Historic Temple

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Right: From its beginning, Temple
streets were crowded with cotton
sellers and buyers on the weekend as
this 1891 photo of the northeast
corner of North Main and Avenue
A shows.
COURTESY OF THE RAILROAD AND HERITAGE
MUSEUM, TEMPLE.
Below: Train wrecks always attracted
a horde of curious gawkers, especially
this spectacular one just south of
downtown Temple in 1909.
COURTESY OF THE CANNON/BENOIT COLLECTION.
Opposite, top: By the 1890s,
downtown Temple, with its multitude
of merchants, attracted shoppers
looking for everything from farm
equipment to high fashions. In this
hand-tinted photo, a woman and her
children try on shoes at Bentley and
Smith Department Store in the
early 1900s.
COURTESY OF THE CANNON/BENOIT COLLECTION.
Opposite, middle: From its beginning,
Temple was nicknamed “Mudville”
and “Tanglefoot,” because of the
muddy streets and raucous behavior
of railroaders imbibing too much. This
scene shows the intersection of North
First Street and Avenue A.
COURTESY OF THE CANNON/BENOIT COLLECTION.
Opposite, bottom: A men’s
haberdasher fits a distinguished
customer at Bentley & Bass
Department Store in the 1890s.
Bentley & Bass proprietors prided
themselves on the latest fashions and
fabrics from New York, which were
shipped by rail.
COURTESY OF THE RAILROAD AND HERITAGE
MUSEUM, TEMPLE.
established in 1850 when the county began. After
a flurry of meetings and debates, the measure
died. This Bell County town almost overnight
became a rough, tough town, hip-high in mud in
rainy seasons and coated with throat-choking
dust in dry seasons. Detractors nicknamed it
“Mud Town” and “Tanglefoot,” an apt description
for drunken railroaders who stumbled through
saloon doors. Despite the buoyant optimism of its
promoters and land agents, Temple, carved out of
farmland by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe
Railway, faced challenges. Problems arrived bag
and baggage with the growing population.
Certainly the town attracted its share of
kooks. The Temple Times reported in December
1881 that “the mantle of the sage of Monticello
has been inherited by a man in Bell County”:
“Last Monday there was an old crank in town
who claimed to be Thomas Jefferson. He said he
was a candidate for the presidency of the United
States, and mounting a goods box, proceeded to
edify the crowd with his wisdom and eloquence.
He was crazy, of course, but he was apparently
as sane as the average politician of the day.”
THE TOWN’ S ‘ CHARACTER’
Early on, the new settlement forged its own
personality, unlike its older neighboring
communities. “Temple has a ‘character,’ an
individuality as set apart as are the character,
force and impetus of a man or a business,”
opined a 1923 Temple Daily Telegram article as
it reflected on those early days. The character,
the article continued, was a mixture of “pioneer
spirit,” as well as “childish ambitions and
14 ✦ HISTORIC TEMPLE