Historic Temple

immigrants opened grocery and produce
businesses. Jewish merchants opened shops and
professional offices, such as attorney Augustus
Lewy, Temple’s third mayor.
Among the entrepreneurs who launched
successful businesses was Robert Wells, among
the earliest African-American contractors who
built many downtown buildings. Wells, a
respected church and community leader, helped
raise funds to build the Wayman Chapel African
Methodist Episcopal Church. He proudly drove
his family in their brightly decorated carriage
during the annual Juneteenth parade
downtown, celebrating the day Texas slaves
learned of the Emancipation Proclamation. In
1911, Wells keynoted the twelfth annual
National Negro Business League meeting in
Little Rock, Arkansas, and headed by Booker T.
Washington. Then, the following year,
Washington returned the favor, coming to
Temple to speak at the Carnegie Library.
Czech immigrants, seeking to escape political
and religious oppression and military
conscription in the Austrian Empire, were lured
to Texas beginning in the 1850s. They found
fertile, relatively inexpensive farmland in Central
Texas, and encouraged other families to migrate.
Texas Czechs survived the harsh Blackland
Prairie frontier by cherishing their close-knit
families and maintaining a spirit of cooperation
with their self-sufficient and economical farms.
Begun in 1897, SPJST provides social,
cultural and financial support to Texans of
Czech heritage. Originally chartered as the
Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas
(Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of
Texas), the SPJST offers insurance, annuity and
mortgage loans to its members. Temple became
a Czech cultural center, with the relocation of
SPJST headquarters to Temple in 1953, and the
opening of a library, museum and archives in
1967. In January 1971, SPJST opened a new
headquarters in downtown Temple and
renamed its collection of memorabilia and
permanent historical displays the Czech
Heritage Museum.
Likewise, Spanish-speaking immigrants
made a permanent impact into the city’s
melding personality. Hispanics populated
Temple from its very beginning, building
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Above: A birds’-eye view of Temple’s
south side in the early 1900s shows
several churches clustered along
Avenues G and H.
COURTESY OF THE TEMPLE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Below: Jeff Hamilton was born a slave
in 1840 was purchased as a young
boy by U.S. Senator Sam Houston.
Hamilton became Houston’s personal
bodyguard and valet, forming a close
relationship with the family. Hamilton
later was a driver for Houston during
his two campaigns for governor. When
Houston was elected governor of
Texas in 1859, he appointed Hamilton
as his “office boy.” Married to the
former Sarah Maxey, he was the
father of 11. Hamilton eventually
moved to Bell County and worked at
Mary Hardin-Baylor College, where
he was a much-admired custodial
employee. Hamilton lived his later
years in Temple. This photo shows
him celebrating his ninety-ninth
birthday. He died in 1941 at the
age of 101.
COURTESY OF THE RAILROAD AND HERITAGE
MUSEUM, TEMPLE.
“The City With a Future” ✦ 33