most significant
development in advancing the prestige of Tyler
came in 1851 when the Texas Supreme Court
began holding yearly meetings in the city.
From its founding in 1846 until 1851, the
state Supreme Court met in Austin. The Court
then held a fall session in Austin, a winter
session in Galveston, and a spring session in
Tyler between 1852 and 1891, elevating Tyler’s
prestige in judicial function equal to the state’s
capital and largest city and port. The city’s
significance increased when the Constitution of
1876 reposed appellate jurisdiction in criminal
matters in a Court of Criminal Appeals, with
Tyler also serving as the seat of this court. It
continued to do so until 1909.
In addition, Congress created a federal
district court on February 21, 1851, to hold
sessions in Austin, Brownsville, and Tyler; since
1879, Tyler has remained the primary host for
the Eastern District court.
The development of Tyler can be traced
through the appearance of its institutions of
civilization. For example, William S. Caldwell
erected the first real commercial enterprise, or
store, in the town in 1848. Religion arrived in
the hearts and minds of its earliest settlers, with
the Holy Bible serving as religious text and
language preserver, but the first organized
religious activities began in union services in the
first courthouse, a two-room log structure that
sheltered county and community business. In
1848 United Methodists began meeting
separately in a blacksmith shop, and within two
months the First Baptist Church began meeting
in a log building of its own; as a sign of the
times, both were affiliated with new “Southern”
versions of their faiths.
Drs. John H. Warren and Harvey Lindsey
began the practice of medicine in Tyler,
forecasting the city’s development as a medical
center, for surely no other trained medical
practitioners operated in the region. Postal
service with regular service between Shreveport
and Tyler began in 1847 when Elisha E. Lott was
appointed the first postmaster; within a decade
postal service had been extended to other
communities in the county.
St. John’s Lodge No. 53, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, began meeting in January 1849,
Chapter I ✦ 9

and by June the lodge had laid the cornerstone for
its temple “in due and ancient form” on the edge
of the town square. Other significant “firsts”
included the beginning of publication of the Tyler
Telegraph, the city’s first newspaper, published by
David O. Clopton, and the founding of Belzora
northeast of Tyler on the Sabine River. Belzora
became a port of entry for river navigation and the
highest point on the Sabine that commercial boats
ever reached. Its service was unpredictable,
seasonal, and limited to periods of high water, but
remained the only water transport venue available
to farmers and merchants to export products and
import materials. Because of the uncertainty of
water levels and therefore efficiency of service,
“horsepower” remained the primary transportation
medium for the area, even when provided by
mules or oxen.
Tyler’s citizens staked their claim to become
an educational center by establishing Tyler
University, with female and male departments,
early in the 1850s. “University” is somewhat
pretentious; such institutions really offered
primary and secondary instruction, but
nonetheless introduced the formal education
process to Tyler. Tyler University, begun under
the sponsorship of the Cherokee Baptist
Association, was joined by Eastern Texas Female
College in 1854 and by the Masonic Male
Academy in 1857 after facilities for Tyler
University’s male department burned.
Various businesses began to appear. As early
as 1847 an entrepreneur operating in a log cabin
located on the square dealt in whiskey, tobacco,
powder, and lead. A decade later structures
lined the sides of the square, and city lots, sold
only since 1847, hosted homes and business
houses, although patches of forest and even
corn fields could be seen from the city’s center,
and one public feast featured venison taken
from those same forests. Streets remained the
good earth, alternately dusty or muddy,
candlepower provided illumination, and
agriculture still dominated despite nascent
industrial development.
Tyler and Smith County, Texas, could be termed
accurately the governmental, legal, commercial,
educational, medical, and agricultural center of
eastern Texas by 1860. Permanence, and even
prosperity, seemed assured, even though a terrible
war loomed. As the decade of the 1850s ended,
Tyler’s citizens began to take their stand with other
Southerners on issues that threatened to tear the
Union apart.
❖
The Bascom Methodist Church was
established in Smith County in 1857.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
10 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CHAPTER II
A DJUSTING TO C HANGE
SECESSION AND WAR
The attitudes of the residents of Tyler and Smith County on social and political issues in the 1850s
reflected their origins. The majority of its 8,410 white residents supported slavery as a labor system
and as a means to relate the races to one another, but its 4,982 slave population was owned by a
minority of the white population. The majority who did not own slaves supported the institution
anyway because of its role in social control.
By 1860 the county remained rural, with only 1,024 of its 13,392 population residing within the
corporate limits of Tyler. Agriculture dominated, with its 82,000 acres of farmland evaluated at nearly
$2 million, and although cotton had become the primary cash crop, Smith County also produced
grains and fruit. Six sawmills located within the county produced over four million board feet of pine
and oak lumber annually. The county hosted eighteen churches, three liquor distilleries, five Masonic
lodges, two newspapers, and stagecoach connections to Crockett, Nacogdoches, Marshall, Paris,
and Waco.
❖
The Elihu Wiggins home was built in
1852 in northern Smith County. It
was torn down during World War II.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
Chapter II ✦ 11

Politics troubled the area. Most residents of
Tyler and Smith County considered themselves
Democrats in the fashion of John C. Calhoun—
they favored states’ rights, especially on the issue
of slavery. A few flirted with the American, or
Know Nothing Party, more because it offered an
alternative to the Democratic Party rather than
agreement with its tenets since most supported,
rather than condemned, immigration, but none
yet had been infected with Republicanism, the
despised Yankee party whose single issue was
blocking the expansion of slavery.
Nationally, the Democrats forecast the nation’s
future by dividing over the issue of slavery, with
Northern Democrats offering Stephen A. Douglas
for the presidency and Deep South Democrats
preferring John C. Breckinridge. A divided
Democracy offered Republicans, and their
candidate, Abraham Lincoln, an excellent
opportunity for victory, so a new group, the
Constitutional Unionist party, emerged, its
supporters hoping to block the election of a
Republican to enable the House of
Representatives to find a compromise candidate
and hold the Union together one more time. It
was not to be. Tyler hosted the state convention of
the new party, but only six delegates attended. In
elections held that November, Smith County
voters favored Breckinridge by 1,166 votes to only
348 for all other candidates. Lincoln’s name was
not on the ballot in Texas, but nationally he won
180 electoral votes and with them the presidency.
Lincoln’s election yielded secession in South
Carolina within six weeks, followed by Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana
within another month. Governor Sam Houston
delayed but could not prevent similar action in
Texas. Several citizens of Tyler—especially George
W. Chilton and Oran M. Roberts—led the
secession process in Texas. John C. Robertson,
Oliver Loftin, and Tignal Jones also represented
Smith County at the secession convention in
Austin in February 1861, but Chilton was the
most vocal among them for secession and Roberts
served as presiding officer of the convention that
passed a resolution for secession. The convention
called for a referendum on the issue, which passed
by a three-to-one vote statewide and by a margin
of ninety-five percent in Smith County, then set
March 2 as Texas’ official day of separation from
the Union. They also sent representatives to
Montgomery, Alabama, to take part in the
organization of the Confederate States of America
even before secession became “official” in Texas.
THE TOAST OF TYLER - RICHARD BENNETT HUBBARD
❖
Top: Governor Richard
Bennett Hubbard.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Middle: Governor Oran Milo Roberts.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bottom: Governor James Stephen Hogg.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Richard Bennett Hubbard, Jr., son of Richard Bennett and Serena Hubbard, was born in Walton
County, Georgia, on November 1, 1832. Hubbard graduated from Mercer College in 1851, briefly
attended the University of Virginia, then studied law at Harvard University.
In 1853, Hubbard’s family moved to Smith County. They first lived in Tyler, then on a plantation
located near Lindale. He supported Democrat James Buchanan for president in 1856 and consequently
received appointment as United States district attorney for the Western District. In 1859,
Hubbard won election to the Eighth Legislature, and he commanded the Twenty-Second Texas
Infantry Regiment in action in Arkansas and Louisiana during the Civil War.
Hubbard was elected lieutenant governor of Texas on the Redeemer Democratic ticket in 1873,
and became governor when Richard Coke resigned to accept appointment to the U.S. Senate.
Hubbard completed the term without a legislative session, but failed to receive nomination to a full
term in 1878. Hubbard represented Texas as its official orator at the National Centennial celebration
in Philadelphia in 1876.
Hubbard’s support of Democrat Grover Cleveland for president in 1884 earned his appointment
as minister to Japan; he held the post for four years, during which he negotiated an extradition
agreement between the two countries.
Hubbard married Eliza Hudson of Lafayette, Alabama, in 1858; after her death in 1869 he married
Janie Roberts of Tyler. A daughter was born to each marriage. Hubbard died on July 12, 1901,
and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Tyler.
12 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Rumors of slave uprisings and anticipation of
war between Union and Confederate forces
affected Tyler and Smith County greatly. In
January 1861, Chilton organized a cavalry unit,
The Tyler Dragoons, and offered their services to
the secession convention even before Texas
attempted to leave the Union. On March 2, Texas’
second independence day—in 1836 from Mexico
and in 1860 from the Union—a special secession
jubilee was held on the square in Tyler. In April,
the Dragoons disbanded but were succeeded by a
unit named the Invincibles, commanded by
David Y. Gaines, and the Smith County Light
Infantry, led by Harvey Yarborough and James P.
Douglas. These military organizations essentially
were home militia, but by June a unit that
became Company K of the Third Texas Cavalry
Regiment marched off to become part of the
Texas Brigade commanded by Lawrence Sullivan
“Sul” Ross. Within a year ten companies had
mustered in Tyler.
Home front activities during the war
included the founding in Tyler of the English
and Classical Seminary for Boys and Girls by
Frank Humphreys, and a Texas Baptist College
for men, led by W. B. Featherstone and W. J.
Brown, although the loss to fire of the Eastern
THE TOAST OF TYLER - ORAN MILO ROBERTS
Oran Milo Roberts was born to Obe and Margaret Ewing Roberts in Laurens District, South
Carolina, on July 9, 1815. Roberts received a private preparatory education before enrolling in the
University of Alabama. He began a legal practice in 1837, then served in the Alabama legislature
before moving to San Augustine, Texas, in 1841.
President Sam Houston appointed Roberts a district attorney for the Republic of Texas in 1844,
and in 1856 he won election to the Texas Supreme Court. Roberts then moved to Tyler to begin
his service on the Supreme Court. He supported the secession of Texas in 1861 and served as presiding
officer at the Texas secession convention in Austin. During the Civil War he served with the
Eleventh Texas Infantry.
Roberts was elected to the United States Senate by Texas’ first Reconstruction government but
was denied admission to that body because Radical Republicans were dissatisfied with the state
government’s reluctance to accept the consequences of secession and Civil War.
Roberts opened a law school in Gilmer in 1868 but returned to the state supreme court six years
later. In 1878 he was nominated by the Democratic Party for governor as a compromise candidate
to block Richard Bennett Hubbard. Roberts’ two terms as governor were noted for his parsimony
with state revenue and unique efforts, such as the Bell Punch tax on alcohol and a tax on traveling
salesmen, to enhance state revenue.
After relinquishing the governorship, Roberts taught law at the University of Texas, participated
in the organization of the Texas State Historical Association, and published several works on
Texas history.
Roberts first married Francis Edwards of Ashville, Alabama, in 1837. After her death in 1883,
he married Mrs. Catherine E. Border in 1887. Roberts died in Austin on May 19, 1898, and is
buried in the State Cemetery.
❖
The Chilton House, home of Horace
Chilton, whose father George Chilton
represented Smith County at the
Texas Secession Convention in Austin,
1860. The house was later owned by
D. K. Caldwell and was the site of the
Caldwell Play School.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter II ✦ 13

❖
Above: The Byrne Publishing
Company, c. the 1890s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The Marvin Methodist Church,
built around 1890, the oldest church
building in Tyler.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Texas Female College set the educational
community back.
A wagon shop was established to provide this
transportation necessity in this far corner of
Confederacy, medical providers converted the
Planter’s Hotel into a military hospital, and Joseph
Valentine’s hat factory began production. The most
significant war industry associated with Tyler was
founded by gunsmith J. C. Short, who formed a
partnership with W. S. N. Briscoe and George W.
Yarborough in 1862 on the promise to furnish the
Texas Military Board with 5,000 Mississippi rifles
for $30 each within two years. Short overestimated
the ability of the gun factory to meet its obligation,
especially in light of labor shortages due to
voluntary and conscriptive military service and the
reluctance of military commanders to detach men
from their units to work in the factory. Difficulties
in obtaining necessary supplies also contributed to
Short’s woes.
Short kept promising rifles until he exhausted
the patience of Texas and Confederate authorities,
but in the event produced only two rifles before his
company was taken over by the government for
$100,000 and renamed the Confederate Ordnance
Works. Colonel Gabriel H. Hill assumed
command of the Tyler Ordnance Works and
worked miracles. Unlike Short, Hill could arrange
for the detailing of craftsmen and expedite delivery
of materials needed for making the rifles. He was
also skilled at the army game of scrounging—
going outside channels and trading on personal
relationships—to achieve remarkable results:
within the last eighteen months of the war the
Tyler Ordinance Works produced 2,223 rifles and
63,126,383 rounds of small arms ammunition.
The works also produced bayonets, canteens,
cartridge and cap boxes, belts, bridles, harnesses,
ammunition boxes, and arm’s chests. Hill’s workers
also repaired hundreds of rifles and manufactured
the majority of their own tools and parts.
The ordnance works continued to operate
through the surrenders of Confederate forces,
with the Trans-Mississippi Department, of which
Tyler was a part, being the last. Hill had a
significant inventory on hand when word arrived
that the war finally had been lost. With the
failure of the Confederacy’s military effort,
civilian authorities temporarily lost control. In
many communities mobs of returning
servicemen, skedaddlers, and unruly civilians
began seizing public resources. In Tyler, only the
timely arrival of General Jo Shelby’s cavalry, en
route to temporary exile in Mexico, prevented
such loss at the Ordnance Works. Hill then gave
many of the factory’s tools and much of its
inventory to his workers in lieu of salary before
leaving Tyler on May 26, 1865. Major James P.
Douglas and H.V. Hamilton attempted to
eliminate the danger of a half-million rounds of
ammunition remaining by dumping it in a creek,
then detonating it. Douglas and Hamilton
underestimated the power they were unleashing
and nearly paid with their lives.
14 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Since no battles of the Civil War occurred
nearer to Tyler than Mansfield, Louisiana, or
Sabine Pass, Texas, furnishing military personnel,
the production at Tyler Ordinance Works, and
operations at Camp Ford, located four miles
northeast of the city, constituted the most
significant contribution of Tyler and Smith County
to the effort for Confederate independence.
Camp Ford was founded as a training facility
for Confederate military recruits and named for
Texas Ranger captain and Confederate commander
John Salmon Ford, better know as “Rip” Ford for
ending engagement reports with “RIP” for “rest in
peace” when identifying casualties. Not initially
intended as a detention center, it eventually
evolved into the largest camp for Union prisoners
of war located west of the Mississippi River.
General Henry E. McCullough was the first
commander of Camp Ford; he was succeeded by
Colonel O. M. Roberts and then by Colonel W. R.
Bradfute, who took over in August 1864 and
continued until the camp was abandoned in 1865.
The first use of Camp Ford for detaining
prisoners of war resulted from the necessity of
housing captured soldiers en route to an
established detention camp in Shreveport,
Louisiana. The first prisoners arrived in July
1863, escorted by General Walter Paye Lane and
his Rangers. With no housing facilities available,
the prisoners were first held in an open but
guarded clearing. When an additional 461
prisoners captured in southern Louisiana
arrived, Camp Ford’s primary mission changed
for the remainder of the war.
The prison area had good drainage and
plenty of fresh spring water, but no living
quarters. Prisoners laid out the camp in blocks,
including streets, and constructed shelter either
by burrowing holes, excavating a depression
and covering it with available natural materials
such as timber or brush, or lashing poles into an
“A” frame and covering the sides. These
“shebangs” provided primitive but nearly
adequate shelter as long as the number of
prisoners and the materials available within the
compound remained in balance. The arrival of
ever more prisoners—in excess of 4,000 before
the end of the war—stressed not just the
❖
Above: The Square along
College Street.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, GOODMAN COLLECTION.
Below: The Jester-Butler House, built
for banker L. L. Jester in 1898 and
purchased by Judge Thomas B. Butler
in 1912.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter II ✦ 15

❖
One of Tyler’s three train depots. The
St. Charles Hotel can be seen on the
far right. President Howard Taft
stayed at the St. Charles during a
stopover in Tyler.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
comfort but the health and safety of the
prisoners. Eventually guarded work crews
gained access to areas outside the compound to
gather construction materials, but this posed an
additional risk of escape.
Neither the United States nor the
Confederacy had a prisoner-of-war policy at the
beginning of the war. At first both sides
paroled prisoners, who were not supposed to
return to service until formally exchanged—one
for one. This system broke down over
several disputes, resulting in the extended
detention of large numbers of soldiers from
both sides. It was the duty, and desire, of
most prisoners to escape, and quite a few
did while gathering building materials or
other ruses. Guards caught most escapees before
they traveled far from Camp Ford because help
such as food, clothing, and transportation
were unavailable.
Those in camp fared reasonably well, at least
compared to Confederate prisoners detained in the
Great Lakes regions or Union soldiers quartered at
Camp Sumter, Georgia, a camp built to
accommodate 10,000 prisoners but home to
approximately 40,000. Both sides must be
criticized for their treatment of prisoners during the
Civil War, but the ultimate judgment must be that
the Union could have done better and chose not to
do so. The Confederacy, strapped as it was for food
and supplies for its own soldiers and civilians, did
about as well as it could. Guards and prisoners at
Camp Ford existed on the same quality and
quantity of rations, supplemented by food brought
to Camp Ford by the farmers of Tyler.
One of the memorable developments at
Camp Ford was the “publication” of a
newspaper, The Old Flag, by Captain William H.
May. Only three issues were “printed,” literally
by hand, and essentially rented because May
16 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

eserved the right of retrieval and reuse on all
three issues. He took them with him when he
left, sewn into his coat. Prisoners also played
baseball for diversion, leading to a claim that
they introduced that game in Texas. Some
prisoners idled away the hours gambling or with
some other dalliance, and others showed an
entrepreneurial spirit by offering personal
services as barbers or tailors.
When the news of the surrender of the
Confederate armies in Virginia and North
Carolina reached eastern Texas late in April
1865, guards at Camp Ford began to drift away
in anticipation of the collapse of the entire
Confederacy. Federal prisoners left the camp in
May and made their way to Shreveport.
In the first burst of patriotism and optimism
that characterized the founding of the
Confederacy, Tyler’s people expected their
armies to prevail. The Confederate Journal and
another newspaper, The Hornet, were launched.
Confederate bonds and currency found ready
recipients then. But when the war continued
with no end in sight, supplies for kitchens and
closets thinned and then disappeared, and
refugees from combat zones along the
Mississippi River such as Kate Stone began to
arrive in Smith County, first pessimism and then
resignation took hold. In June, the first of the
Union occupiers arrived in Tyler to begin the
process of reconstruction.
FINDING A WAY BACK
INTO THE UNION
Leaders of Tyler and Smith County, especially
George Chilton and Oran M. Roberts, also led
Texas out of the Union in 1861. In 1865,
acceptance of military loss, as difficult as it may
have been, was exceeded by the need to adjust
to the ending of slavery as an economic labor
system, and, more importantly, a system that
related the races, one to another, with whites
dominant in all interactions.
“Reconstruction” had several definitions.
Political Reconstruction involved Texas and
other former Confederate states rejoining the
Union; Economic Reconstruction meant
recovering from the loss of capital investment in
slaves and adjusting to a new wage system; and
Social Reconstruction, according to the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the
United States Constitution, required the
creation of a race consciousnessless society—
one in which any recognition of racial
separateness did not exist. The first was
❖
Circus Day in Tyler, c. the 1890s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter II ✦ 17

❖
Above: One of thirteen saloons located
around the town square late in the
nineteenth century. This one was
located on Erwin Street.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: A drawing of the Fruit Palace,
dedicated to the exhibition and sale of
local produce from the Tyler area,
located at the corner of West Front
and Vine Streets.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
accomplished, after several crooks and turns, by
August 1870; the second lingered until 1929,
when the rest of the Union joined the South in
economic depression, or perhaps until recovery
in the post-WWII era; the third continues still.
To get Texas back into the Union, delegates
gathered in Austin to write a new constitution
according to the plan of President Andrew
Johnson. Unfortunately, their Black Code for
accommodating former slaves, now called
freedmen, did not meet the expectations of
Radical Republicans in control of Congress.
Worse, they elected Tyler’s Oran M. Roberts,
who had presided at the secession convention in
1861, to the U.S. Senate, and Tyler’s other
firebrand for secession, George Chilton,
congressman from the First District. Congress
rejected Roberts, Chilton, and other intended
representatives, and their constitution as
well. Texas tried writing a constitution again
in 1868-1869, with George H. Slaughter of
Tyler as a delegate, but only after Congress
had enfranchised black males, disenfranchised
former Confederates, and required the adoption
of a proposed Fourteenth Amendment as a
condition of readmission. Then, under the
Reconstruction Acts of 1867, Texas became
part of Military District No. 5 and Tyler was
assigned to the thirtieth sub-district of Texas.
Federal troops in the Twenty-sixth Infantry
occupied Tyler and acted as peacekeepers and
voter registrars. They remained in the city until
Reconstruction ended.
Race relations in Tyler and Smith County
during Reconstruction remained tense and
sometimes turned violent. In August 1868,
Gregory Barrett reported race relations in the
county “bad as can be.” Freedmen’s Bureau
agents arrived to aid freedmen and women
adjust to their new status, negotiate work
contracts, and introduce schools for both adult
and childhood education. White employers
resented their interference, but on the whole the
agents accomplished a great deal.
Life in Tyler went on, despite this sea change
in the way it could be lived. Silas D. Wood
moved from Marshall to Tyler and opened
yet another newspaper, the Tyler Index, and
Bishop Alexander Gregg held the first Episcopal
services in the city in the Methodist Church;
Christ Episcopal Church was organized formally
in 1867. A cotton thread mill began operating in
a facility located on North Broadway Avenue.
Before the decade ended Charnwood Institute, a
boarding school founded by headmaster
John T. Hand in 1865 on property leased
from Eastern Tyler Female College, became
co-educational. Its terms were arranged so the
scholars could be involved in planting and
harvesting. Faculty included Hand, Mary
Spear, and Mollie E. Moore, an accomplished
and published poet. Hand ran Charnwood
until 1874, when it closed, then reopened
as a school for girls, then closed it again in
1882. Other prominent schools in Smith
County included Summer Hill Select School in
Omen and Rosedale Academy in Mt. Sylvan.
18 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Smith County had grown to 16,532 souls by
1870. William Herndon, who possessed
property valued at over $175,000, which made
him “the richest man in town,” won election to
the U.S. House of Representatives. That year
T. R. Bonner and E. C. Williams opened Tyler’s
first bonafide bank. And of great significance,
Tyler began its quest for railroad service. Texas
hosted only four hundred miles of railroad track
in 1860, and most of that radiated spider-web
fashion around Houston and Galveston. By
1904 more than ten thousand miles of track
crisscrossed the state. Within those four
decades, communities, including Tyler,
scrambled to obtain rail service lest they fall
behind other communities in development.
Promoters talked up several lines to serve
Tyler early in the 1870s, but none developed.
Hope sank when the Texas & Pacific Railroad
bypassed Tyler to the north, and the International
and Great Northern Railroad crossed Smith
County at Troup. To prevent the migration of
business and marketing opportunities to these
transportation outlets, Tyler citizens led by James
P. Douglas asked the legislature to charter a line
from Tyler to “tap” one or the other of these main
lines. The legislative charter, granted on
December 1, 1871, allowed the Tyler Tap
Railroad to construct a rail line of “no more than
forty miles” on a 200-foot wide, state-subsidized
right-of-way to connect with the Texas & Pacific.
A subsequent legislative session reduced the state
subsidy to twelve sections of land per mile
because company leaders decided before
construction finally began in 1875 to build a
narrow-gauge rather than a standard-gauge line
to save construction costs. The line reached the
Texas & Pacific at Big Sandy after laying twentyone
and a half miles of track, and on October 1,
1877, the General Hubbard, the line’s only
locomotive, steamed into Tyler’s depot for the
first time.
The railroad provided passengers and freight
shippers access to a main line but expenses
exceeded revenue for the Tyler Tap itself, so
Douglas convinced James W. Paramore,
president of the St. Louis Cotton Compress
Company, to take over the line. It was renamed
the Texas and St. Louis Railway Company in
1879. The new investors constructed 107
additional miles of track northward to
Texarkana and thirty-seven miles southwest of
Tyler to Athens in 1880, and eventually as far as
Waco. The Texas and St. Louis fed freight,
especially cotton, to the Iron Mountain Railroad
at Texarkana, then on to St. Louis and the textile
factories of the north. The Texas and St. Louis,
Iron Mountain, and various other lines were
combined into the St. Louis Southwestern
Railway Company of Texas in June 1891,
creating a railroad better known as the Cotton
Belt line. The Cotton Belt became a part of the
Southern Pacific System in 1932 but continued
as an independent subsidiary.
Company headquarters and shops of the line
remained in Tyler because the original enabling
legislation required they be maintained there
perpetually. Tyler had to go to court on several
occasions to continue as the headquarters of the
company, but the effort was justified because the
line employed over 1,000 workers for a time
and still employed nearly 400 persons as late as
the 1970s.
POLITICAL
LEADERS
Two political figures associated with Tyler
became governor of Texas during the 1870s.
Richard Bennett Hubbard, sometimes called the
“Demosthenes of Texas” in recognition of his
oratory skills, arrived in Tyler from his native
Georgia in 1853. He served in the state legislature
❖
Employees at the Buckeye
Buggy Company.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter II ✦ 19

secession convention in Austin in 1861, and
entered Confederate military service the next
year. Following the war Roberts was elected to
represent Texas in the U.S. Senate by the
government operating under President Andrew
Johnson’s plan of Reconstruction, but was
denied admission by that body because of his
association with secession and civil war, though
later he was elected once more to the state
Supreme Court. The Democratic Party
nominated Roberts for governor in 1878 and he
won reelection in 1880. Roberts later taught in
the state law school, where he was affectionately
and respectfully known as the “Old Alcalde.”
❖
Above: Tyler’s first City Hall and Fire
Station. The building, located at the
corner of Locust and Bois d’Arc
streets, was said to be the tallest twostory
building in the world.
Below: Temple Beth-El, Reformed
Congregation.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
later in the decade, and led the Twenty-Second
Texas Infantry during the Civil War. Hubbard
was among the Redeemers who reclaimed control
of Texas from Radical Republicans in 1874, when
he became lieutenant governor of Texas.
Hubbard became governor when Richard Coke
resigned in December 1876 to become a United
States senator. Hubbard hoped for election to the
governorship himself in 1878, but when the
Democratic Party convention deadlocked, the
nomination went instead to another resident of
Tyler, O. M. Roberts. Hubbard later served as U.S.
minister to Japan.
Oran Milo Roberts was born in South
Carolina and moved to San Augustine, Texas, in
1841 to practice law. Roberts served on the
Supreme Court of Texas, presided at the
ECONOMIC & CULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT
The City of Tyler developed into a small
city during the last third of the nineteenth
century. Gas lighting appeared on its public
square in 1873, and John Wooten established an
iron factory the next year. Newspapers
continued to proliferate. The Tyler Blade began
in 1875 and the next year the Tyler Reporter and
the Grange Reporter were merged and the
survivor renamed the Tyler Democrat; in 1877,
the Courier began publication. In 1878,
Winston and Sedwick began manufacturing
plows and other implements, fences, railings,
and doorsills.
The census of 1880 indicated that 21,863
persons lived in Smith County, though the
county remained rural with only 2,423 listed as
residing in Tyler. The city’s first Roman Catholic
community established Immaculate Conception
Church, the first of their denomination in
the city, in 1880, and in 1887, services
commenced for Jewish residents of the area
with the establishment of Temple Beth-El.
Students of the First Church of Christ,
Scientists, began meeting in Tyler near the end
of the century.
In 1882, Tyler’s citizens founded an official
fire department and for the first time voters
approved taxation for the support of public
education. Tyler High School held is first
commencement exercises in Albertson’s Opera
House in 1888. City Hall and the new Central
Fire Station occupied a building located at the
corner of West Locust and North College Streets
20 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

that was said to be the tallest two-story building
in the world.
The Chautauqua Circle became the city’s first
literary club, followed within the year by the Quid
Nunc Club. In 1888, Tyler resident Mrs. Anna
Hardwicke Pennybacker, teacher and wife of
school Superintendent Percy Pennybacker,
published a A New History of Texas, which became
the standard public school text for the next half
century. Tyler’s first musical interest group, known
first as the Mendelssohn Club, then as the
Sherwood Club, and finally as the Mendelssohn-
Sherwood Club, was established in 1887. The
next year a Grand New Opera House, constructed
on Spring Street at a cost of $30,000, opened.
Tyler Electric Light and Power Company,
chartered by J. D. Moody, F. L. Dilley, and John
Durst, began supplying energy to Tyler’s citizens
and their various enterprises. By 1890 the city’s
population had grown to 6,098 persons and
Smith County claimed 28,324 citizens.
Customers supported nineteen grocery stores and
fifteen saloons, among other retail businesses. In
1891 the state legislature discontinued meetings
of the Texas Supreme Court except in Austin, so
Tyler lost its annual term of the court after fifty
years, but continued as the seat of county
government and home to federal and state district
courts. The founding of the Tyler National Bank,
later known as People’s National Bank, and an
Elks Lodge, provided evidence of the community’s
continued growth, as did the first exhibition of
“silent” motion pictures in 1898.
Industrial development in the 1890s
included the founding of the Tyler Bottling
❖
Percy Pennybacker, superintendent
of schools in Tyler, and Mrs. Anna
Pennybacker (standing, far left)
and students.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
THE TOAST OF TYLER -
ANNA MCLAUGHLIN (J.) HARDWICKE PENNYBACKER
Anna Hardwicke Pennybacker was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on May 7, 1861, and lived for
a time in Chautauqua, New York, but she is more associated with Texas than either state. She
taught high school in Tyler after graduating from Sam Houston State Normal School, and married
the district’s superintendent, Percy Pennybacker, in 1884.
Mrs. Pennybacker wanted a textbook to use in classes on Texas history, so she published A New
History of Texas in 1886. It remained in use in Texas public schools for the next half century and
was the dominant textbook on the state’s history for most of that time. Mrs. Pennybacker’s interpretation
of such things as Anglo-American dominance, the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto,
and the singular significance of Texas among the United States linger more than a century after the
publication of her textbook.
Mrs. Pennybacker became a widow in 1889. She devoted the remainder of her life to women’s
club work and Democratic Party politics. She founded the Women’s Club in Tyler in 1894 and later
served as president of the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs (1901-1903) and of the national
organization, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (1912-1916), as well as holding other
offices and committee chairmanships at state and national levels. She was also active in the League
of Women Voters and the Chautauqua movement, and become a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and
an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Mrs. Pennybacker died in Austin on February 4, 1938.
Chapter II ✦ 21

❖
Above: Soldiers from Tyler during
the Spanish American War. City
Hall and the Fire Station can be seen
in the background.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The courthouse square in Tyler,
looking northwest. In the foreground
are members of a “good will” tour of
Tyler from Canton, Texas.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Works at the corner of Fannin and Elm Streets
by P. W. Rowland, then three years later R. A.
Riviere bottled and sold mineral water captured
from natural springs located near his home on
Bois d’Arc Avenue. Educational advances
included the founding of Texas College by the
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and, for
the first time, a primary school for African
Americans eventually named for poet Paul
Laurence Dunbar.
Smith County agriculture, still diversified
between cotton, truck, and grain crops, reflected
the increasing emphasis on fruit growing. The
Texas Fruit Palace Corporation built the East
Texas Fruit Palace to exhibit and market local
products at the corner of Vine and Front streets
in 1895; two years later the Fruit and Vegetable
Growers Association was founded in Lindale.
In 1898 the United States fought what
Secretary of War John Hay termed “a splendid
little war” against Spain. Hampson Gary
organized the Smith County Rifles, which
became part of the Fourth Texas Volunteer
Infantry, for service. The four-month war ended
before Gary and his men saw combat.
The last year of the nineteenth century
witnessed two events that predicted much about
the rise of Smith County and Tyler in the
twentieth century as a petroleum, financial, and
commercial center. In 1900, J. H. Herndon
completed the first successful oil well in Smith
County on property belonging to Colonel W. S.
Herndon; Citizen’s National Bank opened with
more than $13,000 in deposits; and the Tyler
Commercial Club, forerunner of the Tyler
Chamber of Commerce, began with George
Phillips as president.
In 1900 a few of the citizens of Smith County
and Tyler could remember the days of slavery,
uncertainty of secession and the unsettlement of
Civil War, of Reconstruction and freedmen and
women, the coming of the railroad and banks,
and new churches and civic organizations. Most
could not. The county had grown from only
4,292 people in 1850 to 37,370 and Tyler
from a few hundred to 8,069 only fifty years
later. Both continued to grow—in agricultural
crops, industries, personal services, and, of
course, in people—as they turned the calendar
into a century in which each faced change
beyond the imagination of anyone alive on
January 1, 1901.
22 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CHAPTER III
T HE T WENTIETH C ENTURY
In January 1901, Captain Anthony Lucas brought in the discovery well of a new oil field located
south of Beaumont, Texas, marking the entrance of Texas and the world into a new era of sufficient
petroleum energy to fuel millions of autos and industries still unmade and undiscovered for more
than a century. In March, William McKinley of Ohio was inaugurated for a second term as president
of the United States he did not complete because he was assassinated in September and Vice
President Theodore Roosevelt became president. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company
dominated its industry, and in steel production, coke became the leading fuel for blast furnaces. Wall
Street was down a bit from the previous year, but the nation had recovered from the Panic of 1893
and most Americans and Texans had a job. America remained essentially rural despite the growth of
New York, Chicago, and other major urban developments. Booth Tarkington was America’s leading
literary figure, the Little Theatre movement was begun in Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright was
developing his “prairie house” architecture, and “ragtime” dominated American popular music. All
these seemingly unconnected events and trends eventually affected East Texas, Smith County, and
Tyler, Texas.
❖
The cotton gin in Lindale, c. 1937.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
Chapter III ✦ 23

❖
Above: The courthouse square in
Tyler, c.1915.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: A parade on Ferguson Street,
c.1910. Note Swann Furniture &
Carpet Company in the upper left of
the photograph.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
SMITH COUNTY IN THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY
In that same year, 1901, the county’s citizens
began the century by voting to ban the sale and
consumption of alcohol beverages, favorite
son and former governor Richard B. Hubbard
died and was buried in Tyler, and Mrs.
Anna Hardwicke Pennybacker, a founder of
the Women’s Club movement, began her
march to national prominence with her
election as president of the Texas Federation of
Women’s Clubs. Mrs. Pennybacker became
president of the group’s national organization,
the General Federation of Women’s Clubs,
in 1912.
Smith County’s economy continued to
experience the “good times” it had sustained for
most of the century, sometimes in contrast with
the rest of the state and nation. Agriculture still
dominated, especially the production of cotton
and fruit, and much of Tyler’s industry existed to
serve agricultural interests, especially its
canning factory, box and crate factory, fertilizer
factory, and gristmills. The city directory listed
250 corporations doing business in Tyler,
including a brick manufacturer, ice plant, and
grocery wholesalers. Within the decade Swift
and Armour meat packing companies had
established operations in Tyler, and soon a
broom manufacturer, Woldert Canning, and the
Nobis Cigar Company joined the city’s
industrial family.
Cultural developments included the
founding of the East Texas Conservatory of
Music in Tyler by Miss Estelle Burns and a gift of
$15,000 from Andrew Carnegie to aid the city
in constructing, stocking, and operating a
Carnegie Public Library, which opened at 125
South College Street in 1904. Texas Baptist
College, also named Butler College in honor of
the Reverend C. M. Butler and another
institution for African American students, was
established on Bellwood Road by the East Texas
Baptist Association, and the name of Texas
College was changed to Phillips University and
was changed back to Texas College in 1918.
In 1903, Congregation Ahavath Achim, an
orthodox Jewish congregation, was chartered
with A. Golenternek as president. The
24 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

congregation had completed its synagogue at
the corner of Bois d’Arc and West Woldert
Streets by 1910.
In 1906 the “divine” Sarah Bernhardt
performed at Tyler’s Opera House in her
“farewell tour” of America, just a year before the
opera house burned to the ground. Veterans of
the Civil War held a reunion in the city, showing
Tyler’s regard for its history, but evidence of
concern for the future could be seen in the
organization of the Tyler’s first professional fire
department employed by the city and led by
John H. Bonner. County Commissioners also
planned for the future by approving C. H. Page’s
architectural plans for a new courthouse and
tearing down the courthouse constructed in
1851 so construction on a new seat of county
government could commence. Unfortunately,
scaffolding for that new courthouse also
provided a venue for a lynch mob to work its
woe before the decade ended.
In 1912, stockholders sold Tyler Electric
Company to the Texas Utilities Corporation,
bringing the resources of another regional
corporation to the community.
Smith County began the second decade of
the century as home to 41,746 persons, over
10,400 of them resided in Tyler. Some became
members of the William Tell Lodge of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, organized
in 1914, or of J. F. “Doc” Witt’s Tyler Municipal
Band, organized in 1916.
Tyler changed its form of city government
from the “strong mayor” variety to a city manager
style only two years after Amarillo pioneered the
movement, and Clay Hight became the city’s first
manager. The change gave evidence that the
citizens of the city truly believed in their official
slogan that Tyler was the “The Hub of East
Texas.” Industrial development within the
previous decade included the addition of four
candy manufacturers, a cotton compress, three
more bottling works, five ice cream companies,
mattress factories, a wagon maker, and over forty
businesses associated with sales or service in the
new automobile industry—by 1917, County
Clerk I. N. Cross reported the registration of
2,025 motor vehicles in Smith County.
Auto drivers demanded better roads and city
streets than just the good earth of East Texas,
which seemed always dusty or muddy. Smith
County’s Commissioners Court was responsible
for roads outside the city until a county road
district was created in 1914. Voters approved
several bond issues for road construction and
repair and these efforts paid off when
representatives from Tyler convinced the Dixie
Highway Association to alter their planned route
from Gladewater to Wills Point in favor of a path
through Tyler. The cancellation of a performance
by a circus because its wagons could not get
through Front and South Broadway Streets to its
destination, even with the assistance of its own
elephants, gave evidence that Tyler’s city streets
also required attention.
In 1917, the United States joined the Allied
forces of England, France, and Italy, among
others, in opposing the Kaiser’s attempt to
establish German authority throughout Europe.
Congress declared war in April, and soon
afterward a volunteer company from Smith
County, Company G, Sixth Infantry, Texas
National Guard, mustered under the command
of Karl K. White. Company G entered federal
service in Fort Worth at Camp Bowie. Another
unit composed of men from the area was
Company C, 133rd Machine Gun Battalion,
Thirty-sixth Division. Hampson Gary, a native
of Tyler, served as President Woodrow Wilson’s
diplomatic agent to Egypt during the war and
later accompanied the president as a member of
the American Commission that negotiated the
Treaty of Versailles to end World War I. Many of
❖
Junior Red Cross members in a
parade honoring soldiers returning
from World War I.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter III ✦ 25

❖
United States Ambassador
Hampson Gary (third from left).
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
these veterans became members of the Favre
Baldwin Post, Number 12, American Legion,
chartered in 1919 and named for a native of
Tyler who was killed in France during the war.
While the war was being waged in 1918, the
Tyler Commercial Club, chartered in 1900,
changed its name to the Tyler Chamber of
Commerce at the urging of S. Bruck, who led a
mission to develop a “bigger, better and busier
Tyler” as president of the Chamber. Within a
year the Chamber boasted a record 662
members, and attorney Cone Johnson, who also
served as chairman of the Texas Highway
Commission, later observed, “This is the biggest
thing Tyler has ever done. For a quarter century
I have been connected with public movements
of all kinds, but none of them has compared
with [the Chamber’s] effectiveness.”
Growth continued during the 1920s for Smith
County’s 46,769 residents and over 12,000
citizens of Tyler. Tyler Commercial College, a
business education facility, attracted over four
thousand students by the mid 1920s under the
leadership of W. M. Roberts. Roberts served as
president of the college until 1946. In 1921,
“Doc” Witt organized the first band at Tyler High
School; the organization of Local Union 1151,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
showed the increase in the number of wage
laborers in Tyler; and in the same year Smith
County completed its first concrete road, a threemile
stretch of the route from Tyler to Dallas.
The arrival of organized labor in Tyler also
brought greater workplace stress. In 1922 a
THE TOAST OF TYLER - HAMPSON BOREN GARY
Hampson Gary was born in Tyler on April 23, 1873 to Franklin and Martha Isabella Boren Gary.
Following the death of Gary’s parents in 1886, he became a ward of Dr. F.M. Hicks until he reached
his majority. Gary attended schools in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Bingham School in North
Carolina, before he was graduated from the University of Virginia with honors in 1894.
Gary returned to Tyler and practiced law until the Spanish-American War. He was commissioned
a first lieutenant in the Fifth Infantry on June 24, 1898, and raised a volunteer unit known
as the Smith County Rifles for service in the war. He also commanded Company K, Fourth Texas
Volunteer Infantry, and after the war continued to serve in the Texas National Guard.
Gary won election to the Texas House of Representatives (1900-1901), and appointment as a
regent of the University of Texas (1909-1910). He became a special counsel to the U.S. Department
of State to advise on legal matters prompted by the war in Europe in 1914, and the next year
became solicitor general for the Department. President Woodrow Wilson appointed Gary his representative
in Egypt in 1917 due to the influence of Edward M. House, and in 1919 Gary accompanied
Wilson to the peace negotiations in France that yielded the Treaty of Versailles.
Wilson appointed Gary America’s minister to Switzerland and observer of the League of Nations
when the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join the League. Gary practiced law in
New York and Washington from 1921 to 1934, when he became a member of the Federal
Communications Commission. He served as general counsel for the Export-Import Bank from
1938 to 1946.
Gary died in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 18, 1952, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
26 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

strike began in the Cotton Belt shops that lasted
for months and eventually produced violence
when the company attempted to hire new
workers to replace those on strike. Governor Pat
Neff sent Texas Rangers to reestablish order, and
unfortunately one striker was killed by a Ranger.
Another resident of Smith County, Earle B.
Mayfield, continued the county’s tradition of
statewide political leadership. Mayfield won
election to the United States Senate in 1922.
Mayfield won with the support of the Ku Klux
Klan, a second version of the white supremacist
group formed in the South after the Civil War.
The second incarnation of the Klan differed
from the first in that it focused less on African
Americans—segregation and Supreme Court
acceptance of the doctrine of separate-but-equal
already controlled blacks effectively—and more
on foreigners and Roman Catholics. Mayfield
did not admit to membership in the Klan but he
welcomed its support.
Tyler, home of what once was known as the
“tallest two-story” building in the world,
became the first city in East Texas with a
genuine “skyline” with the completion of the
eight-story Citizens National Bank Building at
the corner of Broadway and Ferguson Streets. In
1932 construction began on an even taller
fifteen-story building for People’s National
❖
Left: Hampson Gary’s boyhood home
on North Bois d’Arc Avenue.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Right: Cone Johnson, left, attorney
and member of the Texas Highway
Commission; T. O. Woldert, right,
an attorney.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
THE TOAST OF TYLER - CONE JOHNSON
Cone Johnson, the son of Samuel Caraway and Emily Swilling Johnson, was born on June 11,
1860, in Dawsonville, Georgia. Johnson attended Emory University but received a degree from
Peabody Normal College in Nashville, Tennessee, then accepted a teaching post at East Texas
University in Tyler in 1880.
Johnson studied law with attorney William S. Herndon and won acceptance before the bar in
1883. Despite absences on various assignments in Austin and Washington, Johnson continued to
maintain a law office in Tyler for decades.
Johnson was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1886 and then to the Senate two
years later. He was a strong proponent of amendments to the state constitution in 1887 and 1911
that would have established statewide prohibition of alcohol beverages. He had better luck sponsoring
legislation to create the Railroad Commission. Johnson ran for governor in 1910 but was
defeated in the party primary by Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt.
In 1912, Johnson attended the National Democratic Convention and chaired the delegation
known as the “Immortal Forty” by staying committed to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson
through as many ballots until Wilson became the party’s nominee for president. As president,
Wilson appointed Johnson a solicitor for the Department of State and an advisor to Secretary
William Jennings Bryan.
Johnson returned to his legal practice in Texas in 1917 but remained active in Democratic Party
politics. Governor Dan Moody appointed Johnson to the Texas State Highway Commission in
1927 and he served until his death on March 17, 1933, in Tyler.
Chapter III ✦ 27

❖
Above: Tyler rose bushes for sale.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The Tyler Rose Garden on
West Front Street.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bank. Tyler remained the only city between
Shreveport and Dallas or Texarkana and
Houston with genuine high-rise buildings for
most of the rest of the century.
GROWTH OF
THE ROSE INDUSTRY
Agriculture remained important, with less
emphasis on peach production after a blossom
blight destroyed the fruit of millions of trees,
and an increase in rose production, while cotton
continued to be a major crop as well. In 1925,
G. Mont Adams was dubbed “Cotton King of the
World” for producing sixteen bales of cotton on
only five acres. But the county’s future lay more
in rose buds than in cotton bolls.
The sandy soils of Smith County, and its
annual average precipitation of approximately
forty-four inches, plus its normally mild
temperatures, provided ideal growing
conditions for roses—not just as an ornamental
flower but also as a commercial crop. Rose
production was introduced in the area by the
Shamburger family who arrived in the 1840s. By
the 1870s the family listed rose bushes in a
catalog of nursery stock. B. S. Shamburger
began massive plantings of as many as twenty
28 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

thousand plants per acre of understock cuttings
in 1904, and became the first to ship railroad
carloads of rose bushes from the area.
G. A. McKee, Jr., and S. R. McKee developed
the rose industry south of Tyler, and one of their
relatives, A. F. Watkins, introduced irrigation to
the rose culture industry in 1924. Other pioneer
producers included Sam P. Ford, A. C. White,
Taylor Pirtle, and A. L. Thompson. These and
other growers, especially Louis Shamburger and
P. E. Mackey, developed first the “Texas Wax”
and later the Rosa multiflora japonica
understock to which countless varieties could
be budded.
Of equal significance to the development of
the industry was the participation of researchers
associated with the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station at Overton, especially of Dr.
Eldon W. Lyle, in the pathology of rose plants.
Lyle and other scientists developed a fungicide,
sulfur-copper, that treated plants for black spot
disease. By 1933, Smith County growers were
marketing up to six million bushes per year;
within two decades production increased to
twenty-one million bushes annually before
declining slightly. At the end of the twentieth
century, Smith County continued to produce
approximately one third of the roses bushes
marketed annually in the United States.
To celebrate the contribution of rose bush
production to Smith County’s economy and
culture, in 1933 the Tyler Garden Club and the
Chamber of Commence sponsored the first East
Texas Rose Festival in Tyler; they changed the
name of the event to the Texas Rose Festival in
1936. That first year the festival operated on a
budget of $1,500; before the century ended its
official annual budget exceeded a quarter of a
million dollars, with much more expense for
❖
Above: The Blackstone Hotel,
constructed in the 1920s at Broadway
and Locust Streets. The building was
later demolished.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The Connally House, home of
Tyler businessman Walter Connally,
was built in 1906-1908.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter III ✦ 29

❖
Above: Tyler Ice Company in the
early 1900s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: Tyler Cotton Oil Company in
the early 1900s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ball gowns and parties underwritten privately.
More than 1,000 people attended the inaugural
festival; a quarter century later more than
100,000 persons did so. Margaret Copeland of
Palestine reigned over the first festival as Rose
Queen in 1933; since then the annual crowning
of each new queen has been one of the premier
social occasions in Tyler.
THE OIL BOOM &
OTHER INDUSTRY
Roses were a significant part of the economic
story of Tyler and Smith County in the 1930s,
but oil and other industries also played
significant roles. Oil exploration in the county
had yielded the Boggy Creek Field, located
approximately thirty miles from Tyler, as early as
1927, and in 1929 the Pure Oil Company
successfully completed a discovery well in the
Van field, located about the same distance from
Tyler. But it was a discovery well in nearby Rusk
County that produced the great East Texas field
and made Tyler the oil capital of East Texas.
The discovery of the largest single oil field in
Texas by Columbus M. “Dad” Joiner, occurred in
October 1930 at a well site known as the Daisy
Bradford No. 3. Geologists for major oil
companies had known of the existence of oil in
the area but judged its volume insufficient to
justify the expense of producing it. Joiner’s
discovery disproved their theory and also
enabled independent oil producers to lease the
majority of the field before the major companies
could respond. When drillers proved out the
field, the majority lay in Gregg and Rusk
Counties, but Tyler became the headquarters of
many of the drilling and production companies
that operated in the field for the remainder of
the century.
Manufacturing also increased in Tyler during
the 1930s. A review conducted in 1935 listed
Sledge Manufacturing, makers of men’s work
clothes and women’s house dresses; Reliance
Clay Products, brick makers; East Texas Crate
and Basket Company; Tyler Fertilizer Company;
Smith County Cotton Oil and Fertilizer; Tyler
Milk Products, including powdered milk, butter,
cottage cheese, ice cream, and buttermilk;
Woldert Industries, shellers and marketers of
pecans and peanuts; Irving Machine Company;
Tyler Coffee Company; Styler Syrup Company;
Made-Rite Mattress Company; Sam R. Hill
Lumber Company, makers of doors, windows,
sashes, and cabinets; Southern Ice & Utilities,
Home Ice, and Independent Ice companies;
Southern Creameries, producers of ice cream
and butter; Vaughn Pie Company; Tyler Pottery
Company; Tyler Auto Paint and Top Company,
which made awnings for homes and autos; Tyler
Art Stone Company; Smith Machine and Tank
Company; and Hawn Lumber Company, a
woodworking plant.
With the rose, oil, and manufacturing
industries all booming, Tyler and much of Smith
County escaped the worst aspects of the Great
Depression. R. L. Tayloe, manager of the Sears,
Roebuck Store in Tyler, reported that his was the
30 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

only store in the national chain that made a
profit in 1935.
SOCIAL & CULTURAL
DEVELOPMENTS
Always a center for formal education, Tyler
took a major step forward with founding of
Tyler Junior College in 1926. The college began
as part of the city’s public school system until
voters authorized the creation of a separate Tyler
Junior College District in 1945 and enabled it to
levy taxes and sell bonds for the creation of an
independent campus and operations. Tyler
Junior College held commencement exercises in
1927 for its first nine graduates. In 1929 Francis
Strange provided TJC with its school song, “The
Apache Chant.” Significantly, work began west
of town on the Tyler Municipal Airport, and the
same month the Morning Telegraph began
chronicling daily events in Tyler and bringing
the news of the world to its citizens. The airport
opened for service in May 1931 and the
newspaper continued to provide daily service
through the end of the century and beyond.
Tyler’s continuing prosperity could be traced
through additional “beginnings” and
“additions.” In 1932, St. John’s Masonic Lodge
No. 53 constructed a new lodge hall on West
Front Street. In March of that year, a Tyler Junior
Chamber of Commerce introduced the Jaycees
movement to the city. Strangely enough,
although Tyler had hosted courts for the State
of Texas and United States since the 1850s,
a Smith County Bar Association was not
founded until 1933. E. P. Price served as the
first president of the Bar. And the Smith
County Medical Society, formed in 1903,
created an Auxiliary branch to promote
fellowship among the families and medical
service providers in 1934.
Hospitals were founded by Dr. C. D. Cupp at
308 South Broadway, and by Drs. Howard
❖
Top, left: The First Presbyterian
Church on West Rusk Street.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Top, right: Immaculate Conception
Catholic Church on South Broadway.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The First Church of Christ,
Scientist on East Fourth Street.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter III ✦ 31

thirteen players, and in 1935 they defeated
Alabama State College to claim the national
championship for black colleges. In 1935, the
Rose Bowl Classic became part of the annual
Rose Festival. The first game played featured the
teams of Temple University and Texas A&M
University.
SMITH COUNTY TO
WORLD WAR II & BEYOND
❖
Above: Students of the Tyler
Commercial College, “The Largest
Business Training School In America.”
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The D. R. Glass Library on the
campus of Texas College.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bryant and H. C. Sehested, also on South
Broadway. Construction was completed in
March 1937 on a major hospital, later known as
Mother Frances Hospital, which cancelled
planned dedication ceremonies to treat victims
of the New London school explosion, which
occurred on March 18. The inauguration of air
mail service in 1934 and air passenger service in
1935 through the municipal airport, known as
Rhodes Field by the mid-1930s, provided
additional evidence of Tyler’s growth, but the
arrival of Company 896 of the Civilian
Conservation Corps at a camp near Lindale
indicated that the state and nation was
experiencing a major economic depression.
The athletic departments of some of Tyler’s
colleges made headlines. Texas College Steers
won the Southwest Conference for black
athletes in football in 1934 with a team of only
By 1940, the last year before World War II
began, Smith County’s population exceeded
69,000 and Tyler had slightly more than 28,000
citizens. Many of them attended the premier of
a new downtown movie theatre, appropriately
named the Tyler Theater, when it opened in
August with actor Brian Donlevy in attendance
as special guest. But war clouds were
present, especially when the new Selective
Service, created by Congress through the
Burke-Wadsworth Act passed just that year,
“drafted” the first nine men from Tyler into
military service.
Some civilian activities, such as the founding
of the Manuscript Club, a poetry society, in
1941, attempted to sustain normality even in
the troubled times, but the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and formal
declarations of war against Japan and other Axis
powers Germany and Italy, produced a new
Tyler “for the duration.” Obvious changes
included the disappearance of so many young
men and some young women who volunteered
or were drafted into military service. A song of
the war observed that men remaining on the
home front “were either too old or too young.”
Young and old received ration books filled with
coupons necessary to purchase such things as
gasoline, shoes, sugar, and other items. Banners
with stars representing family members absent
in the service appeared in windows, and
dreaded were the gold stars or black-bordered
telegrams that indicated a serviceman would not
be returning. One former resident of Tyler,
Major Mastin G. White, served on the staff of
General Dwight D. Eisenhower during Ike’s
command of all allied forces in Europe.
Wartime developments in Tyler included the
location of a Signal Crops Radio Operator
Training School in town, and leasing of Rhodes,
32 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

later Pounds Field, to the Army Air Corps for use
as an Army air base. The most significant
addition, however, was the development of Camp
Fannin, the Army’s principal replacement training
facility, located at Amigo, just to the northeast of
Tyler. The announcement that the base would be
constructed and at full strength would host
twenty-seven thousand men came late in 1942
and construction began in January 1943. Tyler’s
leaders prepared by inviting colleagues in Paris,
Texas, to share their experiences in hosting
another military base earlier, learning about such
things as dealing with a housing shortage when
the community doubled in population overnight.
“There’s a war on, you know,” so construction
proceeded rapidly and an estimated fifty
thousand visitors toured Camp Fannin when it
opened on May 16, though the formal
dedication was delayed until September.
General F. B. Mallon commanded Camp Fannin,
which prepared service personnel for
assignments to both Pacific and European
theatres until the end of the war, when it was
converted from a training center to a separation
center to discharge returning servicemen.
The arrival of so many additional people
provided Tyler with stresses and opportunities.
Housing was the most acute shortage, but there
were problems in providing the community
with sufficient food, especially in restaurants on
Saturday night. One local vendor contracted to
provide Camp Fannin with twenty-five hundred
pies daily and another to supply an equal
number of sandwiches. The camp also hired
2,500 civilian employees with a payroll that
exceeded $2 million each month. Camp Fannin
also hosted a prisoner-of-war detention center
for captured German soldiers. Some even grew a
rose garden while incarcerated. A concession to
the times included, among other things,
suspension of the Rose Festival until war’s end.
Some might have wondered what would
happen to Tyler when the artificial economic
stimulus of war ended, but others prepared.
Chamber of Commerce leaders urged, then
organized, an industrial foundation, capitalized
at $100,000, to retain existing industries and
attract new industries. Realizing that advanced
education would be crucial in the postwar
world, voters approved the separation of Tyler
Junior College from the public school system
and a bond issue to finance construction of a
campus for the college, which also received
❖
Top, left: The Barracks at Camp
Fannin, a replacement training center,
prisoner-of-war camp, and later a
separation center during World
War II.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Above: Actress Martha Hyer
appears below the Tyler Theater
marquee advertising a film in
which she starred.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: Signal Corps trainees studying
in facilities of Tyler Commercial
College during World War II.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter III ✦ 33

❖
Above: Queen Carolyn Riviere, in the
Rose Parade in 1947.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: Tyler Post Office, located at
the corner of West Ferguson and Bois
d’Arc Streets.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
buildings for $1 each declared surplus at
Camp Fannin. The college held its first
commencement ceremonies separate from the
public school system in May 1949.
The state legislature provided a boost by
designating Tyler as the host for the East Texas
Tuberculosis Sanatorium, to be located on the site
of former Camp Fannin, and of an office of the
State Board of Control. Patient care at the
sanatorium began on June 1, 1949. Other
significant postwar developments included the
purchase of Mother Frances Hospital by the
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and the
beginning of construction of a $500,000 addition
to the hospital. J. A. Bergfeld announced that the
Bergfeld estate would construct a shopping
center between South Broadway and Roseland
Streets, the city’s first significant shopping area
outside its downtown, which opened in February
1949. Tyler Broadcasting System applied for a
television license, another first in Tyler. Other
“firsts” for the city included hosting a genuine
Hollywood premier, a film about the East Texas
oil field titled Strike It Rich, and Peoples National
Bank opened the first “motor bank,” or drive-in
window, in East Texas. The Little Theatre was
reactivated, then renamed the Tyler Civic
Theatre, and the Tyler Amateur Talent Guild, a
group of local actors, was organized.
Finally, as a sign of the brave new world of
1950, several citizens reported sightings of
flying saucers in the skies above Smith County.
Why not? The citizens of Smith County and
residents of Tyler had been reaching for the stars
for more than a century. Perhaps the stars were
reaching back.
34 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CHAPTER IV
H APPY
D AYS
Tyler and Smith County entered the 1950s, like most of East Texas and America, conscious of Cold
War stresses and with some of its sons engaged in a hot war in Korea. Television had yet to invade
every home, and so still could be considered a wonderful window on the world where it existed
instead of the “vast wasteland” some called it within a decade.
Tyler’s citizens attended showings at the Liberty or the Tyler theatres of An American In
Paris with Gene Kelly, A Street Car Named Desire with Marlon Brando and Vivian Leigh, and
African Queen with Humphrey Bogart, and joined the rest of America in applauding when
Leigh and Bogart won Oscars for their performances. They listened to Nat King Cole sing
“Unforgettable” and Hank Williams lament someone’s “Cold, Cold Heart.” No one in Tyler could have
imagined the impact on their lives coming from Remington Rand’s production of UNIVAC, the
first commercial computer, or from the development of the “electrical artificial pacemaker” in
Canada, but they could marvel at their first encounter with sugarless chewing gum and power
steering in automobiles.
❖
The last cotton gin in operation in
Smith County in Bullard, c. 1952.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
Chapter IV ✦ 35

It was the1950s, the “Happy Days,” the last
decade that seemed normal to the generation
that had survived the Great Depression and a
whole world at war. Few suspected the rocket
ride into the future just on the horizon.
CHANGE & GROWTH
IN THE 1950S
Tyler and Smith County were “on the grow”
for the remainder of the twentieth century, with
only occasional and minor dips as a
consequence of national trends. Evidence of
that growth appeared in several sectors. For
example, the medical community grew with the
founding of the W. E. and Lela I. Stewart Blood
Center, established to supply blood and related
components to hospitals in Tyler and
throughout East Texas. East Texas Medical
Center Hospital, located on South Beckham
Avenue, opened, and the Texas Eastern School
of Nursing developed from an agreement
between Tyler Junior College, Mother Frances
Hospital, and East Texas Medical Center
Hospital to train nurses for local hospitals.
Culturally, the founding of the Tyler
Audubon Society, with 70 charter members,
and the opening of the 22-acre Tyler Rose
Garden gave evidence of the city’s citizens
appreciation of nature. Nationally known
speakers began to make regular appearances in
Tyler. In 1951 over ten thousand people
❖
East Texas Medical Center.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
36 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

attended a presentation by Dr. Norman Vincent
Peale in the Tyler Rose Stadium, followed
by Billy Graham, a young evangelist destined
to become virtually “America’s pastor” for
much of the remainder of the century. And
in 1952 the enthusiasts of the nascent
Republican Party movement in Tyler heard
Senator Joseph McCarthy thunder about the
dangers of internal subversion. And for those
more attuned to popular culture, the Tyler
Theatre presented its first 3-D movie, Bwana
Devil, in 1953.
The Cotton Belt Railroad celebrated seventyfive
years of operation from its headquarters in
Tyler when its President, Harold J. McKenzie,
laid a wreath on the grave of the founder of the
railroad, J. P. Douglas. Ten days later McKenzie
announced the discontinuance of passenger
service between Tyler and Waco.
Smith County citizens welcomed the
announcement in December 1952 that General
Electric Company intended to build a
manufacturing plant in Tyler, then had to wait two
years for the actual plans to construct a
$15-million plant to manufacture home heating
and air conditioning equipment. A ground
breaking for construction of the plant occurred in
April 1955.
❖
Above: Mother Frances Hospital.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Left: An aerial view of Texas Eastern
School of Nursing, Mother Frances
Hospital, and East Texas Medical
Center Hospital.
Chapter IV ✦ 37

❖
An elementary school classroom in
Tyler in the 1940s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The county’s plans for a new courthouse also
took time to develop. Despite arguments that a
new home for county government was overdue,
nostalgia for the county’s historic facility, which
stood at the city’s center, kept the project
pending rather than advancing for years. The
argument ended when the Texas Supreme Court
ruled that the courthouse could be razed,
Broadway Street extended directly through the
square, and a new facility constructed beside it.
In May, a citizen’s panel convened to consider
plans for the new courthouse, and by August
architects presented preliminary plans for the
structure, with costs estimated at $1.5 million.
Construction began in February 1954 and the
new courthouse was dedicated in July 1955.
Modern conveniences such as the first
escalator in East Texas was installed in the lobby
of People’s National Bank, and in October 1954,
KLTV began broadcasting on Channel 7 from a
THE TOAST OF TYLER - ARTHUR “DOOLEY” WILSON
Arthur Wilson, a character actor who played the role of “Sam” in the film Casablanca (1942),
was born in Tyler on April 3, 1894. Wilson played drums in a band that performed in clubs
frequented by African Americans. He moved to Chicago in 1908, where he acquired the nickname
“Dooley” because of his signature song, “Mr. Dooley.”
Wilson led his band throughout the 1920s, and also made appearances in Paris and London
before returning to the United States in 1930 to become an actor. He performed in the Federal
Theatre project with John Houseman and Orson Welles, and first appeared on Broadway in “Cabin
In The Sky” in 1939.
Wilson acted in a number of Hollywood films before Hal Wallis cast him as “Sam” in
Casablanca, a part originally intended for female singer Ella Fitzgerald. “Sam” was the piano player
in Rick’s Place who sang “As Time Goes By” for Ingrid Bergman in one of the film’s most memorable
scenes. Though Wilson appears to accompany himself on a piano, he played only drums, not
piano; Elliott Carpenter actually played the piano accompaniment just out of camera range so
Wilson could imitate his hand movements.
Wilson played in over twenty films and appeared on television in 1951 in Beulah, one of the first
television series starring black actors. Wilson died in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 1953.
38 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

converted hangar at Stewart Field pending
completion of its permanent home.
The 1950s witnessed changes in race
relations in Smith County. The area had
reflected its region in such matters for
generations, first with chattel slavery and later
with separation of the races maintained through
custom and enforced by state laws and local
ordinances. The first change occurred in 1951
when Medical Center Hospital appointed three
African-American medical doctors and one
African-American dentist to its staff. In 1954,
the City of Tyler hired two African-American
patrolmen, its first black police officers. The
public schools did not respond rapidly to the
Supreme Court’s decision in 1954 that
desegregation should proceed in the nation’s
public schools “with all deliberate speed.”
Nearly ten years passed before the board of the
Tyler Independent School District adopted even
a “stair-step” desegregation plan to apply to
kindergarten and first-grade students in the Fall
of 1963. Complete racial integration of schools
and public facilities did not occur for some
time, and stress between the races continued for
decades. In 1958 the school district built a new
high school and named it in honor of
Confederate military commander General
❖
Above: The McMurray Refinery on
Commerce and Line Streets.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: Employees of General Electric,
a manufacturer of home heating and
cooling equipment.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter IV ✦ 39

❖
Singer Johnnie Horton (second
from left).
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Robert E. Lee. The school adopted a version of
the Confederate battle flag, the caricature of a
Rebel soldier, and “Dixie” as symbols of the
institution. The Board of Education cancelled
their use in 1971 amid protests from both sides.
But in 1972, everyone in town applauded
Robert Taylor, a young black man from Tyler
who brought home Olympic gold from the
games in Munich as a member of the United
States 400-meter relay team.
The East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital
occupied its first permanent facility in 1957
after using barracks at Camp Fannin as wards
for nearly a decade. Four years later, Mother
Frances Hospital began a $3 million expansion
to add 100 beds, and Medical Center Hospital
founded the first eye bank in East Texas.
Tyler’s maturity as a business center was
certified with the designation of the Tyler
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA),
which included all of Smith County. SMSA
data is used by governmental agencies and
businesses to qualify areas for assistance with
economic development. On the industrial
scene, Kelly-Springfield announced plans to
construct a $10-million plant to manufacture
tires in Tyler. The first tire came off the line in
Tyler in April 1962, and the plant produced one
million tires during its first year of operation.
Another manufacturer, Levi Strauss, began
producing its famous blue jeans in Tyler.
Also in 1962, the first historical marker
awarded by the Texas State Historical Survey
Committee—later known as the Texas Historical
Commission—was erected near the site of Camp
Ford, a Civil War prisoner of war camp. F. Lee
Lawrence, a member of the Commission, an
attorney in Tyler, and a dedicated booster of the
community, made it happen. Lawrence and Dr.
Robert Glover, a professor of history at Tyler
Junior College, also authored a history of the
facility titled Camp Ford, C.S.A.
In the same year, Tyler’s federal court heard
its most celebrated case of the year. Billie Sol
Estes, a West Texas businessman, was accused of
THE TOAST OF TYLER - JOHN GALE “JOHNNIE” HORTON
Johnnie Horton was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 3, 1925, to John Lolly and Ella
Claudia Horton, but grew up in Smith County after his father, a sharecropper, moved there to find
work. He was graduated from high school in Gallatin, Texas, and attended Lon Morris College,
Kilgore College, and Baylor University on basketball scholarships before receiving a degree from
Seattle University.
Horton worked in fishing in Alaska for a time before launching a career in Country & Western
music in 1950, first billed as “The Singing Fisherman.” Horton recorded for Abbott, then Dot, and
finally Mercury Records and became a member of the regular cast of Louisiana Hayride, broadcast
from Shreveport, Louisiana. He also hosted a radio show heard on KLIV.
Horton’s career benefited professionally from his marriage in 1953 to Billie Jean Williams, the
widow of singer Hank Williams. His first national hit, “Honky Tonk Man,” was followed by “I’m A
One Woman Man,” and “The Battle of New Orleans,” which topped both Country and Pop charts
for record sales and jukebox plays.
Horton died as a consequence of an automobile accident near Milano, Texas, on November 4, 1960.
40 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

THE TOAST OF TYLER - WILLIAM WAYNE JUSTICE
William Wayne Justice was born on February 25, 1920, in Athens, Texas, to Will and Jackie
Mae Hanson Justice. Justice’s father had been a teacher and school superintendent before studying
law, then became county attorney of Henderson County and district attorney for the Third Judicial
District.
Justice was graduated from the University of Texas law school in 1942, and immediately entered
the U.S. Army, serving until 1946. He maintained a private legal practice in Athens from 1946 to
1961 and also served as city attorney for the City of Athens, 1948-1950, and 1952-1958. Justice
served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 1961 until 1968, when he was
appointed judge of the court. He served as chief justice of the district court from 1980 to 1990,
and assumed senior status in 1998.
Justice received the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award in 2001 for “historic
and courageous rulings” during thirty-two years on the bench that “immeasurably advanced civil
rights and liberties in Texas.” Some of those rulings changed the way Texans lived, including the
right of non-citizen children to tuition-free education, reform of the Texas juvenile incarceration
system, public school desegregation, public housing desegregation, Texas prison reform,
community placement of the mentally retarded, single member voting districts, public school
children’s right to bilingual education, and other areas.
swindling federal agricultural assistance
programs by filing false reports to increase
revenues from government agencies and
government-insured institutions. The case was
moved to Tyler on a change of venue and Estes
was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in
a federal penitentiary.
A significant era in legal affairs in all of Texas
began in April 1969 when former Federal
District Attorney William Wayne Justice was
named judge of the Eastern Judicial District of
Texas by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Justice
presided over the court for nearly three decades.
He heard virtually all cases filed in Texas
involving racial integration of schools,
discrimination in employment, applications of
the “one-person, one-vote” doctrine in county,
city, and school district elections, and even the
Texas penal system. Justice’s decisions and
rulings affected more people than any jurist in
the United States except Supreme Court
justices, all from a judicial bench in Tyler.
❖
Tyler State Bank & Trust Company,
located at the corner of Broadway and
Ferguson Streets.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter IV ✦ 41

❖
Top: Pounds Field Airport, c.1950s.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Middle: Braniff Airways aircraft at
Pounds Field.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bottom: Employees of Trans-Texas
Airways, Pounds Field.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
42 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

THE TOAST OF TYLER - SARAH NEWCOMB MCCLENDON
Sarah Newcomb McClendon, daughter of Sidney S. and Annie Bonner McClendon, was born in
Tyler on July 8, 1910. She attended local schools and in 1931 she joined the staffs of the Tyler
Courier Times and the Tyler Morning Telegraph. McClendon supplemented her income with work
as a wire service correspondent for the Houston Post, Dallas Times Herald, Fort Worth Star Telegram,
Shreveport Times, and several in-house publications for various trades and manufacturers.
McClendon also worked for the International News Service before leaving Tyler.
McClendon got the job with INS because “I just applied, and one of the men who was up there
on the bureau knew me.” She was one of the first women reporters in East Texas and considered
“aggressive” by editors and other male co-workers. She moved to Beaumont in 1939 to work for
the Beaumont Enterprise, and entered the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in September 1942.
After basic training in Des Moines, Iowa, and completing officer candidate school, Lieutenant
McClendon did public relations work for the Corps in Atlanta, Georgia, and later in WAC
headquarters in Washington.
After McClendon was discharged, she remained in Washington as a reporter, eventually
founding the McClendon News Service, which provided a weekly syndicated newspaper column,
a biweekly newsletter, and a weekly radio commentary aired by over twelve hundred stations.
McClendon reported the news from Washington from the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt
through that of George Herbert Walker Bush, sometimes from a wheel chair, and was noted for
sharp exchanges with the nation’s chief executives during televised press conferences.
Sarah McClendon died on January 8, 2003, in Washington, D.C., where she had practiced her
craft for the last sixty years of her life.
❖
Top, left: Journalist and Tyler native
Sarah McClendon.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Above: The McClendon House, built
in 1873 and purchased in 1907 by
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Smith
McClendon.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
MODERN
SMITH COUNTY & TYLER
Contemporary Tyler, with its significant
southward growth, can be traced to the
establishment in the mid-1970s of Broadway
Square Mall, which developed into the largest
retail shopping center between Dallas and
Houston and between the Gulf Coast and
Oklahoma. Sears, Roebuck became the first
major tenant of the mall, which sprawls across
the equivalent of several city blocks. By the
Chapter IV ✦ 43

1990s, businesses surrounded the square for
several blocks in every direction, especially
southward on Broadway and east and west along
Loop 323. By the beginning of the twenty-first
century, the area generated more revenue for
business owners, more sales tax for state and
local governments, and more traffic than any
other area in East Texas—indeed, almost
anywhere else in Texas.
Other major manufacturers found Tyler’s probusiness
climate attractive. The Carrier
Corporation came to town and then soon
afterward decided to expand its facility with a
$6-million addition. An executive with Howe-
Baker Engineers, who moved their entire
operation from Houston to Tyler, explained why:
“Because most of our personnel are required to
travel a great deal of the time. We don’t want
[them] to worry about the security of their
families while they’re away for long periods. This
is among the reasons we chose Tyler and it has
worked just fine…. The security thing, I suppose
is just one part of a larger factor, which is that we
all wanted a good hometown, in the oldfashioned
sense of the term. Tyler is small and
friendly enough that we have that feeling. Still it’s
large enough that we don’t have to listen in on
our neighbor’s party line to avoid dying of
❖
Right: An architect’s rendering of
Broadway Square Shopping Center.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: An aerial view of Broadway
Square Shopping Center in operation.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
44 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

oredom. There is ample action. It’s large
enough to support plentiful entertainment and
cultural attractions. We have a good symphony, a
good civic theatre, and a nice museum. We have
the best zoo in East Texas….”
Caldwell Zoo, named for D. K. Caldwell,
began in 1937 as part of a Child Development
Laboratory operated by the Hogg Foundation
and the American Association of University
Women in Caldwell’s home. Later, it expanded to
a garage and additional buildings on Caldwell’s
property. The animals were located at the present
site, 2203 Martin Luther King Boulevard, in
1953. By 1967, Caldwell had become home to
over five hundred animals. By 2000 Caldwell
Zoo was the largest facility of its kind located in
eastern Texas, and noted for its breeding
program to sustain several threatened species.
❖
Top, left: D. K. Caldwell, founder of
the Caldwell Zoo.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Top, right: D.K. Caldwell at the
Caldwell Play School.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bottom, left: Mrs. Willie Lee
Campbell Glass of Tyler, with
Governor Ann Richards.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Bottom, right: Attorney and historical
preservationist F. Lee Lawrence.
COURTESY OF THE EAST TEXAS
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
Chapter IV ✦ 45

❖
Right: A window display advertising
Carrier Air Conditioning Company
featuring its economic impact on
Smith County.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: The inventory produced by tire
manufacturers Kelly-Springfield,
located on Highway 31 West.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
46 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

The Howe-Baker executive also praised
Tyler’s educational system and Tyler Junior
College for the educational opportunities they
provided. Another institution developed on the
other end of the educational spectrum as well.
In 1971 the legislature created Tyler State
College, an upper-division institution intended
to begin where Tyler Junior College’s two-year
program ended by offering only junior, senior,
and graduate level courses. Two years later its
name was changed to Texas Eastern University,
and eventually it became the University of Texas
at Tyler. By the 1990s, the University had
become a full service institution that offered a
variety of undergraduate and graduate
programs. Similar development occurred at
the East Texas Chest Hospital when it
became the University of Texas Health Center, a
teaching component of the University of
Texas System.
In politics, Smith County abandoned its
Democratic, one-party loyalty with the election
of Republican William E. Coats as district
attorney in 1962. He became the first
Republican to hold office in the county since
Reconstruction. Earl Campbell brought fame to
THE TOAST OF TYLER - EARL CAMPBELL
Earl Campbell, known to football fans everywhere as “The Tyler Rose,” was born in Tyler on
March 29, 1955, the sixth of eleven children born to B.C. “Bert” and Ann Campbell. Campbell
helped support his large family after his father died when he was only eleven years of age, working
on rose farms and a night job at K-Mart.
Campbell played linebacker for John Tyler High School, but was switched to running back
during his senior year, and led the team to a state championship in 1973. Heavily recruited by
many major universities, Campbell chose the University of Texas where he played for Coach
Darrell Royal for three years and during his senior year for Coach Fred Akers. Akers featured
Campbell more in the offence, enabling him to rush for 1,744 yards and eighteen touchdowns
during the season. Campbell won the Heisman Trophy.
The Houston Oilers selected Campbell first in the annual National Football League draft, and
in 1978 he was named Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in the NFL. Campbell
played professional football for eight years, six in Houston and two with the New Orleans Saints.
Campbell was named First Team All-Southwest Conference, 1974-1975, 1977; First Team All
American, 1974, 1977; winner of the Heisman Trophy, 1977; College Football Hall of Fame, 1990;
NFL All-Pro Team 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983; and Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1991.
Campbell moved to Austin, Texas, after he retired from professional football. He is president of
Earl Campbell Meat Products, Inc., and www.earlcampbell.com and TheTylerRose.com, which
market Earl Campbell, University of Texas, and Houston Oilers merchandise. He continues to
work with young athletes at the University of Texas.
❖
The Peoples National Bank.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Chapter IV ✦ 47

❖
Left: Noted economist M. Ray
Perryman, born in Lindale.
COURTESY OF THE PERRYMAN GROUP.
Right: Smith County Sheriff
J. B. Smith, first elected Republican
sheriff since Reconstruction.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Tyler in a different way. After leading John Tyler
High School to a championship in football in
1973, Campbell enrolled in the University of
Texas in Austin. In his senior year he led the
nation in rushing yardage and won the Heisman
Trophy, designation as the best football player in
America. Campbell, by then known as the
“Tyler Rose,” played six seasons in the National
Football League with the Houston Oilers
and two years with the New Orleans Saints.
He was inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame
in 1991.
TYLER IN THE
TWENTY- FIRST CENTURY
The arrival of the millennium on January 1,
2001, found Tyler and Smith County prosperous
THE TOAST OF TYLER - M. RAY PERRYMAN
Ray Perryman was born in Lindale, Texas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from
Baylor University and a doctorate in economics from Rice University. He also holds an honorary
doctorate from the International Institute for Advanced Studies. He has taught at Baylor and
Southern Methodist University, and is Senior Research Fellow of the IC2 Institute of the University
of Texas and the Institute Distinguished Professor of Economic Theory and Method at the
International Institute of Advanced Studies.
Perryman is head of The Perryman Group, headquartered in Waco, Texas, but lives and works
in Odessa, Texas. He has authored more than 1,500 trade articles, publishes two monthly
newsletters, writes a syndicated newspaper column, hosts a daily radio commentary, and appears
regularly on National Public Radio.
Perryman serves as consultant to many international, federal, and state agencies and is a
member of the Governor’s Task Force on Economic Growth and the Governor’s Technology
Working Group. He has received hundreds of awards, including one from The Democracy
Foundation for his work in promoting private enterprise in China.
Perryman is the internationally recognized authority on the Texas economy. He was nominated
by the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Baden-Baden, Germany, to receive the Bank
of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
48 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

❖
Left: Tyler Junior College.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Below: Riter Tower on the campus of
the University of Texas at Tyler.
Chapter IV ✦ 49

❖
Left: Tyler native and internationally
recognized cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.
COURTESY OF EAST TEXAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
Right: Academy Award-winning
lyricist Will Jennings.
COURTESY OF F. E. ABERNETHY.
Opposite: Mrs. Pool’s store in
northwest Smith County.
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
and growing. Its 181,437 citizens, over 85,000 of
them living in Tyler, had come a long way from
the county’s and city’s beginnings as hunting
grounds for the early Caddo nation and since the
arrival of Anglos in the 1830s.
Smith County had passed from cotton
country to the culture of rose bushes; from
exclusive dependence on agriculture to an
equal reliance on industry and manufacturing;
and it had become an educational, judicial,
medical, and retail center. Its economic
development leadership, under the direction of
Tom Mullins, as always, faced forward. The
county and the city had weathered various
stresses that accompanied change, including
racial, gender, labor-management, and social
adjustments, on the way from its beginnings to
its present.
One thing it preserved: Tyler remains, as it
was directed to be by the legislature, “a most
pleasant place.”
THE TOAST OF TYLER - WILL JENNINGS
Will Jennings was born in Kilgore, Texas, in 1944, to Hershel and Louella Jennings. Both
parents came from Arkansas to find work in the EasTex oil field, and Jennings’ father also played
baseball for Sun Oil Company in industrial leagues.
Jennings attended schools in Chapel Hill before enrolling at Tyler Junior College at the age of
seventeen to study music with the aid of a scholarship. He received an associate degree from Tyler
Junior College, spent one year at the University of Texas at Austin, then transferred to Stephen F.
Austin State University in Nacogdoches, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Jennings taught English at Tyler Junior College and at the University of Wisconsin before
moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and then to Los Angeles, California, to concentrate on writing
songs. Jennings struggled to establish himself and eventually became one of the most successful
songwriters in history. He won an Academy Award for writing “Up Where We Belong” for a motion
picture An Officer And A Gentlemen, and his “My Heart Will Go On,” for Titanic, won an Oscar, two
Grammys, a Golden Globe, and other awards.
Jennings lives with his wife, Carole Thurman Jennings, who also is from Tyler, in Los Angeles.
50 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Albaugh, William A. Tyler, Texas: The Story of the Confederate States Ordnance Works at Tyler, Texas, 1861-1865. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:
The Stackpole Company, 1958.
Anderson, John Q., editor. Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1865. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1955.
Austin, Gladys Peters. Along the Century Trail (Early History of Tyler, Texas). Dallas: Avalon Press, 1946.
Betts, Vicki. Smith County, Texas, in the Civil War. Tyler: Smith County Historical Society, 1978.
Glover, Robert W. and Linda Brown Cross, editors. Tyler & Smith County, Texas: An Historical Survey. Tyler: American Bicentennial
Committee of Tyler, Smith County, 1976.
Johnson, Frank W., edited and revised by Eugene C. Barker. A History of Texas and Texans, 4 vols. Chicago: The American Historical
Society, 1914.
Lawrence, F. Lee, and Robert W. Glover. Camp Ford C.S.A.: The Story of Union Prisoners in Texas. Austin: Texas Civil War Centennial
Advisory Committee, 1964.
Smallwood, James. Born In Dixie: Smith County Origins—The History of Smith County, 2 vols.. Austin: Eakin Press, 1999.
Whisenhunt, Donald W., compiler, and Vicki Betts, editor. A Chronological History of Smith County. Tyler: Smith County Historical
Society, 1983.
White, Dabney, editor. East Texas: Its History And Its Makers. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1940.
Woldert, Albert. A History of Tyler and Smith County, Texas. San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1948.
Chronicles of Smith County, Texas, a publication of the Smith County Historical Society.
Bibliography ✦ 51

❖
PAINTING BY A. C. GENTRY, JR. COURTESY OF
BLACKFORK STUDIO.
SHARING THE HERITAGE
historic profiles of
businesses and organizations
that have contributed to
the development and economic
base of Smith County
52 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

ETMC Regional Healthcare System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Tyler Junior College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Trinity Mother Frances Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
University of Texas at Tyler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Carrier Corporation
United Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Southside Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Jerry Vandergriff Plumbing Company, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Edgar H. Vaughn and The Vaughn Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Andrews Center Behavioral Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Ramey & Flock, P.C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Keystone Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Loggins Meat Company, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Rudd Contracting Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
John Soules Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
First Presbyterian Church of Tyler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Arthritis & Osteoporosis Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Gilbert’s El Charro Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Gregory Real Estate and Property Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Automatic Gas Company, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Deason’s Pharmacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Brookshire Grocery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Wright-Way Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Ramada Hotel & Conference Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
East Texas Copy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Randy Phillips Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
College Books, Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Agtoprof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Dunn Transmissions, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Potpourri House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Kiepersol Estates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Smith County Historical Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Harley’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Heartland Security Insurance Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
SPECIAL
THANKS TO
State Representative
Leo Berman and
Dr. Lou Ann Berman
Cap Ranch Steakhouse
Eagle’s Bluff Country Club
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 53

ETMC
REGIONAL
HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM
❖
Above: Medical Center Hospital
opened in 1951.
Below: ETMC Olympic Center and
skywalk in Tyler.
Founded in September of 1949 as the East
Texas Hospital Foundation, today’s East Texas
Medical Center Regional Healthcare System has
grown to be one of the state’s largest and most
progressive medical networks with fourteen
hospitals, more than forty clinics and a service
area that serves the greater East Texas region.
ETMC’s first hospital opened in 1951 as
Medical Center Hospital, a 110-bed, not-forprofit
hospital in Tyler, Texas. Although small in
comparison to the current ETMC system, the
original hospital was state-of-the-art for the
time, featuring five floors that offered diagnostic
testing facilities, nursing units, a surgery center,
the maternity ward and infant nursery, nursing
quarters and business and executive offices.
In 1971 the hospital completed a two-year,
$6.5 million building and expansion program,
tripling its size to 250,000 square feet. The most
visible addition was the construction of the
circular nursing units, which were hailed as “a
new concept in hospital design, affording better
nursing care and personnel utilization.”
In addition to building expansions over the
years, ETMC began to foster new relationships
with smaller hospitals in East Texas
communities. ETMC management saw a future
in which the Tyler hospital could serve as a
tertiary care referral center for smaller
communities, helping those communities
deliver better primary and secondary care.
The first opportunity to pursue these goals
was presented in 1983 when Henderson
Memorial Hospital in Athens, Texas, became
available to consider association with ETMC.
During the course of developing a relationship
with the Athens hospital, Medical Center
Hospital’s philosophy of service evolved to
encompass a regional scope that drives today’s
ETMC Regional Healthcare System.
54 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Regional expansion of the organization as
envisioned by its farsighted leaders continued
into the 1980s. New alliances with hospitals
throughout East Texas culminated in a new
name for the hospital in 1990—East Texas
Medical Center. The parent company became
the East Texas Medical Center Regional
Healthcare System.
Today, more than a million people call East
Texas home. They live in communities ranging
in population from fewer than 500 to more than
50,000. And every year, the ETMC Regional
Healthcare System serves more than three
hundred thousand of them.
ETMC Regional Healthcare System reaches
throughout East Texas with ETMC hospitals in
Athens, Carthage, Clarksville, Crockett,
Fairfield, Gilmer, Jacksonville, Mt. Vernon,
Pittsburg, Quitman and Trinity. Outpatient
medical centers are located in Tyler, Cedar
Creek Lake and Rusk. More than thirty ETMC
First Physicians clinics extend care throughout
the region. These clinics offer primary care and
a growing number of specialties, including
radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry
and pediatrics.
ETMC also includes East Texas Medical
Center EMS, the largest not-for-profit
emergency medical service in the state,
supplying emergency medical care to more than
17,000 square miles of Central and East Texas
with a fleet of more than eighty-five ambulances
and three Air 1 emergency helicopters.
Other ETMC organizations include DRL
Labs, providing laboratory services to hospitals,
clinics and physician offices; and ETMC Home
Health, which offers hospital-based home care
throughout East Texas.
ETMC Tyler serves as the flagship facility for
East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare
System. As East Texas’ largest regional referral
center, the hospital is a self-owned, not-forprofit,
tertiary care facility specializing in acute
care medicine and offering a “continuum of
care” approach, designed to provide all major
medical services from diagnosis through
rehabilitation.
The hospital’s centers of excellence begin with
its Level I Trauma Center, the only emergency
care facility in East Texas to receive the highest
level of designation by the Texas Department of
Health. The ETMC Tyler Level I Trauma Center
offers lifesaving services for major illnesses and
injuries, as well as minor emergency care. In
2005 the hospital completed a $2.7 million
expansion and renovation project, modernizing
the existing emergency department and
expanding it by twelve treatment rooms with the
addition of a new circular wing.
❖
Above: ETMC Athens.
Below: ETMC provides emergency
services to East Texas with more than
eighty-five ambulances.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 55

❖
Above: Air 1 emergency helicopters
provide care to residents within a
sixty-thousand-square-mile area in
East Texas.
Below: The Apollo Fountain is located
in front of the Olympic Plaza in Tyler.
Since 1985, ETMC Tyler has been the site of
the area’s first rehabilitation hospital certified by
the Commission on the Accreditation of
Rehabilitation Facilities. Located on the Olympic
Plaza campus, the rehabilitation hospital includes
two inpatient floors, as well as inpatient and
outpatient physical and occupational therapy
programs. The ETMC Olympic Center provides
community wellness and exercise programs.
Another area of expertise is the hospital’s
neurosurgical and neurological programs, which
consolidated in 1993 with the opening of the
ETMC Neurological Institute. An alliance of
physician specialists, the institute strives to
enhance each patient’s medical care through
optimum use of physician and hospital resources.
The ETMC Cancer Institute has consistently
received approval from the Commission on
Cancer of the American College of Surgeons
since 1991, placing it among the elite twentyfive
percent of the nation’s hospitals with
approved cancer programs. The twenty-five-bed
cancer unit boasts a freestanding radiation
therapy center, cancer registry system, research
programs, a physician cancer committee and
support services. The ETMC Cancer Institute
has expanded its radiation therapy center in
Tyler to provide closer integration with local
oncology specialists and opened the region’s
first comprehensive breast care center.
In 1993 the hospital expanded and
consolidated its cardiac services with the
opening of the ETMC Cardiovascular Institute,
the first self-contained cardiac center in East
Texas. This state-of-the-art facility was a
27,000-square-foot addition, designed by
cardiac physicians and equipped with the latest
in technology, including three catheterization
laboratories, two cardiac surgery suites and a
cardiovascular intensive care unit.
The ETMC Urology Institute combines
expertise and medical resources to offer patients a
56 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

wide array of urological diagnostic and treatment
services in one location. The ETMC Urology
Institute offers life-enhancing medical and
surgical treatment for infection, incontinence,
kidney stones, and lifesaving treatment for
bladder, kidney and prostate cancer.
The ETMC Orthopedic Institute offers
comprehensive care from diagnosis through
treatment and follow-up care for all bones, joints
and diseases of the skeletal system. Specialized
services include trauma orthopedics, joint
replacement surgery, limb reconstruction and
sports medicine.
ETMC Home Health is there for patients
needing medical assistance while they recover at
home. Services include skilled nursing, medical
social services, health aide care and physical,
occupational, speech and I.V. therapy.
ETMC Tyler provides innovative obstetrical
care in its Family Birthplace, located on the
fourth floor of the hospital’s north wing. The
facility was the first in the area to feature familycentered
maternity care, with labor, delivery,
recovery and postpartum care offered in one
location within the facility’s beautiful birth suites.
The Family Birthplace also boasts a state-of-theart
surgical delivery area.
As Smith County’s only inpatient and
outpatient psychiatric facility, ETMC Behavioral
Health strives to exceed the standards of all
aspects of care in a comprehensive range of
inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services for
children and adults of all ages.
The Olympic Plaza Campus in Tyler houses a
medical office tower, rehabilitation complex and
parking facility. The Olympic Plaza Tower is
home to the ETMC Day Surgery Center and the
ETMC Digestive Disease Center. Located across
from the hospital on Beckham Street, this
medical complex is connected to the main
hospital by a majestic arch and skywalk.
The ETMC Wound Healing Center is an
accredited hyperbaric medicine facility that
provides specialized care for complex wounds
that are often difficult to treat and require the
attention of skilled professionals.
As the years pass, ETMC’s facilities and scope
have continued to expand, but the core mission
of the organization remains unchanged. Just as
in 1951, today East Texas Medical Center values
a total focus on the patient and a commitment to
the highest standards of care, measuring success
by how their efforts improve the quality of life
for people and communities in East Texas.
Despite its acquired breadth, ETMC is still a
system with one mission: bringing to the people
of their region the care they deserve—care that
is first in East Texas, second to none.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 57

TYLER
JUNIOR
COLLEGE
❖
Above: A diverse student body and a
vibrant student life exist at TJC.
Below: Floral beauty and tall trees
make the Main Campus a peaceful
academic setting.
With an annual enrollment of more than
twelve thousand students, Tyler Junior College
is recognized as one of the nation’s fastestgrowing
community colleges.
Tyler Junior College was established in 1926
to provide rigorous preparation for students
desiring to complete their studies at a
baccalaureate institution. As a result of its solid
core curriculum, TJC quickly earned a
reputation for developing capable and expertly
prepared transfer students.
It’s a legacy that continues today.
Many students begin their bachelor’s degree
under the guidance of TJC’s award-winning
faculty. More often than not, these students go
on to out-perform their counterparts at the
upper-level institution to which they transfer.
The College is comprised of five schools
of study.
Most students who intend to complete core
curriculum courses at TJC and transfer on to an
upper-level college or university are advised
within the School of University Studies.
For students electing a career pathway for
immediate employment, Tyler Junior College
offers a wide array of cutting-edge programs
within the School of Allied Health and Nursing
and the School of Applied Studies. Graduates
from these programs become industry
professionals with promising futures. Several
of these programs also provide transfer
curriculum for individuals who wish to advance
their studies to the baccalaureate or graduate
degree level.
Because many of today’s high school
graduates enter college-lacking preparedness for
college-level English or mathematics, TJC
provides the services of experienced and
focused faculty and administrators in its School
of College Preparatory Studies. Through College
Prep, students receive tutoring, tailored collegepreparatory
curriculum and special services to
help them achieve their goals of a college degree
or certificate.
For students and businesspeople of all ages
and interests, the School of Continuing Studies
provides the broadest assortment of
recreational, professional development, skills
enhancement and lifelong learning courses in
the region, including customized training for
small businesses and commercial industry.
On TJC’s Main Campus, 1400 East Fifth
Street, are thirty academic, administrative,
athletic and residence buildings on eighty acres
of land dotted with stately hardwood trees,
colorful spring flowers and manicured
landscape. It is a campus atmosphere befitting
of a major university.
58 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

The Main Campus was established in 1945
after voters approved the establishment of a
separate identity, location and tax district for the
College, which had shared facilities and
resources with the Tyler public school system.
The first building to be constructed on new
land acquired to the east of Tyler’s downtown
was known simply as the main classroom
building until the Board of Trustees approved
renaming it in honor of TJC President Harry
Jenkins in 1966.
It was under Jenkins’ leadership that the
transition to the new campus was accomplished
and that dramatic enrollment growth was finally
experienced.
Jenkins Hall remains the marquee facility on
the Main Campus. Its colonial architectural style,
with red brick, tall white columns and arched
windows, established a theme that is evident
throughout the Main Campus. In the 1950’s and
‘60’s, new buildings replaced military buildings
that had been transferred to the Main Campus
from nearby Camp Fannin, which had been one
of the nation’s largest basic-training Army camps.
The last of the military buildings, Gentry Gym,
was removed in 1984. Its namesake was given to
the multipurpose recreational facility inside the
Ornelas Health and Physical Education Center,
constructed in 1986.
The most recent additions to the Main
Campus are the White Administrative Services
Center, constructed in 1993, and Hartley Field,
a soccer and practice field complex built in
1996 and enhanced with concession, locker
room and office accommodations in 2004.
At TJC’s West Campus, in the 1500 block of
Tyler’s South-Southwest Loop 323, are the
Regional Training and Development Complex
(RTDC) and the Skills Training Center, offering
technical and skilled training for credit and
lifelong learning, business and industry training
and administrative offices for TJC’s wide range
❖
Above: Ramey Tower at Jenkins Hall
chimes the hour and plays a variety of
melodies and tones that can be heard
across the Main Campus.
Below: The West Campus, located on
South-Southwest Loop 323, provides
mostly technical training and
continuing education courses.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 59

❖
Above: Students enjoy a walk to class
on a pleasant spring day.
Below: The oldest of two buildings on
the West Campus is the Regional
Training & Development Complex,
where the SBDC, Incubator and
Continuing Studies offices reside.
of continuing studies courses. The RTDC is also
home to the Small Business Development
Center, the Tyler Area Business Incubator and
the Literacy Council of Tyler.
Academically, TJC is recognized by upperlevel
colleges and universities as providing
quality academic preparation for students
desiring to transfer to complete advanced
degrees. The All-USA Academic teams, chosen
annually by USA Today and Phi Theta Kappa,
the international honor society for two-year
colleges, have included more students from
Tyler Junior College than any other college
in America.
Alpha Omicron, TJC’s Phi Theta Kappa
chapter, is one of the highest-ranking chapters
in the nation and has the largest enrollment of
any Texas chapter.
Through the years, Tyler Junior College has
built strong alliances with former students who
recall their first two years of college as their
most influential and memorable. Thus, the
College has an active Alumni Association, which
plays an important role in building and
maintaining relationships with more than one
hundred thousand former TJC students.
The Alumni Association serves as the largest
support organization for Tyler Junior College,
promoting and preserving the excellence, caring
and diverse student life that characterizes
the College.
Each year at Homecoming, alumni, students,
faculty, and friends of the College gather to
celebrate the traditions, pride, friendships, and
experiences that are all part of the history of
the institution.
The Tyler Junior College Foundation was
incorporated in 1965 and was governed by a
nine-member board of trustees. Today, the
Foundation is comprised of a thirty-fivemember
board of directors and has enjoyed
significant growth during the last decade.
60 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

The foundation’s assets have eclipsed $16
million, and the majority of these assets are
endowed funds that support the College’s
programs, faculty and students.
Through the work of the Foundation and the
generosity of many benefactors, TJC provides
approximately $1.2 million in scholarship
assistance to students each year.
Representing TJC in shows and public events
across the globe are the Apache Belles, a dance
and drill team of international acclaim, the
Apache Band, a marching band two hundred
members strong, and singing groups A Cappella
Choir and Harmony and Understanding.
The Apache Belles, long known for their
poise, grace, dance choreography and charm,
perform dance routines for a variety of events in
Tyler and beyond and have been a part of events
for nine U.S. presidents.
In the athletic arena, few two-year schools
have claimed as many national titles as the
Apaches. Thirty-six times TJC athletic teams
have won national championships, including
twenty-six in men and ladies’ tennis. The
College offers intercollegiate competition
opportunities in ten sports: men’s and women’s
basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and
women’s golf, and men’s football, soccer and
baseball and women’s volleyball.
The College’s student body is fifty-eight
percent female, with an ethnic mix of seventythree
percent Caucasian, eight percent Hispanic
and nineteen percent African-American.
The College employs approximately 625 fulltime
faculty and staff and more than 500 parttime
employees.
The variety, attention to detail, academic
excellence and its beautiful campus settings
make Tyler Junior College like no other college
in America, and an institution of which its
students, alumni and friends remain proud.
Tyler Junior College…changing lives.
❖
Above: The Apache Band travels
internationally to perform for a
variety of events.
Below: Students visit in front of
Jenkins Hall.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 61

❖
TRINITY MOTHER FRANCES HEALTH SYSTEM
Above: For seven decades, Mother
Frances Hospital and Trinity Mother
Frances Health System have
provided health care with compassion,
excellence and efficiency to the
`people of Smith County and the east
Texas region.
Below: Mother Frances Hospital in
Tyler opened its doors one day ahead
of schedule, on March 18, 1937, to
care for victims of the New London
School explosion.
The story of Trinity Mother Frances Health
System links two trusted healthcare providers that
came together in 1995. Mother Frances Hospital
merged with the area’s largest physician group,
Trinity Clinic, to create one of the nation’s first
integrated healthcare systems in order to meet the
needs of east Texas residents for generations to
come. Together, these providers serve the
community through greatly expanded service and
value, enabling the Health System to emerge as
both a regional and national leader in healthcare
in the United States.
The System’s history dates back to 1934 when
Dr. William Howard Bryant and Dr. Sidney W.
Bradford, both general practitioners, opened The
Bryant Clinic in Tyler. In 1937 the Sisters of The
Holy Family of Nazareth, recognizing the need
for a hospital in Tyler, joined with farsighted
physicians and city leaders to transform their
vision for a modern medical facility into reality.
Mother Frances Hospital opened its doors on
March 18, 1937—admitting patients a day before
its scheduled grand opening—to care for victims
of a nearby tragedy.
The catastrophe took place in nearby
New London when a school exploded due to a
natural gas buildup. In Tyler, the Bryant Clinic
received the first call for help and Mother
Frances Hospital joined in caring for the
victims of the devastating explosion. These two
institutions exemplified compassion and caring
then–just as they do now.
In 1948, the Bryant Clinic changed its
name to the Medical & Surgical Clinic. In
later years, two more medical groups joined the
practice and the name changed to the Trinity
Clinic. Today, Trinity Clinic is the preferred
multispecialty group in the region, with more
than 200 physicians representing 33 specialties
in 32 locations throughout Tyler and east Texas.
Trinity Mother Frances Health System has
earned recognition as a national leader
in cardiovascular services. Its history of
providing leading-edge cardiovascular care is
decades old. In 1960, Mother Frances Hospital
established one of the nation’s first coronary
care units and in 1983 inaugurated the first
comprehensive cardiovascular program in east
Texas when it opened the region’s first openheart
surgery program.
Since that time, more than five hundred
thousand cardiac procedures have been performed
in Mother Frances Hospital. In 1989 the Wall Street
Journal recognized the Mother Frances Hospital
cardiovascular program as one of the ten best
cardiac programs in the United States. Opened in
2003, the expanded Heart Institute in the Ornelas
Tower at Mother Frances Hospital is today home
to the region's most advanced technology for use
in the early detection, dagnosis and treatment of
heart disease, including the da Vinci surgical robot
and Stereotaxis technologies found at few other
institutions in the world. In the past two decades,
more than 10,000 open heart surgeries have been
performed at Mother Frances Hospital. Trinity
Mother Frances Health System has been
recognized both nationally and internationally for
excellence in cardiac care, building a rich tradition
as the region’s largest and most-experienced
cardiovascular program.
62 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Mother Frances Hospital has grown and
changed through the years in an effort to
bring ever-improving healthcare to east
Texans. It began as a 60-bed hospital and
now is licensed as a 389-bed acute-care facility,
with state-of-the-art private patient rooms on
three floors of the new Ornelas Tower. In 1989,
Mother Frances Hospital was named “Texas
Business of the Year” for its significant achievements
in business management, employee
relations and community service.
In addition to its outstanding cardiology
services, Trinity Mother Frances Health System is
also recognized for excellence in maternity care,
emergency care, Level II trauma, pediatrics,
orthopaedic services and cancer care. The System
operates numerous regional primary care clinics
that provide improved access to medical care for
rural east Texans. Trinity Clinic provides care in
more than 33 clinics in 14 counties in east Texas.
The System’s commitment extends beyond
the borders of Tyler and Smith County. Trinity
Mother Frances Health System serves residents
of Cherokee County and surrounding areas
with the outstanding Trinity Clinic and
Mother Frances Hospital services in
Jacksonville, a community south of Tyler.
Trinity Mother Frances opened a medical
complex in Jacksonville in 2001 and quickly added
a Heart Center, Women’s Center, inpatient hospital
care, emergency medical services and more
physician offices. The state-of-the-art medical
complex offers a wide range of services, including
cardiac rehab, cardiac catheterization, mammography
and bone densitometry testing, surgical
services and full laboratory and X-ray capabilities.
In 2005, Trinity Mother Frances Health
System and the former Medical Arts Clinic
Association of Corsicana merged. The thirty-onephysician
multi-specialty group, founded in the
1950s, is now Trinity Clinic-Corsicana. The
union of these two healthcare leaders has brought
improved access to quality healthcare to the
people of Corsicana, Navarro County and the
surrounding area. The System has announced
plans to build a new hospital to further enhance
the quality and convenience of medical care
available to the Corsicana community.
The vision of Trinity Mother Frances Health
System for the future is to create healthy lives for
all east Texas residents. As a faith-based
organization, Trinity Mother Frances seeks to
enhance community health through service with
compassion, excellence and efficiency. Meeting the
needs of the community will always be its first and
foremost concern. Trinity Mother Frances
endeavors to provide the highest-quality health
services possible, and is committed to improving
health through clinical practice, education and
research. As stewards of limited resources, the
System seeks to provide healthcare value without
compromising its commitment to compassion and
excellence. This mission has been implemented by
collaborating with those who share its vision,
values and future.
The System’s commitment to excellence has
been recognized via numerous national awards
❖
Above: Recognized by the Joint
Commission for Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
for innovations in patient safety and
as a national leader in patient
satisfaction by Press-Ganey
Associates, Inc., Mother Frances
Hospital is dedicated to quality
patient care and excellent
customer service.
Below: Growing with the region,
Mother Frances Hospital added
patient beds and a new wing in the
late 1940s.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 63

❖
Above: Opened in 2003, the Ornelas
Tower features some of the most
advanced technology available
anywhere in the world at the Center
for Advanced Surgery and Technology.
In addition, the Ornelas Tower is
home to 18 state-of-the-art operating
rooms, including two dedicated
exclusively to robotic heart surgery,
and offers 152 spacious private
patient rooms featuring the latest
innovations in patient care.
Bottom, left: Patients of Trinity Clinic
physicians benefit from a wellcoordinated
network of care, with
providers representing a growing list
of specialties ranging from family
medicine and pediatrics to
orthopaedics, gastroenterology,
endocrinology, cosmetic surgery,
urology and many others.
for quality healthcare, including designation as
a top 100 healthcare system, top 100 hospital
for coronary artery bypass surgery and
treatment of stroke, Solucient 100 Top Hospitals
Performance Improvement Leader and a
national leader in patient satisfaction in the
independent Press Ganey survey. Many Trinity
Clinic physicians have received “Best Practice”
commendation from the American Medical
Group Association.
Working closely together, physicians and
administrators have built the region’s preferred
healthcare provider known for clinical
excellence. Recent consumer research shows
that Trinity Clinic and Mother Frances Hospital
both are leaders in preference and market share
for the primary and secondary markets.
Trinity Mother Frances Health System is one
of the region’s largest employers, with more than
thirty-eight hundred employees. The System
includes two hospitals and the area’s preeminent
multi-specialty physician group.
In addition, the System has affiliations with
several leading regional hospitals in smaller
communities. With more than thirty locations
throughout the east Texas region, Trinity Clinic
now includes more than 200 providers
representing 33 specialties. The System is
committed to providing medical care, education
and service to communities in a variety of
ways, from free education to nationally
recognized programs such as the FamilyCARE
Center, which was created to fill an unmet
healthcare need for uninsured women and
children in the region by providing prenatal
care, obstetrical, gynecological and pediatric
care to those most in need. This unique
outreach was honored by the Texas Hospital
Association with the Excellence in Community
Service Award in 1997 and continues to
improve all health indicators for mothers and
babies by providing affordable prenatal and
pediatric care to underserved women and
children in the area. .
The technology at Trinity Mother Frances
Health System is cutting edge, rivaling or
exceeding that of any major medical center.
The nationally recognized cardiology program,
advanced surgical capabilities and innovative
neurological services are examples of how
the System provides both high-tech and
high-touch care to patients of all ages. Trinity
Mother Frances offers a complete range
of services, from women and children to
trauma, rehabilitation, orthopedics, cosmetic
surgery and more.
A growing number of medical clinics
staffed by full time medical doctors and
Bottom, right: Champion EMS, a joint
service of Trinity Mother Frances
Health System of Tyler and Good
Shepherd Regional Health System of
Longview, is the area's most
innovative emergency medical service,
providing ambulance services to a
thirty-five-county region.
64 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

mid-level practitioners provide primary and
specialty care in Tyler and throughout
the region. Trinity Mother Frances is licensed
by the Texas Department of Health and
accredited by the Joint Commission for
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
At the heart of the System is commitment
to customer service. The well being, health
and satisfaction of patients and their families
are paramount. Press Ganey Associates, Inc.,
the healthcare industry’s top satisfaction
measurement and improvement firm,
recognized Mother Frances Hospital as a
national leader in patient satisfaction among
hospitals of any size in the United States.
In July 2003 the six-story, $74.4 million
state-of-the-art Ornelas Tower at Mother
Frances Hospital was opened, home to the
Trinity Mother Frances Heart Institute, the
new Center for Advanced Surgery and
Technology (CASAT) and 152 new state-ofthe-art
private patient rooms. The 254,336-
square-foot building features some of the
most innovative and advanced technology
and healing concepts in the world.
The Wisenbaker Diabetes Center at Trinity
Mother Frances Health System offers
an American Diabetes Association certified
program designed to provide patients with
the information and tools they need to
manage their diabetes and lead a strong
and active life. The staff provides educational
classes at a variety of times with topics
including diabetes self-management training
and nutrition counseling.
The Heart Institute, CASAT and Diabetes
Center are a few of the many healthcare
services provided by Trinity Mother Frances
Health System. Working with community
leaders and others in the healthcare industry,
Trinity Mother Frances Health System will
continue to create healthy lives for people and
for communities.
❖
Above: Flight For Life, the region's
first emergency air transport service,
was launched by Mother Frances
Hospital in 1985. Today, Flight For
Life averages 600 to 700 transports
each year for patients needing critical
care service within a 150-mile radius,
covering a 23-county area.
Below: Among the many leading-edge
technologies at the Center for
Advanced Surgery and Technology
(CASAT) at Mother Frances Hospital
is Stereotaxis magnetic-assisted
catheterization, a technology that
offers a minimally invasive alternative
to open heart surgery.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 65

THE
UNIVERSITY OF
TEXAS HEALTH
CENTER AT
TYLER
❖
Right: UT Health Center was created
from Camp Fannin, a World War II
infantry training camp established in
1942. Some of the more than 100,000
soldiers trained at Camp Fannin are
shown assembled on the parade
ground. Part of Camp Fannin was
given to the State of Texas after the
war, forming the East Texas
Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which was
chartered in 1947.
Below: The East Texas Tuberculosis
Hospital tower was completed in
1957. It took two years to construct
and had six floors and a total of 325
beds. Still, some tuberculosis patients
continued to be housed in barracks
until 1971, when they all were moved
into the tower.
It was 1947. The early morning sunlight
filtered through the East Texas pine trees,
glinting off the boxy outlines of forty white,
wooden barracks that had been filled by sick
and wounded World War II soldiers. These
barracks were the 1,000-bed field hospital at
Camp Fannin, a United States Army camp
established outside of Tyler in 1942 that trained
over 100,000 infantrymen.
The war was over, and Camp Fannin had
been decommissioned. It was a “disposable war
asset,” and so most of its thirty thousand acres,
which were confiscated by the government in
1942, were returned to East Texans who
originally owned the land.
In the 1940s, tuberculosis was the leading
killer in the U.S., and a great need existed in
East Texas for a hospital to treat patients with
tuberculosis. The Camp Fannin Station Hospital
barracks and 614 acres around it were given to
the state by the federal government, and in
1947, the Fiftieth Texas Legislature created the
East Texas Tuberculosis Sanatorium, which
would later become The University of Texas
Health Center at Tyler (UTHCT).
On June 1, 1949, the sanatorium received its
first patients—144 blacks who came from a
Kerrville, Texas sanatorium. But tuberculosis
didn’t discriminate, sickening both whites and
blacks, and so both were housed and treated
separately at that time, under the laws and
customs of the segregated South.
In 1951, the Fifty-first Texas Legislature
christened the sanatorium the East Texas
Tuberculosis Hospital, and by late 1955, the
hospital housed over eight hundred patients.
People with tuberculosis commonly waited for
months before a hospital bed was available, and
once hospitalized, stayed up to two years or
more. In that same year, ground was broken for a
hospital expansion and a new six-story, 325-bed
facility was completed in 1957.
There were two parks on campus, along with
a picnic area, a fishpond, a theater, and a wellequipped
library. The hospital had a dentist,
66 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

❖
Left: State and local dignitaries
gathered on February 10, 1977 for
the groundbreaking of a new six-floor
East Texas Chest Hospital building,
which was completed three years later.
From left are State Representative
Fred Head, Royce Wisenbaker, Sr.,
Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe, Janey
Briscoe, State Representative Buck
Florence, Dr. Robert E. Moreton, State
Senator Peyton McKnight, and Dr.
Bob Glaze.
beautician and barber. Patients also traveled to
Lake Tyler for fishing, to the rodeo, and to area
fairs, all via a hospital bus.
With the advent of new tuberculosis drugs,
fewer patients entered the East Texas Tuberculosis
Hospital, and by 1961, the facility held about five
hundred patients. In 1969 the Sixty-first Texas
Legislature authorized the hospital to treat
patients with other lung diseases, such as chronic
bronchitis and emphysema.
In 1970 the hospital employed three
hundred people and had an annual budget of
$10 million. That year, George Hurst, M.D., was
promoted to director of the hospital; he had
served as clinical director since 1964. The
hospital established its first outpatient clinic in
1966. The Sixty-second Texas Legislature in
1971 changed the institution’s name yet again,
to the East Texas Chest Hospital.
It continued to grow, treating patients
with all types of lung diseases and adding
additional outpatient services. In 1975 the
Sixty-fourth Texas Legislature authorized a
$17.3 million expansion. On February 10,
1977, Governor Dolph Briscoe presided over
the groundbreaking of a new six-floor hospital
building; the old hospital became office space.
The most significant change occurred on
September 1, 1977, when the hospital became
the UT Health Center at Tyler, part of The
University of Texas System. The late State
Senator Peyton McKnight of Tyler sponsored a
bill that transferred the East Texas Chest
Hospital from the Texas Department of Health
to the UT System. Tyler leaders such as Royce
Wisenbaker, Sr., and Isadore Roosth provided
key support. With its specialization in lung
disease, UTHCT became the state referral
hospital for cardiopulmonary disease. Its
Below: The East Texas Chest Hospital
joined The University of Texas System
on September 1, 1977, becoming The
University of Texas Health Center at
Tyler. Shown at the ceremony in Tyler
from left are State Senator Peyton
McKnight, Texas Governor Dolph
Briscoe, UTHCT Director Dr. George
Hurst, UT System Chancellor E. Don
Walker, and Isadore Roosth.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 67

❖
Above: A new six-story hospital tower
was completed in September 1980.
New advances in healthcare
accompanied the new construction.
On November 8, 1983, UTHCT
physicians performed the first open
heart surgery in East Texas.
Below: On June 3, 2005, the Riter
Center for Advanced Medicine was
dedicated as thousands of blue and
orange balloons soared into the sky. It
was named after the late A.W. “Dub”
Riter, Jr., a longtime UTHCT
development board member and a
member of The UT System Board
of Regents.
primary mission was threefold: patient care,
education, and research.
In September 1980, UTHCT opened its new
six-story hospital tower. On November 8, 1983,
UTHCT physicians performed the first open
heart surgery in East Texas. That same year, Dr.
Allen B. Cohen, a prominent pulmonologist
from Temple University in Philadelphia, was
recruited to lead UTHCT’s fledgling biomedical
research program.
The Watson W. Wise Medical Research
Library, the only medical library between Dallas
and Shreveport, was dedicated in 1984. In 1985
construction of a $9 million, 71,000-squarefoot
Center for Biomedical Research began and
was completed in 1987.
In the area of education, a Family Practice
Residency Program opened in 1985. It was the
first graduate-level medical training program in
East Texas. With support from the Texas Chest
Foundation, the Texas Asthma Camp for
Children also began in 1985 and continues
today as the oldest, largest asthma camp in
the state.
In 1993 the Seventy-third Texas Legislature
established the Center for Pulmonary and
Infectious Disease Control (CPIDC) on the
Health Center campus. An Occupational
Medicine Residency Program began in 1995,
and UTHCT partnered with Stephen F. Austin
State University to offer master’s degrees in
environmental science and biotechnology.
The four-story, 80,000-square-foot Ambulatory
Care Center (ACC) opened in late 1996 at a cost of
$12.8 million. The third and fourth floors were left
unfinished, waiting for future growth. In 1998, Dr.
Hurst retired as director after thirty-four years and
Ronald F. Garvey, M.D., became the first president
of UTHCT.
In 2002, Dr. Garvey retired, and Kirk A.
Calhoun, M.D., became president. The third
floor of the ACC opened, becoming the new
home of the Primary Care Clinic, the Robert B.
Irwin Internal Medicine Clinic, and the Center
for Diabetes Care. The fourth floor opened in
the summer of 2005, with the Women’s
Wellness Center and surgical services located
there. In June 2005 the ACC became the Riter
68 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Center for Advanced Medicine, honoring the
late A. W. “Dub” Riter, Jr., a longtime UTHCT
friend and development board member and
member of the UT System Board of Regents.
The Seventy-eighth Texas Legislature
designated UTHCT in 2003 as the East Texas
Center for Rural Geriatric Studies, which has
become known as the Center for Healthy Aging.
In 2004 the $2.2-million Public Health Lab
of East Texas, a joint project of UTHCT and the
Texas Department of Health, opened on the
UTHCT campus. The lab enables researchers to
identify and study common and emerging
infections important to public health. For the
first time, UTHCT’s biomedical research funding
exceeded $10 million.
In April 2005 an $11.3 million, 30,000-
square-foot addition to the Center for
Biomedical Research opened with seventeen
new labs. In May 2005, to further its
educational mission, the Seventy-ninth Texas
Legislature gave UTHCT degree-granting
authority. In fall 2005, UTHCT received the
largest government-funded research grant in its
history: a $7.8-million grant from the National
Institutes of Health to study lung scarring.
UTHCT received eighty new grants in fiscal year
2005, totaling $11.3 million.
In the mid-1990s, the Research Council and
the President’s Council were established to
provide unrestricted funds to supplement
ongoing research projects, purchase special
equipment, and provide scholarships that
enhance Health Center research. At any one
time, physician researchers at UTHCT’s Center
for Clinical Research are conducting close to 150
clinical trials of new treatments for conditions
such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), diabetes, and pneumonia.
Currently, the Health Center has more than
sixty-five physicians in the areas of adolescent
health, adult/pediatric allergy and immunology,
aviation medicine, cardiovascular disease and
surgery, diabetes, family medicine, gastroenterology,
geriatrics, gynecology, infectious
disease, internal medicine, neurology, occupational
medicine, oncology, pediatrics,
adult/pediatric pulmonary disease, rheumatology,
sleep medicine, sports and travel medicine,
surgery, urology, and vascular disease.
The Health Center’s annual operating budget
for fiscal year 2006 is $121 million, and UTHCT
has more than 1,100 employees. In addition,
the level of charity care provided to East Texans
by the Health Center in fiscal year 2005
was more than $22 million. That same year,
UTHCT had about 174,000 outpatient visits
and just under 3,000 inpatient admissions.
These patients came from 128 of the 254
counties in Texas.
As the Health Center nears its sixtieth
anniversary, it continues in the words
of its mission, “to serve East Texas and
beyond through excellent patient care and
community health, comprehensive education,
and innovative research.”
❖
Above: An $11.3 million, 30,000-
square-foot addition to the Center for
Biomedical Research was dedicated on
April 6, 2005. The new wing added
seventeen research labs to the 71,000-
square-foot building, which was built
in 1987. In 2005 research funds
totaled about $9 million annually,
double what they were in 2000.
Below: UT Health Center has always
been a leader in pulmonary medicine.
From left, Dr. Leslie Couch, Dr. David
Griffith, and Dr. James Stocks are just
three examples of the excellent
specialists in lung disease at UTHCT.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 69

UNIVERSITY OF
TEXAS AT TYLER
❖
Above: UT Tyler Riter Millennium
Carillon Tower and Plaza.
Below: The David G. and Jacqueline
M. Braithwaite Building, home to the
UT Tyler College of Nursing and
Health Sciences.
From humble beginnings and a
first graduating class of only fiftythree,
the University of Texas at Tyler
has developed into the fastest growing
university campus in Texas.
UT Tyler was known by two other
names before joining the University of
Texas System in 1979. It began in 1971
as Tyler State College, the first state
university in the fourteen-county East
Texas planning region.
Harold J. McKenzie served as
chairman of the board and the college’s
first class formed in 1973–all 176 of
them. A year later, the college celebrated
its first commencement ceremony and
Tyler philanthropists James S. Hudnall,
George W. Pirtle and Isadore Roosth
donated land for what would become
a 204-acre campus.
Tyler State College became Texas
Eastern University by action of the
Sixty-fourth Texas Legislature. That
same year, the university awarded its
first master’s degrees. In 1976 the university
held its first classes on its new $42 million
nationally recognized campus. The university’s
growth and successes convinced the UT
System to add Texas Eastern University to
its family.
That became official by action of the Sixtysixth
Texas Legislature. Texas Governor Dolph
Briscoe signed the bill sponsored by State
Senator Peyton McKnight and State
Representative Bill Clark. A year later, the
university awarded its 2,000th academic degree.
In 1981 the Robert R. Muntz Library opened, a
$4.5 million facility that houses the largest
collection in the fourteen county East Texas
planning region.
UT Tyler enrollment surpassed 2,000 in 1982
and the Lindsey-Merrick Estate bequeathed
$10 million to the university. Two years
later, Texas voters added the university as
beneficiary of the state’s Permanent University
Fund, which provides proceeds from endowed
state funds for building construction and
saves taxpayers money.
In 1984 the university initiated the UT Tyler
Endowed Professorship Program, establishing
professorships for Mary John and Ralph Spence
and George W. and Robert S. Pirtle.
By 1990, UT Tyler had awarded its 10,000th
academic degree. The university initiated plans
for a joint baccalaureate studies program with
area community colleges and, in 1992; the
coordinating board authorized a master of
science in math, followed two years later by
authorizing a Master of Science degree in
biology. The men’s tennis team won its second
70 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

national title in 1994 and a year later
groundbreaking took place for the $22 million
UT Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing
Arts Center.
In 1997, the Texas Legislature approved
UT Tyler’s request to become a fouryear
university. That same year, the UT
Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing
Arts Center opened, featuring a 2,000-
seat Vaughn Auditorium, Braithwaite Recital
Hall and Meadows Arts Gallery.
UT Tyler admitted its first freshman class in
1998 and a year later initiated the UT Tyler
Presidential and Alumni Scholarship Program
for community and junior college transfer
students. The program is designed to improve
the affordability of a four-year college degree
and increase the number of college graduates in
the East Texas region.
In 1999, UT Tyler announced a multimilliondollar
building campaign to prepare for expected
growth in student enrollment. UT Tyler students,
recognizing the need for recreational facilities on
campus, approve a recreational facility fee to
fund the proposed Health and Kinesiology
Physical Education Complex.
Intercollegiate athletics came to UT Tyler in
2001 with the appointment of athletic directors
and NCAA Division III competition for both the
men and women’s tennis programs. That same
year, the UT Tyler Riter Millennium Carillon
Tower and Plaza is completed. With fifty-seven
bells, it is the largest carillon in Texas and one of
the largest in the nation.
Today, the University of Texas at Tyler is a
comprehensive four-year educational institution
offering excellence in teaching, research, artistic
performance and community service. It serves
students through its campuses in Tyler,
Longview and Palestine. It continues to
experience enrollment growth and in the fall of
2002 recorded the largest enrollment increase of
all fifteen campuses within the UT System. In
2004, enrollment growth rate led the state.
More than 5,500 students are enrolled at UT
Tyler in a typical semester.
❖
Above: Louise Herrington Patriot
Center.
Below: Braithwaite Building.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 71

The Associated Press cited
UT Tyler, based on data from
the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, as having
the highest percentage of freshman
and sophomore courses taught by
tenured or tenure-track professors.
More than seventy bachelor’s
and master’s degree programs
are offered through the university’s
five colleges. Those colleges
are Arts and Sciences, Business
and Technology, Education and
Psychology, Engineering and
Computer Science, and Nursing
and Health Sciences. Small classes
taught by outstanding faculty
members give many students the
benefits of a private university in
a public university setting.
Enrollment growth in the past
five years has led to a facilities
expansion. A 128,000-square-foot
academic and recreational facility
known as the Herrington Patriot
Center has been added to the
campus footprint. The center
includes classrooms, faculty offices, an indoor
walking/jogging track, racquetball court, fitness
equipment, free weights area, outdoor swimming
pool and gymnasium/convocation, which is home
to the Patriot basketball and volleyball teams.
The David G. and Jacqueline M. Braithwaite
Building features 37,000 square feet and
includes classrooms, a student lounge area,
conference room, study labs, computer labs,
nursing skills labs and faculty offices. The hightech
classrooms are equipped for interactive
television broadcasting to and from other sites.
UT Tyler has implemented thirteen
intercollegiate sports that will compete at NCAA
Division III. Sports include men and women’s
tennis, golf, soccer, cross country, basketball, as
well as baseball, softball and volleyball.
Construction has continued with groundbreaking
on the Engineering, Sciences and
Technology Building and Student Residence
Hall. The University of Texas Health Clinic
opened in 2004, and in 2005 construction
began on a new UT Health Clinic.
Strategic plans anticipate an enrollment of
8,000 students by 2010, and the campus
continues to expand to accommodate such
growth. East Texas residents can rest assured
that educational opportunities will increase and
improve as UT Tyler strives to make a quality
college education both affordable and accessible
to as many people as possible.
72 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

CARRIER
CORPORATION
UNITED
TECHNOLOGIES
Bryant Heater Company of Cleveland,
Ohio, came to Tyler in 1946. The original
plant employed approximately 250 employees.
Carrier Corporation purchased the Bryant
Heater Company in 1955, and in 1979 United
Technologies purchased Carrier Corporation.
The Tyler Carrier plant is celebrating its
sixtieth anniversary in 2006. The Tyler plant
manufactures residential and light commercial
heating and cooling units.
Carrier currently employs close to 1,300
employees and has manufacturing facilities over
500,000 square feet. The distribution center is
located eight miles from the manufacturing
facility and has 300,000 square feet indoors and
150,000 square feet outside.
Carrier’s impact to the local economy has
been significant through stable employment and
support for community groups and activities.
Carrier along side United Technologies
Corporation believes that its greatest legacy
should be a positive environmental impact.
From the development of environmentally
sound refrigerants to supporting local green
practices for low-income housing, Carrier is
making a difference!
Carrier is located at 1700 East Duncan Road
in Taylor, Texas. For more information, please
visit www.carrier.utc.com.
❖
Above: Carrier Corporation has been
making an impact on Smith County
for sixty years.
COURTESY OF THE SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 73

SOUTHSIDE
BANK
❖
Above: B.G. and Billie Hartley.
Below: Ribbon cutting ceremonies for
grand opening of Southside Bank.
Southside Bank is the largest independent
Bank, based on asset size, headquartered in East
Texas. Its Chairman and CEO, B. G. Hartley,
helped organize Southside and currently leads
the Bank’s senior management team. Hartley and
his wife Billie, along with eight other employees,
opened the first location at 1201 South Beckham
on October 3, 1960. Southside’s original Board of
Directors was B. G. Hartley, Murph Wilson, Dr. S.
W. Bradford, Bruce G. Brookshire, W. E. Curtis, T.
C. Harvey, Jr., E. L. Howard, W. H. Hudson, Jr.,
G. J. Loetterle, Edwin Russell, and A. Earl White.
Southside has in excess of $1.8 billion in
assets and continues to grow in the
communities it serves. The bank offers a full
range of financial services that include
consumer and commercial loans, deposit
accounts, trust services, personal banking, safe
deposit boxes, brokerage services, credit cards
and ATMs. The bank also has a full array of
Internet banking services such as Home Banker
and Business On-line. In addition to its
products and services, Southside’s customers
benefit from an extended banking week through
its grocery store branches that are open until 8
p.m. on weekdays and 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
Southside has consistently grown throughout
its more than four decades in business.
Although Tyler has been its main market,
through the years Southside has expanded into
neighboring communities. Southside entered
the Longview market in 1998 and opened its
fourth location there in 2002.
Two new branches were opened in 2002 in
Whitehouse, including a main branch on
Highway 110 North and a branch in the
Brookshire’s grocery store. Two additional
74 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

grocery store branches were opened in Tyler in
2002 and most recently, Southside opened three
locations in the Cedar Creek area.
Southside now operates thirty-five branches,
including grocery store locations, in the
communities of Tyler, Lindale, Longview,
Whitehouse, Flint, Jacksonville, Palestine,
Gresham, Athens, Seven Points, Gun Barrel
City, and Forney. Southside Bank employs over
600 people.
The success is attributed to following its
mission statement. It is Southside’s mission to:
• Be the premier financial institution in Texas;
• Provide quality, value-driven financial
products and services to the local
communities the Bank serves, its businesses
and its citizens;
• Create a challenging and stimulating work
environment that encourages and develops
excellence and loyalty;
• Preserve the Bank’s most important
asset, its customers and shareholders, by
understanding and providing for their
current and future financial service needs;
• Be a responsible citizen and business leader
of the communities the Bank serves;
• Maximize the Bank’s sustainable earnings,
retain sufficient capital for growth, and
provide shareholders with an acceptable
return on their investment; and
• Be flexible to change.
In support of its mission statement,
Southside remains community minded. That
means, in part, giving back to the community
by donating approximately five percent of
net profits to local charities and nonprofit
organizations.
The outlook for Southside Bank continues to
be bright. Plans are to continue to expand
throughout Texas and to meet the financial
needs of the communities it serves.
For further information about Southside
Bank, or to find a location near you, please
visit www.southside.com.
❖
Above: The opening of Southside State
Bank on October 3, 1960. Holding
charter are (from left to right)
Chairman Murph Wilson, President
and CEO B.G. Hartley, and
Commissioner of Texas Banking
Department J. M. Faulkner.
Below: Southside Bank today at 1201
South Beckham.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 75

CATHEDRAL
OF THE
IMMACULATE
CONCEPTION
❖
Above: The Altar of God stands as a
centerpiece of the Church’s sanctuary.
The Cathedral Center was dedicated
in 2000.
Below: Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception is located at Front and
South Broadway and was dedicated
in 1935.
When a group of people work
and sacrifice together, laugh, cry,
and pray together, they create a
common history and a rich
heritage that becomes an
essential element of their identity.
The people of Immaculate
Conception Church remember
a century of living. The
earliest memories go back to
the 1870s when the railroads
came to Tyler bringing with
them a number of Catholics.
Missionary priests journeyed
on horseback from Nacogdoches
and Palestine to minister to
the steadily growing community.
In 1878 this community was
no longer considered missionary.
It was at this time that
Immaculate Conception Parish
was established.
By 1880 the Catholic
population exceeded 200.
Property was purchased at the
corner of West Locust Street and North College
Avenue and a small wooden frame church was
built. The population of Immaculate
Conception Church continued to grow and
involve itself in the wider Tyler community.
There were times of adversity and
misunderstanding regarding their identity in
East Texas. Irish, German, Lebanese, and other
immigrants continued to establish themselves as
responsible citizens of Smith County in the best
tradition of the American dream.
During World War I and the subsequent
years, it became evident, due to increased
numbers, that the Catholic community had
outgrown its facility. Father Patrick J.F. O’Beirne,
pastor from 1914 to 1927, had already begun
collecting funds for a new church. Before twenty
years had passed, the discovery of oil brought to
East Texas more people in search of
employment, security, and stability. Among
these were many Catholics. It now became a
necessity of the Catholic people to have a new
church facility.
In 1927, Father Sebastian A. Samperi became
pastor. After repeated attempts to repair the old
church for continued use, he redoubled his
efforts to build a new one. He and the
parishioners corresponded with Bishop Joseph
P. Lynch of Dallas regarding plans to sell the
property and purchase new property at Front
Street and South Broadway on which to
construct a new church. Several years of
negotiations followed before approval was
finally received. Through great sacrifices of
wealth and energy, the new Immaculate
76 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Conception Church was built. It was dedicated
on Sunday, March 17, 1935. The building was
renovated and redecorated in 1949 and 1978.
The structure, which was designed in the
Spanish style, is reminiscent of the Spanish
heritage of Texas. It stands with nobility and
warmth at the corner of South Broadway Avenue
and Front Street. Since its dedication, it has
stood as a symbol of those first courageous
people who gave so totally of them so future
generations might experience and share their
Catholic roots and traditions.
In June 1978 the parishioners of Immaculate
Conception celebrated the 100th anniversary of
the parish. Three days of festivities were held
during which the people continually gave
thanks to God and to those who had gone
before them.
Remodeling of the parish offices was
completed in September of 1984; new offices, a
library and a large meeting room were added;
and, in December of 1986, the basement of the
church was named for and dedicated to Father
Sebastian Samperi, pastor during construction
of the present church.
In February 1987 the Tyler Diocese of East
Texas was formed from portions of the Dallas,
Beaumont, and Galveston-Houston Dioceses.
Immaculate Conception Church was designated
the Cathedral of the new diocese and is now
officially known as the Cathedral of the
Immaculate Conception.
The growth of the population continued and,
in 1996, St. Paul’s Chapel was added as a new
location for masses. Daily and Sunday mass is
celebrated here. In September 2000 a new
Cathedral Center, located on the grounds of the
Cathedral, was dedicated as a place for
receptions, classes, funeral luncheons, and all
manner of gathering for the parish family.
Over a century later, the mission of the
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception remains
the same—“to be a compassionate and faith-filled
community that lives the Gospel message through
worship, education, spiritual development, and
service to others. In so doing we become
examples of God’s love and compassion.”
❖
Left This gate leads to St. Gregory
Catholic School, a pre-kindergarten
through fifth grade parochial school
run by the parish of the Cathedral of
the Immaculate Conception.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 77

JERRY
VANDERGRIFF
PLUMBING
COMPANY, INC.
❖
Above: Johnny Vandergriff (far left),
1948.
Below: Jerry Vandergriff’s first
company truck, 1968.
Jerry Vandergriff is the second generation of
Vandergriffs to own and operate the plumbing
business that has been faithfully serving
customers since 1931. Over the years, Jerry
Vandergriff Plumbing Company, Inc. has always
focused the business upon treating people like
they want to be treated and working to make
everyone a returning customer. They realize the
value of repeat business is important because
that means a job well done!
Jerry’s uncle, Clyde Vandergriff, chose the
first name. He and his younger brother, Johnny,
arrived in Texas from Woodbury, Tennessee.
Working first for L.O. Layton Plumbing
Company in Corsicana, Texas, Clyde wanted to
be self-employed and own his own business. He
opened Clyde Vandergriff Plumbing on the heels
of World War II and ran it successfully with only
a third grade education. Clyde hired several
employees for large commercial jobs, including
his brother, Johnny. In addition to working for
large contractors around the state, Johnny
worked for Clyde for several years before going
into business for himself around 1951 and
opening Johnny Vandergriff Plumbing. The
business was successful as well and he had only
a fifth grade education.
Before Clyde passed away in 1959, he and
Johnny worked a number of historic downtown
Tyler buildings, including Citizens Bank,
Peoples Bank, Bryant Petroleum Building,
Blackstone Hotel, Cotton Belt Building, the
Catholic Church, and The Brown Derby. They
also worked on the General Electric Plant, area
schools, hospitals, motels and many south Tyler
custom-built homes. Johnny helped prepare an
early opening for Mother Francis Hospital when
medical care was needed after the tragedy at
New London School. They also worked on
Camp Fannin and Tyler State Park.
Growing up with a father in the plumbing
business made Johnny’s son, Jerry, a natural
78 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

with plumbing repairs, remodels, and sewer and
sink drain service. After graduating from high
school and working for his father, Jerry went
into business for himself and opened Jerry’s
Plumbing Company on March 1, 1968. Upon
his father’s death in 1973, Jerry changed the
name of the business to Jerry Vandergriff
Plumbing Company and became incorporated
on July 15, 1986.
The age-old saying of “needing more hands
for some jobs” inspired the company’s wellknown
logo. Jerry’s older brother Monty, who is
now deceased, had worked for their father for a
very short time. While in the Navy, Monty was
stationed in Japan when he saw a tattoo artist’s
rendition of an octopus. Jerry added the
bathtub, hat and plumbing tools that now
symbolize the company’s historic commitment
to its customers.
Among numerous projects, Jerry worked
for many years at the Caldwell Zoo until
D. K. Caldwell’s death and has recently been
privileged to work on the construction of
the Tyler Area Builders Association “Two Hour
House,” a massive undertaking and commitment
that earned local, state, and national
recognition as a new world record of 2 hours,
52 minutes, 29 seconds was set. Jerry also has
many third and fourth generation customers—
proof that repeat business is at the heart of
his business!
Jerry’s daughter, Connie, works full time for
the company and employs three people parttime,
including his youngest daughter, Tina. His
four grandchildren, Rogan, Carson, Lacy and
Kylie, have also helped clean their Papa’s shop
and trucks.
Jerry Vandergriff Plumbing Company, Inc. is
located at 3226 Spur 124 in Tyler.
❖
Above: Jerry Vandergriff, 1978.
Below: The Jerry Vandergriff
Plumbing Company truck, 2006.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 79

EDGAR H.
VAUGHN AND
THE VAUGHN
FOUNDATION
Smith County was lucky indeed, when
Edgar H. Vaughn relocated his family,
started a medical practice and fell in love
with East Texas. His background, starting
from nothing and becoming a successful
businessman and doctor with a true desire
to help others, helped make Tyler and Smith
County the thriving place it is today.
Edgar was born in Union Springs, Alabama
on February 22, 1876, to farmer parents, James
H. and India Goode Vaughn. Edgar learned
early on what it was like to struggle financially,
but he always carried a good heart and healthy
work ethic. His education began in the
public school system. Not being of wealthy
means, Edgar worked to pay for his education
through odd jobs, including picking cotton
and waiting tables.
❖
Top: Edgar H. Vaughn.
Middle: Lillie Mae Vaughn.
Bottom: Dr. Jim and Bonna
Bess Vaughn.
Many honors were bestowed upon Dr.
Vaughn in the medical field from the state,
county and American medical societies. He was
a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
and a charter member of the State Eye, Ear,
Nose and Throat Society–just to name a few.
A few months before his death, Dr. Vaughn
was quoted as saying, “I always have been
proud of coming to Tyler. I have had a
good practice, good friends and an opportunity
to get in on the ground floor of several
businesses.” Dr. and Mrs. Edgar Vaughn had one
son, James Miller Vaughn.
Dr. James Miller “Jim” Vaughn was raised and
educated in Tyler and received his bachelor’s
and medical degree from University of Texas
Dr. Vaughn’s path to becoming a well
respected Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist
began with a medical degree from the University
of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and took
him to Chicago, Fort Worth, New York, New
Orleans and Vienna, Austria.
In 1912, Edgar and his wife, Lillie Mae Miller
Vaughn, moved to Tyler. Dr. Vaughn established
a successful practice as the only EENT specialist
for many years. During that time, he was
also able to help many entrepreneurs along
the way, including the Peoples National
Bank and General American Oil Company of
Dallas. He served on many boards throughout
East Texas.
80 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Upon
graduation, Dr. Jim Vaughn returned to Tyler
to marry the love of his life, Bonna Bess Jones
in 1937.
Dr. Jim Vaughn began his career in
Oklahoma City, then to Tulane and his
residency in Dallas. In 1941, he entered
into medical practice with his father. Dr.
Jim Vaughn’s private medical practice
was soon interrupted when he served a
tour of duty with the Navy Medical Corps, and
became Lieutenant Commander Vaughn during
World War II.
Returning to Tyler after the war, Dr.
Jim Vaughn resumed his career and embarked
on many philanthropic endeavors. He has
been an active supporter of the East Texas
Deaf and Hearing, Prevent Blindness, Tyler
Teen Court, Junior Achievement, the YMCA
and Tyler Public Library. He, like his father,
also had a lucrative business career and
served on many boards.
Among the many awards and honors
that Dr. Jim Vaughn has received: the TJC’s
First Distinguished Alumni Award in 1962,
Texas Eastern School of Nursing’s 1977 “Dr.
of the Year” award, UTMB’s Distinguished
Alumnus Award in 1977, and the T.B. Butler
Award as Tyler’s Most Outstanding Citizen in
1993. In 1991, he received honors with his
wife, Bonna Bess, as the first recipient of the
Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award.
Jim and Bonna Bess have two children; a
son James M. Vaughn, Jr., who is married to
Salle Werner Vaughn and a daughter,
Bette Vaughn Benton, who is the widow of
Mathew Hall Benton. The Vaughn’s have three
grandchildren, Gina Benton Angulo, Britt and
Blake Benton, and seven great grandchildren.
With the Drs. Vaughn involved in so
many things for Tyler and Smith County,
it became obvious to them in 1952 that a
trust should be formed to help carry on
their legacy. The Vaughn Foundation was
established to fund religious, charitable,
scientific, literary and educational needs.
Over the years, this generous fund has
given birth to some well-known landmarks
in Tyler promoting cultural and educational
projects, including: the Vaughn Auditorium
at UTT, the Vaughn Library at TJC, the
Bonna Bess Vaughn Conservatory at TJC,
Vaughn Hall Dormitory at TJC and the
Vaughn Hall at All Saints Episcopal School
in Tyler. Scholarships have also been given
to many different schools. Dr. Edgar Vaughn
endowed the guest speaker program at
UTMB, Galveston and the East Texas
Hospital Foundation.
The Vaughn Foundation is still active
today, helping to better the lives of the
people in Tyler and Smith County. The
family’s deep-seated love of this state and
this area will be felt for generations to come.
❖
Above: Dr. Edgar Vaughn.
Below: Dr. Jim Vaughn, 2005.
COURTESY OF RCL PORTRAIT DESIGN.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 81

ANDREWS
CENTER
BEHAVIORAL
HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM
❖
Above: Mrs. Earl Andrews, Mrs.
Mildred Speights, Earl Andrews and
Isadore Roosth.
Below: Henry Bell, Jr., Earl Andrews,
Charles Childers, and Jack Jackson.
The Andrews Center is people helping
people to “build a better life.” So its history is
centered on key people building the pyramid of
building blocks that form its logo.
Andrews Center Behavioral Healthcare
System is a nonprofit, comprehensive mental
health diagnostic center serving a five-county
area of East Texas. The Center began providing
services in 1968 on a budget of $6,445, and in
the subsequent four decades has grown to
include a wide range of programs offered to
thousands of area residents.
The Center traces its roots to June 4, 1968,
when commissioners from Smith and Wood
Counties agreed to sponsor The Smith-Wood
County Mental Health and Mental Retardation
Center. The Center’s first office was located in
the jury room of the Smith County Courthouse,
where it operated until November 1, 1969,
when it relocated to the ninth floor of the Bryant
Petroleum Building in downtown Tyler.
Gary Smith, a native of Conroe, served as the
Center’s first director. The first board of trustees
included three people whose contributions were
crucial to the Center’s success.
Jack Jackson, a decorated Air Force veteran of
World War II and a leading Tyler attorney, was a
natural choice to preside over the board. His civic
involvement included a wide range of activities
from civic clubs to the Boy Scouts. His legal
expertise proved invaluable to the Center in
regard to state legislation creating MHMR centers.
Mildred Speights, a special education teacher
who started the first special education class in
Mineola, played an important part in convincing
Wood County commissioners to join the MHMR
effort. Wood County commissioners had
originally declined to participate in the project
because of budgetary constraints. She recalled
many years later that she had “gone everywhere
and seen everybody over a three-week period”
in an effort to enlist support.
The third member of this important
triumvirate was Earl C. Andrews, a successful
businessman who believed in giving back to the
community. He brought to the board a
successful combination of levelheaded business
practices mixed with personal compassion. He
was elected chairman of the Board of Trustees
on August 15, 1971, and was re-elected until
resigning from the board on April 25, 1991.
In 1974, Andrews encouraged Isadore
Roosth to bring his spirit of building a better
Tyler and quality of life to the care of persons
82 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

with mental disabilities. Roosth dedicated his
entire life to excellence in healthcare and
developed a passion for the treatment of these
individuals. During his eighteen years of service,
he brought to the mission the inspiration of the
“best facilities for the best professionals to
provide the best of care.”
State legislation that provided the initiative
for the development of local MHMR Centers
prohibited boards from borrowing money for
purchasing real estate. So the board voted to
create a private, nonprofit corporation that it
named East Texas Mental Health, Inc. Its
purpose was to develop adequate facilities,
provide a mechanism to borrow money for that
purpose and to provide a reduced cost for
housing center programs. At first, the boards of
MHMR and East Texas Mental Health, Inc., were
one in the same. But eventually a separate
board was created for East Texas Mental Health
and Jack Jackson moved to the corporation
board where he still serves as its chairman today.
Gary Smith resigned from the executive
director position in late 1977. In March the
board hired Richard J. DeSanto, a native of
Duluth, Minnesota, who brought a vast amount
of experience in mental health treatment and
administration to the Center. His education and
experience proved valuable in creating a period
of tremendous growth and progress.
On January 1, 1980, the Tyler/Smith County
Clinic moved from the Bryant Petroleum
Building to its current location at 2323 West
Front Street in Tyler. Regional clinics are now
located in Athens, Canton and Mineola. The
Andrews Center includes twenty-four other sites
such as group homes, adult day training,
supported employment, children’s programs, a
children’s residence, a child development and
treatment center and industrial labor services.
The Center has more than 350 employees,
serves more than 6,000 people each year and
has an annual budget of more than $20 million.
Today, George T. Hall, current board
chairman, states that the Andrews Center
stands on the threshold of even greater
accomplishments, a living symbol not only of
the dedication of Earl C. Andrews, but of the
devotion of all the men and women who have
given their lives to the cause of healing the sick
and helping those who cannot help themselves.
*Historical information for this article was taken
from a twenty-five year history of the Center
written by Dick Johns in 1991.
❖
Richard J. “Dick” DeSanto and Earl
Andrews.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 83

❖
RAMEY &
FLOCK, P.C.
Above: Thomas B. Ramey, Sr.
(1892-1967).
Below: Jack W. Flock (of counsel).
Great things often have humble
beginnings. Of this there is no better
example than Ramey & Flock, a Tylerbased
law firm that traces its roots to
1922, when Thomas B. Ramey, Sr.,
began the practice of law.
The firm’s longevity owes much to
Ramey’s commitments to improving
East Texas and practicing law at the
highest level. These deep, enduring
commitments garnered Ramey great
respect—so much so that his fellow
citizens for many, many years
addressed him as “Judge” even though
he never served in that capacity.
Ramey held positions of trust
throughout the community. A leader
in both civic and church affairs,
Ramey also was a founder and visible
force behind the Texas Rose Festival.
Jack W. Flock, the firm’s other
namesake, contributed greatly to the
firm’s reputation in his own right. In
the courtroom, Flock laid the
groundwork that has established
Ramey & Flock as one of the most
successful and well-regarded civil trial
defense law firms in the state. A Tyler
native and Tyler Junior College
graduate, Flock graduated from
the University of Texas School of
Law before returning home to
practice. In 1951, he joined the firm,
which by then had grown from the
solo practice of Judge Ramey to an
established firm with several
attorneys. Flock has served on the
Texas Rose Festival board, devoted
fifteen years to the Tyler Junior
College Board of Trustees, and
actively participated as a member of
the board of trustees of the First
Federal Savings and Loan Association
for an incredible fifty-six years.
Through the decades, the firm has
drawn upon the skills of many fine
attorneys. Judge Joe Sheehy, a
member of the firm for many years,
served with distinction as Judge of the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of
Texas, a position he held until death. Robert
Gerald Storey, founding president of the
Southwestern Legal Foundation and highly
regarded throughout the state, served as dean of
84 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

the Southern Methodist University School of
Law from 1947 to 1959. Tom Ramey, Jr., served
as president of the State Bar of Texas and
later was elected to the state’s Twelfth Court
of Appeals in Tyler, where he retired as
chief justice.
Today, the firm has three attorneys–Jack W.
Flock, Tracy H. Crawford and Tom
Henson–who are members of the American
College of Trial Lawyers, an invitation-only
honor bestowed on less than one percent of the
nation’s trial lawyers. Crawford, a past president
of the Baylor Law Alumni Association (1990-
91), was in 1995 named the Texas Trial Lawyer
of the Year by the Texas chapter of the American
Board of Trial Advocates. Henson, a past president
of the University of Texas Law Alumni
Association (1989-90), currently serves as vice
president of the Texas Association of Defense
Counsel, the largest organization of its kind in
the nation.
Today, Ramey & Flock defend individuals
and businesses in civil courts throughout Texas.
The firm’s expertise covers a wide range of
matters including: commercial litigation, labor
and employment, toxic tort, oil and gas,
healthcare, manufacturing, insurance transportation,
Internet, and telecommuni-cations
issues. The firm continues to recruit and develop
bright, hard-working lawyers to carry on the
tradition of excellence, commitment, and service
that make Ramey & Flock a top-flight firm.
Now, as before, the firm is committed to
solving its clients’ problems. When required, the
firm’s attorneys step confidently into court to
defend their clients’ interests with skill and
integrity. The firm has weathered name changes
and relocations. But it has never wavered
from Judge Ramey’s initial commitments. True
to those deep roots, the firm continues to
provide responsive, accountable and reliable
representation twenty-four hours a day, seven
days a week.
Ramey & Flock is located conveniently
across the street from the Smith County
Courthouse, at 100 East Ferguson, Suite 500 in
Tyler, Texas, in the Regions Bank Building and
on the Internet at www.rameyflock.com.
❖
Top row (from left to right): Seth
Evans, Brian Craft, Greg Smith,
Justin Lindley, Andy Stinson, and
Nathaniel Moran. Middle row: Paul
Gilliam, Jamy Skaggs, Shannon
Dacus, Deron Dacus, Rosemary
Jones, Eric Findlay, and Ron Vickery.
Bottom row: Tracy Crawford, the
Honorable Thomas B. Ramey, Jr. (of
counsel), Jack W. Flock (of counsel),
and Tom Henson.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 85

KEYSTONE
CREDIT UNION
❖
Above: M.J. Harvery, Sr.
Bottom: Tyler Pipe trucks.
Keystone Credit Union officially began
on March 5, 1964, under the name of
Tyler Pipe Industries Inc. Employee Credit
Union. M.J. Harvey, Sr., owner of Tyler Pipe
Industries, founded the nonprofit financial
institution to protect his employees.
Harvey believed local financial institutions
were taking advantage of his employees by
charging high interest rates on loans, so in
February of 1964 the executives of Tyler Pipe
met to discuss the issue. The meeting turned out
to be the credit union’s first organizational
meeting. Tyler Pipe executives formed the credit
union’s structure from the president to the
supervisory committee and filed the proper
papers with the State Banking Commission.
Tyler Pipe executives were the credit union’s
original depositors. They each deposited $50
and paid a 25-cent entry fee. The credit union
opened its doors with $552.75, a far cry from
the $40,482,364.21 in total assets the credit
union reported in June of 2005. Its success can
be attributed to several factors, including strict
adherence to its mission statement to “provide
its members with the best possible financial
services at fair and favorable rates and terms to
meet the members’ needs.”
The company supported the credit union by
providing office space, posting machinery, office
furniture and staffing at no cost.
Various regulatory and board policies also
kept the credit union solvent by making it easier
for credit unions to operate in Texas and making
the credit union more attractive to Tyler Pipe
employees. Protecting its members has always
come first at Keystone Credit Union. It
demonstrated this in the early days by providing
life insurance and, as growth permitted, more
flexible loan policies. Another example of its
dedication to members occurred in the late
1960s during a wildcat strike when the credit
union allowed striking workers to delay loan
86 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

payments until they went back to work.
Although unpopular with regulators, the move
helped cement the bond between the financial
institution and its members.
Examples of Tyler Pipe’s generosity and
support for the credit union are numerous. The
company knew that employees able to work out
their financial problems without difficulty would
be better employees. In the early seventies, the
company loaned the credit union $100,000 at no
interest to cover several loans for the members. A
decade later, the company helped the credit
union construct its own facility by selling land at
a reduced price near the main gate. It also
engineered the project at no cost and built the
2,800-square-foot building at below-market cost.
The credit union expanded member services
wherever possible. Those services included
total and permanent disability insurance,
temporary disability insurance, All Savers
Certificates, Individual Retirement Accounts and
other financial products and services its
members required.
The credit union’s first president/manager,
J. W. Gresham retired in 1982. Credit union
directors searched for a replacement and found
the perfect replacement in Leroy Hugghins, the
assistant manager since 1972 with fourteen years
with the company. Gresham deserves much
credit for nurturing the fledgling institution from
its genesis to the successful financial institution.
The credit union continues to expand its
services, update operations, broadening the
membership base and institute various measures
to protect members as well as the assets of
Keystone Credit Union. Their efforts have paid off.
In recent years the National Credit Union
Association reported that Keystone Credit
Union’s capital ratio, an important indicator of
the credit union’s financial strength, is in the top
two percent in the nation. In the years to come,
changes will dictate the need for new
technologies, more services and changes in the
way Keystone Credit Union conducts business.
But one thing will never change: Keystone’s
commitment to putting members first and
providing them with the best-possible financial
services at fair and favorable rates and terms.
❖
Above: Construction of Rice Road
Branch.
Below: Left to right; John Prater,
Bobby Hopson, Gevenia Bircher,
Barry Patterson, Charles Kennedy,
and Don Wilkerson.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 87

LOGGINS MEAT
COMPANY, INC.
❖
Above: Loggins Wholesale Market
early in the twentieth century.
Below: An early fleet of Loggins trucks
stand ready for loading outside the
historic meat company.
Bob D. Loggins established Loggins Meat
Company, Inc. at its present location in Tyler in
1940. Today, across the country and in many
other parts of the world, “Loggins” is regarded
as a major player in food processing and
distribution. Well-known for its superb
capability as a specification compliance
processor of pre-portioned meat products,
Loggins Meat Company is designed to custom
tailor their products and services to meet
customer’s specific needs.
In the early years, sales were primarily to
restaurants, hotels, and hospitals in the
surrounding East Texas area. Production
capacity was only a few thousand pounds per
week, which consisted of a combination of beef,
pork, and poultry. The employee base at that
time was made up primarily of family members
including two sons, Larry and Ron Loggins,
along with Randy Parker, each of which is no
longer active in the business.
Today, Loggins Meat Company, Inc. has
grown from its humble beginning and now
boasts two U.S.D.A. inspected state-of-the-art
facilities totaling over 150,000 square feet, and
a production capacity of more than one million
pounds per week. The customer base includes
most of the national as well as many regional
chain restaurants that have risen in popularity
in recent years. It takes many skilled
professionals to get the job done and
fortunately, the company has a highly trained
and dedicated staff of over four hundred whose
joint goal is to satisfy the desires of each and
every customer. All operations are conducted
under the principles of “Total Quality Control”
and utilize state-of-the-art computerized steak
cutters, injection and tumbling equipment
along with fresh hand cutting processing lines to
ensure product consistency. Additionally, the
company incorporates blast-freezing technology
to enhance the shelf life of all of the products
88 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

produced. Food safety is a priority. To
compliment a stringent in-house program, we
utilize an annual sanitation audit by a thirdparty
laboratory. Additionally, through
implementation of a Hazard Analysis of Critical
Control Points, all employees have been
converted into a “quality team” that is
committed to producing safe and wholesome
products. Loggins Meat Company also utilizes a
“Microbiological Monitoring Program” to
guarantee all production equipment, processing
areas and finished products are free of potential
food borne pathogens. All of these steps to
provide safe food products are encompassed
under a rigid bio-terror program.
Loggins Meat Company is proud of our
extensive product development capabilities.
Our team consists of highly qualified Research
and Development professionals who have had
hands-on experience throughout the food
service industry as well as with industrial
manufacturers. Our large selection of preseasoned
and unseasoned U.S.D.A. graded beef
products is second to none in the industry. In
addition to our fine beef products, we also
provide a large selection of high quality pork,
poultry, fish and specialty items such as ground
beef and breaded items. If desired all of our
products can be further enhanced with our
award-winning “Signature Series” marinades,
rubs and topical seasonings.
As the current Chairman and CEO of Loggins
Meat Company, Inc., Bobby G. Loggins,
who has been affiliated with the business
since 1974, has set forth high standards
that have been incorporated into its mission of
providing food products and associated services
that will attract and retain a growing customer
base, offering a work environment that will
entice and retain a dedicated employee base,
creating an attractive environment that serves to
attract and enhance all necessary supplier
relationships, and maintaining an environment
that will provide an acceptable level of return
on investment.
Loggins Meat Company, Inc. is located at
1908 East Erwin in Tyler, and on the Internet at
www.loggins-meat.com.
❖
Above: Bob D. Loggins pauses as a
photographer captures the famed red
trucks and Loggins logo.
Below: Loggins Meat Company’s large,
state-of-the-art facilities in 2006.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 89

RUDD
CONTRACTING
CO., INC.
Rudd Contracting Co., Inc., is a Christian
owned and operated business serving the
plumbing and fire sprinkler needs of customers
throughout northeast Texas. The business began
around 1920 when Alex Kindsfather founded
the company.
Four years later, Kindsfather Plumbing hired
a man named T. J. “Jeffey” Rudd. Jeffey went to
work driving a horsedrawn plumbing wagon
and learning the business from the ground up, a
practice that would become a family tradition
for subsequent generations of Rudds.
Jeffey became a partner in Kindsfather
Plumbing in 1943. A year later, Kindsfather
passed away, and his widow sold her share of
the business to her husband’s partner. Rudd
Plumbing and Heating was born.
The company incorporated in 1955 with T. J.
Rudd named as president of the corporation. He
passed the company on to his son, Richard
O. Rudd, in 1970 after retiring with almost
fifty years experience in the plumbing
profession. Now that Richard has retired, a
third generation of Rudds has acquired the
reins with a fourth generation training to
assume its leadership role within the company
some day.
Ricky Rudd serves as president of the
company. He began as a plumber’s apprentice
in 1971 and worked his way up the corporate
ladder. He holds a Master Plumber License
in Louisiana and a Texas Journeyman Plumber
License. He was named president of the
company in 1995.
Rodney Rudd, vice president and plumbing
estimator, joined the company in 1977 as a
plumber’s apprentice. He worked as a field
foreman for most of his twenty-seven years in
90 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

the plumbing field. He now is in the office
where he works with clients to put together
estimates and proposals for plumbing work. He
holds a Texas Master Plumber License, a Texas
Medical Gas Certificate and a Louisiana
Journeyman Plumber License.
Ross Rudd, vice president and service
manager, began as a plumber’s apprentice
in 1982. He has more than two decades
of experience working on both new and
remodeled projects and service work. He
serves as the company’s service manager and
oversees scheduling of repair plumbers
and helps clients with service-related questions.
He holds Texas and Louisiana Journeyman
Plumber Licenses and a Texas Medical
Gas Certification.
David Rudd, general manager, began his
fire sprinkler career with Rudd Contracting
Co., Inc., in 1984. He has more than
twenty years of experience in estimating, sales,
and design of all types of automatic waterbased
fire protection systems. After a nineand-a-half
year absence from the company,
David rejoined the team as general manager.
His primary responsibilities involve overseeing
the day-to-day operations of the fire sprinkler
division. He holds a Level IV certification
from the National Institute for Certification
in Engineering Technologies, Texas Responsible
Managing Employee License and an associate’s
degree from Tyler Junior College.
Rudd Contracting Co., Inc., is a full-service
plumbing and fire sprinkler contractor. It offers
plumbing repair services for residential,
commercial, industrial and institutional
customers, and its service plumbers are the best in
the business. The plumbing construction division
can handle new and remodel plumbing needs.
Whether it’s a new, complete plumbing system for
commercial buildings or a remodel of a bathroom
or kitchen, Rudd Contracting Co. is the one to call.
The fire sprinkler division offers sales,
design, fabrication, inspection, testing, maintenance
and installation of fire sprinkler
systems. Rudd Contracting can install fire
sprinklers in warehouses, retail space, homes or
any other facility.
Rudd Contracting is a proud member of Better
Business Bureau, National Association of
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors, National
Fire Protection Association, QSC: Quality Service
Contractors, NFIB, American Fire Sprinkler
Association, Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce,
Texas Fire Sprinkler Contractors Association and
Tyler Area Builders Association.
Rudd Contracting is a unique family-owned
and -operated business. Owners and employees
are honored and blessed to be part of the
tradition of excellence for which the Tyler area
is known.
Rudd Contracting Co., Inc. may be found on
the Internet at www.ruddcontracting.com or its
office at 1502 East Erwin in Tyler, Texas.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 91

JOHN SOULES
FOODS
In 1954, James and Larkey Thompson forged
the partnership of Thompson Brothers’ Meats
that became the foundation of what is now
known as John Soules Foods, Inc. The two
Thompson brothers later built Country Jim’s
Meats, a beef kill and processing operation, to
meet the growing demand for processed
hamburger patties in restaurant chains. Country
Jim’s Meats delivered product to its customers in
refrigerated bobtail trucks.
John Soules joined his uncles, the Thompson
brothers, in the operation in 1977 and the
trio began expanding and streamlining the
manufacturing process with state-of-theart
processing equipment. In 1980, the company
ceased its cattle-boning operations and focused on
further processing of boxed beef. The company
flourished and exceeded $2 million in annual
sales in 1984. Then, in 1985 Soules purchased the
business from the Thompson brothers and John
Soules Foods, Inc. (JSF) was formed.
Seeing the need to expand geographically
to compete with larger processors, John’s older
son, Mark, joined the company as vice president of
sales in 1987. John and Mark worked together in
establishing an annual sales goal of $50 million by
2000. Mark’s extensive sales experience with a
large food broker in Texas coupled with the
refocused company fueled JSF’s sales to $3.5
million in 1987, and steadily increased sales
volume to nearly $10 million by 1991.
John Soules Foods, Inc. chose to differentiate
itself in the marketplace by providing superior
quality products and exceptional customer service.
By early 1992, John and Mark realigned JSF’s
product mix to focus on value added products
including portion-cut steaks and marinated fajitas.
This change in direction fueled sales to a new high
in excess of $1million a month during 1993.
John strongly believed that the best way to
learn a job is to “roll up your sleeves and get
involved.” It was this philosophy that led John
to bring his younger son, John II, into the
business to work on the production lines during
high school and throughout his college years.
John II joined the accounting staff in 1993 and
assumed the duties of vice president of
Operations in 1994. JSF enjoyed annual doubledigit
growth until tragedy struck in 1994.
In April 1994 a catastrophic fire destroyed the
company’s main manufacturing facility and
production equipment and JSF was faced with the
challenge of completely rebuilding the business
from the ground up. For the Soules, quitting was
92 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

not an option. During the next two years,
production was maintained by operating out of a
leased facility owned by Southwest Foods, a
division of the Brookshire Grocery Company.
During this two-year period, a new production
facility, nearly five times the size of the original
plant, was completed, enabling JSF to quadruple
its workforce and providing the necessary capacity
to increase sales and production more than fivefold
in the years following the fire. Less than one
year after the fire, the company’s sales were back
stronger than ever and on a pace to exceed $17
million per year.
The fire was the catalyst that ignited the
company’s new growth. It forced the company to
examine the future of the food industry and the
role that JSF would play within that industry. The
combination of the company’s dedicated
employees, its loyal customers, its exceptional
products, and first class customer service has been
the source of its sustained growth. Sales surpassed
$35 million in 1997 and over $48 million in 1998.
JSF shipped nearly 40 million pounds of product
in 1999 with sales in excess of $61 million (this
performance exceeded the original goal of $50
million by twenty-two percent one year ahead of
schedule). For the first time in the company’s
history, product shipments exceeded one million
pounds per week in early 2000. By the end of fiscal
year 2005, JSF’s annual sales exceeded $113
million. During 2006, JSF will be bringing online
an additional 120,000 square feet of new
production space that will be filled with the latest
technology and high speed cooking equipment.
The new facility will be a showcase food
processing plant and will position John Soules
Foods as a major force in America’s food
processing industry.
Since the fire in 1994, JSF’s focus and product
mix have dramatically changed from generic
hamburger to customized charbroiled, kettlecooked
products, and portion-controlled fajitas.
The company’s management team is striving to
expand JSF’s exposure, performance, and markets
through retail grocery and national chain accounts
as well as international distribution channels. JSF
is well on its way of meeting its next sales goal of
$250 million by 2010.
John Soules Foods’ sincere desire is for
everyone to have the wonderful experience of
eating a meal featuring its products. John Soules
Foods is fast developing the worldwide
reputation of being “The Fajita Company.”
Our real success has just begun!
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 93

FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH OF
TYLER
❖
First Presbyterian Church in Tyler.
First Presbyterian has served as a
beacon of hope in Tyler for over
a century.
William Nathaniel Dicky came to Tyler, a
“small but lively and promising place,” on a
Saturday in September 1869. Armed only with a
vision that he was to establish a Presbyterian
church, Dickey was told the town had no
Presbyterians, but he did meet John Neal, a
Methodist who invited him to church to meet
their new pastor. Dickey soon was preaching
every other week in a loaned building to as
many as 120 people.
The first congregation of Presbyterians met in
a frame building on the corner of Spring and
Line Streets. In 1883 a beautiful sanctuary was
built on Ferguson Street where 160 members
met for weekly services. Another church
building was constructed on Broadway and Elm
in 1914, where the congregation worshipped
through 1950. Architect Mark Lemmon was the
visionary of a new Georgian-style church for the
congregation in the 1950s. Located at 230 West
Rusk, the beautiful building has become a
landmark in the city and home to First
Presbyterian Church for more than a half
century now.
Layman Swanson Yarbrough was
instrumental in bringing 612 new members to
the church during the 1950s. Regarded as the
“Fisher of Men,” Yarbrough and others saw their
beloved congregation expand from 950 to 1350
during that one-decade.
Today at First Presbyterian Church two
pastors serve a membership of nine hundred.
Twelve additional staff members assist with
programs and support. First Presbyterian Church
played a major role in establishing PATH (People
Attempting to Help) in the mid-1980s. PATH is
now an established community agency assisting
needy citizens of Tyler and Smith County,
supported by local churches in the Tyler area.
The mission of First Presbyterian Church of
Tyler is “to love God (Father, Son and Holy
Spirit) with all our hearts and minds; to love our
neighbor, near at hand and far away, as we love
ourselves; and to go into all of life with the
Good News of God’s love in Christ.”
More information about Tyler’s historic First
Presbyterian Church can be found at
www.fpctyler.org or by contacting them directly
at (903) 597-6317.
94 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

The Arthritis & Osteoporosis Clinic of
East Texas is an independent rheumatology
practice founded in Tyler in March of
2001 by Dr. William Brelsford. A Tyler
native and 1973 graduate of Robert E. Lee
High School, Dr. Brelsford’s mother and
grandparents are both from the Longview
area, where he also practiced rheumatology
for two years before joining The UT Health
Center at Tyler.
Dr. Brelsford received his BA in chemistry
from Southern Methodist University in
Dallas in 1977 and received his medical
degree in 1981 from the UT Medical Branch
at Galveston. Dr. Brelsford then moved
to Dallas to pursue his internship and
residency in the area of internal medicine
and served as Chief Resident at Methodist
Medical Center in Dallas. While continuing
his education in the area of rheumatology,
he became Board Certified in Internal Medicine.
At the time, Dr. Brelsford was trained
in rheumatology under the direction of
Dr. Don Smiley and Dr. Sterling Moore
at Presbyterian Hospital and The University
of Texas Health Science Center, both in
Dallas. After completing his training and
fellowship in rheumatology and research
under the guidance of Dr. Robert Wolf
of LSU Medical School in Shreveport,
Dr. Brelsford returned to Dallas to
ARTHRITIS & OSTEOPOROSIS CLINIC
work with Dr. Don Cheatum at the Dallas
Medical and Surgical Clinic. As his family
grew, Dr. Brelsford was drawn back to the
small town environment of his East Texas
home and opened his own practice in Longview
in 1988.
With the founding of the Arthritis
& Osteoporosis Clinic of East Texas in 2001,
patients are now offered a wide array of
comprehensive services in the evaluation,
diagnosis and treatment of arthritis, lupus, gout,
rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis,
bursitis and scleroderma. Care includes
osteoporosis evaluations, screening, and
treatment, joint injection therapy,
conservative management–non-surgical
interventions, on-site laboratory, onsite
infusion therapy, exercise and
nutrition evaluation and referral, openenvironment
and extremely accurate MRI
for small joints, knees, feet, hands,
and wrists, DRX unit which provides
safe, gentle, selective traction for
lower back pain, and Dexa Scan, a dual
photon densitometry scan to check
for osteoporosis.
The Arthritis and Osteoporosis Clinic
is located at 1212 Clinic Drive at
Magnolia Street in Tyler and on the
Internet at www.aoclinictyler.com or by
calling 903-596-8858.
❖
Above: The Arthritis and Osteoporosis
Clinic is located at 1212 Clinic Drive
in Tyler, Texas.
Left: Dr. William Brelsford.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 95

GILBERT’S
EL CHARRO
RESTAURANTS
Gilbert’s El Charro Restaurants have been
serving quality Mexican food in the Tyler area
for more than six decades. This Smith County
institution began in 1943 when Gilberto
Ramirez, Sr., opened El Charro Mexican Café
at 1433 East Erwin Street with help from
a partner.
Gilberto Sr. quickly bought out his partner
and changed the name to Gilbert’s El Charro,
the name it continues to operate under today. A
second location bears the name Gilbert’s El
Charro # 2.
Like any successful man, Gilberto Sr.
relied on the support and assistance of his
wife, Arabelia, whom he met and married
while visiting his home in Reynosa, Mexico in
1948. The couple brought seven children into the
world. Gilbert Jr., Tony, Gus, Rudy, Ana, Rosa, and
Martha would all work in the family’s restaurants
at one time or another.
Business grew along with the Ramirez
family itself. In 1953, Gilberto Sr. moved
the restaurant further east on Erwin to
its present location at 2604 East Erwin
Street. Then, in 1961, Gilberto Sr. opened
a second location on Fifth Street and named
it Gilbert’s El Charro #2.
Gilberto Sr. passed away in 1975 and
Arabelia assumed ownership. The Ramirez
children began to take a larger role in running
the business and continue to work in both
restaurants to this day.
The business owes its success to loyal
customers that El Charro’s owners and
employees greet by name and by loyal
employees that have worked at the restaurant
for many years. Lino Cerda began working for
El Charro the day it opened in 1943 and has
spent many years as the head cook at the second
El Charro restaurant. Pablo Molina, head cook
at the original restaurant, has worked with the
company the second longest.
Gilbert’s El Charro looks forward to serving
Tyler-area residents for decades to come.
The third generation of the Ramirez family is
ready to continue the tradition of serving fine
Mexican and American dishes in a friendly,
comfortable atmosphere.
Gilberto Sr. ran the restaurants for thirty
years and, since 1975, his children have carried
on that tradition. He would no doubt be proud
to know that subsequent generations have taken
up the torch and are bringing honor to the
legacy that he began for the family in 1943.
96 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Tyler, the largest community in East
Texas, began more than 150 years ago on
a piece of high ground that now stands as
the town square. They are located 95
miles east of Dallas/Fort Worth and 95
miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana.
With a population of more than
100,000, Tyler offers the cultural diversity,
quality education, healthcare and
recreational opportunities you might not
expect in a city our size. And yet Tyler has
maintained the hometown friendliness
and quality of life that make small
communities American treasures.
You will find plenty of reasons to visit
Tyler. Spring finds the area bursting
with vivid colors brought forth by
azaleas, dogwoods and spring flowers.
Tyler has earned the nickname “The Rose
Capital of America.” The city celebrates
these beautiful offerings from nature during
the Texas Rose Festival held the third weekend
in October.
Tyler is home to Tyler Junior College, Texas
College and the University of Texas at Tyler.
These well-regarded educational institutions
offer undergraduate as well as master’s
degree programs. Tyler is also home to the
University of Texas Health Center along
with four other hospitals. These facilities
consistently receive top ratings for quality care,
emergency services and research and
continually expand to keep pace with the
region’s growing population.
The East Texas Council of Government
has qualified Tyler as the first Certified
Retirement City in Texas. That means Tyler
meets high standards for retiree living such
as a low crime rate, affordable housing,
quality healthcare, abundant recreation and
educational opportunities.
Tyler’s many family oriented attractions
include the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden &
Rose Museum, Caldwell Zoo, Tyler Museum of
Art and the Discovery Science Place Children’s
Museum, Hudnall Planetarium, Camp Ford,
Brookshire’s World of Wildlife, Smith County
Historical Society Museum and Tyler State Park
offer additional activities. And don’t forget the
Goodman Museum and Historic Aviation
Memorial Museum.
Tyler is also home to an active fine and
performing arts community, several festivals, a
warm climate, a positive business atmosphere
and recreational activities at twenty-fiveprime
sporting lakes and nine private and public golf
courses. Tyler is a great weekend getaway with
more than twenty antique shops, First Monday
Trade Days in nearby Canton and Tyler Market
Center, held every third weekend of the month.
You owe it to yourself to visit Tyler and see
why we’re the capital city of East Texas!
For more information on Tyler and surrounding
areas, please visit www.tylertexas.com.
TYLER AREA
CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE
❖
Below: Lake Palestine.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 97

GREGORY REAL
ESTATE AND
PROPERTY
MANAGEMENT
❖
Above: Chuck Gregory was recently
elected to the Texas Association of
Realtors. He will serve as Director
commencing 2006 for a period of
three years.
Below: Cindy Gregory.
Chuck and Cindy Gregory opened the doors
to Gregory Real Estate and Property
Management in 1983 after a fatal car accident
took the life of their former employer, Mr. Lucas
of Baker Lucas Real Estate. Those were the days
of one-page contracts, no home inspections and
escrow accounts housed within real estate
companies. Although much about the industry
has changed, the mission of Gregory Real Estate
and Property Management has not. Chuck and
Cindy strive to offer peace of mind while
protecting the individual rights of real estate
ownership in Tyler.
Combining seventy years of realty
experience, Chuck and Cindy have each
enjoyed successes in their own right. Cindy was
named Realtor of the Year in 1999 and Chuck
received the same award in 2001. Both are
active in the Greater Tyler Association of
Realtors, where Chuck served as president in
1999 and Cindy currently serves as presidentelect.
Chuck is on the Board for Professional
Standards at the local and state level and has
been appointed as a Director for the Texas
Association of Realtors for a three year term.
In 1994 the couple purchased their company
headquarters at 6616 South Broadway. Though
Chuck was concerned that the location might be
too far out of town, Gregory Real Estate and
Property Management has flourished. Today, it is
one of the few companies in Tyler that has been
in business since 1983 and remains locally
owned, while managing three hundred properties
every month. The staff of Gregory Real Estate and
Property Management includes four brokers and
four sales people who take pride in the
community of Tyler and what it has to offer. With
wonderful career opportunities, beautiful area
lakes and a moderate seasonal climate, Tyler is
the perfect home for the company.
Chuck and Cindy know the importance
of community involvement and show support in
many ways. They hold memberships
in Ducks Unlimited, Henry Marsh Bell Masonic
Lodge #1371, Sharon Shrine Temple, National
Rifle Association, Better Business Bureau, Tyler
Area Builders Association, and Tyler Chamber of
Commerce. Through the local Greater Tyler
Association of Realtors they contribute to
Habitat for Humanity, Path, Tyler Community
Homes and the Peace Officers Dinner. The
company has also sponsored several children’s
sports teams over the years.
For more information from Gregory Real
Estate and Property Management, visit
www.GregoryRealtors.com, a one stop source
that includes homes for sale and area
information for Tyler and surrounding areas,
and great advice on buying and selling,
relocation and mortgages.
98 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

AUTOMATIC
GAS COMPANY,
INC.
Founded in 1931 by Herbert C. Pittman, the
historic Automatic Gas Company, Inc. was at
the cutting edge of customer service and a
pioneer in the liquefied petroleum gas business
in Tyler. As the oil boom exploded across
the area, an influx of new residents settled in
the “once-sleepy communities” of Kilgore,
Longview, Gladewater and Overton–and a
new venture for Automatic Gas Company was
born. Rural customers living near these
towns were soon receiving “Service Where
the Gas Line Ends.”
Among the most dramatic changes of the
period was that of life on the farm. Everything
from warm homes and hot water heaters to
refrigerators and washing machines was now
available. Pittman knew the transformation
would become an important component in his
company and an innovative campaign was
launched, proclaiming that “Home-sweet-home
can be sweeter with Automatic Gas System.”
In 1935, Automatic Gas Company joined
forces with Exxon USA, and by the time
of Pittman’s death in 1956, the company’s
LP-gas sales spanned hundreds of miles.
Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Francis began their
leadership of the company as Mrs. Francis
was named president, Mr. Francis became
vice president and Charlie Jones became vice
president and general manager.
Today the company supplies over twenty
thousand propane customers out of its main
facility in Tyler and from ten branch stores in
Jacksonville, Longview, Emory, Quitman,
Gilmer, Henderson, Kemp, Terrell, Troup,
Campbell, and Canton. After diversifying into
manufacturing portable gas stoves under the
guidance of Mr. Francis in 1962, Automatic Gas
Company, Inc. has enjoyed great favor among
backyard chefs, hunters, and fisherman.
Produced in the basement of their store in Tyler,
the stove is one of many items sold in the
appliance center located on the first floor of the
same building.
Now in business for over seventy years,
Automatic Gas Company, Inc. continues to
find ways of expanding its services and offering
the very best in customer service and
satisfaction in the twenty-first century. At
the company’s golden anniversary in 1981,
Mrs. Francis recalled, “Automatic Gas has gone
through many changes in its lifetime but
we like to think that one thing has never
changed…our company’s policy of always
trying to be first with improved service for
people in rural areas beyond natural gas lines.”
❖
Automatic Gas Company, then
and now.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 99

DEASON’S
PHARMACY
❖
Above: Aloah and O. L. “Neighbor”
Deason at the 409 West Erwin
location in 1943.
Below: Jim Deason stands in front of
the pharmacy located along Dallas
Highway in 2005.
Aloah Eva Gaar Deason
graduated from Tulane University
College of Pharmacy in 1926. Upon
graduating with a class that
included two other women, she
returned to Dodson, Louisiana
where her father, David Michael
Gaar, owned a drug store. As the
Great Depression began to take its
toll on the small town, the family
loaded their truck with building
materials and moved to the growing
oil-boom town of New London.
As he opened Gaar City Drug
Store, David Michael knew the
town was a rugged place and did
not think Aloah should stay.
While he and Aloah’s brother
Kermit continued to operate the
New London drug store, he
moved the rest of the family to
Tyler and opened another store in
the Wheeler Memorial Hospital,
where Aloah became the
pharmacist at Hospital Pharmacy.
It was located at 409 West Erwin, across the
street from the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
According to an old label that was placed on
their prescription bottles, “your horn at our
curb is our starter” was their motto. This was,
perhaps, the predecessor to the modern drivethru
window.
In the early 1930s Aloah met and married
O. L “Neighbor” Deason and the name of the
drug store was eventually changed to Deason’s
Pharmacy. It included a popular fountain that
featured Kelpen’s Ice Cream. Also, Deason, a
talented sign maker, always made sure the store
was dotted with “specials” signs done in his
beautiful old English script.
Though their partnership was briefly
interrupted by Neighbor’s U.S. Army service
during World War II, the couple continued to
operate the full line drug store on West Erwin
until the late 1950s. The drug store was
relocated to 422 South Beckham until the early
1960s, when it was moved to the current
location on Dallas Highway 64 West.
The business has grown significantly over the
years. In 1969, their son, Jim Deason, graduated
from the University of Houston College of
Pharmacy and returned to Tyler to practice
pharmacy with his parents. Today many services
are provided including a drive-thru window,
delivery service, consultation and custom
prescription compounding from the lab.
Currently serving many third generation
customers, Deason’s Pharmacy is still a place
you can go where “everybody knows your
name.” Therefore, this historic pharmacy’s single
mission statement can be summed up in one
word– “Neighbor.”
100 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Much like the city’s world-famous
roses, Brookshire Grocery Company
has deep roots in Tyler—roots that
stretch back to the 1920s when the
first Brookshire’s Food Store opened
on the city’s downtown square.
Wood T. Brookshire and his wife,
Louise, founded the company in
1928. Wood was the fourteenth
of sixteen children born to P. J. and
Fannie Brookshire. Theirs was a
poor East Texas farming family that
raised livestock in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
Wood got his start in the grocery business
working alongside two brothers who opened a
store in Lufkin in the early 1920s. Wood and
Louise were married in 1926 and moved to
Kingsville, where Wood joined still another
brother in the grocery business.
Then in 1928, the couple settled in Tyler. It
was here that they opened the initial store that
served as the cornerstone of today’s Brookshire
Grocery Company.
During the 1930s, the company grew to
four stores in Tyler and Longview—including
the first air-conditioned store in East Texas.
In the 1940s, the company expanded
to other neighboring communities and built
its first shopping center location in Tyler. A
major milestone was achieved in 1953 when
the company opened its first warehouse in Tyler.
Growth exploded during the following
decades as the number of stores multiplied and
new distribution facilities were built and
expanded. The company opened its second
distribution facility in Monroe, Louisiana, in
1992 and added the SouthWest Foods complex
near Tyler two years later.
Although the first Brookshire’s Food Store was
staffed solely by its proprietors and measured
a mere 25-by-100 feet, today’s company has
more than 12,000 employee/partners serving
customers in 159 state-of-the-art Brookshire’s,
Super 1 Foods, Olé Foods and ALPS stores in
Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Tyler is home to the company’s 1,132,263-
square-foot corporate offices and distribution
complex, as well as seven retail stores, and BCG
Manufacturing Dairy plant. The company’s
SouthWest Foods complex houses ice cream and
bakery plants along with some administrative
offices and distribution functions.
The company and its employee/partners
take great pride in being known for giving
outstanding customer service, and support
areas such as Brookshire’s tractor-trailer fleet,
distribution operations and manufacturing
facilities have won numerous awards for
excellence. Community service is another
top priority, and the company annually
lends its support to more than eight hundred
charitable organizations.
Although much has changed since 1928,
some things remain the same. The leadership
and partners of Brookshire Grocery Company
continue to uphold Brookshire’s “People First”
philosophies. Our founder built this company
by providing each customer the very best
service that could be found anywhere and
by rewarding his employee/partners for
their hard work, integrity, and commitment
to serving customers. Our mission for
the past seventy-seven years and for the
generations to come is to continue carrying
on that great tradition.
BROOKSHIRE
GROCERY
COMPANY
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 101

WRIGHT-WAY
SERVICES
Most people scramble for the safety of
another job when they’re laid off. Nanci Wright
decided to start her own business cleaning
houses. That decision in 1982 created Wright-
Way Services, a successful multifaceted business
that has served more than seventy-five thousand
customers in Tyler, East Texas, and several
U.S. cities.
Nanci had already been cleaning houses on
the side before being laid off. Her landlord then
hired her to clean his rental units and she
pursued other accounts through creative
marketing and word of mouth. By 1987, she
was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the City
of Tyler’s Chamber of Commerce for Wright-
Way Services’ unprecedented growth.
Her landlord suggested she collect the rent,
manage, and maintain the properties, too. Her
husband, Woody, quit his job to take over the
maintenance and sales. Property management
boomed with the crash of the Texas real
estate market as financial institutions foreclosed
and needed someone to clean, maintain and
manage their properties. Residential property
management began to flourish and by the mid
1990s, the Wrights managed and cared for more
than five thousand residential properties in East
Texas. They also invested in and purchased
several properties.
By the late 1990s, Nanci and Woody decided
to seek other business ventures. They sold their
properties to a third party and invested
elsewhere. Their son, Rudy, had worked for
his parents from a young age. He and his
wife, Yvonne, purchased the business in 1999.
They decided to expand their customer
and service base to both residential and commercial
accounts.
Services today include property management,
painting, remodeling, steel building construction,
windows and custom glass, parking lot repair and
maintenance, home repair and maintenance, and
cleaning. The company manages around three
hundred units in East Texas and in recent times has
begun rehabilitating multi-family properties in
several states. Woody has returned to work as a top
salesman, while Nanci continues to pursue other
investment opportunities and brokerage.
There are not many areas in East Texas where
Wright-Way Services has not been. That is
because there is no job too large or too small.
The company’s success will continue to be built
on that philosophy and the belief that it’s their
duty to provide the customer with whatever
service they want.
Wright-Way Services, LLC is located at 7920
South Broadway in Tyler, Texas and on the
Internet at www.wright-way.com.
❖
COURTESY OF RANDY PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY.
102 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

At Ramada Hotel & Conference Center,
visitors will find friendly service, comfortable
accommodations, and incredible value.
Blending legendary East Texas Hospitality
with an award- winning conference facility,
the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center is
ideally located in Tyler’s growing southeast
retail and commercial district. Personalized
attention, modern amenities, and creative
details ensure that every experience is
comfortable and memorable.
Ramada’s outstanding banquet and meeting
facilities offer the perfect atmosphere for
seminars, corporate meetings, weddings
and family reunions. Guests also enjoy
the hotel’s seasonal courtyard pool and
fitness room, which includes treadmills,
step machines and stationary bicycles,
breakfast and dinner are served at the
Veranda Bar and Grill, and a complete
menu is available for private dining in
the guestrooms.
The Rose Garden and Magnolia Ballrooms
offer elegant settings for every special occasion,
and the seasonal ambiance of the poolside
patio offers an ideal atmosphere for an
afternoon break or an intimate wedding.
Wireless high-speed Internet access is available
in every meeting room and public spaces, onsite
audio/visual services and office supplies are
available at reasonable rates.
Relaxing, spacious and well-appointed
guestrooms and suites feature the many
comforts of home. For the traveler who
enjoys luxurious accommodations, the
Queen Anne Suite is perfect for a weekend
getaway or extended stay. Business-class
rooms have been specifically designed for
the road warrior who needs all the comforts
of home and office on the road. king and
double standard rooms are equipped with
everything necessary to allow weary travelers
the relaxation of a quiet evening on the way
to their final destination. The executive suite
offers a spacious hospitality area and conference
table that seats as many as eight guests.
The Ramada Hotel & Conference Center
is located at 3310 Troup Highway in Tyler.
For more information about reservations and
the hotel’s facilities, please call 866-381-3600 or
visit www.ramadatyler.com.
RAMADA HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTER
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 103

EAST TEXAS
COPY SYSTEMS
Like most successful companies, East
Texas Copy Systems has changed with the
times. The business began as East Texas
Typewriter Exchange on November 15,
1945, under owner Joe T. McMillan.
McMillan had walked barefoot to Tyler
from Hugo, Oklahoma. He took a job
repairing typewriters, primarily those made
by the Underwood Typewriter Company,
which was eventually purchased by the
Olivetti Corporation.
East Texas Typewriter Exchange, located at 210
South College Street was the oldest Olivetti dealer
in the nation at one point. McMillan consistently
ran one of the most productive sales outlets for
the Olivetti Corporation and by 1975 the business
had become the fifth largest Olivetti typewriter
dealer in the nation.
McMillan sold the business to Bob Prislovsky
and Charles Idom on November 15, 1972.
Prislovsky, an Arkansas native, changed the name
to East Texas Typewriters. They kept the business
in the same building until 1980, when they moved
to 320 East Front Street.
Prislovsky and Idom ran the business during
the transition from the mechanical to the
electronic age. In 1972 the first electronic
calculator hit the market, followed quickly by the
first electronic typewriter. Models began changing
every fifteen months instead of every ten years and
then as quickly as every nine months. East Texas
Typewriters kept pace, introducing Tyler to on-site
microfilm recording and development, facsimile
machines and plain-paper copiers made by Canon.
Prislovsky and Idom sold the business to
Greg Walker and Rick Fedell on January 19,
1999. Walker and Fedell changed the name to
East Texas Copy Systems, hired more sales and
service personnel and began growing the
business. Payroll grew from seven to more than
forty and the facilities grew from 2,500 square
feet to 12,500 square feet.
East Texas Copy Systems, which now has
offices in Tyler, Longview, Lufkin, and Palestine
sells and services office equipment, copiers, fax
machines, typewriters, and printers. The company
continues to keep up with the times. Its future
includes consulting with businesses to manage IT
networks and coordinate document workflow.
Despite all the technological advances, East
Texas Copy Systems remains committed to doing
some things the old-fashioned way. That means
maintaining its locally owned status and providing
customers with personalized service.
For more information about East Texas
Copy Systems, take a tour on the Internet at
www.etcopy.com and see what East Texas Copy
Systems can do for you and your business.
104 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Randy Phillips and his wife, Susan were
married in October 1973 and opened Randy
Phillips Photography less than a year later in
August and have been serving the Tyler, Smith
County and entire East Texas area ever since.
Both have roots in the Tyler area. Randy is the
son of the late Earl Harris Phillips, who was part
owner of Phillips Food Store on Erwin Street.
Sue’s grandfather, Clyde Bickerdike, was an
original member of the Cooperative Rose
Growers Association. Randy and Sue have two
sons: Ben and Matt Phillips.
Randy did not set out to be a photographer.
He had earned a degree in general contracting
and was looking into the possibility of an
architecture career when the Arab Oil Embargo
of the early 1970s sent the economy into a
tailspin. That included the building industry,
which forced Randy to find another way to
make a living. He went to work for Henington
Studios as a school photographer for several
years before establishing his own company.
Through the years, Randy has become one of
the best photographers in Tyler. He has designed
backgrounds and sets for various shoots and has
photographed President George H.W. Bush,
Barbara Bush, several United States senators,
other politicians and numerous famous people.
Randy Phillips Photography has employed
several staff members and subcontractors
throughout its history providing services for an
array of events and longstanding accounts. The
company now has a specialized studio with
high-end markets for family, senior and
wedding photography.
The industry has seen many technological
changes through the years. The company has
managed to incorporate those changes into its
business while maintaining the essence of
original masterpiece portraiture.
Randy has donated his services to many
charities and fundraising events such as Cattle
Baron’s, Junior League, People of Vision, Grace
Community School, East Texas Heart Gallery
and multiple church projects.
Randy Phillips Photography is located at 113
East Seventh Street in Tyler and on the Internet
at www.randyphillipsphotography.com.
RANDY
PHILLIPS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 105

❖
COLLEGE
BOOKS,
INCORPORATED
Above: Carroll “Heavy” Thompson,
owner of College Books.
Below: The staff of College Books
(from left to right): DeeDee Hanson,
Ann Clower, Lindy Peppard, Jeanette
Coker, Sue Hendley, and Leta Parrish.
For more than thirty
years College Books,
Inc. has been serving
the students of Tyler
Junior College and the
members of its community.
It has been
called “the store with
the unique personality”
due to the fact that the
friendly, courteous staff
is always ready to help
the new freshman students
along with the
returning students, in
ways that go beyond
just selling textbooks,
school supplies, and T-
shirts. College Books
knows that this is a major financial investment
in a student’s future and they want to be a
positive influence in this part of their lives.
Having good prices on new and used textbooks
is only the beginning of what College Books is
all about. Treating students fairly and with
respect is the most important goal of this long
time, locally owned business.
College Books was first opened in the fall of
1971. June Thompson, an English teacher at TJC,
saw the need for an off campus store to help serve
the growing enrollment. She and her husband
Carroll found the right location when a building
across the street from the TJC campus became
available. They then turned what was a restaurant
into an off campus bookstore, the original location
being 1427 South Baxter. Six years later, Carroll
became the sole proprietor of the business and it
remained at the Baxter location until August of
1987. Then on Labor Day weekend, the bookstore
moved to its present location, 1232 East Fifth
Street, on the corner of Fifth Street and Baxter. The
new location provided better storefront visibility,
more floor space and much more front door
parking. The original store location still serves as
the much needed warehouse.
College Books has experienced continuous
growth due to the dedication of its longtime
employees. With combined work experience
totaling over fifty years of serving Tyler Junior
College, its students and the community. The
bookstore environment is a close-knit family
that often serves several generations of students
attending TJC. The staff has formed wonderful
bonds with students who still come back to visit
and share their life experiences. Bottom line...
College Books’ customers are treated like family!
College Books is proud to be a member of the
Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, Better Business
Bureau, National College Bookstore Association,
Southwest College Bookstore Association, and
Texas Retail Merchants Association.
“Your OFF campus store…for your ON
campus needs’” is the College Books’ motto and
it serves them well.
106 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

Agtoprof came to the Tyler landscape in 1987
as a small agricultural consulting company with
a mission to make agriculture profitable in times,
which were economically unstable for many
areas of farming. Nationwide success from Tyler’s
centralized management system has brought
Agtoprof from a fledgling company of three
people to currently employing 2,400 people in
California, Washington, and Texas. Agtoprof has
developed more than forty thousand acres of
land in these states, transforming them from
virgin land to irrigated fruit and nut modern-day
farming operations. Niche crop choices have
given Agtoprof an edge in growing, harvesting,
and marketing their products. With a permanent
crop focus, Agtoprof has grown grapefruit,
tangerine, navel and Valencia oranges, lemons
and limes, cherries, table grapes and wine
grapes, almonds and pistachios, and apples
including Fuji, Pink Ladies, Granny Smiths, and
Galas. With clients such as Hershey, Ferrero-
Rocher, General Mills, and Tree Top, Agtoprof’s
crops have been in high demand.
Agtoprof’s experienced development crews
have installed more than 5,000 miles of irrigation
pipe, drilled more than 150 water wells with
production levels up to 4,000 gpm and planted
over 4 million trees. In mitigating more than ten
thousand acres of land in compliance with the
USDA and other State and Federal agencies
including Fish and Game, Agtoprof has become
an excellent steward of the land, preserving
wetlands, endangered and protected species.
Agtoprof has also been proactive in developing
technologies, software, and systems to convert
traditional farming and commodity operations
into production and compliance units unmatched
in the industry for quality, safety, and production.
Proprietary computer programs to track
equipment usage, farm activities, and purchasing
have been developed to enhance the company’s
centralized management style, which enables a
farm manager at each location to do his job of
farming and not be bogged down by paperwork.
Research in the areas of global positioning
systems, irrigation conservation, and
environmentally friendly equipment
manufacturing, has brought Agtoprof to the
forefront of innovative thinking in agriculture.
GPS technology ensures that every tree planted
by Agtoprof has an address, recognizable by any
method of surveying, which enhances spraying
precision, record keeping and trace-back for the
farmer. Partnerships with manufacturers
allowed Agtoprof to design irrigation jets that
grow with the trees and do not waste
unnecessary water. Finally, Agtoprof’s need for a
clean, efficient, environmentally friendly
almond harvester, led them to be the force
behind a whole new line of harvesting
equipment in California, which will benefit
farmers as well as air pollution concerns.
Agtoprof’s construction division has not only
developed state-of-the-art farms, but also has
built housing and industrial developments to
support the farms. They have built cooling
facilities, packinghouses, pump stations, farm
shops, warehouses, and quality housing for farm
managers. Seeing a need in the more local Tyler
market, Agtoprof Construction has now begun
work in the custom home design and building
business. With a mission statement of “the best
fertilizer a farmer can apply to his land are his
footprints,” Agtoprof continues to break ground
in hands on agriculture and development
blended with modern-day technology.
AGTOPROF
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 107

❖
Dunn’s Transmission Shop, c. 1953.
DUNN TRANSMISSIONS, INC.
Since its beginning at the end of World War
II, Dunn Transmissions, Inc. has based its
business on the Golden Rule: “Do unto others
as you would have others do unto you.”
Founder Truman Dunn worked at Camp
Fannin during World War II repairing Army
vehicles. When the war ended, Dunn and a
friend, Bloomer Stone, decided to make a career
out of their Amy assignments and opened a
small, two-man garage.
About this time, a peculiar device was
showing up on new cars: the automatic
transmission. Dunn was intrigued and began
repairing the new transmissions. Soon he had
more work than he could handle and began
specializing in automatic transmission repair.
About 1950, Dunn’s Garage became Dunn’s
Transmission Shop.
Ewell Dickerson, the company’s current
owner, went to work for Dunn in the late 1950s
and purchased the company from Dunn in
1969. Dickerson developed the company over
the years, adding buildings and property. What
originally was a modest three-bay garage now
encompasses the entire 1400 block of West
Erwin Street, though some of the original garage
is still in use. The parts division has grown from
one employee who acquired parts only for Dunn
Transmissions to a thriving retail parts store
providing specialized parts to other
transmission shops throughout East Texas.
The company employs many family
members, including some of Dickerson’s
brothers, children and nephews. David
Dickerson, Ewell’s son, became general
manager of the company in 2005, ensuring
the continuation of the company’s tradition
of following the Golden rule, making only
repairs that are necessary and standing behind
their work.
The company was honored to receive
the Better Business Bureau of Central East
Texas Torch Award for marketplace ethics in
2006. Dunn Transmissions maintains active
membership in the Chamber of Commerce and
the Better Business Bureau, and supports local
community events like the Texas Rose Festival
Parade, the Relay for Life, Children’s Miracle
Network and the Tyler Firefighter Combat
Challenge Team.
For more information about the
company, please visit their website at
www.dunntransmissions.com.
108 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

During the summer of 1980, Les and Carol
Ellsworth started to look for a place where they
could pursue their hobbies of cooking,
antiquing and socializing with the community
of Tyler. Carol had just resigned her position as
food service director for Pine Cove; a Christian
camp just outside of Tyler and Les was working
as a federal agent for the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco & Firearms. They finally found an old,
abandoned house on the corner of Front and
Bois D’arc, which they rented and restored.
On October 1, they opened the first Potpourri
House during a torrential downpour with water
up to the curbs; surprisingly, the customers still
came and were served by waitresses in long
period-like dresses. The Tea Room consisted of
three small dining rooms and a waiting room
with antique furnishings that were all for sale.
The name “The Potpourri House” was chosen to
reflect the varied interests the Ellsworths wanted
to include in the business.
About a month after opening, Carol called Les
frantically saying it was time for him to retire to
help her. He retired that day. His claim to fame
had been his involvement in the Kennedy
Assassination investigation while in Dallas. He
was the first federal agent in the School Book
Depository after the shooting and he interrogated
Oswald shortly after the assassination.
The Potpourri House remained in its original
location for five years and then moved to the Off-
Broadway Shopping Center and opened for
evening dining with expanded seating capacity
and retail space. Since Carol was experienced as a
fashion director, they added apparel and
accessories to the mix. This took place just as the
East Texas economy took a nosedive during the
oil crunch.
All through the years, the business has been
a family affair. All three children—Les, Marcia,
and Stephen—waited tables and put themselves
through college as they attended Texas A&M
and the University of Texas.
In 1997, Les and Carol purchased the old
Michael’s building and designed the unique
restaurant and shop as it stands today. It seats three
hundred with banquet rooms used for weddings
and a variety of other parties. The shop surrounds
the main dining room with gifts, apparel,
accessories, antiques, furniture, and home décor
from all over the world. Each September the shop
is transformed into “The Christmas House” with
many spectacular Christmas themes that draw
visitors from all over the Southwest.
Today, Les and Carol’s oldest son, Les,
manages the entire operation, which he learned
from the ground up. He works with the staff of
approximately fifty employees, many who have
been with The Potpourri House for years. They
work to continue to have a growing influence on
the city with involvement in Rose Festival
activities and other civic functions.
Les, Sr. passed away in July 2002 and is
missed by all who knew him; but the business
that he and Carol established continues to grow
and change with the needs of the community.
THE POTPOURRI HOUSE
❖
The Potpourri House is located at
3320 Troup Highway in Tyler.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 109

KIEPERSOL
ESTATES
❖
Above: Kiepersol Estates Bed and
Breakfast includes a restaurant and
an internationally acclaimed
wine cellar.
Kiepersol Estates was established in 1954 in
the Eastern Transvaal of the Union of South
Africa. Dirk de Wet established Kiepersol Tevrede
(meaning “satisfied”), with the intention of
raising generations of families there in a selfsufficient
mixed farming operation. In 1994, de
Wet reestablished Kiepersol Estates south of
Tyler, where today three generations make a
home and a living. The Estates today consists of a
restaurant, bed and breakfast, winery, purebred
Hereford and Angus cattle operation, and a real
estate development division. Kiepersol Estates is
truly Tyler and Smith County’s twentieth century
immigration story.
In an effort to bring European beauty and
elegance to East Texas, Kiepersol Estates B&B was
opened in October 1998. The “B&B” houses both
the restaurant and five luxurious Victorian
bedrooms. The restaurant is a chophouse with a
lounge and an internationally acclaimed wine
cellar. In the summer of 1998, grapevines were
planted in preparation for a winery–the first in
Smith County! Fourteen acres of grapes were
planted and eventually harvested for their first
vintage in 2000, just in time for the winery
building to be completed overlooking the rolling
vineyard. Growing demand for the wine led to
planting more grapes in the Estates in 2003,
bringing the total to thirty-three acres, one of the
largest vineyards in Texas. Occasional events have
been held at the Estates such as vintner dinners
where the public can talk with the winemaker,
Harvest Festival days where the public and
harvest and “stomp” the grapes, and small
cooking classes where the public can get in the
kitchen with the chef.
The addition of a cattle operation in 2001
made Kiepersol truly the “Land of Beef and Wine.”
Small purchases of quality Hereford and Angus
stock have now been bred to be a herd of over two
thousand animals with an excellent reputation in
international breeding circles. Beautiful farms in
southern Smith County, which were originally
purchased for the cattle operation, are now being
surrounded by development due to burgeoning
economic influences in the area. This has formed
a need for quality housing and has led Kiepersol
to become a developer, marketing the properties
of Kiepersol Estates, Katima Estates, and future
developments of Pafuri, Satara, and Shingwetzi.
Kiepersol Estates has been a proud partner in
many major charitable events in Tyler and Smith
County including but not limited to The Beauty
and the Beast bike races, Cattle Baron’s Gala,
Mane Mission and Growing Wings, Walk a Mile
for Special Child, 4-H and FFA, as well as
sponsorships and scholarships for young
farmers. Kiepersol is proud to put a new name
in the Texas vocabulary and hopefully will be
part of the landscape forever. Kiepersol Estates’
slogan has been ‘Experience Excellence’ and
every employee and family member has
diligently pursued excellence for Tyler and
Smith County.
110 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

SMITH COUNTY
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
In 1959 the Smith County Historical Society,
a nonprofit organization, was founded by
interested individuals and business firms
dedicated to discovering, collecting, and
preserving data records and other items relating
to the history of Smith County, Texas. They
joined together in a rewarding effort to preserve
the fascinating stories of Smith County’s past in
the many areas of historical preservation
pursued by the Society. Membership is open to
persons or organizations interested in Smith
County history. The Society is located in the old
Carnegie Public Library, now the Carnegie
History Center, an historical building which
proudly displays a Texas Historical Marker. It is
open to the public and is staffed with
knowledgeable and helpful volunteer members.
The Society meets each month to carry on
the business of the organization and the
tradition of sharing interesting programs on
local and regional history. Program subject
matter ranges from Indians to ghost towns to
the Civil War era, always with an emphasis on
local history. Visitors interested in preserving
and enjoying Smith County history are welcome
to attend. In addition, the Society distributes a
monthly newsletter to its members.
Since 1962, the Society has published
Chronicles, an interesting and attractive historical
magazine that has won many friends for the
Society and helps preserve, in a tangible form,
various aspects of the past. Each new issues
continues to feature original research, facsimiles,
maps, pictures, and other historical materials
about Smith County. All members enjoy receiving
Chronicles as part of their membership. Current
and back issues of Chronicles are available at
monthly meetings and at the Archives.
The Society collects books, records, letters,
maps, photographs, audio tapes of interviews,
and other historical documents relative to Smith
County. Recordings of individual reminiscences
in taped and written interviews with the
county’s older citizens are placed in the Archives
for future use. The Archives are open at
designated times for research of local history.
The Society’s Buildings, Sites, and Markers
Committee provides guidelines and application
forms to persons interested in applying
for official Texas Historical Markers. The
committee also assists in the research for the
necessary background information. A listing
is maintained of all current historical markers
in the county. The Smith County Historical
Society is responsible for the erection and
dedication of new markers and for publicity for
those ceremonies.
❖
Top, Left: Linda Cross, assistant to
the author.
Top, Right: Rob Jones, Smith County
Historical Society president,
2005-2006.
Bottom: Virginia Buchanan, Gretchen
Leath, and Mary Jane McNamara.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 111

HARLEY’S
Harley’s named for the store’s owner, Harley
Hooper, opened for business in Tyler in August
1982 under the name of J. Carl’s. From the start,
Harley specialized in moderate-to-better
menswear and sold many great lines of clothing.
One of the best and most popular lines was
Polo by Ralph Lauren. Harley sold Polo-brand
clothing in the late 1970s and into the
mid-1980s, a time when Ralph Lauren
products were the most sought-after line in the
menswear industry. Harley’s business blossomed
because for several years it was the only store
between Dallas and Shreveport to carry Polo by
Ralph Lauren.
This brought Harley a lot of recognition in
the early years, and in later years, the store has
become a clothing-driven specialty store with
great clothing lines such as Burberry, Zanella,
Tallia, John Cooper and many more.
Harley’s now carries hundred of ready-towear
suits at all times for the convenience of its
customers. The staff works hard at giving
customers what they want by shopping the East
and West Coast markets for the latest fashions.
The East Texas customer attracted to Harley’s
is a worldly traveler exposed to major stores in
larger metropolitan cities. This East Texas
landmark competes with those stores even
though they are located many miles away and
does everything it can to make sure customers
have no need to drive elsewhere to shop.
In the early 1990s, Harley’s added The Tux
Shop featuring tuxedo rental and sales in order
to add a new dimension to both its service and
the quality of clothes it offers. Service and
quality are the factors that separate The Tux
Shop from its competitors.
The future has much in store for Harley
and his wife, Bridgette. She is the owner of
a retail store in Tyler for the past fifteen
years. They plan to build a small shopping
center where both can service their East
Texas customers.
Harley’s will continue to provide customers
with quality service and merchandise normally
found only in big-city clothing stores. Harley’s
has been on the cutting edge of the fashion
industry from the very beginning and plans
to continue in that spirit for as long as it
does business.
Harley’s is located at 5100 Old Bullard Road
in Tyler, Texas.
112 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

In the 1800’s, diversification was as
important to some entrepreneurs as it is today.
Thomas Elam Swann, born in Tyler in 1876,
opened an insurance agency and a furniture
store at the age of twenty. Swann’s Furniture
sold the usual goods, as well as musical
instruments, coffins, and carpet.
Clay Hight, Tyler’s first city manager,
purchased Swann’s agency in 1915 and sold the
business to drug store owner Calvin Kay in
1942. Kay operated the agency until his death in
1968, when it was bought by Billy Hibbs and
merged with the Leonard H. Bruck Agency. The
Bruck Agency, formed in 1930, was a secondgeneration
family business originally founded
by Sigmund Bruck, the first chairman of
Tyler’s Chamber of Commerce. The son,
Leonard, was near retirement when he
met Hibbs, a young insurance company
representative originally from Quitman, Texas.
Hibbs joined as a junior partner in 1964.
In 1967, Hibbs purchased the agency.
James L. Hallmark, a former football star
at Texas A&M and a highly regarded
coach at Tyler Junior College, became his
business partner.
HEARTLAND SECURITY INSURANCE GROUP
The name was changed to Hibbs-Hallmark,
and the business began to expand rapidly,
ultimately becoming one of the largest firms of
its type in the nation.
A hundred years later, the desire to
diversify continues.
The management of Hibbs-Hallmark began
to broaden its revenue base. A
claims business was organized to
administer workers’ compensation
benefits for school districts, as
well as a premium finance
company, an insurance wholesaler,
and Tyler’s first property-casualty
insurance company. Most recently,
a claims adjudicator was acquired
that administers benefits for the
support personnel of the United
States armed services and other
governmental entities.
Today, these insurance
businesses operate independently
under the Heartland Security
Insurance Group umbrella, which
is owned by the Hibbs family
and forty-five other stockholders.
The almost 250 associates of
Heartland are active in a
variety of charitable organizations
through service and with the
financial support of the Hibbs
Family Foundation.
❖
Above: The three-person office of the
Leonard H. Bruck Agency, located
across from the Tyler Paper, as it
appeared in the 1960’s.
Below: Billy Hibbs, who passed away
in November of 2005, grew the firm
to become one of the largest insurance
organizations in the Southwest.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 113

SPONSORS
Agtoprof.......................................................................................................................................................................................107
Andrews Center Behavioral Health System .....................................................................................................................................82
Arthritis & Osteoporosis Clinic ......................................................................................................................................................95
Automatic Gas Company, Inc. ........................................................................................................................................................99
State Representative Leo Berman and Dr. Lou Ann Berman ............................................................................................................53
Brookshire Grocery Company ......................................................................................................................................................101
Cap Ranch Steakhouse ...................................................................................................................................................................53
Carrier Corporation/United Technologies .......................................................................................................................................73
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception .......................................................................................................................................76
College Books, Incorporated ........................................................................................................................................................106
Deason’s Pharmacy .......................................................................................................................................................................100
Dunn Transmissions, Inc..............................................................................................................................................................118
Eagle’s Bluff Country Club .............................................................................................................................................................53
East Texas Copy Systems..............................................................................................................................................................104
ETMC Regional Healthcare System.................................................................................................................................................54
First Presbyterian Church of Tyler ..................................................................................................................................................94
Gilbert’s El Charro Restaurants.......................................................................................................................................................96
Gregory Real Estate and Property Management ..............................................................................................................................98
Harley’s ........................................................................................................................................................................................112
Heartland Security Insurance Group ............................................................................................................................................113
Jerry Vandergriff Plumbing Company, Inc.......................................................................................................................................78
John Soules Foods .........................................................................................................................................................................92
Keystone Credit Union...................................................................................................................................................................86
Kiepersol Estates ..........................................................................................................................................................................110
Loggins Meat Company, Inc. ..........................................................................................................................................................88
The Potpourri House....................................................................................................................................................................109
Ramada Hotel & Conference Center.............................................................................................................................................103
Ramey & Flock, P.C. ......................................................................................................................................................................84
Randy Phillips Photography .........................................................................................................................................................105
Rudd Contracting Co., Inc. ............................................................................................................................................................90
Smith County Historical Society...................................................................................................................................................111
Southside Bank ..............................................................................................................................................................................74
Trinity Mother Frances Health System............................................................................................................................................62
Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce..................................................................................................................................................97
Tyler Junior College........................................................................................................................................................................58
The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler ...............................................................................................................................66
University of Texas at Tyler ............................................................................................................................................................70
Edgar H. Vaughn and The Vaughn Foundation...............................................................................................................................80
Wright-Way Services ....................................................................................................................................................................102
114 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Archie P. McDonald has taught history at Stephen F. Austin State University for forty-three years
and serves as director of the East Texas Historical Association and editor of the Association’s Journal.
He is a member and past president of the Nacogdoches Rotary Club. He is a past president of the
Texas State Historical Association, past vice chair of the Texas Historical Commission, and is the
author/editor of more than twenty books on historical topics—and one book of humor titled Helpful
Cooking Hints for HouseHusbands of Uppity Women.
Sharing the Heritage ✦ 115

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call
Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com.
Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas
Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History
Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History
Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History
Historic Austin: An Illustrated History
Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History
Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History
Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History
Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History
Historic Charlotte:
An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City
Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History
Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History
Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History
Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History
Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History
Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History
Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History
Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History
Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History
Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began
Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History
Historic Houston: An Illustrated History
Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History
Historic Kern County:
An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County
Historic Laredo:
An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County
Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History
Historic Midland: An Illustrated History
Historic Montgomery County:
An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas
Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History
Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History
Historic Omaha:
An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County
Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History
Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History
Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History
Historic Prescott:
An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County
Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History
Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History
Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land
Historic Shreveport-Bossier:
An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City
Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History
Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History
Historic Texas: An Illustrated History
Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History
Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History
Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History
Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego
Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community
Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History
Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle
The New Frontier:
A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County
The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait
116 ✦ HISTORIC SMITH COUNTY

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