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Historic Walker County

An illustrated history of the city of Huntsville, Texas, and the Walker County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.

An illustrated history of the city of Huntsville, Texas, and the Walker County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.

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HISTORIC WALKER COUNTY<br />

The Story of Huntsville & <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Edited by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn<br />

A publication of the Huntsville-<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Chamber of Commerce<br />

HPNbooks<br />

A division of Lammert Incorporated<br />

San Antonio, Texas


CONTENTS<br />

3 CHAPTER I Native Americans and American Pioneers,<br />

Prehistory to 1846<br />

9 CHAPTER II An Era of Growth, 1846-1860<br />

15 CHAPTER III From Civil War to Reconstruction, 1860-1872<br />

21 CHAPTER IV Railroad Towns and Sam Houston Normal Institute,<br />

1872-1900<br />

27 CHAPTER V Progress and the Dawn of a New Century, 1900-1929<br />

33 CHAPTER VI From the Great Depression to World War II, 1930-1945<br />

41 CHAPTER VII A Trying Time, 1945-68<br />

47 CHAPTER VIII Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, 1968-Present<br />

55 ENDNOTES<br />

59 SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />

First Edition<br />

Copyright © 2012 <strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network<br />

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<br />

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to <strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790.<br />

ISBN: 978-1-939300-00-3<br />

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2012952080<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>: The Story of Huntsville & <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

editor: Jeffrey L. Littlejohn<br />

writers: Meredith A. Miller Austin, Carolyn A. Carroll, Amy Hyden,<br />

Anthony Lane, Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Sharla Miles,<br />

Patricia Staniszewski-Hale, Gonzalo Tamez<br />

contributing writer for sharing the heritage: Garnette Bane<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network<br />

president: Ron Lammert<br />

project manager: Curtis Courtney<br />

administration: Donna M. Mata, Melissa G. Quinn<br />

book sales: Dee Steidle<br />

production: Colin Hart, Evelyn Hart, Glenda Tarazon Krouse,<br />

Omar Wright, Tony Quinn<br />

2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

NATIVE AMERICANS AND AMERICAN<br />

PIONEERS, PREHISTORY TO 1846<br />

B Y J E F F R E Y L . L I T T L E J O H N<br />

I<br />

T H E L A N D S C A P E A N D N A T I V E P O P U L A T I O N<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> is a scenic, sprawling territory of 801 square miles located in the southeastern region<br />

of Texas. Situated along the edge of the Coastal Plain, the county lies roughly one hundred miles north<br />

of the Gulf of Mexico and midway between the Louisiana state line and the Texas capital at Austin. The<br />

local landscape is beautiful and rustic, with rolling hills, open prairies, and piney woods. The north and<br />

eastern sections of the county are drained by the Trinity River and its tributaries, including Bedias,<br />

Nelson, Harmon, and Caroline creeks. In the southwestern section of the county, the San Jacinto River<br />

carries water from Mill, West Sandy, East Sandy, and Robinson creeks due south to the Gulf of Mexico. 1<br />

Despite its popular image as part of the Texas frontier, <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> boasts an ancient history. The<br />

first inhabitants of the area arrived during the Paleo-Indian period before 7000 BCE. Archeological finds<br />

in <strong>Walker</strong>, Montgomery, and Polk Counties suggest that early native peoples lived in small mobile bands<br />

that moved through broad geographical zones to hunt, fish, and forage for food. During the Archaic Period<br />

from 7000 BCE to 100 CE, Native American groups became larger and returned to hunting sites<br />

repeatedly, leaving clearly discernible projectile points in each hunting zone they inhabited. These trends<br />

toward complexity and distinctiveness continued during the Late Prehistoric period from 100 CE to 1600<br />

CE, as Native American populations in the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> area participated in a regional phenomenon<br />

that archeologist Dee Ann Story termed the “Mossy Grove tradition.” This set of cultural patterns linked<br />

“a number of ethnically distinct groups in southeast and east Texas,” including the Atakapa, Akokisa and<br />

❖<br />

Huntsville State Park’s Lake Raven in<br />

the mist, December 2009.<br />

COURTESY OF ALEXEY SERGEEV.<br />

C h a p t e r I ✦ 3


❖<br />

Above: William E. Moore found these<br />

Kent type projectile points dating<br />

from 2000 BCE to 500 CE in<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

COURTESY OF R. T. SINGLETON PHOTOGRAPHY.<br />

Below: Detail showing the homeland<br />

of the Cenis and Bidai Indians from<br />

Carte de la Louisiane et du cours<br />

du Mississipi (1718), by Guillaume<br />

de L’Isle.<br />

COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.<br />

Bidai. These groups exhibited important “unifying<br />

traits such as an egalitarian social organization,<br />

hunter-gatherer subsistence orientation, and use of<br />

plain sandy paste ceramics.” 2<br />

The Cenis or Hasinai Indians were the earliest<br />

recorded native inhabitants in the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

region. The Cenis lived primarily on the eastern<br />

side of the Trinity River in modern day San<br />

Jacinto, Trinity, and Houston counties.<br />

Nevertheless, they had villages on the Trinity<br />

River and moved frequently through the <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> region to hunt and trade. One early<br />

French explorer, Father Anastase Douay, reported<br />

that the Cenis lived in large villages with fine<br />

homes shaped like beehives. Douay also wrote<br />

that the Cenis traded widely with western Indians<br />

and had a well-appointed collection of trade<br />

goods including metal coins, silver spoons, and<br />

Spanish horses. Although the Cenis never made<br />

their principal point of residence in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>, they exercised an important cultural<br />

influence over the area until their demise at the<br />

end of the eighteenth century. 3<br />

A second and smaller group of local Indians,<br />

the Bidai, were first recorded in 1691. As a semisedentary<br />

group, the Bidai moved between the<br />

Gulf Coast and the Camino Real, a historic road<br />

just north of Bedias Creek connecting San Antonio<br />

with Natchitoches in Louisiana. The Bidai raised<br />

corn and other crops and depended on the hunt<br />

for a large proportion of their diet. They apparently<br />

spoke the Caddoan language—their name was<br />

derived from the Caddo word for “brushwood”—<br />

but they also spoke a language of their own. The<br />

Bidai were reported to be “a peaceable, quiet people”<br />

who were known for their “excellent character…honesty<br />

and punctuality.” 4<br />

E U R O P E A N<br />

A N D<br />

E X P L O R A T I O N<br />

E M P I R E<br />

In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors<br />

entered Texas seeking to extend the reach of their<br />

new Atlantic empire. Cabeza de Vaca, one of the<br />

lone survivors of the disastrous expedition led by<br />

Pánfilo de Narváez, became the first Spanish<br />

explorer to travel through East Texas. Although de<br />

Vaca did not reach modern-day <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>,<br />

the remnants of Hernando de Soto’s later expedition<br />

may have come close to the area in 1542<br />

under the leadership of Luis de Moscoso Alvarado.<br />

Moscoso’s group probably visited the homeland of<br />

the Cenis Indians in neighboring Houston <strong>County</strong>,<br />

where they found trade items such as turquoise<br />

4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


❖<br />

Left: A Native American burial site<br />

and skeleton was discovered at the<br />

Rafter S Ranch by Robert Samuel in<br />

June 1956. Later, two additional<br />

skeletons were uncovered at the same<br />

location. The remains were analyzed<br />

by Dr. T. N. Campbell, a University<br />

of Texas anthropologist, who found<br />

them to be representative of the<br />

Bedias tribe. Pictured here is<br />

Chief Cooper Sylestine unveiling the<br />

tomb as part of a local program on<br />

the discovery.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Below: The Route of René Robert<br />

Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in Texas.<br />

and cotton goods, testifying to the far reaching<br />

trade networks of the indigenous people. 5<br />

Following Moscoso’s expedition, it took more<br />

than 140 years for Europeans to return to the<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> area. Although the entire region<br />

was claimed by the Spanish monarch, French<br />

explorers under the command of René Robert<br />

Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle traveled into the area in<br />

1686-87. Seeking to establish a French colony at<br />

the mouth of the Mississippi River, La Salle<br />

mistakenly landed near Garcitas Creek just north<br />

of Matagorda Bay. Forced by necessity to establish<br />

a fort, La Salle and a contingent of his men then<br />

explored the area to the east before a<br />

disenchanted follower, Pierre Duhaut, killed La<br />

Salle on March 19, 1687. Although accounts<br />

differ on the route of La Salle’s expedition and the<br />

site of his death, it seems clear that either he or his<br />

men traveled through the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> area in<br />

hopes of finding the Mississippi River. It is also<br />

clear that La Salle’s expedition gave France a claim<br />

to the territory in East Texas and caused the<br />

Viceroy of New Spain to send Alonso De León<br />

with a military company to secure the area in<br />

1689. In turn, De León and chaplain Damián<br />

Massanet built the first Spanish mission in East<br />

Texas, San Francisco de los Tejas, about 70 miles<br />

northeast of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> near the present-day<br />

site of Augusta, Texas. 6 C h a p t e r I ✦ 5


Eight decades later, following a disastrous<br />

economic recession, King Carlos III of Spain<br />

issued a royal order known as the New<br />

Regulations for Presidios. This 1772 directive<br />

was intended to strengthen the Spanish defensive<br />

perimeter, while cutting costs and eliminating<br />

waste. It called for the abandonment of all<br />

missions and presidios in Texas—except those<br />

at San Antonio and La Bahia—and the removal<br />

of soldiers and settlers from East Texas.<br />

Despite this new order, however, settlers<br />

from East Texas persuaded the Spanish Viceroy,<br />

Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, to permit<br />

them to return to the region in 1774. Once<br />

there, they established a settlement named<br />

Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Bucareli at the intersection<br />

of the Old San Antonio Road and the<br />

Trinity River. This settlement, which most likely<br />

sat at the modern day site of Robbins Ferry<br />

northeast of Midway, was within the original<br />

1846 borders of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. By the time<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> was established, however,<br />

Bucareli had long been abandoned. In 1779,<br />

after a series of epidemics and Comanche raids,<br />

Antonio Gil Ibarvo led the Bucareli settlers further<br />

east, where they established Nacogdoches.<br />

Even so, the Bucareli site is an important historic<br />

location and signifies the intent of Spanish<br />

settlers to remain in Texas, even as their king<br />

called for them to move southward toward<br />

Mexico City. 7<br />

❖<br />

Top: Pleasant and Hannah Gray<br />

signed a deed granting the people of<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> ownership of the<br />

Huntsville public square in 1846.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Middle: Alexander McDonald built<br />

one of the first brick buildings in<br />

Huntsville in 1843.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Bottom: A sketch of Huntsville (1843)<br />

from William Bollaert’s Texas.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


A N G L O - A M E R I C A N S A R R I V E<br />

A N D T E X A S J O I N S T H E<br />

U N I T E D S T A T E S<br />

In 1821, after years of protest, Mexican<br />

forces finally won independence from Spain,<br />

and Texas became part of the new Mexican<br />

nation. Three years after independence,<br />

Mexican leaders established a constitutional<br />

republic and encouraged settlers to move into<br />

the nation’s northernmost territory, Coahuila<br />

and Texas.<br />

❖<br />

Left: Huntsville’s first citizens founded<br />

an academy for their children<br />

around 1840.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: A map of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> from<br />

1858, showing original land grants.<br />

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS GENERAL LAND<br />

OFFICE, AUSTIN.<br />

C h a p t e r I ✦ 7


❖<br />

Cincinnati town survey.<br />

COURTESY OF THEWALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

In the early 1830s, Pleasant Gray,<br />

an adventurous Anglo explorer from<br />

Huntsville, Alabama, moved to Texas<br />

to take advantage of Mexico’s liberal<br />

empresario system, which granted<br />

hundreds of acres of land to anyone<br />

willing to homestead in Texas. On July<br />

12, 1835, Mexican officials granted<br />

Gray a patent for one league of land a<br />

few miles southwest of the Trinity<br />

River. Gray worked with his wife<br />

Hannah and brother Ephraim to build<br />

a home on his new land, and he<br />

quickly opened trade with the local<br />

Bidai and Alabama-Coushatta Indians.<br />

Soon, he was joined by other Anglo<br />

migrants, including Thomas P. Carson,<br />

who built a blacksmith shop near<br />

Gray’s burgeoning trading post. With<br />

the growth of his settlement, Gray<br />

decided to bestow a name on his new<br />

community, calling it Huntsville in<br />

honor of his former home in Alabama. 8<br />

Following the War for Texas<br />

Independence in 1836, Gray’s settlement<br />

at Huntsville became part of<br />

Washington and later Montgomery<br />

<strong>County</strong> in the new Republic of Texas.<br />

As the local population grew,<br />

Huntsville took on a life and character<br />

of its own. The Globe Tavern, a frame building<br />

that served as an inn and stage coach shop,<br />

appeared in 1841. Two years later merchant<br />

Alexander McDonald constructed a store and<br />

Masonic lodge. The same community spirit that<br />

inspired the Masons also helped finance the<br />

construction of the area’s first school—the<br />

“Brick Academy”—which provided education to<br />

boys and, later, girls from the surrounding area. 9<br />

As Huntsville residents watched the slow but<br />

steady growth of their community, another<br />

Anglo migrant, James DeWitt, established a<br />

nearby settlement called Cincinnati in 1837.<br />

With its commanding presence on the Trinity<br />

River near a stage road connecting Washingtonon-the-Brazos<br />

and Nacogdoches, Cincinnati<br />

soon became one of the area’s leading<br />

commercial centers. Local farmers transported<br />

cotton and other goods to Cincinnati, and then<br />

steamboats carried the goods down the Trinity<br />

River to the port at Galveston. By the 1850s,<br />

Cincinnati boasted “a saloon, a grocery store, a<br />

cotton warehouse, a dry-goods store, a saddlery,<br />

a tannery, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a<br />

wagon-maker, a stonemason, and two doctors.” 10<br />

Cincinnati’s growth paralleled that in other<br />

parts of Texas, and American leaders in<br />

Washington, D.C., took note. In 1845, the<br />

United States annexed the Republic of Texas,<br />

making it the 28th state to join the Union. Then,<br />

a year later, the Texas legislature established<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> as an independent entity with a<br />

county seat in Huntsville. The county was initially<br />

named for Robert J. <strong>Walker</strong>, a U.S. Senator<br />

from Mississippi who championed recognition<br />

of the Republic of Texas and annexation of the<br />

state. Ironically, <strong>Walker</strong>’s Unionist sympathies<br />

during the Civil War caused local residents to<br />

request that the Texas Confederate legislature<br />

rename the county in honor of Samuel H.<br />

<strong>Walker</strong>, a Texas Ranger and Indian fighter who<br />

died at the Battle of Huamantla in 1847. 11<br />

8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

AN ERA OF GROWTH, 1846-1860<br />

B Y J E F F R E Y L . L I T T L E J O H N A N D A N T H O N Y L A N E<br />

I I<br />

N E W S E T T L E M E N T S E M E R G E<br />

As <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> developed during the antebellum era, hundreds of Anglo Americans<br />

migrated to the region looking for land and a chance to improve their lot in life. Coming<br />

primarily from the southern United States, many Anglo pioneers brought enslaved African<br />

Americans with them. Together, these two groups drove a population boom, which saw the county’s<br />

residential numbers grow from 3,964 in 1850 to 8,191 in 1860. This dramatic demographic<br />

expansion was accompanied by other corresponding signs of development, including a 213 percent<br />

rise in improved farmland, a 207 percent rise in corn production, and a 1,272 percent rise in<br />

cotton production. 12<br />

During this era of growth, <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s local officials helped establish order in the<br />

frontier communities taking shape in the area. The county’s first administrators included Milton Estill<br />

as chief justice, Isaac McGary as county clerk, and William Reeves as sheriff. These officials worked<br />

with the county’s four commissioners to develop a budget, determine tax rates, and provide for<br />

road construction.<br />

Indeed, the size and scale of Texas created transportation challenges throughout the antebellum<br />

period. Many roads were little more that dirt paths cut through forest glens or across rolling prairies.<br />

When it rained in the spring, muddy conditions brought travel and trade to a standstill. And, moving<br />

by stagecoach proved tiring and expensive.<br />

These transportation difficulties meant that many river towns grew up on navigable waterways<br />

that penetrated into the Texas interior. One of the earliest of these sites, Carolina, developed at the<br />

❖<br />

A cotton plant, the basis of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>’s early economic development.<br />

FROM THE EDITOR’S COLLECTION.<br />

C h a p t e r I I ✦ 9


❖<br />

Advertisements from The<br />

Huntsville Item.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE ITEM.<br />

mouth of Caroline Creek on the western bank of<br />

the Trinity River. Founded in the early 1830s,<br />

this settlement in northeastern <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

offered numerous iron and sulfur springs and<br />

served as a rest stop for steamboats on the Trinity<br />

River. Despite its advantageous location and<br />

beneficent springs, however, Carolina never had<br />

a population of more than three dozen people. 13<br />

Another Trinity River settlement, Wyser’s<br />

Bluff, grew up in 1853, as people fled a yellow<br />

fever epidemic in the neighboring town of<br />

Cincinnati. Named initially for landowner<br />

Gustavus A. Wyser, this settlement was later<br />

renamed Osceola for John C. Calhoun’s<br />

plantation in South Carolina, before residents<br />

finally decided on Tuscaloosa in honor of the<br />

Alabama town from which many of the migrants<br />

had come. Located twelve miles north of<br />

Huntsville, Tuscaloosa had a natural landing for<br />

steamboats and served as a commercial center<br />

for local farmers throughout the 1850s. 14<br />

Much the same can be said about Joseph<br />

Werner’s settlement of Newport. Established in<br />

1854, this Trinity River port enjoyed a brief<br />

heyday in the years before the Civil War as<br />

cotton farmers shipped their produce downriver<br />

to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. 15<br />

1 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Despite the natural advantages these river<br />

ports offered, many migrants to <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

settled near prominent local figures who lived a<br />

safe distance from the Trinity River and its trade<br />

routes. For instance, some people sought<br />

out Hillary M. Crabb, a large landowner<br />

who served as both chief justice of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> (1848-52) and a state representative<br />

to the Texas legislature (1853-57). His<br />

homestead at Crabb’s Prairie, a few miles<br />

northwest of Huntsville, grew into a substantial<br />

agricultural community and attracted a number<br />

of pioneer families. 16<br />

Shepherd’s Valley, a settlement seven miles<br />

southeast of Huntsville, provides another<br />

example of the role that large landowners played<br />

in the creation of local communities. Named for<br />

Jacob H. Shepherd, a soldier who served in the<br />

Texas Revolution and received a league of land<br />

for his participation in the conflict, Shepherd’s<br />

Valley grew up in the 1850s. It soon had a<br />

number of prominent local residents, who<br />

contributed to the economic and intellectual<br />

development of the county. 17<br />

Few settlers in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> could rival the<br />

wealth and power that was accumulated in<br />

Waverly or Old Waverly as it is sometimes<br />

called. Founded by James W. Winters, a migrant<br />

who moved to southeastern <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

from Alabama in 1835, Waverly hit a growth<br />

spurt in the early 1850s. First, the Fisher family<br />

arrived from North Carolina in 1851, and then<br />

the following year some three hundred people<br />

moved in from Alabama with dozens of African<br />

American slaves.<br />

The local inhabitants farmed cotton and built<br />

a school, the Waverly Institute, for their children.<br />

Soon, the town had a Methodist, Presbyterian,<br />

and Episcopalian congregation, as well as a<br />

Masonic Lodge. Indeed, after the Civil War, local<br />

planters formed the Waverly Emigration Society<br />

and employed Meyer Levy, a merchant of Polish<br />

origins, to secure 150 Polish laborers to replace<br />

the African-American slaves who had recently<br />

been freed. Meyer accomplished his task, and in<br />

1867 approximately 40 Polish families arrived in<br />

the area. Waverly then became associated with a<br />

rich Polish culture that can still be seen today<br />

at sites like St. Joseph’s Catholic Church,<br />

which had its origins in the work of Reverend<br />

❖<br />

Top: Descendants of Joseph Werner,<br />

the founder of Newport, photographed<br />

in 1899.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Middle: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Bottom: A map of river stops along<br />

the Trinity River.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Felix Orzechowski. 18 C h a p t e r I I ✦ 1 1


❖<br />

Above: Sam Houston (1793-1863).<br />

Daguerreotype by Charles Fredricks.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Below: Margaret Moffette Lea<br />

(1819-1867).<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

H U N T S V I L L E A N D<br />

S A M H O U S T O N<br />

As new settlements emerged in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>, the local seat at Huntsville grew at a fast<br />

clip. Thomas and Sandford Gibbs ran a<br />

mercantile store and operated a private bank<br />

that helped fund the development of the county.<br />

Robert Goodloe Smither acted as a merchant<br />

and local booster, raising funds and promoting<br />

new institutions in the area. Soon, there was a<br />

local newspaper called the Huntsville Item, and a<br />

half-dozen churches were in operation<br />

throughout the city. The Cumberland<br />

Presbyterians built the first church in town in<br />

1848, and seven years later the Old School<br />

Presbyterians constructed a building of their<br />

own. Then, in quick succession, the Baptists<br />

(1852), Christians (1854), Methodists (1857),<br />

and Episcopalians (1871) established churches<br />

for their own Sunday services. 19<br />

The development of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> received<br />

a further boost in 1844, when General Sam<br />

Houston, the hero of San Jacinto and first<br />

President of the Republic of Texas, established<br />

his Raven Hill plantation fourteen miles<br />

northeast of Huntsville. Three years later, while<br />

serving as a U.S. Senator in Washington D.C.,<br />

Houston had a new “Woodland Home” built in<br />

Huntsville for his wife, Margaret, and their<br />

growing family. The Houstons lived in their new<br />

home from 1847 to 1858, and Margaret even<br />

convinced her husband to join the Baptist<br />

Church during their time in Huntsville.<br />

Sam Houston’s move to <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

brought other prominent people to the<br />

community as well. For instance, Sarah<br />

Williams Kittrell Goree, the matron of honor at<br />

Margaret and Sam Houston’s wedding, moved to<br />

Huntsville with her husband Langston Goree<br />

and children in December 1850. The Gorees<br />

also brought Dr. Pleasant Williams Kittrell and<br />

his wife with them as well. Together, the Gorees<br />

and Kittrells transported a train of wagons,<br />

herds of livestock, and dozens of enslaved<br />

African Americans to <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. The two<br />

families briefly lived in the Houston’s Woodland<br />

Home, while their houses were built in the area<br />

known as the Kittrell Cutoff. Dr. Kittrell<br />

practiced medicine in Huntsville, served two<br />

terms in the Texas legislature, and chaired the<br />

Education Committee that authored the bill to<br />

establish the University of Texas. 20<br />

Another of Houston’s colleagues, Henderson<br />

Yoakum, moved to the Huntsville area in 1845<br />

and began practicing law with his friend and<br />

partner, Anthony Martin Branch. Yoakum was<br />

elected district attorney for the Seventh Judicial<br />

District in 1850 and then to the Texas House in<br />

1 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


1859. He also published a landmark History of<br />

Texas that shaped the way people saw the state<br />

for generations to come. 21<br />

With the arrival of so many bright and<br />

prosperous people, it was not long before local<br />

residents decided to establish a new institution<br />

of higher education in Huntsville. Daniel Baker,<br />

a Princeton-educated Presbyterian missionary,<br />

lobbied for the establishment of a churchaffiliated<br />

school, and community leaders raised<br />

$10,000 to support the founding of Austin<br />

College in 1849. Reverend Samuel McKinney<br />

assumed the presidency of Austin College, and<br />

the school admitted its first class in the fall of<br />

1850. Students at the college studied law,<br />

optics, electricity, mineralogy, philosophy,<br />

poetry, and rhetoric. After McKinney resigned in<br />

1853, Daniel Baker was selected as the new<br />

president, and the school reached its peak<br />

attendance in 1855. The Civil War and a later<br />

yellow fever epidemic led to the college’s<br />

relocation to Sherman, Texas. Yet, the original<br />

building still resides on the campus of Sam<br />

Houston State University today. 22<br />

In 1853 the Texas Conference of Methodist<br />

Churches opened its own school, Andrew Female<br />

College, in Huntsville. James M. Follansbee<br />

worked as the first principal of the institution,<br />

which provided young women with a classical<br />

education and classes in music, art, and domestic<br />

life. Charles Keenan, Henderson Yoakum, and<br />

Daniel Baker served as the original trustees, and<br />

Tom H. Ball was an early president of the school.<br />

The college closed in 1879, and the leaders of<br />

Huntsville transferred the building to the black<br />

community where it served as a local school. 23<br />

Although Austin College and Andrew Female<br />

College survived only a short time, the Texas<br />

State Penitentiary has enjoyed a longer tenure in<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Established in 1848 and opened<br />

the following year, the penitentiary has been in<br />

operation for more than 160 years. It is locally<br />

❖<br />

Left: Langston and Sarah Williams<br />

Kittrell Goree family, including six<br />

children photographed here (from<br />

left to right): Susan Margaret,<br />

Pleasant Kittrell, Edwin King,<br />

Langston James, Jr., Robert Daniel,<br />

and Thomas Jewett.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Above: Henderson Yoakum<br />

(1810-1856).<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Below: Andrew Female College<br />

letterhead.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r I I ✦ 1 3


❖<br />

Above: “A typical Texas cotton<br />

field at picking time,” Keystone<br />

View Company.<br />

FROM THE EDITOR’S COLLECTION.<br />

Right: Jim and John “Tip” Hightower.<br />

COURTESY SAMUEL WALKER HOUSTON MUSEUM<br />

AND CULTURAL CENTER.<br />

known as the Walls Unit and sits only a few<br />

blocks off the town square behind the modern<br />

headquarters of the Texas Criminal Justice<br />

System. Leading local figures including John<br />

Slater Besser and Thomas Jewett Goree worked<br />

as administrators with the prison system in the<br />

mid-nineteenth century, and hundreds of local<br />

residents are employed by the Texas Department<br />

of Criminal Justice today. 24<br />

S L A V E R Y I N W A L K E R C O U N T Y<br />

Between 1821 and 1836, Anglo Americans<br />

forcibly brought thousands of enslaved African<br />

Americans into Texas to perform agricultural<br />

and domestic work. Although the Mexican<br />

government threatened to restrict or even end<br />

black slavery, the Texas Revolution and<br />

Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836)<br />

specifically guaranteed the rights of<br />

slaveholders. After Texas joined the United<br />

States in 1845, the institution of slavery<br />

solidified and expanded as more slaves entered<br />

the system. 25<br />

In <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> the number of enslaved<br />

African Americans grew from 1,301 in 1850 to<br />

4,135 in 1860. Local slaves outnumbered white<br />

residents in the county, and they performed the<br />

vast majority of the agricultural work in the<br />

area. 26 Obviously, there were great differences in<br />

the daily experiences of enslaved African<br />

Americans. Some, like Joshua Houston and Jeff<br />

Hamilton, had a comparatively good<br />

experience, since they were owned by the<br />

principled Sam Houston. Joshua Houston<br />

received a rudimentary education and became a<br />

skilled blacksmith, a craft which would<br />

ultimately garner him great respect among the<br />

white citizens of Huntsville. Even so, Joshua<br />

Houston could not marry the woman whom he<br />

loved or act as a father to his children because<br />

his family lived on a distant plantation and slave<br />

marriages were forbidden by Texas law. 27<br />

Other enslaved African Americans toiled in<br />

obscurity for owners who could buy, sell,<br />

mortgage, and hire them out at a moment’s<br />

notice. The vast majority of slaves in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> worked as field hands, performing the<br />

back-breaking agricultural work required to<br />

produce the cotton and corn crops on which the<br />

local economy depended. There were, of course,<br />

craftsmen, house slaves, and livestock handlers,<br />

but these individuals were smaller in number<br />

and represented a kind of privileged class<br />

among the slave community.<br />

The slave diet consisted primarily of corn<br />

and pork, although many slaves supplemented<br />

their masters’ offering with a collection of sweet<br />

potatoes, garden vegetables, wild game, and fish<br />

that they provided for themselves. Slave houses<br />

were small, log cabins with dirt floors, a<br />

fireplace and bed. Slave clothing was generally<br />

made of inexpensive, crude material, and shoes<br />

were rarely fitted. Little medical care was<br />

available for slaves, and they suffered through<br />

all types of common illnesses as did their<br />

masters during the antebellum era. 28<br />

1 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

I I I<br />

FROM CIVIL WAR TO<br />

RECONSTRUCTION, 1860-1872<br />

B Y J E F F R E Y L . L I T T L E J O H N A N D A M Y H Y D E N<br />

S A M H O U S T O N A N D T H E S E C E S S I O N C R I S I S<br />

As a new decade dawned in January 1860, the residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> prepared for a looming<br />

conflict over slavery and secession. Given the difficult issues involved, many locals took comfort in<br />

the fact that their friend, Sam Houston, sat in the governor’s seat in Austin. Houston was an<br />

outspoken unionist who supported both the U.S. Constitution and the right of states to determine<br />

their own policy on slavery. 29<br />

Over the next fourteen months, however, Houston’s centrist position became increasingly<br />

untenable as the national Democratic party divided and Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, moved to<br />

the forefront of the 1860 presidential race. Lincoln’s party opposed the expansion of slavery into the<br />

western territories, and Southern Democrats viewed the Republican standard bearer as the<br />

most dangerous man in America. Local planters in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> shared this opinion, given the<br />

fact that their collective livelihood rested on the backs of 4,135 slaves who were valued at more<br />

than $2,000,000. 30<br />

Shortly after Lincoln’s election on November 6, 1860, several leading figures from <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

wrote to Sam Houston asking his “opinion in regard to the best course to pursue in this important<br />

period in our history.” Houston responded to his long-time neighbors on November 28, writing,<br />

❖<br />

The third <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Courthouse<br />

(1873-1875).<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r I I I ✦ 1 5


I need not assure you that whenever the time<br />

shall come, when we must choose between a loss<br />

of our Constitutional rights and revolution, I<br />

shall choose the latter; but if I, who have led the<br />

people of Texas in stormy times of danger,<br />

hesitate to plunge into revolution now, it is not<br />

because I am ready to submit to Black<br />

Republican rule, but because I regard the<br />

Constitution of my country, and am determined<br />

to stand by it. Mr. Lincoln has been<br />

constitutionally elected and, much as I deprecate<br />

his success, no alternative is left me but to yield<br />

to the Constitution. The moment that<br />

instrument is violated by him, I will be foremost<br />

in demanding redress and the last to abandon<br />

my ground. 31<br />

❖<br />

Above: Governor Sam Houston<br />

in 1859.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Below: The Steamboat House where<br />

Sam Houston died on July 26, 1863.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Despite Houston’s call for patience, it soon<br />

became clear that Lincoln’s election had thrust<br />

secessionist forces into power across the South.<br />

Beginning in December 1860, South Carolina<br />

seceded from the Union, and in short order five<br />

other states followed suit. The question was<br />

whether Houston could stand his ground and<br />

keep Texas in the Union, or if his state would<br />

join its neighbors in the parade of Southern<br />

secessionism. Houston initially had the upper<br />

hand, since the Texas legislature was not in<br />

session, but soon a group of secessionist-minded<br />

politicians drew up a decree calling for the<br />

election of delegates to a secession convention<br />

separate from the state legislature. Amid debate<br />

as to the legality of this action, delegates were<br />

elected and a convention date of January 28,<br />

1861, was established. With few options<br />

remaining, Houston recalled the legislature in<br />

hopes that it would denounce the secession<br />

convention, but legislators approved the meeting<br />

by an overwhelming vote of 55-15. John H.<br />

Reagan, an elected delegate to the convention,<br />

then made a last effort to pull Houston to the<br />

side of secession, but the governor would not be<br />

moved. In a prophetic statement to Reagan,<br />

Houston said, “Our people are going to war to<br />

perpetuate slavery, and the first gun fired in the<br />

war will be the [death] knell of slavery.” 32<br />

In spite of Houston’s warning, delegates to<br />

the secession convention—including attorneys<br />

Leonard Abercrombie and A.P. Wiley from<br />

1 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>—approved the dissolution of<br />

ties with the Union. Indeed, Houston’s own<br />

friends in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> voted 490 to 61 in<br />

favor of secession. State officials were then<br />

required to take an oath to the Confederacy, but<br />

when Houston refused to do so he was deposed<br />

as governor on March 18, 1861. Upon leaving<br />

office, Houston returned to Huntsville in 1862.<br />

Defeated and dejected, he took up residence in<br />

Rufus Bailey’s Steamboat House and died there<br />

from pneumonia on July 26, 1863. 33<br />

W A L K E R C O U N T Y A N D<br />

T H E C I V I L W A R<br />

Although Sam Houston took a principled<br />

stand against the Confederacy, his son, Sam<br />

Houston, Jr., and many of his closest friends from<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> supported the cause of Southern<br />

nationalism and fought for the Confederacy. For<br />

instance, Anthony Martin Branch, a long-time<br />

associate of Houston’s and executor of his will,<br />

resigned his seat in the Texas Senate in 1862 and<br />

served as captain of Company A in George W.<br />

Carter’s Twenty-first Texas Cavalry. After a year in<br />

that position, Branch then won a seat to represent<br />

the Third District of Texas in the Confederate<br />

Congress. Branch was among the most wellknown<br />

local figures to serve in a position of<br />

authority within the Confederate government,<br />

and he defended what he perceived as the rights<br />

of Texas and the South throughout the Civil War. 34<br />

Indeed, hundreds of men from <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> volunteered to fight for their homes and<br />

❖<br />

Top, left: Anthony Martin Branch<br />

(1823-1867).<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Top, right: James Gillaspie<br />

(1805-1867).<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Below: The Huntsville Square<br />

during the Civil War. Photograph by<br />

F. B. Bailey.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r I I I ✦ 1 7


❖<br />

Above: Thomas Jewett Goree<br />

(1835-1905).<br />

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS PRISON MUSEUM.<br />

Below: The home of the<br />

superintendent of the Texas<br />

Prison System.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

state during the war. Some local figures, like<br />

James Gillaspie, even took a lead role in<br />

organizing their own units. As a veteran of the<br />

Texas Revolution and Mexican War, Gillaspie<br />

raised a six-month company to serve in the 5th<br />

Texas Infantry, under the command of Colonel<br />

E. B. Nichols. Many of the men from this<br />

company, which was mustered out of service in<br />

March 1862, joined the 20th Texas Infantry at<br />

Galveston that summer. Henry Marshall Elmore,<br />

one of the founding fathers of Waverly, Texas,<br />

organized the 20th Infantry, and, with Leonard<br />

Abercrombie as lieutenant colonel, helped lead<br />

its effort to patrol the Texas coast and recapture<br />

Galveston in January 1863. 35<br />

Company H of the 4th Texas Infantry (the<br />

Porter Guards) was the first Civil War unit<br />

organized in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> to serve outside the<br />

state of Texas. Established in Huntsville with<br />

148-members on May 7, 1861, the unit was led<br />

initially by Proctor P. Porter of Montgomery<br />

<strong>County</strong>. When Porter died of typhoid fever after<br />

the battle of Gaines’ Mill in July 1862, however,<br />

Captain James T. Hunter of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

took command of the unit. Hunter was the<br />

son of the co-founder of Cincinnati—George<br />

Elliott Hunter—and he led his men in John<br />

Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade through some of<br />

the bloodiest battles of the war, including<br />

Second Manassas, Antietam, Gettysburg,<br />

Chickamauga, and the Wilderness. In fact,<br />

Hunter was among only eleven remaining<br />

members of Company H when his unit<br />

surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. 36<br />

Hunter’s unit was not the only local group to<br />

fight in the Eastern Theater during the war. Men<br />

from <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> also joined Company D (the<br />

Waverly Confederates) and Company H (the<br />

Texas Polk Rifles) of the 5th Texas Infantry, which<br />

served with Hood’s Brigade in Virginia. Despite<br />

the historic role that these troops played in the<br />

war, Thomas Jewett Goree remains perhaps the<br />

best-known soldier from the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> area.<br />

In 1861, Goree left his law practice and boarded<br />

a boat from Galveston for the war in Virginia. On<br />

board, he met and formed a friendship with<br />

Major James Longstreet, who had recently<br />

resigned his position in the U.S. Army and was<br />

traveling to Virginia to join the Confederate<br />

Army. Goree served as aide-de-camp for<br />

Longstreet throughout the war, participating in<br />

many crucial battles of the period including<br />

Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. 37<br />

As soldiers from <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> fought<br />

around the South, local citizens supported the<br />

war effort and sent supplies and encouragement<br />

to the men on the front lines. At the same time,<br />

the Texas government capitalized on the use of<br />

a cotton and woolen mill housed at the<br />

penitentiary in Huntsville. From December 1,<br />

1861, to August 31, 1863, prisoners produced<br />

1 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


2.2 million yards of cotton and 293,298 yards of<br />

wool, which were sold for both Confederate<br />

uniforms and civilian clothing. The sum total of<br />

profit for Texas during this twenty-one month<br />

period was $800,000. 38<br />

R E C O N S T R U C T I O N<br />

Following Robert E. Lee’s surrender at<br />

Appomattox in April 1865, much changed in<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. To begin with, many families<br />

had to adjust to the loss of a loved one who had<br />

died in the war, while other families welcomed<br />

home men who had to find a new place in the<br />

civilian community. For some, this adjustment<br />

was easier than for others. Thomas Goree, for<br />

instance, returned home to take control of<br />

Raven Hill plantation, which his mother had<br />

purchased from Sam Houston before the Civil<br />

War. In 1868, Goree married Elizabeth Thomas<br />

Nolley, the head of Andrew Female College in<br />

Huntsville, and soon he was selected as the<br />

Superintendent of the Texas Prison System.<br />

Leonard Abercrombie had similar success<br />

transitioning back to civilian life, returning to<br />

his legal practice in Huntsville and winning<br />

election to represent the Ninth District as a state<br />

senator in the 20th and 21st Texas legislature.<br />

Other local figures proved less successful,<br />

however. For instance, Anthony Martin Branch<br />

returned to Huntsville to resume his political<br />

career, but Republican legislators in the U.S.<br />

House of Representatives refused to seat him<br />

despite his electoral victories in 1865 and 1866.<br />

At the same time, African Americans in<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> reveled in their newfound<br />

freedom. With the abolition of slavery and the<br />

recognition of black citizenship and voting<br />

rights, a new day dawned in the county. African<br />

Americans established churches, celebrated<br />

Juneteenth, and participated in opportunities<br />

provided by the Freedmen’s Bureau. Despite<br />

these advances, however, most freedmen found<br />

themselves at an excruciating crossroads. They<br />

had no formal education, owned little property,<br />

and had few options outside the agricultural<br />

world to which they had so long been shackled.<br />

There were few exceptions to this rule, but<br />

Joshua Houston was one of them. A former slave<br />

of Sam Houston’s, Joshua used his talents as a<br />

blacksmith to establish a place for himself in the<br />

new world taking shape around him. In January<br />

1866, he purchased his own land, built a house,<br />

and opened a blacksmith shop. He then won<br />

election to the office of city alderman in 1867<br />

and 1870, and was elected county commissioner<br />

in 1878 and 1882. Joshua worked tirelessly on<br />

behalf of local blacks and stood as a beacon of<br />

hope to a downtrodden community. 39<br />

Houston was not the only one to lend a<br />

helping hand. Other prominent African<br />

Americans in the county included: Richard<br />

Williams, a state representative in both the 12th<br />

❖<br />

Above: The black “Union Church,”<br />

which became St. James Methodist<br />

Episcopal Church in 1869.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: The Joshua Houston family in<br />

October 1898 at the wedding of<br />

Joshua Houston, Jr. ,and Georgia<br />

Carlina Orviss.<br />

COURTESY 0F THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM..<br />

C h a p t e r I I I ✦ 1 9


❖<br />

Right: Memphis Allen sat on the<br />

Board of Trustees for the Bishop Ward<br />

Normal and Collegiate Institute for<br />

Negroes in Huntsville (1883-1890).<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAMUEL WALKER HOUSTON<br />

MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER.<br />

Below: African-American politicians<br />

who sat in the Texas legislature during<br />

Reconstruction. Richard Williams<br />

(bottom row, fifth column) and James<br />

H. Washington (fifth row, seventh<br />

column) represented <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

COURTESY OF THE INSTITUTE OF TEXAN<br />

CULTURES, SAN ANTONIO.<br />

and 13th Texas Legislatures; Memphis Allen, a<br />

founding member and trustee of the Bishop<br />

Ward Normal and Collegiate Institute for<br />

Negroes in Huntsville; Joseph M. Mettawer, a<br />

band leader, educator, and county<br />

commissioner; C. W. Luckie, an educator and<br />

member of the school board; and Jane Ward, a<br />

hotel operator and community activist. Many of<br />

these individuals worked with local whites,<br />

including Micajah Clark Rogers and George<br />

Washington Grant, who both helped African<br />

Americans secure land and improve their<br />

economic and educational opportunities.<br />

Despite these steps forward, however, a<br />

devastating yellow fever epidemic struck<br />

Huntsville in 1867, carrying off a full 10 percent<br />

of the population. From August 9 to October<br />

19, 1867, at least 130 citizens lost their lives,<br />

including James Gillaspie, Anthony Martin<br />

Branch, and Pleasant William Kittrell. 40 The<br />

yellow fever epidemic only underscored what<br />

was already a dark and tumultuous time. After<br />

touring East Texas in 1869, a reporter for the<br />

Cincinnati Commercial noted, “You cannot pick<br />

up a paper in Texas without reading of murder,<br />

assassinations and robbery….The civil authority<br />

is powerless—the military insufficient in<br />

number.” 41 Two years later in 1871, a rebellion<br />

broke out in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> when a freedman,<br />

Sam Jenkins, was found murdered after<br />

testifying against several white men in an assault<br />

case. Four whites—Nathaniel Outlaw, Joseph<br />

Wright, Fred Parks, and John M. Parish—were<br />

arrested for the murder. On January 11, 1871,<br />

three of them were found guilty. The verdict<br />

brought an outbreak of gunfire in the<br />

courtroom; Parish and Wright escaped, aided by<br />

Huntsville citizens.<br />

By February 20, Governor Edmund J. Davis<br />

established martial law in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, an act<br />

required only three times across the state during<br />

Reconstruction, and a court martial was<br />

arranged to rectify the situation. The entire<br />

city population was taxed in order to pay<br />

for the military occupation. Soon enough,<br />

however, Democrats returned to power and<br />

Reconstruction came to an abrupt if<br />

unsuccessful end. It would take another century<br />

for African Americans to realize the promise of<br />

the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were<br />

added to the U.S. Constitution between 1865<br />

and 1870. But, the march to that “better day<br />

coming” had at least begun. 42<br />

2 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

RAILROAD TOWNS AND SAM HOUSTON<br />

NORMAL INSTITUTE, 1872-1900<br />

B Y J E F F R E Y L . L I T T L E J O H N A N D G O N Z A L O T A M E Z<br />

I V<br />

T H E R A I L R O A D A R R I V E S<br />

In the midst of the chaos surrounding Reconstruction, the railroad arrived in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

Many Huntsville and Waverly residents rejected the newfangled transportation system,<br />

however, suggesting that it might bring undesirables to the area and spark another yellow fever<br />

outbreak. The refusal of the county’s two largest settlements to work with the railroad industry meant<br />

that the Houston and Great Northern Railroad company looked to other areas to build its depots<br />

and tracks.<br />

Coming from the South, the company established its first local depot at Waverly Station in 1870.<br />

This site sat roughly ten miles west of Old Waverly and attracted many residents from the historic<br />

settlement. In fact, the depot soon changed its name to New Waverly, and the town received its own<br />

post office in 1873. Local planters used Polish immigrants to bring in the cotton, and the city boasted<br />

several general stores, boarding houses, cotton mills, and saloons by 1896. 43<br />

Moving north and east, the Phelps-Dodge Construction Company built the railway line for the<br />

Houston and Great Northern Railroad directly through <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. The construction company<br />

established a depot called Phelps in 1871. The stop was named for the company itself, but it soon<br />

developed into a community with a post office, hotel, general store, and school. Later, when<br />

Huntsville’s leaders realized that they had made a mistake in opposing the railroad, a branch line<br />

opened connecting Huntsville to the main line at Phelps. 44<br />

❖<br />

A train arriving in New<br />

Waverly, 1910.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r I V ✦ 2 1


Five miles further north and east, the Phelps-<br />

Dodge company built a second stop called<br />

Dodge in 1871. This also developed into a small<br />

town with its own hotel, store, and school. A<br />

post office was established in 1881, and within<br />

a decade the population stood at some two<br />

hundred people. The community added several<br />

churches, cotton gins, and drugstores in the<br />

first decade of the twentieth century, but it<br />

remained a rural, agricultural settlement of less<br />

than three hundred people. 45<br />

Along with Dodge and Phelps, the railroad<br />

established Riverside in 1872. This new<br />

settlement sat in the northeastern corner of the<br />

county on the Trinity River a short distance<br />

from the old site at Newport. Cotton, lumber,<br />

and stock raising were mainstays of the local<br />

economy, and by 1900 the town had two<br />

schools, three churches, two sawmills, two<br />

hotels, and two general stores. The population<br />

hovered between 100 and 300 for a long while,<br />

until the local schools were consolidated into<br />

the Huntsville system in the 1960s. Today, the<br />

town has roughly five hundred residents. 46<br />

T H E F O U N D I N G O F S A M<br />

H O U S T O N N O R M A L<br />

I N S T I T U T E , 1 8 7 9 - 1 8 8 1<br />

At the end of the nineteenth century, the state<br />

of Texas faced a looming crisis. Without a statefunded<br />

public normal school for teachers,<br />

private institutions like Huntsville’s Austin<br />

College were left with the responsibility of<br />

❖<br />

Above: An 1896 advertisement from<br />

The Texarkana Gateway to Texas<br />

and the Southwest.<br />

COURTESY OF THE EDITOR’S COLLECTION.<br />

Right: In 1872 an eight-mile “tap<br />

line” connecting Huntsville and Phelps<br />

was completed.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

2 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


training school teachers for a booming<br />

population that was quickly outpacing the<br />

supply of qualified educators. Indeed, many<br />

private colleges concentrated their efforts on “the<br />

preparation of students for state certification<br />

examinations,” and not general knowledge,<br />

methodology, or administrative training. 47<br />

Dr. Barnas Sears, an agent of the Peabody<br />

Education Fund, along with the citizens of<br />

Huntsville and the Sixteenth Texas Legislature<br />

came together in 1879 to create the “first taxsupported,<br />

teacher-training institution in<br />

Texas.” 48 The newly chartered Sam Houston<br />

Normal Institute (SHNI) received $6,000 from<br />

the Peabody Fund and was named in honor of<br />

the Father of Texas. Again, the citizens of<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> enthusiastically lent their<br />

support to the cause of educating future<br />

generations. The location “of the Institute,<br />

nearby and in full view of General Houston’s old<br />

homestead, was secured by a united effort on<br />

part of the [community].” 49<br />

In the fall of 1879, Sam Houston Normal<br />

Institute opened its doors on the site of the old<br />

Austin College campus and welcomed new<br />

students eager to start their college educations.<br />

Young people came from every corner of the<br />

Lone Star State, from booming cities to small<br />

towns and farms. The state legislature ensured<br />

every senatorial district received properly<br />

trained teachers through competitive regional<br />

scholarships, which completely funded the<br />

original 74 “state” students. 50<br />

The first years of the ambitious institution were<br />

challenging to say the least. The school’s first<br />

principal, Bernard Mallon, died of a sudden<br />

illness one week after classes began. The new<br />

principal, Hildreth Hosea Smith, made the best of<br />

his emergency appointment in his twenty-onemonth<br />

administration. He implemented his predecessor’s<br />

curriculum and even expanded it in<br />

order to supplement students’ deficiencies and<br />

produce superior educators. Before the end of<br />

his tenure, students were trained in pedagogy,<br />

the liberal arts, and the history and philosophy<br />

of education. 52<br />

S E T T I N G A N E X A M P L E<br />

Joseph A. Baldwin left a lasting impression on<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and Sam Houston Normal<br />

Institute. The life-long educator taught and<br />

❖<br />

Above: Development in Riverside<br />

by 1920.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Below: The first faculty and students<br />

at Sam Houston Normal Institute,<br />

1879-1880.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

C h a p t e r I V ✦ 2 3


❖<br />

Top: The Austin College Building on<br />

the campus of Sam Houston Normal<br />

Institute, c. the 1880s.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Middle: Joseph A. Baldwin,<br />

Sam Houston Normal Institute’s<br />

third principal.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Bottom: Old Main on the campus of<br />

Sam Houston Normal Institute.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

established normal institutes around the country<br />

and was tapped to become SHNI’s third principal<br />

while on a Texas lecture tour. He not only enjoyed<br />

the cooperation and respect of the faculty, but also<br />

a level of freedom not seen by his predecessors.<br />

Under his leadership, SHNI expanded its faculty<br />

from four to ten members, increased the course of<br />

study to three years, and renovated buildings and<br />

infrastructure. 53 Baldwin steered SHNI toward a<br />

decade of explosive growth and a reputation for<br />

excellence. The 2,650 graduates that attended<br />

during his administration proved their<br />

effectiveness throughout the state and inspired the<br />

creation of both a summer training program for<br />

county teachers and the position of chair of<br />

pedagogy that he occupied at the University of<br />

Texas from 1891 until his death in 1899. 54<br />

The success of SHNI drew the attention of<br />

prospective students, competing institutions, and<br />

several advocates. Although enrollment was<br />

booming, the increasing number of students<br />

made the inadequacy of local facilities very<br />

obvious. Superintendent Oscar Cooper, a former<br />

faculty member, and Huntsville’s own State<br />

Senator L. A. Abercrombie, an original SHNI<br />

trustee, lobbied for the appropriation of<br />

renovation funds. The state awarded Sam<br />

Houston $40,000 for the construction of a new<br />

“Main” Building, which was nearly double its<br />

1879 budget of $22,000. The new Main structure<br />

was completed by the 1890-91 school year; it<br />

housed “classrooms, offices, a library, and a grand<br />

auditorium” which accommodated more than<br />

twelve hundred students. 55 Indeed, Old Main<br />

stood as a testament to the tenure of Joseph<br />

Baldwin until its fiery demise in 1982.<br />

Henry Carr Pritchett, Baldwin’s successor,<br />

was married in a local Methodist church in 1876<br />

and had long standing ties to the community. As<br />

a Sam Houston faculty member, “Pritchett had<br />

prepared over two thousand students to teach<br />

mathematics to the schoolchildren of Texas”<br />

from 1881 to 1890. 56 After holding the post of<br />

Superintendent of Public Instruction for a year,<br />

he resigned to become SHNI’s fourth principal.<br />

He continued the policies of the previous<br />

administration, dutifully observing his<br />

responsibilities as principal and teaching until<br />

his death in 1908.<br />

Community leaders in Huntsville had always<br />

supported institutions of higher education.<br />

2 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Local citizens were vital to the establishment of<br />

Austin College and Andrew Female College.<br />

And, once Sam Houston Normal Institute<br />

opened its doors, the same could be said of it.<br />

Local residents sent their children to the school;<br />

they donated money to SHNI programs; and<br />

many local women set up boarding houses for<br />

the students who attended the school.<br />

The influx of students to SHNI brought<br />

increased economic activity and a renewed<br />

spirit of optimism to the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

community. Students and faculty members<br />

attended local churches and spent money at<br />

local businesses. In addition, young people soon<br />

discovered amusing ways to bypass the strict<br />

discipline code enforced at the Institute. The<br />

local skating rink appreciated the business of<br />

the student body, until the pastime was added to<br />

the list of prohibited activities for girls. The<br />

male students also faced disciplinary actions if<br />

caught drinking or playing cards. SHNI kept a<br />

watchful eye on the student body in order to<br />

promote its graduates as exemplary members of<br />

❖<br />

Top, left: Henry Carr Pritchett,<br />

Sam Houston Normal Institute’s<br />

fourth principal.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Top, right: Miss Henrie Willison’s<br />

boarding house for ladies in<br />

Huntsville, c. 1899.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: Residents of the Smede Valley<br />

boarding house for ladies in<br />

Huntsville, c 1897.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r I V ✦ 2 5


❖<br />

Above: The Henry Opera House (last<br />

building at the top of the block)<br />

around 1909.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: F. H. Foster and Company at<br />

University Avenue and 12th Street.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

the community. 57 With a growing list of<br />

forbidden activities, students found an<br />

increasing number of local venues to support—<br />

this was the case for the Henry Opera House.<br />

John Henry opened a dry goods and grocery<br />

store in 1883. Soon after, he converted the<br />

second floor into a theatre and hosted “traveling<br />

musicians, theatrical arts, magicians, and other<br />

performers” from around the country. In 1909,<br />

it played the first motion picture to be shown in<br />

the city of Huntsville. 58<br />

Other business leaders and local politicians<br />

made their mark in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> as well. The<br />

grandsons of George Fitzhugh, author of<br />

Sociology for the South, established a local<br />

mercantile operation on the Huntsville Square<br />

in 1893. 59 At the same time, Thomas Henry Ball,<br />

a Huntsville native, graduated from Austin<br />

College in 1871 and was the city’s mayor<br />

from 1877 to 1892. In 1896, he was elected<br />

to serve in the United States Congress and<br />

helped secure “the first federal aid for<br />

development of the Houston Ship Channel in<br />

1899.” In 1907 the community of Peck, Texas—<br />

northwest of Houston—changed its name to<br />

Tomball in recognition of the congressman’s<br />

representation and contribution to the state’s<br />

economic development. 60<br />

2 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

PROGRESS AND THE DAWN OF<br />

A NEW CENTURY, 1900-1929<br />

B Y P A T R I C I A S T A N I S Z E W S K I - H A L E<br />

V<br />

P R O G R E S S I V E E R A L E A D E R S<br />

When Marcellus Foster graduated from Sam Houston Normal Institute in 1890, he had little<br />

inkling of the dramatic events that lay in his future. After a stint with the Huntsville Item and a year<br />

at the University of Texas, the young Huntsvillian moved to Houston and joined the staff at the city’s<br />

largest newspaper, the Post. With a swift pen and a sharp mind, Foster rose quickly in the ranks,<br />

becoming the youngest managing editor of a Texas newspaper in 1899 at the age of twenty-eight.<br />

Under his leadership, the Post covered the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, keeping the citizens of the<br />

nation informed about the devastated city. Shortly after the storm, Foster took his earnings from a<br />

successful investment in the Spindletop oilfield and founded his own newspaper, the Houston<br />

Chronicle. The young man from Huntsville soon had an afternoon paper that sold more than seven<br />

thousand copies a day, and that was just for starters. Foster quickly established several other<br />

businesses and became one of the city’s leading figures, fighting a valiant campaign against the Ku<br />

Klux Klan and organized crime in Texas. 61<br />

Foster was just one of the many successful individuals that emerged from <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> during the<br />

Progressive era at the dawn of the twentieth century. Another famous figure, Minnie Fisher Cunningham,<br />

shared his broad vision and crusading spirit. Born in New Waverly in 1882, Cunningham became<br />

immersed in the political sphere when her father took her to Democratic Party meetings. After graduating<br />

from the University of Texas, Cunningham served as a pharmacist in Huntsville, where she quickly<br />

learned the inequities facing women in the workplace. It was also in Huntsville that she met her husband,<br />

❖<br />

A view of Sam Houston Normal<br />

Institute from the northeast,<br />

about 1927.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

C h a p t e r V ✦ 2 7


❖<br />

Top, left: Marcellus E. Foster (1870-<br />

1942) in Houston with his<br />

grandchildren and attorney<br />

Clarence Darrow.<br />

COURTESY OF THE EDITOR’S COLLECTION.<br />

Top, right: Minnie Fisher<br />

Cunningham (1882-1964).<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Below: The north entrance to the<br />

Texas Penitentiary at Huntsville,<br />

c. 1920.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

B. J. Cunningham, a lawyer and insurance<br />

executive who introduced her to political<br />

campaigning. From 1907 to 1917, Cunningham<br />

rose in power from the president of Galveston’s<br />

local suffrage chapter to the president of the Texas<br />

Woman Suffrage Association. Then, in 1918,<br />

Carrie Chapman Catt, one of the most influential<br />

women of the era, selected Cunningham to lobby<br />

for the passage of the 19th amendment in<br />

Congress. With the ratification of the amendment<br />

in 1920, and the death of her husband in 1927,<br />

Cunningham returned to <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> to begin<br />

a hard-fought, but ultimately unsuccessful<br />

campaign for the U.S. Senate. This failure did not<br />

discourage her, however; she continued to be<br />

active in politics and the Democratic party until<br />

her death in 1964. 62<br />

Inspired by Foster, Cunningham, and<br />

national progressive leaders like Theodore<br />

Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>’s residents looked for ways to improve<br />

living conditions in their own neighborhoods<br />

and towns. One area that seemed ripe for<br />

change was the infamous convict lease system<br />

Opposite, top: Inmates working under<br />

the convict lease system.<br />

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS PRISON MUSEUM.<br />

Opposite, middle: A view of the<br />

Peabody Building from the yard of the<br />

President's residence at Sam Houston<br />

Normal Institute.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Opposite, bottom: The Samuel <strong>Walker</strong><br />

Houston Training School.<br />

COURTESY OF THE JACKSON DAVIS COLLECTION<br />

OF AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL<br />

PHOTOGRAPHS, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS,<br />

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY.<br />

2 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


that had come to symbolize much that was<br />

wrong with the prison system at the turn of the<br />

twentieth century. Instituted in 1871, convict<br />

lease was a profitable practice that allowed the<br />

state government to raise revenue for poorly<br />

funded, overcrowded prisons by leasing<br />

prisoners to work for private individuals. The<br />

leasing of convicts proved fruitful as it lessened<br />

the number of prisoners who needed to be<br />

housed in Huntsville and “supplied the penal<br />

system with substantial financial support by<br />

providing cheap labor and producing goods for<br />

sale.” 63 In the fall of 1908, however, Reverend<br />

Jake Hodges, a chaplain at the Huntsville<br />

Penitentiary, provided a first-hand account of<br />

the savage brutality and sexual abuse he had<br />

witnessed in the convict leasing program to<br />

George Briggs, a progressive young reporter<br />

with the San Antonio Express. Briggs’s brilliant<br />

exposé condemning the prison system finally<br />

forced Texas Governor Thomas M. Campbell to<br />

call for a “searching, sweeping, and effective”<br />

probe into convict leasing. The investigation<br />

turned up a host of problems, including<br />

financial corruption, physical abuse, and<br />

appalling living conditions for prisoners. Moved<br />

by the report, Campbell signed a law that ended<br />

the convict lease system on September 17,<br />

1910, and two years later all existing lease<br />

contracts were canceled so that prisoners could<br />

return to state control. 64<br />

E D U C A T I O N A L<br />

D E V E L O P M E N T<br />

Progressive Era reformers had a dramatic<br />

impact on education in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. At Sam<br />

Houston Normal Institute, the area’s largest<br />

educational institution, President Henry Carr<br />

Pritchett oversaw a growing campus and the<br />

addition of a beautiful new Peabody Library.<br />

Opened in 1902, the library made Sam Houston<br />

the first institution of higher education in Texas<br />

to have an individual building devoted solely<br />

for library purposes. Harry Fishburne Estill<br />

replaced Pritchett at the helm of Sam Houston<br />

Normal in 1908 and followed in his<br />

predecessor’s footsteps, expanding the<br />

university on several fronts. By 1911,<br />

coursework was expanded from two years to<br />

four years giving the institution junior college<br />

status. In accordance with the growing city of<br />

C h a p t e r V ✦ 2 9


❖<br />

Above: New Waverly School, early<br />

twentieth century.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: Three Houston children, two<br />

veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto,<br />

and William Jennings Bryan attended<br />

the 1911 unveiling ceremony for the<br />

Sam Houston Monument in<br />

Oakwood Cemetery.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Huntsville, the university offered its first<br />

baccalaureate degree in 1919 and changed<br />

its name to Sam Houston State Teachers<br />

College in 1923. The University’s progressive<br />

era ended with the Semi-Centennial Celebration<br />

which included the dedication of the Sam<br />

Houston Woodland Home and the dedication<br />

of the new Estill library building on May<br />

3-4, 1929. 65<br />

African American leaders in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

pursued new educational opportunities for their<br />

children as well. In 1906, Samuel <strong>Walker</strong><br />

Houston, the son of Joshua Houston, took a<br />

teaching job in the small community of Galilee<br />

about five miles west of Huntsville. Disgusted<br />

with the poor facilities that existed for his<br />

students, Houston used part of his own teaching<br />

salary to rent the Galilee Methodist Church to<br />

use as a schoolhouse. With the help of the local<br />

community, he secured the donation of one acre<br />

of land from Melinda Williams for the<br />

construction of a new school building, which<br />

soon became known as the Sam Houston<br />

Industrial and Training School. Over time,<br />

Houston hired more teachers, including Jack<br />

Beauchamp, Paul Chretien, and Hope Harville,<br />

his future wife. With these colleagues, Houston<br />

emphasized a vocational form of education<br />

designed by Booker T. Washington, the founder<br />

of Tuskegee Institute. At Houston’s school,<br />

young women were trained in homemaking,<br />

sewing, and cooking, while young men learned<br />

carpentry, woodworking, and mathematics. In<br />

addition, there were classes in music,<br />

educational philosophy, and the humanities as<br />

well. Local residents loved the school, and<br />

Houston soon provided free education to<br />

African American children from all over the<br />

county. Within fifteen years of its founding, the<br />

school was serving 400 students and was<br />

regarded as one of the “best rural black schools<br />

in Texas.” In 1930, Huntsville Independent<br />

School District incorporated the school into its<br />

3 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


local system, and Houston became the county<br />

superintendent of black schools. 66<br />

As local educators strove to improve the<br />

opportunities available in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, the<br />

area’s business and political leaders worked with<br />

the Texas legislature to memorialize the region’s<br />

greatest hero, Sam Houston. In 1909, legislators<br />

allocated ten thousand dollars to hire Pompeo<br />

Coppini to construct a granite statue of Houston<br />

to replace the small grave marker that Margaret<br />

Houston had erected at the time of her<br />

husband’s death. Two years later the monument<br />

was complete and a dedication ceremony was<br />

held. While there were numerous issues with<br />

the sculpture—including the misspelling of the<br />

word governor on the back of the statue—the<br />

service on April 21, 1911, was a success.<br />

William Jennings Bryan, the great Democratic<br />

politician and three-time presidential candidate,<br />

gave the keynote speech to a crowd of over<br />

seven thousand people. Bryan reminded the<br />

audience that General Houston was a crucial<br />

“part of the nation’s history” and had been one<br />

of the “the very foundation stones upon which<br />

this great and growing state was built.” 67<br />

T H E G R E A T W A R<br />

When the Great War broke out in 1914, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> residents had little interest in joining the<br />

European conflict. Instead, they were busy<br />

supporting a local hero, Tom Ball, as he waged a<br />

prohibitionist campaign to win the Democratic<br />

nomination for governor. Although Ball had the<br />

support of President Woodrow Wilson and<br />

Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, he lost<br />

the contest to James “Farmer Jim” Ferguson, who<br />

won the governor’s race in November 1914.<br />

Following Ball’s defeat, however, a series of<br />

events focused local attention on Germany and<br />

the threat it posed to American interests.<br />

German U-boats were sinking American ships<br />

off the European coast, and the German<br />

government had encouraged Mexico to declare<br />

war on the United States in the infamous<br />

Zimmerman Telegram. Taken together, these<br />

threats led the U.S. Congress to declare war on<br />

Germany on April 6, 1917, and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

residents quickly got behind the war effort. By<br />

June, the Dallas Morning News reported that<br />

Huntsville banks had subscribed to “more than<br />

double the amount [of war bonds] allotted” to<br />

the area, and men were joining the military<br />

ranks by the hundreds. 68 Young soldiers from<br />

many of the surrounding communities gave<br />

their lives in the “war to make the world safe for<br />

democracy.” Huntsville residents William F.<br />

Benge, Benjamin E. High, George Gillaspie, and<br />

Charley V. Thompson were among the local men<br />

killed in action, as were Samuel I. Crawford,<br />

Jennings B. Crow, and Clarence L. Perry of New<br />

Waverly, Douglas H. Cansler of Pine Prairie, and<br />

James S. Patterson of Jordyville.<br />

❖<br />

Above: World War I soldiers on the<br />

steps of Old Main, c. 1917.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

Below: John W. Thomason, Jr.<br />

(1893-1944).<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

C h a p t e r V ✦ 3 1


❖<br />

Operators at the switchboard,<br />

Huntsville Telephone Company, 1920.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Inspired by the heroic sacrifices of his fellow<br />

soldiers, Huntsvillian John W. Thomason, Jr.,<br />

decided to write a book about his experiences in<br />

the Great War. Born in 1893, Thomason studied<br />

art and worked as a writer in the editorial<br />

department at the Houston Chronicle before<br />

being appointed second lieutenant in the<br />

Marine Corps in April 1917. The following year,<br />

he and one of his men dislodged and killed 13<br />

German soldiers who were firing on Marines at<br />

Soissons, France, saving many lives and opening<br />

the way for a strategic advance. For his heroism,<br />

Thomason earned the Navy Cross and a<br />

reputation for bold, decisive action.<br />

When he returned from the war, he<br />

published Fix Bayonets!, a first-hand account of<br />

the Marines most famous actions, including the<br />

Argonne Forest, Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry,<br />

Mont Blanc, and St Mihiel. Aside from his<br />

military accomplishments, Thomason also<br />

wrote nearly a dozen illustrated books and<br />

published numerous articles. Thomason’s work<br />

during and after World War I continues to be<br />

recognized today. A U.S. destroyer was named<br />

for him as well as a Marine Corps award “for<br />

excellence in the fine or applied arts.” Locally,<br />

the special collections room at Sam Houston<br />

State University’s Newton Gresham Library is<br />

named in his honor. 69<br />

The signing of an armistice on November 11,<br />

1918, brought the blowing of whistles, a grand<br />

rally, and speeches to celebrate the end of the<br />

Great War. The United States had prevailed with<br />

its allies in the conflict, and at the local level<br />

many soldiers were returning to their homes.<br />

Yet, all was not right in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

Although the cotton crop was producing better<br />

yields than at any time in the previous two<br />

decades, race relations in the area were terribly<br />

strained and sharecroppers were facing an<br />

uncertain future. In June 1918, local whites in<br />

Dodge lynched the Cabiness family, killing at<br />

least six African Americans in a brazen act of<br />

violence. Then, during the “Red Summer” of<br />

1919, several white residents in Huntsville<br />

attacked two groups of African Americans<br />

including Ed Morgan, George Mosely, and Levi<br />

Preston for allegedly having relations with a<br />

white woman. Although all the men refuted the<br />

charge, and the woman herself denied knowing<br />

any of them, the white mob nearly killed several<br />

of the men, souring race relations in the<br />

community for years to come.<br />

As if this was not enough, many African<br />

Americans and white laboring people in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> were reduced to working as<br />

sharecroppers or tenant farmers on land owned<br />

by others. By the end of the 1920s, 1,348 out of<br />

the 2,477 farms in the county were operated by<br />

tenants, and many of these families struggled to<br />

make ends meet. 70<br />

Farm tenancy was not the only issue plaguing<br />

farmers in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. During rain storms<br />

and wet months, they often could not leave their<br />

land due to impassable roads, which meant that<br />

they had little contact with the outside world. In<br />

the late 1920s, however, the isolation of rural<br />

farmers began to change as mail delivery, the<br />

telephone, and the automobile began to make<br />

their way beyond the cities of the area. By 1930,<br />

Huntsville had two movie theaters, a golf<br />

course, and several hobby-oriented groups such<br />

as the Cub Scouts.<br />

These developments, along with the introduction<br />

of dozens of new cars forced the local<br />

government to allocate time and money towards<br />

the paving of roads. For instance, the road<br />

around the Huntsville Square was paved in<br />

1918, and in 1928 the county allocated two<br />

million dollars to pave streets beyond the<br />

downtown district. These paving projects made<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> a mid-point between Houston<br />

and Dallas, and they helped bring visitors to<br />

Huntsville for family events and sightseeing. 71<br />

3 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO<br />

WORLD WAR II, 1930-1945<br />

V I<br />

B Y S H A R L A M I L E S<br />

T H E G R E A T D E P R E S S I O N<br />

Shortly after the Stock Market Crash in October 1929, America entered the worst economic<br />

depression in its history. Banks failed by the thousands; prices for agricultural goods dropped to an<br />

all-time low; and, unemployment skyrocketed to nearly twenty-five percent. Many Americans<br />

blamed Wall Street bankers, erratic foreign markets, or “government waste and extravagance” for the<br />

downturn. In <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, J. W. Oliphint noted that “all classes of people…suffered serious<br />

declines in revenue” and that there was “practically no sale for real estate.” Cotton prices across the<br />

state dropped from 19.6 cents per pound in 1927 to 5.7 cents per pound in 1931. Facing this<br />

economic calamity, Tom Ball of the First National Bank in Huntsville, recommended that farmers<br />

reduce their acreage and produce a better, long staple cotton crop, which would bring higher prices<br />

on the open market. Many farmers followed Ball’s advice, but the cut in production had unforeseen<br />

consequences, as dozens of tenant farmers and sharecroppers were kicked off the land to reduce<br />

production. The “paramount issue” facing the county, the Huntsville Item argued in 1932, was<br />

unemployment. “[A]ll other problems seem insignificant,” the paper said, when men and women are<br />

“denied an honorable means of earning a livelihood.” 72<br />

The leaders of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> called for broad-based, “co-operative action” to assist local<br />

individuals in overcoming the deprivation brought on by the Great Depression. In fact, the city of<br />

Huntsville “helped the unemployment situation by putting [men] to work in repairing the streets.”<br />

Charles N. Shaver, who formerly represented the local district in the Texas Legislature and eventually<br />

❖<br />

Edward Boettcher’s sawmill.<br />

COURTESY OF THE BOETTCHER MILL ORAL<br />

HISTORY PROJECT.<br />

C h a p t e r V I ✦ 3 3


❖<br />

Above: Andrew Smither, Lee Carter,<br />

and James "Bo" Roundtree, carpenters<br />

at work on the Jesse Baker farm<br />

in 1930s.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAMUEL WALKER HOUSTON<br />

MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER.<br />

Below: An advertisement for<br />

Café Raven.<br />

COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY<br />

HISTORICAL COMMISSION.<br />

became the sixth president of Sam Houston<br />

State Teacher’s College (SHSTC), facilitated a<br />

private form of job growth when he built “a<br />

modern filling station” for the Gulf Company.<br />

Others chipped in as well. In June 1930, Abe<br />

Dabaghi, Fred Morris, and Stuart Nemir, Sr.,<br />

launched their own bid against the Depression<br />

when they opened the Café Raven on the<br />

Huntsville Square. This well-appointed<br />

restaurant took its name from Sam Houston’s<br />

Cherokee title, “The Raven,” and soon became a<br />

regional favorite. The same could be said for<br />

Tom C. Oliphint’s Motor Company, which<br />

expanded during the period. But, these types of<br />

limited aid hardly made an impact on the<br />

unemployment situation, and the county’s<br />

economic outlook remained bleak throughout<br />

the 1930s. Local African American workers like<br />

George Oliphant recalled years of hard labor<br />

during the period, explaining that his job laying<br />

water lines and reading water meters for the<br />

City of Huntsville paid a mere $2 a day. 73<br />

Despite the hardships, some local businesses<br />

like Boettcher’s Lumber Mill grew and prospered<br />

during the Depression. Established in 1929 by<br />

Edward Boettcher, the mill, located one mile<br />

from Huntsville’s town square, employed 135<br />

men, many of whom were newly-arrived<br />

Mexican migrants. Andrew Martinez, whose<br />

maternal grandfather was “instrumental in<br />

helping build the saw mill,” remembered it as a<br />

large, complex operation. By 1930 the mill<br />

produced an average daily cut of forty thousand<br />

feet of lumber and required several trucks for<br />

transporting the product. Boettcher also built<br />

forty tenant houses and a commissary for his<br />

workers. Some critics of the operation have<br />

argued that Boettcher exploited his workers,<br />

paying them in script and requiring that they<br />

3 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


uy their groceries and personal items from his<br />

store. Andrew Martinez disagrees, however,<br />

pointing out that many local businesses did not<br />

serve the Hispanic community, and that<br />

Boettcher was simply interested in providing his<br />

employees with a convenient place to shop. 74<br />

F R A N K L I N D . R O O S E V E L T<br />

A N D T H E N E W D E A L<br />

As the presidential election of 1932<br />

approached, most <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> residents<br />

supported the Democratic candidate, New York<br />

Governor Franklin Roosevelt, over the<br />

Republican incumbent, Herbert Hoover. Many<br />

people blamed Hoover’s tariff and tax policies for<br />

worsening the Depression and held him<br />

personally responsible for their economic<br />

calamity. Although Roosevelt’s promise of a New<br />

Deal for America remained a “nebulous phrase”<br />

his boisterous spirit and positive attitude pushed<br />

him over the top in the November election. 75<br />

Following his inaugural address in March<br />

1933, Roosevelt called Congress into special<br />

session, and Democratic majorities in both<br />

houses passed a dramatic series of laws that had<br />

a direct impact in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. For instance,<br />

the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA),<br />

implemented in 1933, paid farmers for reducing<br />

their production of cotton and wheat in hopes<br />

that a decrease in supply would raise prices to<br />

pre-Depression levels. Between 1933 and 1935,<br />

the Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> farmers $259,371. The resulting<br />

reduction in supply did produce a modest boost<br />

in prices, but the Supreme Court declared the<br />

AAA unconstitutional in 1935, and farmers<br />

continued struggling throughout the period. 76<br />

In 1933, Congress attempted to address the<br />

unemployment problem by creating the Civilian<br />

Conservation Corps (CCC), which gave jobs to<br />

young, able-bodied men between the ages of 18<br />

and 25. By removing young, unmarried<br />

individuals from the national economy, it was<br />

hoped that older men with families could more<br />

easily find employment. On October 1, 1937,<br />

approximately 200 workers from the CCC<br />

arrived in Huntsville to initiate work on<br />

Huntsville State Park. The workers were part of<br />

Company 1823, consisting of African American<br />

veterans from World War I and the Spanish-<br />

American War. They constructed a dam creating<br />

Lake Raven, a stone recreation hall called Raven<br />

Lodge, and stone culverts and roadways.<br />

Despite their work, on November 24, 1940, a<br />

violent storm flooded the area and destroyed the<br />

dam. The park was closed for more than a<br />

decade while state and local leaders monitored<br />

❖<br />

A layout plan of Huntsville<br />

State Park.<br />

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, DENVER.<br />

C h a p t e r V I ✦ 3 5


❖<br />

Above: Men with the Civilian<br />

Conservation Corps building the dam<br />

that made Lake Raven.<br />

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, DENVER.<br />

Below: Robert A. Josey Boy Scout<br />

Lodge built as part of a Works<br />

Progress Administration project.<br />

COURTESY OF THE EDITOR.<br />

reconstruction plans for the site. On May 18,<br />

1956, the park officially reopened after a<br />

massive reconstruction effort. 77<br />

Another New Deal program, the Civil Works<br />

Administration (CWA), created temporary<br />

manual labor jobs, which assisted the<br />

unemployed in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and the broader<br />

region. Locally, the CWA facilitated the<br />

construction of the Robert A. Josey Boy Scout<br />

Lodge in Huntsville. Josey, a self-made<br />

millionaire and local philanthropist donated<br />

$5,000 to purchase the land for the lodge and<br />

set up a $30,000 trust fund to maintain it. The<br />

CWA then contributed $10,000 for<br />

construction and labor, and the group<br />

completed the building in 75 days. On June 17,<br />

1934, Huntsville citizens gathered for the<br />

dedication of the new lodge, which was “nestled<br />

in a little ravine in the pine woods just south of<br />

the city.” Each year the Josey trust fund also<br />

issued small rewards of $100 (later raised to<br />

$500) to Boy Scouts who demonstrated<br />

outstanding community service. 78<br />

In 1935, President Roosevelt activated the<br />

Works Progress Administration (WPA), which<br />

provided employment for millions of people in<br />

public works projects around the country.<br />

Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided<br />

employment for 600,000 Texans who built<br />

bridges, wrote stories, and surveyed<br />

archeological sites. One of the most important<br />

programs implemented in East Texas was the<br />

collection of slave narratives, an effort that was<br />

conducted by the Federal Writer’s Project of the<br />

WPA. Between 1936 and 1938, the Project<br />

conducted personal interviews with roughly<br />

three hundred former slaves in Texas and<br />

approximately a dozen from <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

Local subjects included Armstead and Harriet<br />

Barrett, Carey Davenport, Tom Holland, and<br />

Henry Probasco. In one interview, Tom Holland<br />

explained his responsibilities to his former<br />

master, “I chopped cotton and plowed and split<br />

rails, and then was a horse rider.” He also<br />

explained that they “allus [always] had plenty to<br />

eat, sich [such] as it was them days, plenty wild<br />

meat and cornbread cooked in ashes.” 79<br />

T H E T E X A S P R I S O N<br />

R O D E O A N D C E N T E N N I A L<br />

C E L E B R A T I O N<br />

In 1930, the board of directors for the Texas<br />

Prison System appointed Marshall Lee Simmons<br />

as its General Manager. Known as a reformer,<br />

Simmons worked to improve living and<br />

working conditions within the system. He<br />

solved numerous financial deficiencies, rooted<br />

out fraud and organizational negligence, and<br />

sought to end inmate abuse that had long<br />

tarnished the reputation of the Texas Prison<br />

System. In addition, Simmons aggressively<br />

pursued the infamous outlaws, Bonnie Parker<br />

and Clyde Barrow. In 1934, after Bonnie and<br />

Clyde’s embarrassing raid on the Eastham farm<br />

in Houston <strong>County</strong>, Simmons received<br />

permission from Governor Miriam (Ma)<br />

Ferguson to retain the services of Texas Ranger<br />

3 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Frank Hamer, who ultimately ended the careers<br />

of the legendary criminals. 80<br />

In another act that proved remarkably<br />

popular, Simmons instituted the first Texas<br />

Prison Rodeo in 1931. The event quickly gained<br />

fame as “Texas’ fastest and wildest rodeo.” By<br />

1933 it had not only generated considerable<br />

revenue for the Texas Prison System, but it<br />

became a popular sensation with attendance<br />

mushrooming to 15,000. In fact, attendance<br />

became so high that the following year prison<br />

officials had to build wooden bleachers and<br />

charge admission. The proceeds from the rodeo<br />

financed an education and recreation fund that<br />

supported everything from textbooks and<br />

dentures to Christmas turkeys. Simmons gained<br />

additional credit for luring talented celebrities<br />

to entertain during the rodeo’s formative years,<br />

including cowboy Tom Mix, and musical groups<br />

such as the Cotton Pickers Glee Club. 81<br />

If the Prison Rodeo brought people to <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>, then so too did the Texas Centennial<br />

Celebration that took place in 1936. Joseph L.<br />

Clark, a professor of History at Sam Houston<br />

Normal Institute, spearheaded the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Centennial Committee, which pushed for the<br />

creation of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum<br />

(SHMM). Previously, in 1929, Harry F. Estill,<br />

President of Sam Houston State, had requested a<br />

$3,500 annual budget to maintain Sam Houston’s<br />

historic home. By 1935, however, Estill and local<br />

leaders had convinced the state legislature to<br />

appropriate more than “ten times that amount” for<br />

the renovation and construction of a site that<br />

ultimately became the SHMM. 82 In March 1936,<br />

the Huntsville Item reported that three governors<br />

attended the ground breaking ceremonies for the<br />

museum with President Estill and thousands of<br />

other visitors who wanted to see Sam Houston’s<br />

final residence—the Steamboat House—and his<br />

❖<br />

Above: A photograph from the<br />

first Texas Prison Rodeo in<br />

Huntsville, 1931.<br />

COURTESY OF THE TEXAS PRISON MUSEUM.<br />

Below: A crowd gathered at Sam<br />

Houston’s gravesite for the Texas<br />

Centennial Celebration.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

earlier Woodland Home. 83 C h a p t e r V I ✦ 3 7


❖<br />

Above: The Sam Houston Memorial<br />

Museum was built in 1936-1937.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

Below: Eleanor Roosevelt and<br />

Harry Estill.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON<br />

MEMORIAL MUSEUM.<br />

President Estill’s role in promoting <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> went far beyond the museum, however.<br />

As head of Sam Houston State Teacher’s College<br />

(SHSTC), he oversaw a growing school in a time<br />

of transformation. Despite a brief dip in<br />

enrollment in 1933, SHSTC saw increasing<br />

numbers of students throughout the period. In<br />

1936 the school offered the first graduate<br />

programs in its history, and Belvin Hall, the first<br />

dormitory for women, was built. Indeed, Estill<br />

even helped secure a visit from First Lady<br />

Eleanor Roosevelt, who was then touring Texas<br />

as part of a goodwill tour of the South in 1937.<br />

As the only First Lady to ever give a talk at<br />

SHSTC, Roosevelt’s visit was particularly<br />

significant. In her address, entitled “The<br />

Problems of Youth,” Roosevelt encouraged<br />

young people to be bold and “grasp the true<br />

meaning of life.” 84 Following her address,<br />

President Estill showed Mrs. Roosevelt the<br />

museum and campus he had helped to build<br />

over twenty-nine years into “a full-fledged,<br />

accredited, degree-granting teachers’ college.” 85<br />

Following President Estill’s resignation in<br />

1937, Dr. Charles N. Shaver served as the<br />

college’s sixth president until 1942. 86 Shaver’s<br />

tenure saw the construction of the first men’s<br />

dormitory on campus and numerous other<br />

developments. But, it was the twenty-two-year<br />

term of the next president, Harmon Lowman,<br />

which was to really change the school. Under<br />

Lowman’s leadership, the campus expanded<br />

with new residence halls, instructional<br />

buildings, and a faculty appointments. Indeed,<br />

it was Lowman who was tasked with leading the<br />

institution through one of the nation’s most<br />

trying times, World War II.<br />

W O R L D W A R I I<br />

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl<br />

Harbor in December 1941, the residents of<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> joined the nation as it prepared<br />

for war against Imperial Japan and Nazi<br />

Germany. Hundreds of local people were drafted<br />

into the military, while others volunteered for<br />

service in an effort to help their country. On the<br />

ground <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> soldiers fought valiantly<br />

during the invasion of Europe. One large group<br />

of soldiers from the area joined Company F, 2D<br />

Battalion, 143d Infantry, which fought in North<br />

3 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Africa, Italy, Southern France, and on the<br />

French-German border. The battles of Salerno,<br />

San Pietro, Liri Valley and Anzio in Northern<br />

Italy were particularly difficult for <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> families. U.S. casualties for these<br />

operations included many local soldiers<br />

including J. J. McNeil, James H. Honeycut,<br />

Henry Roberts, Donald Sowell, Henry Steffen,<br />

and George Melvin White, the first <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> soldier killed in the Second World War.<br />

By war’s end the 143rd regiment had lost 9,000<br />

men, captured 7,500 German prisoners and<br />

won five Medals of Honor and five Presidential<br />

Unit Citations, all within 386 days of combat. 87<br />

During the war, dozens of soldiers from the<br />

area perished in the fighting, giving their lives<br />

for their country and their ideals. Soldiers from<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> fought and died in all theatres.<br />

Boyd W. Crawford suffered as a Japanese<br />

prisoner on Corregidor, Forest Cauthen<br />

perished in North Africa, Loye Humphries died<br />

in the Normandy Invasion, and Harvey Rigby<br />

lost his life in the liberation of France. Many<br />

Texas enlistees actively volunteered for<br />

dangerous flight training in the newly formed<br />

Army and Naval Air Corps. The life expectancy<br />

for pilots and their crews during World War II<br />

was on average twenty missions. Robert Small,<br />

whose plane crashed in the Pacific and James<br />

White, lost on a bombing raid over Belgium,<br />

were among those <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> aviators who<br />

died for their country. Brothers and C-47<br />

transport plane pilots Harry Joe Bruce and<br />

Revees Murphee Bruce perished in wartime<br />

accidents over Germany and New Guinea.<br />

Several local servicemen and women received<br />

accolades for their sacrifices during wartime.<br />

Colonel M. B. Etheredge, a native of Huntsville<br />

and graduate of SHSTC, remains the most<br />

famous figure from the area. Etheredge enlisted<br />

in the army after learning of the Japanese attack<br />

on Pearl Harbor. Throughout his gallant service,<br />

he earned numerous medals and other wartime<br />

commendations, making him one of the<br />

most decorated war heroes of World War II—<br />

second only to Audie Murphy. On August<br />

22, 2000, under ordinance number 2000-15,<br />

the City of Huntsville dedicated a street in<br />

honor of Etheredge. 88<br />

Lieutenant Eula Fails Borneman also carried<br />

a heavy burden during the war. A native of<br />

Huntsville and graduate of Sam Houston State<br />

Teachers College, Borneman was on the island<br />

of Corregidor when the Japanese Army overran<br />

it in 1942. She and 68 other nurses were taken<br />

prisoner and moved to Manila, where they were<br />

❖<br />

The 143rd Infantry, Company F, 36th<br />

Division, on the east side of the<br />

Huntsville square.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

C h a p t e r V I ✦ 3 9


imprisoned at the University of Santo Thomas.<br />

After almost three years in captivity, she was<br />

liberated on February 4, 1945, and flown to<br />

Walter Reed Hospital. Shortly thereafter, she<br />

met and married an Army chaplain, Colonel<br />

John Borneman, who had also been a POW in<br />

World War II. 89<br />

On the home front during the war, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> residents did all they could to support<br />

the effort. Local citizens rationed gasoline,<br />

bought war bonds, planted victory gardens, and<br />

longed for a time when their loved ones would<br />

return home. In one instance, however, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> proved quite distinctive. In 1942 the<br />

Provost Marshall General’s Office ordered the<br />

construction of Camp Huntsville, the first<br />

prisoner of war camp to be built in the United<br />

States during World War II. By the end of 1943,<br />

the camp housed 4,840 POWs, and a robust reeducation<br />

program was soon created to teach<br />

German and Japanese soldiers the finer points<br />

of American democracy.<br />

In August 1945, the residents of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> celebrated the news that the war was<br />

finally over. Twenty-thousand Texans, many of<br />

them from the eastern half of the state, died<br />

during the war. Nevertheless, few people ever<br />

questioned the role that America had played in<br />

the conflict. The nation had been attacked by<br />

imperial and fascist forces from abroad, and<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s residents were proud that they<br />

had done their part to halt the Japanese Empire<br />

and Nazi Germany. 90<br />

❖<br />

Above: “Let’s Go!” recruiting poster<br />

designed by John W. Thomason, Jr.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Right: Camp Huntsville, the first<br />

World War II prisoner of war camp<br />

in Texas.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

4 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

V I I<br />

A TRYING TIME, 1945-68<br />

B Y C A R O L Y N A . C A R R O L L<br />

T H E P O S T W A R B O O M<br />

The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation on earth. “What Rome<br />

was to the ancient world,” wrote journalist Walter Lippmann, “America is to be to the world of<br />

tomorrow.” With its allies, the U.S. had defeated tyrannical regimes in Nazi Germany and Japan; it had<br />

helped establish peace and stability with the formation of the United Nations; and America had the<br />

largest and most robust economy in the world. Yet, peace did not usher in an era of domestic<br />

tranquility or international harmony. On the contrary, the two decades that followed the war witnessed<br />

dramatic civil rights demonstrations and protracted military conflicts as Americans struggled to<br />

overcome their own domestic problems while fighting a Cold War against the Soviet Union.<br />

❖<br />

A student protester marches around<br />

the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Courthouse, 1965.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I ✦ 4 1


❖<br />

Top: Huntsville City Council with W.<br />

S. Gibbs and Kate Barr Ross, 1960.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Middle: In 1927, Ella Smither deeded<br />

land for the construction of Huntsville<br />

Memorial Hospital.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Bottom: In 1948 a new brick<br />

Huntsville Memorial Hospital was<br />

constructed.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

In <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, the tensions of the coming<br />

decades seemed far away in 1945. The most<br />

notable outcome of World War II was the return of<br />

service men and women and the resulting baby<br />

boom that continued for the next decade.<br />

According to Kate Barr Ross, Huntsville’s long-time<br />

city secretary, 353 babies were born in the<br />

Huntsville area in 1946. This averaged one baby<br />

per day. Records show that the population of<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> grew from 19,868 in 1940 to<br />

27,680 in 1970, an increase of almost 30 percent. 91<br />

As the county grew, health care became a<br />

major concern. With the threat of polio, leaders<br />

supported the March of Dimes and encouraged<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> residents and businesses to<br />

donate generously. On September 6, 1945, fear<br />

set in among local residents when they learned<br />

of two cases of polio in Huntsville. Many<br />

parents did not want to send their children to<br />

school, but city leaders pled with the public to<br />

remain calm. The rise of polio and other<br />

medical issues compelled community activists<br />

to call for renovations and additions to the<br />

ailing building that housed Huntsville Memorial<br />

Hospital. Originally constructed in 1927, the<br />

wooden hospital building had only seven beds<br />

and rudimentary facilities. A new brick hospital<br />

was constructed in 1950, increasing the number<br />

4 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


❖<br />

Left: An aerial view of Interstate 45<br />

construction, November 30, 1957.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

Below: A 1964 map of Huntsville’s<br />

roadways.<br />

COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE<br />

ARTS COMMISSION.<br />

of beds to fifty. A further addition was later<br />

made in 1965, accommodating 114 beds along<br />

with a convalescent unit. 92<br />

As county leaders improved the hospital,<br />

problems with other elements of the local<br />

infrastructure became apparent. For instance,<br />

motorists from Galveston and Houston had to<br />

drive through downtown Huntsville on their way<br />

to Dallas. This meant that a large volume of traffic<br />

and serious congestion occurred at the courthouse<br />

square, when tractor-trailers tried to make right<br />

angle turns to follow the highway route. A survey<br />

conducted in 1952 showed that 60% of the<br />

people who travelled through downtown<br />

Huntsville were in favor of a bypass. By 1956,<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s leaders encouraged local citizens<br />

to vote for a $300,000 bond election for the<br />

construction of U.S. Hwy 75 and the Huntsville<br />

Bypass. Although some citizens worried about the<br />

negative impact that such a move would have on<br />

the local economy, the editor of the Huntsville Item<br />

urged his readers to support the project. “A<br />

growth in population inevitably follows a highway<br />

program of this size,” he said. “The people of<br />

Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> stand to insure<br />

C h a p t e r V I I ✦ 4 3


❖<br />

Wendell Baker with his wife, Augusta.<br />

COURTESY OF WENDELL BAKER.<br />

their future prosperity and growth by accepting<br />

the highway proposal.” Indeed they did. The<br />

highway improvements brought an influx of<br />

temporary jobs as <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Judge Amos<br />

Gates encouraged contractors to hire young men<br />

from the area. High school and college students<br />

earned pocket money through this project. One<br />

such student, Joe Kirkland, cleared debris and set<br />

forms for concrete culverts along the roadway.<br />

Also during this period, massive improvements to<br />

farms and agriculture occurred. The prison<br />

system, timber industry, and Sam Houston<br />

State Teachers College employed many area<br />

citizens, and improvements to the education<br />

system began. 93<br />

T H E C I V I L R I G H T S<br />

M O V E M E N T<br />

In the midst of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s booming<br />

development, however, there lingered a deepseated<br />

and difficult problem to solve. Many white<br />

residents in the area had long discriminated<br />

against African Americans, and years of<br />

segregation had created a world in which whites<br />

and blacks lived in two separate spheres. Blacks<br />

were forbidden to eat at most local restaurants;<br />

they were forced to sit in the balcony in local<br />

theaters; and black parents faced the challenge of<br />

explaining to their children why they could not<br />

use the local swimming pool or state park.<br />

Despite these difficult circumstances, the most<br />

obvious form of racial discrimination occurred in<br />

the public school system, which required black<br />

children, teachers, and administrators to work in<br />

separate, inferior schools to those provided for<br />

white children in the area. Sarah Bartee, a longtime<br />

white resident of New Waverly, remembered<br />

that she attended school in a “beautiful old brick<br />

building with hardwood floors” during the 1940s,<br />

while “black children went to school…[in] a<br />

frame building,” which was “not a good quality.”<br />

“I feel bad,” Bartee said, “when I look back and see<br />

how much better we had it than they did.” 94<br />

In 1954, after years of legal campaigning by the<br />

National Association for the Advancement of<br />

Colored People (NAACP), the U.S. Supreme Court<br />

ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated<br />

schools were unequal and thus unconstitutional.<br />

Encouraged by this decision, several local African<br />

Americans decided to push for integrated schools.<br />

Wendell Baker, a <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> native, World<br />

War II veteran, and chemistry teacher at the allblack<br />

Samuel W. Houston High School led the<br />

charge. The battle proved very difficult, however.<br />

In 1961, Mance Park, the Superintendent of<br />

Schools in Huntsville, fired Baker from his<br />

teaching position, making it incredibly difficult for<br />

the black activist to continue his civil rights efforts.<br />

Undaunted, however, Baker formed the <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Voter’s League in December 1962 and<br />

registered voters throughout the city. Then, with<br />

Ernest McGowen, <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s first black<br />

deputy, Baker met with Superintendent Park in<br />

June 1963 and pushed the local school district to<br />

integrate its facilities. Baker’s effort received<br />

additional support the following year when legal<br />

action forced Sam Houston State Teachers College<br />

to admit James Patrick as the school’s first African<br />

American student.<br />

At roughly the same time, Congress passed and<br />

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights<br />

Act of 1964. Taken together, these changes set the<br />

stage for one brave young African American<br />

student—Janet Smither—to desegregate Huntsville<br />

Independent School District in the fall of 1964.<br />

Young Smither went alone that first year, however,<br />

and it took four additional years of pressure by the<br />

black community to convince the school district to<br />

begin full scale desegregation in 1968. 95<br />

In November 1963, as local activists fought to<br />

integrate the schools, Jerry Jones, the president<br />

4 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


of the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> NAACP, joined with New<br />

Waverly residents Robert C. Harris and Milton<br />

Perry in a lawsuit requesting that the county<br />

commissioners desegregate the restrooms and<br />

drinking fountains at the county courthouse. 96<br />

One year later, the activists got their way, when<br />

the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned all forms of<br />

racial discrimination in public places. Despite<br />

this victory, however, privately-owned<br />

businesses in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> continued to<br />

discriminate against African Americans. In July<br />

1965, eight days of demonstrations took place in<br />

downtown Huntsville as young people<br />

demanded the desegregation of Café Raven, Café<br />

Texan, and Life Theater. Although the<br />

demonstrations were controversial, they<br />

succeeded in desegregating the businesses on the<br />

downtown square and opened a new era in the<br />

history of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. 97<br />

During the 1960s, few local whites supported<br />

the civil rights demonstrators, but Rupert<br />

Koeninger did. As chair of the sociology<br />

department at SHSTC, Koeninger was a devoted<br />

civil rights advocate. He sponsored the campus’s<br />

“young Democrats” and set up voter registration<br />

tables with his students at Guerrant Grocery Store<br />

and other sites frequented by blacks. Koeninger’s<br />

activities came at a cost, however. In 1962,<br />

William H. Kellogg, the leader of Huntsville’s John<br />

Birch Society, used his influence to have Koeninger<br />

dismissed as a professor from the college he had<br />

faithfully served for fifteen years. Koeninger’s<br />

dismissal became a national story, covered even by<br />

the dean of Southern history, C. Vann Woodward,<br />

in a blistering article that appeared in Harper’s<br />

magazine. Ultimately, Koeninger took a new job at<br />

Texas Southern University, and fifteen professors<br />

left SHSTC in protest of his firing. The American<br />

Association of University Professors (AAUP) also<br />

put Sam Houston on its censured list for violating<br />

Koeninger’s academic freedom. The case was not<br />

resolved until 1970, when the school settled with<br />

Koeninger and paid him $10,000. 98<br />

F R O M T H E K E N N E D Y<br />

A S S A S S I N A T I O N T O T H E<br />

V I E T N A M W A R<br />

Although <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> citizens had their<br />

differences, on November 22, 1963, they put<br />

them aside to mourn the assassination of the<br />

❖<br />

Above: John Arthur Patrick, the first<br />

African American student to attend<br />

Sam Houston State University.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Below: The Rupert Koeninger family.<br />

The photograph was taken in 1948 at<br />

their SHSTC’s faculty house at<br />

<strong>County</strong> Campus.<br />

COURTESY OF FRIEDA KOENINGER.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I ✦ 4 5


❖<br />

Above: An aerial view of Sam<br />

Houston State University, c. 1960.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Below: Dan Rather (center, standing),<br />

1953 editor of SHSTC’s student<br />

newspaper The Houstonian.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

country’s thirty-fifth president, John F. Kennedy<br />

in Dallas, Texas. A 1953-graduate of SHSTC, Dan<br />

Rather broke the story of Kennedy’s assassination.<br />

From editor of his college’s newspaper, The<br />

Houstonian, and reporter for Huntsville’s KSAM<br />

radio station, Rather joined CBS News in 1962 as<br />

chief of the network’s bureau in Dallas. As the<br />

result of his coverage of the assassination, CBS<br />

executives promoted him to positions as White<br />

House correspondent and foreign correspondent<br />

in London. Rather continued to gain notoriety<br />

with his coverage of the civil rights movement<br />

and Vietnam War, and he later became a news<br />

anchor with CBS. 99<br />

By 1966 the United States had deployed more<br />

than 395,000 soldiers to Vietnam. In contrast to<br />

the unified national effort in World War II, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> citizens were now called into service for a<br />

cause that divided the nation. While many college<br />

and university students from other campuses<br />

participated in anti-war demonstrations, students<br />

at Sam Houston State College (the word<br />

“Teachers” was dropped at the end of the 1964-65<br />

academic year) continued along in their<br />

traditional, patriotic style. Although the campus<br />

did recognize the Vietnam War Moratorium day<br />

in 1969, peace activists did not demonstrate or<br />

march. Dozens of students served in the war, and<br />

their classmates, at least, supported them.<br />

The Vietnam War may not have turned<br />

Huntsville’s college students into protesters, but<br />

they did have a voice in other matters. Policies<br />

ranging from desegregation and student’s rights,<br />

to curricula and curfews were covered in an<br />

underground newspaper called the Hyde Park<br />

Corner established in 1967. Short lived as it was,<br />

the paper had an effect. The president of the<br />

college, Dr. Arleigh Templeton, took notice of<br />

student concerns and agreed to a full-scale reevaluation<br />

of the undergraduate program. What<br />

this meant was not immediately clear, but one<br />

thing was for certain. The students, faculty, and<br />

residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> had changed in the<br />

1960s, and a new era awaited them in the<br />

coming decades. 100<br />

4 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


C H A P T E R<br />

V I I I<br />

HUNTSVILLE AND WALKER COUNTY,<br />

1968-PRESENT<br />

B Y M E R E D I T H A . M I L L E R A U S T I N<br />

Over the past four decades, the residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> have played an active role in the<br />

transformation of East Texas and the broader region. Since 1970, the county's population has more<br />

than doubled in size, growing from 27,680 in 1970 to 67,681 in 2010. During the same time, the<br />

landscape of Huntsville changed dramatically as many downtown businesses moved closer to<br />

Interstate 45 and chain stores began to overtake the “Mom and Pops.” 101 As the county has grown, it<br />

has also become more diverse. Although white residents remain the largest group, accounting for 67.1<br />

percent of the population, black residents make up 22.5 percent, and members of other groups<br />

account for 10.4 percent. Of the total population, 16.8 percent of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>'s residents identify<br />

themselves as Hispanic or Latino. This trend is representative of a larger demographic transformation<br />

that is taking place around Texas, and it provides the vital energy at the center of much that is<br />

occurring in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> today. As new populations enter the region, established residents and<br />

institutions are working to maintain their historic traditions, while embracing the exciting possibilities<br />

taking place around them.<br />

The most visible developments to occur in Huntsville during the past forty years have come from<br />

the city’s institution of higher education, Sam Houston State University (SHSU). In 1970, the<br />

University Board of Regents named Elliott T. Bowers to serve as the ninth president of the school.<br />

Bowers transformed the university, overseeing a Master Building program that modernized<br />

the campus, while seeking to retain the historical integrity of SHSU. New buildings were constructed<br />

on the campus, new instructors were hired, and new course offerings were added. African American<br />

students, concerned over the lack of diversity in the faculty, pressured the administration to<br />

hire more people of color. In response, President Bowers affirmed his dedication to underrepresented<br />

❖<br />

The Wall of Faces at the Samuel<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> Houston Cultural Center is<br />

a tribute to the African American<br />

leaders who helped shape<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I I ✦ 4 7


❖<br />

Above: A map of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Texas.<br />

Below: The Roberts-Farris Cabin was<br />

built in the mid-1840s and is now<br />

located in downtown Huntsville to<br />

help keep history alive.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

groups and formed a minority affairs committee.<br />

Over the course of the following decades,<br />

diversity on the campus increased<br />

tremendously, and students now enjoy being<br />

part of a variety of groups including the<br />

Mexican American Student Association and the<br />

National Association for the Advancement of<br />

Colored People. 102<br />

Student activism at SHSU became<br />

pronounced in 1971, when Huntsville’s young<br />

people registered to vote in record numbers and<br />

even helped elect a student to city council. This<br />

increased activity had at its heart a single issue:<br />

the sale and consumption of alcoholic<br />

beverages. <strong>Historic</strong>ally, Huntsville had been a<br />

conservative city that prohibited the sale of<br />

alcohol. In December 1971, however, the<br />

students forced through a referendum that<br />

legalized the sale of alcohol, and soon beer<br />

could be purchased at convenience stores and<br />

restaurants throughout the city. 103<br />

Ten years after the repeal of local prohibition,<br />

another symbol of Huntsville’s past fell in a blaze<br />

of glory. The architectural treasure of SHSU, ‘Old<br />

Main,’ had been constructed in 1890. It was an<br />

immense Gothic-style structure adorned with<br />

twenty-three stained glass windows, and it<br />

served as the iconic image of the school.<br />

However, in the predawn hours on February 12,<br />

1982, a fire broke out in the building. SHSU<br />

History Professor, Ty Cashion, captured the<br />

dramatic scene poignantly, when he wrote, “a<br />

stunned crowd, many in tears and holding their<br />

hands over quivering mouths, gathered as the<br />

inferno consumed the tinder-dry wooden<br />

interior of the doomed monolith.” With the<br />

destruction of Old Main, a new image of SHSU<br />

was designed by Presidents Bobby K. Marks and<br />

James F. Gaertner, who transformed the school<br />

from a rural, East Texas teaching college into a<br />

4 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


nationally known university. Today, Sam<br />

Houston State University’s student population is<br />

more than 17,000, and the school offers 80<br />

bachelor’s degrees, 59 master’s programs, and 6<br />

doctoral programs. In 2011, Dana L. Gibson<br />

became the first woman to serve as president of<br />

the university, and SHSU now holds the<br />

distinction of being named a “Doctoral Research<br />

University” by the Carnegie Commission on<br />

Higher Education. 104<br />

Down the hill from SHSU sits the<br />

headquarters of the Texas Department of<br />

Criminal Justice (TDCJ), which operates the<br />

second largest prison system in the United<br />

States. TDCJ provides thousands of jobs and<br />

vital income for many <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> residents<br />

who work at the nine prisons in the area. Indeed,<br />

Huntsville has long been known as “prison city,”<br />

and many outsiders still remember the infamous<br />

prison siege that took place at the State<br />

Penitentiary in 1974. On July 24 that year,<br />

prisoners Federico Gomez Carrasco, Ignacio<br />

Cuevas, and Rudolfo Dominguez captured<br />

fifteen hostages and held them in the prison<br />

library for eleven days. Hostage and former<br />

prison guard Bob Heard appealed with the<br />

officials, "Give them whatever they want, and at<br />

least we'll know we tried, that we didn't die<br />

cooped up in here like a slaughterhouse—and<br />

that's what it will be." A botched escape attempt<br />

occurred and two women, both <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

residents, Elizabeth Beseda and Judy Standley,<br />

were murdered. Currasco and Dominguez were<br />

killed in the attempt. The State of Texas executed<br />

Cuevas for his role in 1991. Father Joseph John<br />

O’Brien was also severely wounded in the ordeal.<br />

The 1974 Prison Siege changed many<br />

procedures at TDCJ, and ushered in a new era in<br />

the debate over capital punishment. 105<br />

Despite such a historic event, <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

residents take pride in the TDCJ and generally<br />

resist the pained topic of executions. Huntsville<br />

has remained in the spotlight during the past<br />

forty years, however, with the notable<br />

executions of Karla Faye Tucker, “Candy Man”<br />

❖<br />

Above: The ruins of Old Main after<br />

the 1982 fire that destroyed the<br />

building.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Below: Dr. Dana Gibson, President of<br />

Sam Houston State University.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I I ✦ 4 9


❖<br />

Above: An inmate is pulled by a<br />

bronco in one of the last Texas Prison<br />

Rodeos in 1983.<br />

COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE<br />

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES.<br />

Below: A beautiful example of a<br />

nineteenth century bedroom preserved<br />

in the Huntsville-<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Museum.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

Ronald Clark O’Bryan, and Gary Lee Graham.<br />

As controversial as the death penalty is, the<br />

people of the county have shown great<br />

compassion to the families of inmates. In 1986,<br />

volunteers from the Texas Baptist Men, led by<br />

the Rev. Clyde Johnston built the Hospitality<br />

House. It offers beds to family members of<br />

inmates who travel long distances and asks for<br />

only a minimal donation to sustain its efforts. 106<br />

Just as the Hospitality House began<br />

welcoming its first guests, another Huntsville<br />

institution was closing its doors. The Texas Prison<br />

Rodeo reached its end in 1986. The Prison<br />

Rodeo, a tradition that lasted for more than half a<br />

century, garnered thousands of visitors each year<br />

and attracted national attention. Even so, the<br />

rodeo was indefinitely postponed in 1986 due to<br />

TDCJ’s concern that the arena needed $700,000<br />

in structural renovations. Others argue that the<br />

rodeo dominated the minds of prison officials,<br />

cost more revenue than was previously<br />

suggested, and encouraged the inmates to<br />

consent to the injury release form simply to make<br />

a small bit of money. With the loss of the Texas<br />

Prison Rodeo, Huntsville looked to its local<br />

groups to inspire and develop new ways to bring<br />

tourists to the county. 107<br />

The substantial growth of local historical<br />

groups in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> in the last forty years<br />

has done much to preserve the integrity and<br />

public knowledge of the region’s past. The most<br />

prominent group in maintaining the county’s<br />

history is the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Historic</strong>al<br />

Commission, created in 1963. The Commission<br />

has been responsible for the addition of many<br />

historical markers, now totaling more than 80.<br />

Another significant accomplishment is the<br />

establishment of the Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Museum, dedicated solely to the history<br />

of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and located in the Gibbs-<br />

Powell House at the corner of 11th Street and<br />

Avenue M in Huntsville. Built in 1862 by<br />

Thomas Gibbs, the Commission converted the<br />

home into the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> History Museum<br />

in 1984, and it serves as a meeting place and<br />

educational site for local school groups. 108<br />

Another recent museum and cultural center to<br />

preserve the history of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> is the<br />

5 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Samuel <strong>Walker</strong> Houston Museum and Cultural<br />

Center. Established to honor and perpetuate the<br />

legacy of Samuel <strong>Walker</strong> Houston, the museum<br />

encourages cultural and educational activities in<br />

the African American community in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>. 109 Houston founded <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s<br />

first private African American high school and<br />

later served as principal of Huntsville’s Samuel W.<br />

Houston High School. One of the center’s unique<br />

features is a Wall of Faces, which depicts the cast<br />

faces of sixty-eight African Americans who have<br />

contributed to the success of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

Perhaps the most striking feature on the<br />

Huntsville landscape is the world’s tallest statue<br />

of a Texas hero. A tremendous fundraising effort,<br />

along with state and local monies supported the<br />

sixty-seven-foot tribute to Sam Houston. The<br />

first meeting with artist David Adickes was in<br />

October 1991, and the dedication took place<br />

October 22, 1994. Reverend Earnest Grover,<br />

pastor of the First Baptist Church in Huntsville,<br />

delivered the invocation attended by many local<br />

and state dignitaries. Notable attendees included<br />

then Governor Ann Richards, Senator Kay Bailey<br />

Hutchison, and CBS News anchorman and<br />

SHSU alumnus Dan Rather. 110<br />

Bolstered by the success of the Gibbs-Powell<br />

Home, a group of Huntsville Volunteers, led by<br />

Linda Pease, began a fundraising effort to restore<br />

Huntsville’s historic Wynne home into an arts<br />

❖<br />

Above: David Adicke’s sixty-sevenfoot<br />

tribute to Texas’ greatest hero,<br />

Sam Houston, on Interstate 45<br />

in Huntsville.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

Left: The mission of the Wynne Home<br />

is to promote and share the arts with<br />

the Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

community.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I I ✦ 5 1


❖<br />

The Texas Prison Museum proudly<br />

displays the long history of the Texas<br />

Department of Criminal Justice.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

center. The success came after extensive<br />

fundraising and $300,000 from the Huntsville<br />

City Council. The center strives to promote the<br />

regional arts and cultural heritage of the area.<br />

Mirroring the preservation efforts of the Gibbs-<br />

Powell and Wynne home, the city of Huntsville’s<br />

Main Street Program is responsible for the<br />

revitalization and up-keep of Huntsville’s historic<br />

city center. The 2007 “Cabin on the Square”<br />

project represented one such initiative. Maggie<br />

Farris Parker donated a historic cabin built around<br />

1840 to the city in order to save it from<br />

destruction. The historic cabin was moved from<br />

the Alton Farris estate and placed in downtown<br />

Huntsville. Active in the development of the<br />

historic site were Harold Hutcheson, then manager<br />

of the Main Street Program, Caroline Crimm of<br />

SHSU, Neil Smith of TDCJ, and Mac Woodward of<br />

the Sam Houston Memorial Museum. SHSU<br />

history students and faculty dismantled the<br />

Roberts-Farris Log Cabin, and inmates from the<br />

Eastham Unit rebuilt it on the site thought to be<br />

the location of the first building in Huntsville. 111<br />

Additional local museums, which have<br />

recently expanded, have garnered statewide<br />

attention. The Texas Prison Museum had a<br />

modest beginning in 1989, when it opened a<br />

small site on the downtown square in Huntsville.<br />

Thanks to extensive fundraising by Texas<br />

Department of Criminal Justice employees, the<br />

Prison Museum was able to develop an expansive<br />

location near the Wynne Unit, just north of<br />

Huntsville. Notable exhibits include a pistol<br />

recovered from notorious gangsters Bonnie and<br />

Clyde, artifacts from the now-extinct Texas<br />

Prison Rodeo, and “Old Sparky”, the infamous<br />

electric chair used in 361 executions.<br />

While the Texas Prison Museum attracts<br />

visitors with a glimpse into the lives of<br />

society’s worst, another institution, the HEARTS<br />

Veterans Museum, draws in visitors wanting to<br />

remember and honor the country’s finest.<br />

HEARTS, an acronym for “Helping Every<br />

American Remember Through Serving” was<br />

created by volunteer Charlotte Oleinik. It<br />

began as a small display in a Huntsville antique<br />

shop and is a now a permanent museum located<br />

in a recently opened $2-million facility. A<br />

Federal Emergency Management Agency grant<br />

made this transformation possible, as the<br />

building is also the planned evacuation center<br />

for <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. 112<br />

Recent hurricanes along the Texas Gulf Coast<br />

made the need for an evacuation center in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> pressing. Most striking was Hurricane<br />

Rita, which made landfall near Beaumont and<br />

wrought havoc along Interstate 45 in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> in September 2005. The storm brought<br />

down trees and cut off electricity in many<br />

neighborhoods, but it also stranded thousands of<br />

Houston motorists along the evacuation route.<br />

Many churches in the local community opened<br />

their doors to the evacuees, and two Red Cross<br />

designated shelters were opened at First Baptist<br />

Church and Family Faith Church. Many<br />

Huntsville residents volunteered and even<br />

opened their homes to those in need. Elkins Lake<br />

resident, Nell Miller Smith, remembers going out<br />

to the interstate with her husband, Don, and<br />

offering help to a stranded family. “We offered the<br />

family a place to take showers and a warm<br />

meal—we just felt we needed to help.” This need<br />

to help exemplified the sense of charity and<br />

goodness in Huntsville. Hurricane Ike also deeply<br />

affected <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> in 2008 when massive<br />

power outages left residents in the dark and<br />

claimed the life of one of its residents. 113<br />

Thankfully, however, the loss of life was<br />

minimal during these storms and care was<br />

provided by the ever-growing Huntsville Memorial<br />

Hospital. The hospital’s tagline, “Down to earth<br />

5 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


and up to the minute,” reflects the history and<br />

growth of the institution during the past forty<br />

years. The hospital district has received many<br />

upgrades in technology, thus transforming the<br />

medical center into a twenty-first century<br />

complex. The first of these upgrades came in 1983<br />

with the addition of a state of the art $750,000 CT<br />

scanner. This expansion was important in that it<br />

saved at least one patient every day from having to<br />

travel to Montgomery <strong>County</strong> Medical Center in<br />

Conroe. A decade later, Huntsville again joined the<br />

cutting edge with the arrival of a magnetic<br />

resonance imaging machine- an MRI. With a price<br />

tag of $1 million and a weight of ten tons, this new<br />

machine eliminated some of the most dangerous<br />

side effects of traditional screening and prevented<br />

countless residents from traveling to Conroe or<br />

Houston to seek medical treatment. 114<br />

The lives of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> residents have not<br />

only benefited from better healthcare but recently<br />

have been enriched by cultural inspirations of local<br />

residents. Phoenix Commotion, led by Dan<br />

Phillips, is a local building initiative, which<br />

inspires the residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. The<br />

design firm salvages and reuses often overlooked<br />

objects to create inexpensive houses that double as<br />

works of art. Phillips attended Sam Houston State<br />

University and his work helps local residents find<br />

the American dream. Another source of inspiration<br />

for <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> citizens is one of its native sons:<br />

Richard Linklater. Linklater began as an<br />

independent filmmaker creating movies such as<br />

the Huntsville-inspired “Dazed and Confused” and<br />

“Slacker.” In 2010, Linklater screened a new<br />

movie, “Me and Orson Welles,” at the Old Town<br />

Theatre in Huntsville. The proceeds benefited the<br />

Huntsville Main Street Program, the <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> <strong>Historic</strong>al Commission and the Huntsville<br />

Community Theatre. 115<br />

The diversity of not only <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s<br />

population but also its culture has increased<br />

greatly over the past forty years. Even while<br />

developing into a twenty-first century city, the<br />

residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> have been able to<br />

recognize and preserve their historical treasures<br />

for the generations to come.<br />

❖<br />

The HEARTS Veteran Museum is<br />

dedicated to the heroes of the armed<br />

forces and preserves their memories.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

C h a p t e r V I I I ✦ 5 3


❖<br />

Above: The Storybook House<br />

(foreground) and Charleston Home<br />

(background) are two examples<br />

of Dan Phillip’s building style. Both<br />

are located on University Avenue<br />

in Huntsville.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

Right: The historic downtown theater<br />

was recently restored and was site of a<br />

film premiere by Hollywood film<br />

director and native Huntsville son<br />

Richard Linklater.<br />

COURTESY OF MEREDITH AUSTIN.<br />

5 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


ENDNOTES<br />

Chapter I<br />

1 Elizabeth Cruce Alvarez, ed., Texas Almanac, 2004-2005<br />

(Dallas: Dallas Morning News, L.P., 2004), 285; John<br />

Leffler, “<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>,” Handbook of Texas Online (HTO).<br />

2 Logan McNatt, et. al., Archeological Survey and History of<br />

Huntsville State Park, <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Texas (Austin: Texas<br />

Parks and Wildlife Department, Cultural Resources<br />

Program, 2001), 13; Dee Ann Story, et.al., “Cultural History<br />

of the Native Americans,” in The Archeology and<br />

Bioarcheology of the Gulf Coastal Plain (Fayetteville: Arkansas<br />

Archeological Survey, 1990), 163-366.<br />

3 Anastase Douay’s account may be found in Christian Le<br />

Clercq, First Establishment of the Faith in New France,<br />

Volume II, trans. John Gilmary Shea (New York: John G.<br />

Shea, 1881), 241; John L. Baldwin, “Early History of<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> Co., Texas,” (Master’s Thesis, Sam Houston State<br />

University, 1954), 1-15; W. W. Newcomb, Jr., The Indians of<br />

Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times (Austin: University<br />

of Texas Press, 1961), 23, 280-291.<br />

4 Andree F. Sjoberg, “The Bidai Indians of Southeastern<br />

Texas,” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 7, No. 4<br />

(Winter, 1951), 391-400; Lawrence C. Aten, Indians of the<br />

Upper Texas Coast (New York: Academic Press, 1983), 37-<br />

38, 47-52, 308-310; Travels in the Interior Parts of<br />

America; Communicating Discoveries Made in Exploring the<br />

Missouri, Red River and Washita by Captains Lewis and Clark,<br />

Doctor Sibley, and Mr. Dubar (London: J.G. Barnard, 1807),<br />

43; Jean Louis Berlandier, The Indians of Texas in 1830, ed.<br />

John C. Ewers, trans. Patricia Reading Leclercq<br />

(Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969),<br />

107-108.<br />

5 On Moscoso’s expedition see, William C. Foster, <strong>Historic</strong><br />

Native Peoples of Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press,<br />

2008), 26-27.<br />

6 A complete historiographical review of the debate over La<br />

Salle’s journey through Texas may be found in William C.<br />

Foster, ed., Johanna S. Warren, trans., The La Salle<br />

Expedition to Texas: The Journal of Henri Joutel, 1684-1687<br />

(Austin: Texas State <strong>Historic</strong>al Association, 1998), 30-48.<br />

7 Herbert Eugene Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth<br />

Century: Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration<br />

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1915; rpt., Austin:<br />

University of Texas Press, 1970), 405-431.<br />

8 John W. Thomason, “Huntsville,” in D’Anne McAdams<br />

Crews, ed., Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Texas: A<br />

Bicentennial History (Huntsville, Texas: Sam Houston State<br />

University Press, 1976), 3-16; Harry F. Estill, “The Old<br />

Town of Huntsville,” The Quarterly of the Texas State<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Association 3 (1900): 265-78.<br />

9 Estill, “The Old Town of Huntsville,” 265-78.<br />

10 Vernon Cleveland Fitzgerald Schuder, “A History of<br />

Cincinnati,” in Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Texas, 513-<br />

524; Gerald L. Holder, “Cincinnati, Texas,” HTO; Leffler,<br />

“<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.”<br />

11 Willie Powell Costilow, “The ‘Formative’ Years of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>,” in Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Texas, 321-329;<br />

Leffler, “<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>,” HTO.<br />

Chapter II<br />

12 Bureau of the Census, Seventh Census of the United States,<br />

1850, Texas, Table 11, “Agriculture, farms and implements,<br />

stock, products, home, manufacturers,” 515-517; Bureau<br />

of the Census, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860,<br />

Texas, “Agriculture of the United States,” 149-150.<br />

13 James L. Hailey, “Old Carolina, TX,” HTO.<br />

14 James L. Hailey, “Tuscaloosa, TX,” HTO.<br />

15 Christopher Long, “Newport, TX (Trinity <strong>County</strong>),” HTO.<br />

16 James L. Hailey, “Crabb’s Prairie, TX,” HTO.<br />

17 James L. Hailey, “Shepherd’s Valley, TX,” HTO.<br />

18 Gerald L. Holder, “Waverly, TX,” HTO.<br />

19 Thomason, “Huntsville,” Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>,<br />

Texas: A Bicentennial History; Donald R. <strong>Walker</strong>, A<br />

Frontier Texas Mercantile: The History of Gibbs Brothers<br />

and Company, Huntsville, 1841-1940 (Huntsville: Texas<br />

Review Press, 1997); Thomas W. Cutrer, “Robert Goodloe<br />

Smither,” HTO.<br />

20 Langston Goree, “Goree, Thomas Jewett Family,” in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Texas; A History, ed. <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Genealogical<br />

Society and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Historic</strong>al Commission (Dallas:<br />

Curtis Media Corp., 1986), 397-398.<br />

21 Estill, “The Old Town of Huntsville,” 274.<br />

22 Dan Ferguson, “Austin College in Huntsville,” The<br />

Southwestern <strong>Historic</strong>al Quarterly, Volume 53 No. 4 (Apr.,<br />

1950): 400.<br />

23 “Andrew Female College,” HTO.<br />

24 Donald R. <strong>Walker</strong>, “Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville,”<br />

HTO.<br />

25 Randolph B. Campbell, Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone<br />

Star State (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 211.<br />

26 Texas Almanac, 1859 (Denton, Texas: Texas State <strong>Historic</strong>al<br />

Association, 1860), 204-207; Ralph A. Wooster, “Wealthy<br />

Texans, 1860,” The Southwestern <strong>Historic</strong>al Quarterly, Vol.<br />

71, No. 2 (Oct., 1967): 163-180; James L. Hailey,<br />

“Thomason, Joshua Allen,” HTO.<br />

E n d n o t e s ✦ 5 5


27 Patricia Smith Prather and Jane Clements Monday, From Slave<br />

to Statesman: The Legacy of Joshua Houston, Servant to Sam<br />

Houston (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993), 38.<br />

28 Randolph B. Campbell, “Slavery,” HTO.<br />

Chapter III<br />

29 Randolph Campbell, Sam Houston and the American<br />

Southwest (New York: Longman, 2002), 179; Edward R.<br />

Maher, Jr., “Sam Houston and Secession,” The Southwestern<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Quarterly 55 (April 1952): 448-458.<br />

30 Texas Almanac, 1859, (Denton, Texas: Texas State <strong>Historic</strong>al<br />

Association, 1860), 204-207; Ralph A. Wooster, “Wealthy<br />

Texans, 1860,” The Southwestern <strong>Historic</strong>al Quarterly, Vol.<br />

71, No. 2 (Oct., 1967): 163-180.<br />

31 Sam Houston to H.M. Watkins and others, November 20,<br />

1860, in Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Baker, eds.,<br />

Writings of Sam Houston (Austin: University of Texas Press,<br />

1943), 8: 192-197.<br />

32 Maher, “Sam Houston and Secession,” 453-455; John H.<br />

Reagan, “A Conversation with Governor Houston,” The<br />

Quarterly of the Texas State <strong>Historic</strong>al Association 3 (1900): 280.<br />

33 Ernest William Winkler, ed., Journal of the Secession<br />

Convention of Texas, 1861 (Austin: Austin Printing<br />

Company, 1912); Reginald G. Jayne, “Martial Law in<br />

Reconstruction Texas,” (Master’s Thesis, Sam Houston State<br />

University, 2005), 40.<br />

34 “Civil War” folder, WCHC Records, <strong>County</strong> Annex;<br />

Thomas W. Cutrer, "Branch, Anthony Martin,” HTO.<br />

35 “Civil War” folder, WCHC Records, <strong>County</strong> Annex;<br />

“Gillaspie, James,” HTO; Brett Derbes and Stephanie P.<br />

Niemeyer, "Elmore, Henry Marshall,” HTO.<br />

36 “Civil War” and “James T. Hunter” folders, WCHC Records,<br />

<strong>County</strong> Annex.<br />

37 “Civil War” folder, WCHC Records, <strong>County</strong> Annex;<br />

Langston Goree, “Goree, Thomas Jewett Family,” in <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Texas; A History, 397-98; Langston James Goree V<br />

and Deborah Bloys Hardin, “Goree, Thomas Jewett,” HTO.<br />

38 Donald R. <strong>Walker</strong>, Penology for Profit (College Station: Texas<br />

A&M University Press, 1988), 16-17; Mary E. Rainey to<br />

Nelda Woodall, September 15, 1986, in “Civil War” folder,<br />

WCHC Records, <strong>County</strong> Annex.<br />

39 Prather and Monday, From Slave to Statesman, 77-126.<br />

40 “The Great Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867,” The Huntsville<br />

Item, July 5, 1956; Henri Noordberg, “The Yellow Fever<br />

Epidemic of 1867 at Huntsville, Texas,” Yellow Fever<br />

Vertical File, Thomason Room, Newton Gresham Library,<br />

Sam Houston State University.<br />

41 James Smallwood, Murder and Mayhem: The War of<br />

Reconstruction in Texas (College Station: Texas A & M<br />

University Press), 2003.<br />

42 Jayne, “Martial Law In Reconstructionist Texas,” 1, 52.<br />

Chapter IV<br />

43 James L. Hailey, “New Waverly, Texas,” HTO.<br />

44 Logan Wilson, “A Sociological Study of Huntsville, TX,”<br />

(Master’s Thesis, University of Texas, 1927), 44-45; James<br />

L. Hailey, “Phelps, TX,” HTO.<br />

45 James L. Hailey, “Dodge, TX (<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>),” HTO.<br />

46 James L. Hailey, “Riverside, Texas (<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>),” HTO.<br />

47 Alan W. Garrett, “Teacher Education,” HTO.<br />

48 Joe L. Clark and Nancy Beck Young, “Sam Houston State<br />

University,” HTO.<br />

49 Mrs. Davis Cox, Sam Houston Normal Institute and <strong>Historic</strong><br />

Huntsville Through a Camera (Huntsville, TX, 1899), 5;<br />

Garrett, “Teacher Education,” HTO.<br />

50 Ty Cashion, Sam Houston State University: An Institutional<br />

Memory, 1879-2004 (Huntsville: Texas Review Press, 2004), 2.<br />

51 Ibid., 4.<br />

52 Ibid., 8.<br />

53 Ibid., 15.<br />

54 Ibid., 14; “Baldwin, Joseph,” HTO.<br />

55 Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 21.<br />

56 Ibid., 35.<br />

57 Ibid., 14.<br />

58 Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Huntsville (Charleston, SC: Arcadia<br />

Pub., 2009), 117.<br />

59 Ibid., 74-75.<br />

60 Gary Price, “Ball, Thomas Henry [1859-1944],” HTO.<br />

Chapter V<br />

61 Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, “From Fitzhugh to Foster: Family<br />

Stories and the Founding of the Houston Chronicle,” manuscript<br />

in editor’s possession.<br />

62 Judith N. McArthur, Minnie Fisher Cunningham: A<br />

Suffragist’s Life in Politics (New York: Oxford University<br />

Press, 2005), 23; Patricia Ellen Cunningham, “Bonnet in<br />

the Ring: Minnie Fisher Cunningham’s Campaign for<br />

Governor of Texas in 1944” in Women and Texas History:<br />

Selected Essays, ed. Fane Downs and Nancy Baker Jones<br />

(Austin: Texas State <strong>Historic</strong>al Association, 1993), 105.<br />

63 Thomas Michael Parrish. “This Species of Slave Labor: The<br />

Convict leave System in Texas, 1871-1914” (Master’s<br />

Thesis, Baylor University. 1976), 1.<br />

64 Robert Perkinson, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison<br />

Empire (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010), 134.<br />

65 Bettie Hayman. “A Short History of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, 1860-<br />

1942” (Master’s Thesis, Sam Houston State University,<br />

1942); Cheryl Spencer, “Henry Carr Pritchett,” Musings<br />

from Sam Houston’s Stomping Grounds, April 2, 2007; Paul<br />

Culp, “The Philanthropist and the Normal” Musings from<br />

Sam Houston’s Stomping Grounds; Beatrice Craig, Semi-<br />

Centennial Scrapbook, Thomason Room, Newton Gresham<br />

Library, Sam Houston State University.<br />

5 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


66 Naomi Lede, Samuel W. Houston and His Contemporaries: A<br />

Comprehensive History of the Origin, Growth, and Development of<br />

the Black Educational Movement in Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

(Houston: Pha Green Printing, 1981); Jeffrey L. Littlejohn,<br />

“Samuel <strong>Walker</strong> Houston and the African American Training<br />

School at Galilee,” http://www.studythepast.com/democracy<br />

/samuel_walker_houston_home.htm; Prather and Monday,<br />

From Slave to Statesman; Naomi W. Lede, Pathfinders: A History<br />

of the Pioneering Efforts of African Americans Huntsville, <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>, Texas (Virginia Beach: Walsworth Publishing, 2004).<br />

67 “Sam Houston, Texan,” Bluffton Chronicle, October 27,<br />

1909, 2; William Jennings Bryan, “General Sam Houston,”<br />

The Commoner, May 5, 1911, 2-4.<br />

68 “M’Adoo Appeals to Texans for Support,” Dallas Morning<br />

News, June 6, 1917, 5.<br />

69 Charles L. Dwyer and Viva M. McComb, “Thomason, John<br />

William Jr.,” HTO.<br />

70 James Patton, “Looking Back to Armistice Day – 1918,”<br />

Huntsville Item, November 11, 2009, 3; Logan Wilson, “A<br />

Sociological Study of Huntsville, Texas” (Master’s Thesis,<br />

Sam Houston State University, 1927), 38-41, 80; “Whites<br />

Kill Six Negroes. Mother and Five Sons Dead After Battle<br />

with Posse,” New York Times, June 2, 1918; “Heathen,<br />

Hellish, Hunnish Huntsville’s Horrors: Colored Americans<br />

in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Victims of Wholesale Depredations,” The<br />

Houston Informer, June 7, 1919, 1; Keith J. Volanto, “Leaving<br />

the Land: Tenant and Sharecropper Displacement in Texas<br />

during the New Deal,” Social Science History 20 (1996), 535.<br />

71 “Road Work Promised to Begin Soon,” Huntsville Item,<br />

February 9, 1928; Wilson, 74.<br />

Chapter VI<br />

72 “Tax Bankruptcy,” Huntsville Item, September 8, 1932; “Tax<br />

Payers of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Hold Meeting,” Huntsville Item,<br />

February 18, 1932; Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 (Dallas: A.<br />

H. Belo, 1939), 184; “Reduced Acreage of Cotton<br />

Advocated by Bankers,” Huntsville Item, February 20, 1930;<br />

“The Paramount Issue,” Huntsville Item, July 7, 1932.<br />

73 “Co-operative Effort A Way to Community Betterment,”<br />

Huntsville Item, April 17, 1930; “Business Picking Up in<br />

Huntsville,” Huntsville Item, December 4, 1930; “83-yearold<br />

man remembers,” Huntsville Item, March 25, 1988;<br />

Huntsville: The Mount Vernon of Texas (1938), Thomason<br />

Room, Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston State<br />

University; “Oliphint Motor to be Host to Friends with<br />

Reception,” Huntsville Item, April 24, 1930.<br />

74 “Boettcher Lumber Co. Active Here in Saw Mill,” Huntsville<br />

Item, April 24, 1930; “Andrew Martinez Remembers<br />

Boettcher’s Mill, 1930-1945,” <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Stories,<br />

Thomason Room, Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston<br />

State University.<br />

75 “Political Landslide,” Huntsville Item, November 17, 1932.<br />

76 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide 1936 (Dallas:<br />

Dallas News, 1936), 252.<br />

77 Matt Pederson, “Friends of Huntsville State Park<br />

Remember the 200 African-Americans Who Built a Local<br />

Landmark,” Huntsville Item, February 24, 2006.<br />

78 Harry McCormick, “Robert A. Josey’s Beautiful Gift to Boy<br />

Scouts,” Houston Press, June 18, 1934, B1.<br />

79 Mallory B. Randle, “Work Projects Administration,” HTO;<br />

Ronnie C. Tyler and Lawrence R. Murphy, editors, Slave<br />

Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States,<br />

From Interviews with Former Slaves: Texas Narratives 4 (St.<br />

Clair Shores, Mich: Scholarly Press, 1976), 144.<br />

80 Lee Simmons, Assignment Huntsville: Memoirs of a Texas<br />

Prison Official (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1957).<br />

81 Ibid; Sylvia Whitman, “Texas Prison Rodeo,” HTO.<br />

82 Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 72.<br />

83 Glen M. Woodall, “Thousands in Huntsville Monday to Pay<br />

Homage to Memory of General Sam Houston,” Huntsville<br />

Item, March 5, 1936, 5.<br />

84 Cheryl Spencer, “First Lady Visits Huntsville,” Musings from<br />

Sam Houston’s Stomping Grounds.<br />

85 Jack W. Humphries, “The Old Town of Huntsville: The<br />

Perspectives of Estill and Thomason,” East Texas <strong>Historic</strong>al<br />

Journal 23 (1985): 40.<br />

86 Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 77.<br />

87 “New Waverly Marine Prisoner of the Japanese,” Huntsville<br />

Item, July 29, 1943.<br />

88 Gerald Etheredge, telephone interview by Sharla Miles,<br />

October 17, 2011.<br />

89 Cheryl Spencer, “Major Eula Fails Borneman (1908-1986),”<br />

Musings from Sam Houston’s Stomping Grounds; “Lt. Eula<br />

Fails, Nurse, Included Among the Missing,” Huntsville Item,<br />

July 29, 1943.<br />

90 Ralph Wooster, “East Texas in World War II,” East Texas<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Journal 45 (2007): 41.<br />

Chapter VII<br />

91 “Births,” Huntsville Item, January 9, 1947. Texas Almanac,<br />

2010, http://www.texasalmanac.com/.<br />

92 “Polio Two Cases,” Huntsville Item, September 6, 1945;<br />

“Dedication of Hospital Wing Sunday Attracts 450,”<br />

Huntsville Item, January 27, 1965.<br />

93 Jesse L. Buffington, Economic Impact Study, Hunstville Texas,<br />

Bulletin No. 38, (College Station: Texas A&M University,<br />

1967); “Bond Election,” Huntsville Item, January 26, 1956;<br />

Editorial, Huntsville Item, May 8, 1956; Cheryl Spencer,<br />

interview by C. A. Carroll, September 15, 2011.<br />

94 Sarah Bartee, New Waverly Remembered, in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Stories, Thomason Room, Newton Gresham Library, Sam<br />

Houston State University.<br />

E n d n o t e s ✦ 5 7


95 Bernadette Pruitt, Wendell Baker and His <strong>Historic</strong> Fight for<br />

Social Equality, manuscript in author’s possession, 6;<br />

Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 119; Amilcar<br />

Shabazz, Advancing Democracy, African Americans and the<br />

Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas<br />

(Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University Of North Carolina<br />

Press, 2004); Gary Zeller, The Integration of Huntsville<br />

Independent School District, 1954-1965, (Master’s Thesis,<br />

Sam Houston State University: 1994), 44.<br />

96 “Civil Rights Suit Filed Against Co. Commissioners,”<br />

Huntsville Item, November 8, 1963<br />

97 “Hey-You in Huntsville,” The Texas Observer, August 6, 1965.<br />

98 Frieda Koeninger interviewed by C. A. Carroll, October 4,<br />

2011; Shabazz, Advancing Democracy, 213-214.<br />

99 Tracy Gupton, “Dan Rather: From the Piney Woods to<br />

Broadway,” The Raven, 1:3 (1981).<br />

100 Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 128-130.<br />

Chapter VIII<br />

101 James Patton interview with Meredith A. Miller-Austin,<br />

October 24, 2011.<br />

102 Cashion, Sam Houston State University, 135-136.<br />

103 Ibid., 142.<br />

104 Cashion, 152; http://www.shsu.edu/about/.<br />

105 William T. Harper, Eleven Days in Hell: 1974 Carrasco Prison<br />

Siege at Huntsville, TX (Denton: University of North Texas<br />

Press, 2004); “Prisons: Blood Hostages,” Time Magazine,<br />

August 12, 1974.<br />

106 Nelda Woodall, “Hospitality House Ready for Families of<br />

Prisoners,” Huntsville Item, August 16, 1986.<br />

107 Lee Ann Neill, “Rodeo Demise Loss to Clubs,” The Houstonian,<br />

Thomason Room, Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston<br />

State University; “Corrections Board Member Urges End to 53-<br />

year-old Rodeo,” Huntsville Item, November 19, 1984.<br />

108 <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> History, http://www.walkercountyhistory.org/<br />

about.php; Tony Pilkington, “<strong>Historic</strong>al Home Site of<br />

Meeting,” Huntsville Morning News, February 20, 1984.<br />

109 Samuel <strong>Walker</strong> Houston National Alumni Association<br />

Pamphlet. Special Collections, Thomason Room, Newton<br />

Gresham Library, Sam Houston State University.<br />

110 Paul Sturrock, “Creating a Colossus.” Huntsville Item.<br />

Special Collections, Thomason Room, Newton Gresham<br />

Library, Sam Houston State University; Melony Closs, “First<br />

Baptist pastor to deliver ‘Big Sam’ Invocation,” Huntsville<br />

Item, October 15, 1994.<br />

111 Tom Waddill, “A Win For the Wynn,” Huntsville Item, May<br />

2003; “<strong>Historic</strong>al marker to be unveiled at ‘Cabin on the<br />

Square’,” Huntsville Item, February 27, 2008; “<strong>Historic</strong>al<br />

marker to be unveiled at ‘Cabin on the Square’,” Huntsville<br />

Item, February 27, 2008.<br />

112 Jenna Jackson, “TDCJ Employees Raise $300,000 for<br />

Museum,” Huntsville Item, May 17, 1997; “HEARTS Veterans<br />

Museum - The HEARTS Story.” http://www.heartsmuseum.com/heartsstory.php;<br />

Kristin Edwards, “HEARTS<br />

Museum Gets Help with $2M Grant,” Huntsville Item, June<br />

28, 2007.<br />

113 Leslie Howland, “Hurricane Rita: One Year Later,”<br />

Huntsville Item, September 23, 2006; Nell Miller Smith<br />

interviewed by Meredith Austin, September 15, 2011;<br />

Matthew Jackson, “Elkins Lake Resident Killed When Tree<br />

Hits Home,” Huntsville Item, September 13, 2008.<br />

114 Martha Binig, “Hospital Getting $750,000 Scanner,”<br />

Huntsville Item, August 1, 1983; “Ceremony Marks Hospital<br />

Expansion,” Huntsville Item, March 30, 1983; Jennifer<br />

LeFebvre, “Imaging Device Draws HMH to Cutting Edge,”<br />

Huntsville Item, July 7, 1993.<br />

115 Patricia C. Johnson, “Dan Phillips Not Only Builds<br />

Delightful, Affordable Houses from Other People's<br />

Discards, He’s also been Known to Finance Them for<br />

Buyers,” Houston Chronicle, January 28, 2009; Tom Waddill,<br />

“Three Huntsville Residents File Suit Over Negative<br />

Resemblances in Popular Cult Film,” Huntsville Item,<br />

October 12, 2004.<br />

5 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />

H i s t o r i c p r o f i l e s o f b u s i n e s s e s , o r g a n i z a t i o n s , a n d<br />

f a m i l i e s t h a t h a v e c o n t r i b u t e d t o<br />

t h e d e v e l o p m e n t a n d e c o n o m i c b a s e o f<br />

H u n t s v i l l e a n d W a l k e r C o u n t y<br />

Huntsville Memorial Hospital ...........................................................6 0<br />

Elkins Lake Recreational Corporation ................................................6 4<br />

Community Service Credit Union .......................................................6 6<br />

McCaffety Electric Co., Inc. .............................................................6 8<br />

First National Bank of Huntsville ......................................................7 0<br />

Comfort Suites–Huntsville ................................................................7 2<br />

Bethy Creek Resorts ........................................................................7 4<br />

Huntsville-<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Chamber of Commerce .................................7 5<br />

Candyce Farris Dixon, CPA ..............................................................7 6<br />

Learning Rx ...................................................................................7 7<br />

Charles W. Monday, Jr., M.D., P.A. ....................................................7 8<br />

Pete Johnson Towing & Transportation Service .....................................7 9<br />

Smither, Martin, Henderson & Blazek, P.C. .........................................8 0<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Title Company ...........................................................8 1<br />

Sam Houston Cancer Center .............................................................8 2<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Ace Hardware ...........................................................8 3<br />

Sam Houston State University ...........................................................8 4<br />

University Cancer Center Huntsville ..................................................8 5<br />

Huntsville Independent School District ...............................................8 6<br />

The Whistler Bed and Breakfast ........................................................8 7<br />

SPECIAL<br />

THANKS TO<br />

Atkinson Toyota<br />

Madisonville<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 5 9


HUNTSVILLE<br />

MEMORIAL<br />

HOSPITAL<br />

Like so many hospitals of earlier days,<br />

Huntsville Memorial Hospital chose its name to<br />

honor the men and women—the heroes of<br />

World War I—who served the country during<br />

that time. Although the name has remained the<br />

same, inside its doors, much has been changed.<br />

Huntsville Memorial Hospital is a 123 bed,<br />

Joint Commission-accredited, not-for-profit<br />

acute care community hospital with a<br />

twenty-four hour, level-four emergency center.<br />

Since 1927 it has provided charitable<br />

healthcare services, delivering quality healthcare<br />

to the residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and the<br />

surrounding communities.<br />

In keeping with the original charter of<br />

April 4, 1927, when it opened its doors, the<br />

purpose was to provide “benevolent and<br />

charitable” services for the sick, infirm, and<br />

afflicted residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> through<br />

the establishment, maintenance, support and<br />

operation of a hospital. Today, it continues that<br />

mission by delivering outstanding healthcare<br />

in a professional state-of-the-art facility for all.<br />

The entire staff is truly dedicated to caring for<br />

people. Physicians, nurses and ancillary staff members<br />

believe that caring for people is the foundation<br />

of everything Huntsville Memorial does.<br />

Management and staff say it is vital that every<br />

patient, their family members, and visitors be<br />

treated with integrity and honesty. They anticipate<br />

and accommodate customers’ needs; and, believe<br />

in promoting a culture of safety throughout the<br />

institution. Huntsville Memorial Hospital’s vision<br />

says it best: Huntsville Memorial will be the institution<br />

of choice by residents of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and<br />

the surrounding area for their healthcare needs.<br />

The hospital will be a leader in efficiently and continually<br />

improving the economics, accessibility,<br />

and quality of healthcare in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

With that purpose in mind, the hospital in<br />

2009 implemented a unique win-win opportunity<br />

for patients and providers through a hospital<br />

co-management effort. “The model unites<br />

everyone’s goals. The unique aspect of the<br />

model is that primary care physicians and<br />

specialists are part of the co-management team,”<br />

6 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


according to Sally Nelson, chief executive officer<br />

(CEO). “We decided to launch the effort because<br />

hospitals have routinely been beset with years of<br />

misaligned priorities and poor communication<br />

between community doctors and hospital officials.<br />

Our physicians agreed that the model was<br />

necessary in order to provide the community<br />

with the highest quality healthcare,” and it is<br />

accomplishing just that, she adds.<br />

Huntsville Memorial operates under a close<br />

team of leaders known as the executive team.<br />

Led by Nelson as CEO, others include Shannon<br />

Brown, chief financial officer, Dr. David Ficklen,<br />

chief medical officer; and Donna Stewart, chief<br />

patient care services officer.<br />

While they are at the helm, they are under the<br />

leadership of a board of directors who are nominated<br />

from the professional community, as well<br />

as the community-at-large. David Prier, M. D., is<br />

chairman of the board and John Knight, M. D., is<br />

chief of staff. Other board members are Nancy<br />

Gaertner, Don Johnson, Morris Johnson, vice<br />

president; Wayne Scott, Rosa Valles, Dana<br />

Gibson, Ph.D., Urmil Shukla, M. D., William<br />

Durham, Helen Watkins, Ph.D., Sam Burris, and<br />

Tim Deahl, M. D.<br />

While the history of Huntsville Memorial<br />

Hospital is well documented, it is important<br />

that HMH stays competitive with other healthcare<br />

facilities. It does that by keeping up-<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 1


to-date with industry trends, equipment and<br />

procedures to make a patient’s hospital stay a<br />

positive one. In November 2008, it undertook<br />

a rebranding effort and launched a new<br />

advertising campaign to communicate innovative<br />

services and changes to better serve the<br />

surrounding community now and in the future.<br />

HMH today delivers key specialties and<br />

services to fulfill the healthcare needs of<br />

the community with advanced technology<br />

and the professional expertise of its board<br />

certified physicians. From physical therapy<br />

and imaging, to laparoscopic surgery and<br />

wound care, HMH offers cutting-edge<br />

programs and services in both an inpatient<br />

and outpatient environment.<br />

“We have rebranded the hospital’s pledge,<br />

Down to earth and up to the minute to<br />

demonstrate that we offer an even higher<br />

quality of care. The over-arching message<br />

focuses on the fact that the hospital is<br />

innovative in its approach to providing the<br />

services right here in our community; and, we<br />

are also emphasizing the personal care and<br />

attention that patients want and expect from<br />

a community hospital,” says Calli Dretke,<br />

director of marketing.<br />

Huntsville Memorial Hospital has a long<br />

and interesting chronology of events. For<br />

instance, twenty-two years after its charter,<br />

it added fifty beds. The positive changes<br />

through the years include:<br />

1955—The Huntsville Memorial Hospital<br />

Auxiliary is chartered.<br />

1964—The W. T. Robinson, Sr., Wing is<br />

built, providing an additional thirty beds.<br />

1965—The convalescent unit is integrated<br />

into the hospital.<br />

1966—Joe G. Davis School of Vocational<br />

Nursing hosts the first class of nursing students.<br />

1970—The hospital board begins advocating<br />

the establishment of a hospital district.<br />

1975—Voters approve the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Hospital District.<br />

1976—The <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Hospital District<br />

and Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)<br />

form an agreement and Huntsville Memorial<br />

Hospital becomes an HCA-managed facility.<br />

1977—Huntsville Memorial Hospital breaks<br />

ground for a new 123,000 square foot facility,<br />

opening in June of 1979.<br />

1985—Huntsville Memorial Hospital begins a<br />

$2.5 million expansion of the surgery department.<br />

1992—The HMH Medical Clinic is established<br />

for primary care in the county.<br />

1997—A $1.5 million expansion begins<br />

to house the Center for Rehabilitation and<br />

other services<br />

1998—HMH opens the Heritage Mental<br />

Health Program for senior adults.<br />

The turn-of-the-century is still inviting<br />

change—all for the well-being of community<br />

residents. Among them are:<br />

2003—HMH completes a 4,500 square-foot<br />

expansion to the radiology department to<br />

provide additional space for state-of-the-art<br />

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized<br />

tomography (CT) scan equipment.<br />

2004—HMH becomes an affiliate of Memorial<br />

Hermann Healthcare System.<br />

2005—HMH becomes a tobacco-free campus.<br />

2005—HMH opens a six-bed inpatient<br />

Rehabilitation Unit; and HMH renovates<br />

Women’s Health Unit and five birthing suites<br />

with contemporary furnishings.<br />

2007—HMH received Quality Award from<br />

the Joint Commission; the hospital welcomes<br />

CEO Sally I. Nelson.<br />

2008—Huntsville Memorial Hospital<br />

begins a rebranding campaign; HMH’s Wound<br />

Care Center opens; HMH Forensic Nursing<br />

Unit opens.<br />

2009—HMH’s Express Admit Unit opens;<br />

Nuclear Medicine (NM) remodeled to include<br />

Stress Room. Began providing NM stress tests<br />

on weekends; First fully digital radiographic<br />

and fluoroscopic room installed; HMH<br />

institutes co-management program aligning<br />

physicians with hospital; HMH recruits<br />

pulmonologist, Dr. Sudhir Sehgal into 501 (a)<br />

practice; HMH establishes chief medical officer<br />

(CMO) position, with Dr. David Ficklin<br />

becoming the first CMO; and Heritage<br />

Outpatient Counseling expands by adding the<br />

C.A.R.E. (Chemical Addiction Recovery and<br />

Education) program.<br />

2010—Medical Economics magazine features<br />

Huntsville as the “best town you never heard<br />

of” in its cover story on America’s best places<br />

to practice medicine; Ability to have several<br />

radiologists view and read x-rays remotely;<br />

HMH Acquires 64-slice CT Scanner; HMH<br />

6 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


installs digital mammography system; Opened<br />

remodeled Mammography area, and radiology<br />

waiting area funded by HMH volunteers;<br />

began offering Cardiac CT Angiography;<br />

HMH completed $1.4 million renovation and<br />

improvement project for patient rooms;<br />

HMH receives Pink Ribbon Facility distinction;<br />

HMH receives Journey of Improvement award<br />

twice from Press Ganey for sustained improvement<br />

in patient satisfaction; Clinical Decision<br />

Unit opens; HMH Sports Medicine opens;<br />

Assistant Administrator, Tripp Montalbo,<br />

becomes HMH’s first chief operating officer;<br />

and welcomes new chief nursing officer,<br />

Donna Steward, RN, Med, MBA.<br />

2011—HMH purchased cardiac package for<br />

64-slice CT scanner; recruits nephrologist.<br />

Dr. Dave Khurana, into 501 (2) practice;<br />

receives Key Quality Award from The Joint<br />

Commission; and is voted as a top 100 workplace<br />

by the Houston Chronicle; teams up with<br />

Sam Houston State University as the official<br />

healthcare provider for SHSU athletics.<br />

2012—HMH opens a medical clinic in<br />

Madisonville, Texas; teams up with Orthopedic<br />

surgeons, Dr. Dalton Health III, and Dr. Jesse<br />

Ward, to add depth into 501(2) practice;<br />

receives Hospital Safety Score A award; recruits<br />

OB/GYN, Dr. Mercedes Goebel and Internal<br />

Medicine, Dr. Prasada Nalluri into 501 (2)<br />

practice; breaks ground on free-standing<br />

Emergency and Imaging Center in Madisonville;<br />

and receives the Key Quality Award from the<br />

Joint Commission two consecutive years.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 3


ELKINS LAKE<br />

RECREATION<br />

CORPORATION<br />

It has often been said that there is “no place like<br />

home,” and members of Elkins Lake Recreation<br />

Corporation would be the first to agree.<br />

Residents of Elkins Lake’s residential community<br />

relish the location, which is the home of<br />

Sam Houston State University, sixty-five miles<br />

north of Houston and 175 miles south of Dallas.<br />

As such, they are close enough to appreciate the<br />

perks of “big city” entertainment such as theatre,<br />

ballet, and orchestral events; yet, all the while,<br />

enjoying the day-to-day, care-free lifestyle<br />

among the rolling hills and wooded landscape.<br />

It is the Elkins Lake Recreation Corporation’s<br />

various activities that people find inviting. The<br />

corporation is a private club with welcoming<br />

neighbors and all the comforts of home.<br />

Residents view it as a fun community, and agree<br />

that there is something for everyone—no matter<br />

what their age or preference for recreational and<br />

social activities.<br />

While catching the “big one” in a nearby lake<br />

may appeal to some, others may find a round of<br />

golf more to their liking on the twenty-seven<br />

hole championship course. Some may find the<br />

swimming pools or tennis courts more enticing.<br />

Still, there are others who would rather sit on<br />

their front porches, visiting with neighbors,<br />

playing a game of gin rummy, or simply enjoying<br />

the peaceful environment.<br />

The community is named for Judge James<br />

Elkins, who began his law career in Huntsville<br />

in 1903, and became one of Houston’s most<br />

prominent attorneys. In 1930, he purchased<br />

twenty acres of land as a personal retreat, establishing<br />

the Elkins Lake property, and began<br />

clearing and beautifying the property. He also<br />

bought about sixteen to twenty properties that<br />

year, and consolidated them into one large tract<br />

of land, now a 1,000-acre development.<br />

In 1936, the Judge built the Manor House<br />

with cypress logs he received from a Lufkin<br />

sawmill owner as payment for defending his<br />

son against a murder charge. The historic home<br />

was a place where Texas-sized deals were made,<br />

and became the center for dining and entertainment<br />

in the Elkins Lake development.<br />

Eventually, J. B. Belin, Jr., purchased the<br />

property from Judge Elkins and began further<br />

development of the community. In 1969 the<br />

Secretary of State issued a certificate of<br />

incorporation to Elkins Lake Recreation<br />

Corporation. At that time, the developer<br />

controlled the affairs of the community, which<br />

was one of four developments in the Quad<br />

Rec Club. Others were April Sound, Westwood<br />

Shores, and Hilltop Lakes. At that time, Judge<br />

Elkins’ first home was used as the original<br />

development office.<br />

6 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


In 1985 the 1,200 property owners assumed<br />

control of Elkins Lake Recreation Corporation.<br />

Today, they continue to serve as the governing<br />

body. An elected board of directors, comprised<br />

entirely of property owners, determines the affairs<br />

and future of the community. After many years of<br />

member management, the Elkins Lake community<br />

was officially incorporated into the City of<br />

Huntsville through an annexation effort in 1994.<br />

Even though Elkins Lake is located within<br />

the city limits, most of the adjacent property is<br />

designated as National Forest and state park<br />

land. Because of these “protected borders,”<br />

Elkins Lake will always seem like the escape to<br />

nature that once drew Judge Elkins to the area.<br />

Today, it remains a society of good neighbors<br />

with amenities, activities, and enrichment for<br />

everyone. Often are the times, when residents<br />

come together as friends and neighbors to<br />

paint, play cards, exercise, and study—or, just<br />

to sit and visit.<br />

Judge Elkins would be proud to know that<br />

his original vision of building a place to live<br />

and relax, spend time with friends, have fun,<br />

and enjoy the beautiful, natural surroundings<br />

has been realized.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 5


COMMUNITY<br />

SERVICE<br />

CREDIT UNION<br />

❖<br />

Above: Newly remodeled exterior of<br />

the main office on FM 2821.<br />

Below: Sam South Location; CSCU<br />

added a branch on the south side of<br />

Huntsville, Texas in 2008.<br />

Imagine walking past a prison guard to<br />

secure a loan or conduct other financial business.<br />

That is exactly what employees of the<br />

Texas Prison System did when the Texas Prison<br />

Employees Credit Union was established nearly<br />

sixty years ago. The fledgling credit union was<br />

located inside the Huntsville (Walls) Unit.<br />

In 1953, W. H. Gaston, director of the Texas<br />

Prison System, contacted O. B. Ellis, general<br />

manager of the System, expressing concern over<br />

the problem of assignments of salary<br />

warrants from one employee to another.<br />

In his letter, Gaston suggested the<br />

formation of a credit union to better<br />

assist employees with their financial<br />

needs. He also suggested a board of<br />

directors to oversee the savings and loan<br />

transactions against money earned as<br />

pay; and, further stated that investors<br />

were ready to start such an institution.<br />

Ellis granted approval, but a second<br />

approval was required from the Texas<br />

Prison Board because the venture would<br />

involve Texas Prison System employees<br />

as volunteers. Permission was granted<br />

upon receipt of a letter that outlined the<br />

credit union’s organization and various<br />

procedures about how system employees,<br />

as volunteers, would conduct credit<br />

union transactions and business.<br />

The organization was chartered April<br />

16, 1954 by the Department of Banking.<br />

At that time, there were only fifty-five<br />

members, and a mere $10,115 in shares.<br />

Gaston was named manager.<br />

6 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


In the early days, membership was restricted<br />

to employees of the Texas Prison System; however,<br />

in 1988, it was extended to include individuals<br />

who were not employed by the system.<br />

Membership was opened to anyone who<br />

worked or resided within <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> and<br />

later extended to include those who worship or<br />

attend school in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, as well as their<br />

family members.<br />

A name change took place New Year’s Day,<br />

1958, whereby the Texas Prison Employees<br />

Credit Union became the Department of<br />

Corrections Employees Credit Union (DOCE-<br />

CU). It was changed again, in 1988, to<br />

Community Service Credit Union (CSCU) to<br />

reflect the expanded field of membership.<br />

The credit union has grown exponentially<br />

through the years and now offers services provided<br />

by most banks; however, unlike banks, it<br />

offers members ease of access and better fiduciary<br />

rates. Today, it provides savings and checking<br />

accounts, commercial accounts, certificate<br />

accounts, money market accounts, loans,<br />

ATM cards, Visa check cards, Visa credit cards,<br />

Tele-Access, CSCU online, CSCU Bill Payers,<br />

CSCU Mobile, e-statements, direct deposit,<br />

overdraft protection, wire transfers, Travelers<br />

Cheques, money orders, and even gift cards.<br />

Under the direction of financial-savvy individuals,<br />

CSCU now boasts twenty-eight fulltime<br />

employees and 8,829 members. Assets<br />

have increased steadily from $10,000 during<br />

the founding year, to $534,000 in 1962; and hit<br />

the million dollar mark in 1984, with $12 million<br />

in assets. The turn of the century helped<br />

the financial institution realize $32 million with<br />

9,648 members. As of July 2011, assets grew to<br />

more than $77 million with 8,642 members.<br />

Community Service Credit Union’s mission<br />

is to promote and provide complete financial<br />

services to meet the needs of individual members;<br />

continually improve present services and<br />

develop new services to better serve the financial<br />

needs of its membership. CSCU pledges<br />

to continually research and develop programs<br />

to satisfy the needs of its members as their<br />

financial situations change; and provide welltrained,<br />

sensitive representatives to counsel and<br />

assist members in improving their economic<br />

and social position. It pledges to adhere to<br />

sound financial practices for maintaining a<br />

healthy and viable capital structure.<br />

CSCU is headquartered at 250 FM 2821 West<br />

with the Sam South Branch located at 2432 Sam<br />

Houston Avenue in Huntsville, Texas.<br />

What is on the horizon for Community<br />

Service Credit Union? “We will continue to<br />

provide quality financial services that our<br />

members want and need; and we will educate<br />

consumers on the credit union business model<br />

as to why they should choose a credit union,”<br />

says Brenda Bass Hooker, president and CEO<br />

of Community Service Credit Union.<br />

❖<br />

Above: Newly remodeled interior of<br />

the Main Office on FM 2821,<br />

complete with coffee bar and<br />

comfortable seating area.<br />

Left: Ca$h poses with a furry friend<br />

during the Christmas With Ca$h<br />

Celebration. Ca$h is available to<br />

make appearances at local schools<br />

or events.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 7


❖<br />

MCCAFFETY<br />

ELECTRIC CO.,<br />

INC.<br />

Above: Clockwise, starting from the<br />

top left, Eugene, Shirley, Pamela and<br />

Robert McCaffety, December 1966.<br />

The family in 2011. Standing, left to<br />

right, Jeremy Barnes, Danny Wilson,<br />

Eugene, Cody, Robert, Jason, and<br />

Tyler McCaffety. Sitting, left to right,<br />

Amanda Barnes, Lindsay Wilson,<br />

Pam Barnes, Shirley, Frankie, Trisha,<br />

and Lindsey McCaffety. Front, left to<br />

right, Ashley and Austin McCaffety.<br />

Like many who invent a product or start a<br />

business, Eugene McCaffety realized a need and<br />

responded to the challenge.<br />

While being raised in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>,<br />

Eugene McCaffety met Shirley Woods. In the<br />

winter of 1954, the two married and traveled<br />

many states, while he worked in the<br />

construction industry. He was working alone<br />

for Brown & Root one sweltering day in<br />

La Porte, Texas, knee deep in mud, and making<br />

$2.75 an hour. That is when he decided there<br />

must be a better way. He wanted to provide a<br />

better life for Shirley, his son Robert, and<br />

daughter Pamela.<br />

During a visit to Huntsville he learned of<br />

a need for electricians there. Aided by<br />

A. J. Beckham and Bill Jones the journey<br />

began. In December of 1962, Jim<br />

Cates helped Gene file the paperwork,<br />

formally establishing McCaffety Electric<br />

Company. Another friend, Mutt McMillan<br />

helped Eugene’s family move from<br />

Pasadena, Texas into a house rented<br />

from Doyle <strong>Walker</strong>. This home had a<br />

small garage that became Eugene’s first<br />

shop. A 1959 Chevy truck, a few tools<br />

and the drive to build a life here in<br />

Huntsville were the few items that started<br />

McCaffety Electric. With the help of<br />

many new friends and word-of-mouth<br />

advertising, the business began to grow.<br />

In 1967, Shirley opened what was to become<br />

the lighting showroom in a small area of the<br />

shop. Materials and supplies were delivered<br />

once or twice a month by Red Arrow or<br />

Missouri Pacific Freight Lines. The average<br />

pay was $2-$2.75 an hour and a service<br />

charge was $7.50 an hour. Often, payment<br />

was rendered by the exchange of a shovel,<br />

a wheelbarrow, or even a hot meal. As Eugene<br />

recalls, he was once offered an old pick-up<br />

truck as payment for electrical services. Eugene<br />

6 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


ecognizes the times that God’s hand made<br />

the difference and supplied their needs. One of<br />

his favorite sayings is “God helps those who<br />

help themselves.”<br />

In the late 1970s Eugene began the<br />

transition of handing the company over to his<br />

son Robert, now CEO. With determination,<br />

Robert took the reins and obtained his Master<br />

Electricians license in 1978, and Eugene retired<br />

in the early 1980s. Pamela joined the company<br />

in 1985 and serves as account executive today.<br />

Other family members joined the ranks,<br />

and currently of the third generation<br />

are: Vice President and Estimator Jason<br />

McCaffety, Branch Manager Cody McCaffety<br />

and Project Manager Jeremy Barnes.<br />

In February of 2003 McCaffety<br />

Electric was certified as a <strong>Historic</strong>ally<br />

Underutilized Business by the State of<br />

Texas. Today McCaffety Electric employs<br />

seventy to eighty electricians and office<br />

staff. They have expanded their service<br />

territory with two locations, the first<br />

location at 1711 Sycamore Avenue in<br />

Huntsville, where they house electrical<br />

supplies and a lighting showroom,<br />

managed by Frankie McCaffety who has<br />

been employed twenty-eight years with<br />

the company. The second and newest<br />

service location established in 2004, is at<br />

1610A North Frazier, in Conroe. Each<br />

location services a sixty mile radius<br />

with a well-trained staff. Licensed by<br />

the State of Texas for Electrical<br />

Contractors, McCaffety continues to<br />

provide these areas with licensed and<br />

bonded commercial, industrial and<br />

residential electrical work; from large<br />

construction projects, or remodeling<br />

and simple repairs.<br />

Reputations are developed over<br />

long periods of time. With fifty years<br />

of experience McCaffety Electric has<br />

built a reputation of quality, dedication<br />

and trust. Several electricians<br />

have been with McCaffety Electric<br />

almost twenty years, and many customers<br />

call and request them by<br />

name. Whether during the planning,<br />

designing or construction phase,<br />

clients have come to expect its commitment<br />

to quality. McCaffety Electric is ready,<br />

willing, and able to ensure its commitment to<br />

complete the job as well as offer their clients a<br />

wide variety of expertise and merchandise to<br />

fulfill every electrical need.<br />

The family gives the glory to God and<br />

appreciates every friend; employee and business<br />

associate that helped make McCaffety Electric<br />

Co., Inc. what it is today.<br />

For additional information, please visit<br />

www.mccaffetyelectric.com on the Internet.<br />

❖<br />

Above: Don Barnes, family, best<br />

friend and employee. He passed away<br />

in 2010, he was an integral part of<br />

McCaffety Electric for thirty-seven<br />

years. Don and Pam married in<br />

July of 1982.<br />

Below: Eugene and Shirley McCaffety<br />

at their fiftieth wedding anniversary.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 6 9


FIRST NATIONAL<br />

BANK OF<br />

HUNTSVILLE<br />

On January 14, 1890, Gibbs National<br />

Bank—now First National Bank of Huntsville<br />

(FNBH)—opened its doors for business on the<br />

square. Prior to 1890, the Gibbs family had<br />

provided banking services to the citizens of<br />

Huntsville through the family mercantile business,<br />

which opened in 1841. Located on Cedar<br />

and Jackson Streets, now known as Eleventh<br />

Street and Sam Houston Avenue, this practice<br />

of “private banking” services largely consisted<br />

of safeguarding valuables in the store’s vault or<br />

carrying promissory notes from customers who<br />

repaid the note when their crop was harvested.<br />

General Sam Houston traded regularly in the<br />

Gibbs store, and thought so highly of Thomas<br />

Gibbs that he named him as an executor of<br />

his will. By the late 1880s, the Gibbs family<br />

acquired a national bank charter and the bank<br />

opened directly next door to the mercantile<br />

store, named in honor of Sandford Gibbs. His<br />

widow, Sallie Gibbs, was one of the founders of<br />

the bank. However, it was considered improper<br />

for a woman to lead a business, so she installed<br />

her two sons as the bank’s managers and ran<br />

the bank out of the public eye. At the time of<br />

Sallie’s Gibbs death in 1918, Gibbs National<br />

Bank was thriving and in<br />

solid condition. In 1923, recognizing<br />

its role as a community<br />

bank, the name was changed<br />

to First National Bank of<br />

Huntsville—a name that remains<br />

unchanged today.<br />

Despite the challenging economic<br />

times of the Great Depression in the<br />

1930s, First National Bank continued as a strong<br />

community bank, priding itself on helping customers<br />

with financial services. In 1936, when<br />

the bank was remodeled, a new seven ton vault<br />

with a seven foot door was installed, along with<br />

500 safety deposit boxes to better serve<br />

customers. In 1939, bank deposits exceeded<br />

$1 million for the first time. In 1940, First<br />

National Bank of Huntsville celebrated fifty<br />

years of banking in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, and by<br />

the end of that decade, deposits exceeded $3<br />

million. The 1950s were a booming time of<br />

change. Customers shifted from<br />

cash to check writing; every<br />

check was handled entirely by<br />

hand. By the end of the decade,<br />

the bank had outgrown its original<br />

location and for the first<br />

time since its founding seventy<br />

years earlier, built and moved to<br />

a new building on Eleventh<br />

Street in July 1962. (Currently,<br />

the location of the Huntsville<br />

Police Department.) This building<br />

had the first drive-in window<br />

whereby transactions were<br />

couriered underground in pneumatic<br />

tubes. Customers and<br />

tellers viewed each other via<br />

two-way television screens. In 1964, the bank<br />

added a Trust Department, which continues to<br />

provide Trust services today.<br />

The building that housed First National Bank<br />

of Huntsville for a little over ten years was<br />

quickly outgrown, and in 1976, the bank once<br />

again broke ground to move to its third and current<br />

location. The new six story building, located<br />

on Eleventh Street once again, opened in 1977 and<br />

provided the bank with room for future growth.<br />

The drive-thru was, then, relocated and expanded<br />

to seven lanes providing the opportunity to continue<br />

to serve customers with expanded services.<br />

7 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


First National Bank of<br />

Huntsville passed several significant<br />

milestones during the<br />

1980s. In 1981, with new technology<br />

the bank installed<br />

Huntsville’s first Automated<br />

Teller machine (ATM). The<br />

decade also saw two new banks<br />

chartered and opened by FNBH: The First<br />

National Bank–South and First Madisonville<br />

National Bank. Additionally, FNBH opened<br />

the Convenience Center—the first branch<br />

banking facility in Texas. The bank reached<br />

$100 million in assets, and also opened the<br />

Motor Park location in 1986, a drive-thru<br />

to serve commercial customers with large<br />

deposits. In 1987, the bank launched a golf<br />

tournament: The Annual Lu Ellen Gibbs<br />

Invitational, benefitting the Sam Houston State<br />

University golf program. The tournament<br />

continues today, known as The First National<br />

Bank of Huntsville Masters Challenge, with<br />

proceeds benefitting the Lu Ellen Gibbs Golf<br />

Endowment at SHSU.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 1


COMFORT SUITES–<br />

HUNTSVILLE<br />

Local residents, as well as individuals traveling<br />

I-45 through Texas, feel as though the welcome<br />

mat is always out at Comfort Suites–Huntsville.<br />

And it is, according to Rikki and Joe Mann,<br />

owners. In fact, “Comfort is our most important<br />

asset,” says Joe.<br />

The couple opened the Choice Hotel near<br />

the Montgomery Road exit in 2007, and has not<br />

regretted it since.<br />

As part of the Akash Hotels International,<br />

Inc., the Comfort Suites-Huntsville all-suites<br />

hotel features reassurance and quality customer<br />

service throughout. From the time one enters<br />

the front door until checkout, the red carpet is<br />

always rolled out.<br />

A free breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage,<br />

waffles, cereals, bread and pastries awaits guests<br />

in the morning. Topping that off is a steaming<br />

cup of coffee or tea and USA Today as well as the<br />

local paper. A conference room, accommodating<br />

thirty, is available for local and business meetings.<br />

Matthew Jones, general manager, says, “The<br />

athletic-minded will enjoy the fitness center with<br />

treadmill, stair-climber and weight machines.”<br />

The hotel is only minutes away from<br />

Sam Houston State University, Sam Houston<br />

National Forest, Sam Houston Statue Visitors<br />

Center, Huntsville State Park, and “just around<br />

the corner” from Education Service Center<br />

The hotel features fifty-nine suites for relaxing,<br />

entertaining or business; and, is equipped<br />

with iron, ironing board, microwave and<br />

refrigerator, wet bar, coffeemaker and hair<br />

dryer. Guests have their choice of king or<br />

queen-size beds; and a sleeper sofa is provided<br />

for the kids or extra person housed in the same<br />

room. In addition, there is a thirty-two inch<br />

plasma television, and a work area with<br />

complimentary Internet and Wi-Fi, providing<br />

“business as usual” for company travelers.<br />

7 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


“It doesn’t matter if guests are visiting for<br />

relaxation, entertainment or business, Comfort<br />

Suites–Huntsville is the welcomed location,”<br />

adds Jones.<br />

For additional information, please visit<br />

www.comfortsuites.com.<br />

Region VI. Other attractions include the Texas<br />

Prison Museum, HEARTS Veterans Museum,<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Downtown Huntsville, and Olympic<br />

Gold Medal Gymnastics Trainer Bella Karolyi’s<br />

training facility. It is also headquarters for the<br />

Stan Musial Amateur World Series of Baseball.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 3


BETHY CREEK<br />

RESORTS<br />

For families who enjoy the beckoning call<br />

and ambience of the great outdoors, Bethy<br />

Creek Resort is the perfect spot for camping,<br />

picnicking and enjoying water sports.<br />

The peaceful atmosphere in Riverside, Texas’<br />

Lake Livingston has been a welcoming site for<br />

weekend campers, vacationers, fishermen and<br />

boating enthusiasts for over forty years.<br />

In the 1950s, Basil (Sandy) Vincent and<br />

his wife Hazel became captivated by property<br />

they spotted in Polk <strong>County</strong>. Several years later,<br />

they learned that a lake was proposed for Polk,<br />

San Jacinto, Trinity and <strong>Walker</strong> Counties. It was<br />

the incentive they needed to begin purchasing<br />

waterfront property on what would become<br />

Lake Livingston.<br />

Upon Sandy’s retirement in 1968, the family<br />

moved from Houston to Onalaska and started<br />

a real estate development business. It was<br />

not until 1971; however, while driving around<br />

the lake, that Sandy spotted property that was<br />

being semi-developed in Riverside. At that<br />

point, he encouraged son Randell, and daughter-in-law<br />

Sayrah, to leave Houston and join the<br />

family business, buying a large amount of<br />

waterfront property.<br />

The vision to develop the property into<br />

a premier recreation was born. They continued<br />

developing the property, adding a<br />

campground and marina for locals and<br />

out-of-state visitors.<br />

Truly a family-owned venture with<br />

Randell, Jr., and wife Cindy joining them,<br />

it has grown into a premier recreation<br />

destination for families and children of<br />

all ages.<br />

Today, Bethy Creek Resort has recreational<br />

vehicle (RV) sites complete with<br />

electrical connections, grills and picnic<br />

tables. There are cabins, and picnic tables.<br />

For the fishing enthusiast, there is the lure<br />

of a lighted pier, boats and a lake stocked<br />

with bass, crappie and catfish. When not<br />

casting a rod, visitors may enjoy pedal<br />

boats, canoes and wakeboarding. There is<br />

even a wakeboarding camp for youth.<br />

At night, everyone can enjoy the sweet<br />

smells of the outdoors and the twinkling<br />

Texas stars overhead. Randell, Jr., says that<br />

Bethy Creek is the ideal place to forget<br />

everyday stress and enjoy life. “It’s been<br />

said many times—but, it really doesn’t get<br />

any better than this!”<br />

7 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


HUNTSVILLE–<br />

WALKER COUNTY<br />

CHAMBER OF<br />

COMMERCE<br />

An area’s business climate is often reflected<br />

in Chamber of Commerce efforts. Huntsville-<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Chamber is no exception.<br />

Even in the very early days of its organization,<br />

members rolled up their sleeves to hold<br />

the first Crop Contest and awarded $100 to<br />

John L. Books of Loma for producing the first<br />

bale of cotton. That was 1925.<br />

In 1963, the Chamber broke ground for<br />

its current location at 1327 Eleventh Street<br />

in Huntsville. Since then, the organization<br />

has grown to five fulltime employees and a<br />

membership of 510.<br />

Today, the Chamber operates on a number of<br />

basic principles as it looks toward the future.<br />

One is drawing upon member synergy—members<br />

accomplishing goals the Chamber could<br />

not do alone. It is a source for business contacts<br />

and referrals in two Leads exchange groups.<br />

It is involved in special events that build<br />

good relationships at its Small Business<br />

Networking Breakfasts and Business After<br />

Hours events. Volunteers’ further encourage<br />

networking opportunities at special events<br />

like the Trade Expo, Shot in the Dark Golf<br />

Tournament, Fair on the Square, Annual Gala<br />

and leadership luncheons.<br />

The Chamber’s goal is to develop existing<br />

businesses, recruit new businesses and<br />

strengthen economic growth. The Chamber is<br />

a daily source for business contacts and<br />

referrals from staff and other members. Also<br />

offered are Leads Exchange groups.<br />

As with any city, the Chamber plays a<br />

major role in tourism. The Chamber is often<br />

the first point of contact for marketing to,<br />

and hosting, local, national and international<br />

visitors. Tourism has an annual impact of over<br />

$88.8 million in Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />

The Huntsville Leadership Institute has<br />

provided unique leadership training and<br />

opportunities for local citizens for over thirty<br />

years. In addition, Chamber Leadership has<br />

an active voice representing local business in<br />

local, state and national government.<br />

President Carol Smith says, “The Huntsville-<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Chamber is heavily involved<br />

with community causes such as Sam Houston<br />

State University, Boys and Girls Club of <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>, the YMCA, and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Fair<br />

Association, just to name a few.”<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 5


CANDYCE FARRIS<br />

DIXON, CPA<br />

❖<br />

Candyce Farris Dixon, CPA.<br />

Candyce Dixon’s professional success is built<br />

on the fiscal achievements that she helps<br />

businesses and individuals attain. As owner of<br />

Candyce Farris Dixon, CPA, she is dedicated to<br />

serving the financial needs of others. “Only<br />

when my clients are financially successful have<br />

I succeeded,” she says.<br />

After obtaining her accounting degree from<br />

Sam Houston State University in 1977, she<br />

began her career with a regional accounting firm<br />

in Huntsville. During her ten year tenure, she<br />

earned CPA certification and became a partner.<br />

It was there she decided to start a private practice,<br />

opening in 1988. “Working at a larger<br />

firm, I lost personal contact with individuals<br />

because of demands on my time. I wanted to<br />

return to personal service.”<br />

Her mission is to provide quality, accurate,<br />

and timely tax and financial reporting. “My goal<br />

is to serve my clients directly and personally,<br />

whether it is with accounting or tax needs. It is<br />

vital in today’s complex business world that I<br />

help them understand tax laws applicable to<br />

them and how to gauge financial indicators<br />

with direct impact on their businesses.”<br />

She provides tax preparation for individuals<br />

and all types of entities as well as full service<br />

accounting for businesses. Churches and nonprofits<br />

are assisted with budgeting and establishing<br />

fiscal policy and controls.<br />

Candyce is committed to Huntsville and<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>, where her family’s roots date to<br />

the 1830s. She and her husband, Dale Dixon,<br />

have raised three children here; and in 2000,<br />

she created an after school program for elementary<br />

students. With the help of educators and<br />

volunteers, it has thrived and evolved into<br />

The Boys and Girls Club of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. The<br />

flexibility of private practice and support<br />

of many of her clients allowed that to happen.<br />

“I consider it my most important contribution<br />

to Huntsville,” she says. Her commitment to the<br />

history and traditions of the community are<br />

further reflected by her office—the restored,<br />

historic Davis home on Avenue O.<br />

7 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Lisa Branch’s passion and desire to help<br />

students who struggled with learning prompted<br />

her to research learning difficulties, and<br />

eventually, launch a new career as the co-owner<br />

of LearningRx-Huntsville.<br />

After twenty years of teaching, Branch saw<br />

students, who, even though they worked<br />

hard, studied diligently, and gave their best<br />

effort, was not successful in the classroom.<br />

That is when she began searching for<br />

answers and studying brain development.<br />

She received her first certification in brain<br />

research in 1999, and delved deeper into<br />

neuroscience and the “whys” of learning<br />

difficulties. In 2010, Branch heard about<br />

LearningRx, a national franchise with research<br />

to support claims that it could change the<br />

brain’s ability to process information, enabling<br />

learning to happen more efficiently.<br />

LearningRx focuses on weak cognitive<br />

skills—the underlying areas of the brain,<br />

which enable learning. “Addressing the root<br />

cause of learning difficulties<br />

allows us to see growth<br />

in IQ scores and classroom<br />

performance,” she says.<br />

The company has been<br />

successful in the areas of<br />

dyslexia, autism spectrum<br />

disorders, ADD/ADHD,<br />

traumatic brain injuries,<br />

stroke victims, and senior<br />

decline. College students<br />

and professional people<br />

also benefit from LearningRx<br />

by becoming faster processors<br />

of information. “We<br />

can help with almost any<br />

area that concerns the brain<br />

and its ability to process<br />

and learn information,”<br />

she adds.<br />

After studying and completing<br />

LearningRx’s franchise<br />

development system,<br />

Branch, co-owner Lisa<br />

Roberts, and Assistant<br />

Director Melissa Howe,<br />

were certified in Cognitive<br />

Brain Therapy. The business<br />

opened October 1,<br />

2010 with five clients<br />

receiving services and<br />

since, has served over fifty<br />

members of the community.<br />

“Our success is a great<br />

example of how provisions are made<br />

when individuals seek to follow God’s plan,”<br />

they agree.<br />

While focusing on clients in the <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> area, LearningRx also serves the<br />

surrounding East Texas Region. Melissa Howe,<br />

Georgie Berry, and Courtney Givens comprise<br />

the core staff of LearningRx-Huntsville.<br />

They ensure that all fifteen employees and<br />

approximately forty clients are served based<br />

on the ideals upon which LearningRx<br />

was founded.<br />

❖<br />

LEARNING RX<br />

Lisa Branch.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 7


❖<br />

CHARLES W.<br />

MONDAY, JR.,<br />

M.D., P.A.<br />

Charles W. Monday, Jr., M.D., P.A.<br />

Dr. Charles W. Monday, Jr., was born in<br />

Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1941, grew up in<br />

South Texas, and graduated University of<br />

Texas in 1962. He completed his medical<br />

degree at UT Galveston in 1966, surgical<br />

residency at Herman Hospital in1971, and<br />

military service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps<br />

in 1973.<br />

Dr. Monday opened his medical practice in<br />

Huntsville in the specialty of general surgery<br />

in 1973 at Avenue O and Thirteenth Street.<br />

He was only one half block from Huntsville<br />

Memorial Hospital which was located at the<br />

corner of Eleventh Street and Avenue O and<br />

later became Ella Smither Geriatric Facility.<br />

When he came to Huntsville there was only<br />

one other Board Certified referred specialist<br />

in town and that was Dr. Raymond Blalock.<br />

He opened his practice with Susan Smither<br />

Tarpey who became his practice office<br />

manager and remained for thirty-eight years.<br />

For the next fifteen years, Dr. Monday<br />

practiced actively in Huntsville, Madisonville<br />

and Trinity often driving over one hundred<br />

miles a day to make daily rounds and<br />

attend emergency patients.<br />

In 1975, he and colleague<br />

Marge Rex were co-chairmen<br />

of a committee to improve<br />

the emergency medical<br />

service in Huntsville and<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. They and<br />

their committee, including<br />

county and city officials, visited<br />

Madisonville and studied<br />

surrounding communities.<br />

They made recommendations<br />

to the county and city on<br />

establishing a new service<br />

here in Huntsville and <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong>. At that time, with the<br />

help of a volunteer emergency<br />

corp., most of the ambulance<br />

service was being run out of<br />

a funeral home. Acting on<br />

the committee’s recommendations<br />

a new EMS service<br />

was established with highly<br />

trained personnel and<br />

intensive care level well<br />

equipped ambulances. The<br />

service evolved into a<br />

paramedic service under the<br />

direction of the <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Hospital District.<br />

Dr. Monday was appointed<br />

by the governor to the Texas<br />

Board of Medical Examiners<br />

from 1993-1999. In 2011, he<br />

was honored as Physician of the Year by<br />

the Huntsville Memorial Hospital employees.<br />

He served on the Board of the Chamber of<br />

Commerce, has been active in the Lions Club,<br />

and is a member of the First Methodist Church.<br />

Married to Jane Clements Monday, he<br />

and his wife are parents of three daughters,<br />

Kimberly, Julie, and Jennifer, all having<br />

post-graduate degrees graduating with honors.<br />

They have eight grandchildren.<br />

7 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


PETE JOHNSON<br />

TOWING &<br />

TRANSPORTATION<br />

SERVICE<br />

It is often said that men have a fascination<br />

with anything that has wheels. Pete Johnson is<br />

no exception.<br />

In 1966, Johnson was a part-time wrecker driver<br />

for Kirkland Wrecker Service and decided that<br />

was what he wanted to do. In 1967, he purchased<br />

a small Texaco service station and a three-quarter<br />

ton used Ford wrecker, rebuilt it, and started his<br />

own business—Johnson Wrecker Service.<br />

He talked to friends J. D. Johnston, Lloyd<br />

Hooks, A. R. Pursley, and others with wrecker<br />

experience; but, it was Mobil Oil distributor<br />

John Haney, who encouraged him to lease a larger<br />

service station. In 1975, he gave up that business<br />

and entered the wrecker business full-time.<br />

“I used a factory built Holmes<br />

440 wrecker,” he said, “adding a<br />

truck each year for the next four<br />

years.” His trucks were painted<br />

orange and white—a trend he continues<br />

as Pete Johnson Towing &<br />

Transportation Service. He expanded<br />

his fleet, adding a heavy duty<br />

wrecker, used 750 Holmes, and a<br />

new Ford rollback. He bought a<br />

new Chevrolet rollback in 1993,<br />

followed by a Landoll trailer.<br />

Johnson purchased the first wheel<br />

lift in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>; and, in 1985,<br />

bought three acres and facilities for<br />

office and storage. He built a new<br />

office in 2003 and painted it to<br />

match the trucks. He began hauling<br />

heavy equipment and, today, has<br />

three heavy haul tractors, three heavy<br />

haul trailers, a flatbed trailer, and box van. He<br />

advertises on sports calendars; works with law<br />

enforcement rotation, and is a Chamber member.<br />

The business, at 631 Ryans Ferry Road, was<br />

first named Huntsville’s Best Wrecker Service in<br />

1992, and several years since. His business was<br />

featured on the cover of American Towman, a<br />

national towing magazine.<br />

The company has twenty-five pieces of<br />

equipment and eight employees. He upholds<br />

the Golden Rule: “Treat customers as you want<br />

to be treated.”<br />

He plans working until he is ready to retire<br />

and, then, turn the business over to his son,<br />

Allan, and grandson, Robert Allan Johnson.<br />

❖<br />

Above: Our newest truck,<br />

a Ford F-650 in front of our new<br />

office building.<br />

Below: A heavy duty rotator.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 9


SMITHER, MARTIN,<br />

HENDERSON &<br />

BLAZEK, P.C.<br />

In 1919, Eugene R. Berry opened a law office<br />

on the north side of Huntsville’s downtown<br />

square. Known today as Smither, Martin,<br />

Henderson & Blazek, P.C., five attorneys<br />

continue the general practice of law, including<br />

family, civil and criminal litigation, real estate,<br />

probate, juvenile, and oil and gas.<br />

Robert B. Smither (1906-1996) became<br />

Berry’s law partner in 1936, forming the firm<br />

of Berry and Smither. They continued that<br />

association until Berry’s death in 1968. In 1970,<br />

Lloyd C. Martin, a former member of the Texas<br />

House of Representatives, joined the firm. After<br />

serving in the Legislature, he was an Assistant<br />

Attorney General and TRA attorney who was<br />

instrumental in the creation of Lake Livingston.<br />

Former <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Attorney and Court at<br />

Law Judge Joe B. Henderson, Jr., was added to<br />

the firm as a partner in 1980. Former Criminal<br />

District Attorney Frank Blazek joined the firm<br />

in 1991. Huntsville native and Municipal Court<br />

Judge John R. Gaines and Nicholas C. Beaty,<br />

a 2001 graduate of Huntsville High School,<br />

are currently associates with the firm. Martin<br />

and Blazek are Board certified in the areas of<br />

real estate and criminal law respectively.<br />

Henderson has represented the <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Hospital District since 1981, as well as other<br />

public entities in <strong>Walker</strong> and surrounding<br />

counties. Both Martin and Henderson, as<br />

active owners and officers, continue the<br />

firm’s long relationship with <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Title Company. The firm’s staff includes three<br />

legal assistants and two office assistants.<br />

A number of young attorneys who have<br />

subsequently become successful in public<br />

service have been associated with and trained<br />

by the firm. Among them are Texas Board of<br />

Pardons & Paroles member Thomas Leeper,<br />

State District Judge Elizabeth Coker and former<br />

Madison <strong>County</strong> Criminal District Attorney<br />

William Bennett.<br />

The office is now located in the historic Gabe<br />

Smither home at 1414 Eleventh Street. The firm<br />

continues a long history of providing quality<br />

legal services in the general practice of law.<br />

8 0 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


WALKER<br />

COUNTY TITLE<br />

COMPANY<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Title Company was founded<br />

in 1898 by A. T. Randolph who recognized<br />

the growing need for a process of examining<br />

title to properties in the county. Randolph<br />

worked at establishing a process to better<br />

research records that could be used more easily<br />

than the public records. After several years of<br />

engaging in all aspects of real estate, including<br />

preparation of abstracts of title, he gradually<br />

began to accumulate the records, which are the<br />

basis of an abstract plant.<br />

A young lawyer named E. R. Berry came to<br />

Huntsville in 1918 as the football coach at<br />

Sam Houston State Teachers College and in<br />

1919 opened a law practice on the north side<br />

of the courthouse square. Berry bought <strong>Walker</strong><br />

<strong>County</strong> Abstract in 1930.<br />

The Law Office and <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Abstract<br />

were destroyed by fire in 1936. After which,<br />

Berry and Robert B. Smither became partners<br />

continuing the title business. Smither served<br />

in the Marines in World War II. After his<br />

discharge he purchased and remodeled a<br />

building located at 1109 University Avenue for<br />

both the law practice and the title company.<br />

Smither sold a one-half interest in both companies<br />

to newcomer, Attorney Lloyd Martin in<br />

January of 1970. Their partnership continued<br />

until 1976 when James M. Haggard joined the<br />

operation. After Smither retired, Attorney Joe B.<br />

Henderson, Jr., purchased a one-fourth interest.<br />

In 1971, Hurlene Savage became an employee<br />

of the law firm; thereafter, assuming<br />

management duties in 1982. In 1984, Hurlene<br />

purchased one-fourth interest in the title<br />

company. Savage continues to manage the<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Title Company, employing<br />

ten professional individuals to provide title<br />

examinations and closing services for a<br />

substantial number of real estate transactions<br />

in both <strong>Walker</strong> and San Jacinto Counties.<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Title Company is proud to<br />

be the keeper of land records that are the heart<br />

and soul of the title business dating back to the<br />

original Spanish land grants.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 8 1


SAM HOUSTON<br />

CANCER CENTER<br />

In just a few short years, Sam Houston<br />

Cancer Center has built a reputation for<br />

providing state-of-the-art treatment close to<br />

home. According to Kirk E. Kanady, M. D.,<br />

“That makes it more convenient for patients<br />

and loved ones alike.”<br />

It was Kanady who realized the need<br />

for advanced cancer treatment to serve patients<br />

in-and-around the greater Huntsville area.<br />

He founded the center in 2007. It was<br />

accredited by the American College of Radiology<br />

February 2, 2011 for Positron Emission<br />

Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography<br />

(CT). Both assist in better detection, staging<br />

and monitoring the disease in the body.<br />

The facility’s mission is to administer the<br />

best definitive cancer treatment in a caring<br />

and compassionate manner. In accomplishing<br />

that, it uses a team approach to turn many<br />

cancer diagnoses into success stories. When a<br />

diagnosis is made, patients meet with several<br />

of the ten member staff, including a surgeon,<br />

oncologist, radiation oncologist, therapist and<br />

physicist to discuss various treatment options<br />

and determine which is best for a particular<br />

patient. Based on their findings, more than one<br />

type of treatment may be initiated. In some<br />

cases, patients may need surgery to remove<br />

the tumor along with follow-up radiation or<br />

chemotherapy to destroy any remaining cancer<br />

cells. Brachytherapy is another mode of<br />

treatment. It uses radioactive sources<br />

placed in or next to the tumor.<br />

Sam Houston Cancer Center believes<br />

strongly in community awareness and<br />

philanthropy. It is a supporter and<br />

participant in local cancer fundraising<br />

efforts. It sponsors the Huntsville Relay<br />

for Life and the Kats for the Cause<br />

5K run at Sam Houston State University.<br />

In addition, it is an active member of<br />

the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce,<br />

and a philanthropist and active participant<br />

in the community, donating money<br />

and support to various causes including<br />

Huntsville Intermediate School, SAFFE<br />

House, Fair on the Square and the<br />

annual Chamber Gala.<br />

Sam Houston Cancer Center is located<br />

at 112 Medical Park Lane in Huntsville<br />

and at www.samhoustoncancercenter.com.<br />

8 2 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


WALKER COUNTY<br />

ACE HARDWARE<br />

What was once the site of Cumberland<br />

Presbyterian Church—the first church in<br />

Huntsville—is now home to <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Ace Hardware.<br />

The store originated in 1927; however, it was<br />

not until 1940 that Floyd Harding and brotherin-law,<br />

Jim Scarborough, purchased the store.<br />

Floyd eventually retained ownership. His son,<br />

Jimmy, joined the store full time in 1972; his<br />

wife, Judi, joined the company in 1979. Jimmy<br />

and Judi’s son, Sean, joined them following<br />

graduation from Huntsville High School.<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Ace Hardware has all the<br />

conventional merchandise normally found in a<br />

hardware store; however, it offers the TLC of<br />

being family-owned. “We take pride in being<br />

able to assist our customers with personal service.<br />

That’s something you don’t find in the big<br />

box stores,” says Judi, now president.<br />

She attributes the store’s success to its<br />

knowledgeable and helpful staff. “That, combined<br />

with ‘going the extra mile’ when<br />

customers need it, proves our dedication to<br />

meeting customers’ expectations. Our employees<br />

are trained to approach customers the<br />

minute they walk in the store.<br />

“Often, we have phone calls after hours from<br />

customers with major issues such as water pipe<br />

or well problems. Understanding they need<br />

immediate attention, advice and supplies, we’re<br />

glad to open the store to help in emergencies.”<br />

In order to serve the growing community,<br />

the store was expanded in 2002, increasing<br />

space from 4,500 to 14,500 square feet. The<br />

additional space allows for new merchandise<br />

and expands the line of Ace products. It is<br />

also a recognized Stihl, Echo, and Craftsmen<br />

tool dealer with a certified mechanic on staff.<br />

The store also carries a large line of Nutrena<br />

feeds. As hunters, the Hardings sponsor the<br />

annual Big Buck Contest.<br />

Judi expanded the Gift and Home Décor<br />

department, Classic Country Corner with<br />

roosters, wind chimes, dip mixes, and Tervis<br />

Tumbler glassware; and takes pride in her<br />

Western and Texas section.<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> Hardware is “Celebrating the<br />

Past & Anticipating the Future.”<br />

❖<br />

Above: Floyd Harding (left) and two<br />

other employees of <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Hardware in the company’s<br />

original store.<br />

Below: <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />

Hardware today.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 8 3


SAM HOUSTON<br />

STATE UNIVERSITY<br />

In response to an increasing interest in<br />

improving the Texas public education system, a<br />

teacher training school known as the Sam<br />

Houston Normal Institute was approved by the<br />

Texas legislature in 1879. Since then, the university’s<br />

name, mission and goals have expanded to<br />

meet the evolving educational and employment<br />

needs of Texas and those of the world.<br />

In 1923, the school’s name was changed to<br />

Sam Houston State Teachers College. Two years<br />

later, Sam Houston became a member of the<br />

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as<br />

an accredited institution of higher learning.<br />

The GI Bill contributed to an increase in<br />

students and faculty after WWII, furthering<br />

the school’s educational reach. Growth in<br />

enrollment and the expansion of academic<br />

undergraduate and graduate degree programs<br />

prompted the institution to change its name<br />

to Sam Houston State College in 1965 and Sam<br />

Houston State University (SHSU) in 1969.<br />

Strong leadership shaped the university’s<br />

progress over the decades changing the campus<br />

landscape through a tremendous building expansion<br />

and technological infrastructure upgrades.<br />

Admission standards increased, the number of<br />

faculty grew, and academic programs were added.<br />

The university achieved prestigious accreditations<br />

and received numerous recognitions including<br />

a Carnegie Doctoral Research Classification,<br />

placing SHSU in the top seven percent of all<br />

colleges and universities in the United States.<br />

Today, the University has six colleges:<br />

Business Administration, Criminal Justice,<br />

Education, Fine Arts & Mass<br />

Communication, Humanities<br />

and Social Sciences, and<br />

Science. SHSU offers an extensive<br />

range of bachelor’s and<br />

master’s degrees as well as five<br />

doctoral programs.<br />

Access to a SHSU education<br />

continues to expand through<br />

online programming and satellite<br />

campuses. The university is<br />

also recognized as a leader in<br />

articulation agreements with<br />

community colleges in Texas.<br />

With modern facilities, an<br />

inspired and capable administration,<br />

and a superior faculty,<br />

the university is embracing the<br />

challenges of a new century.<br />

With its namesake, its ties to<br />

Texas history and a record of<br />

many years of service to the<br />

people of the state, Sam<br />

Houston State University is truly<br />

“a great in Texas education.”<br />

8 4 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


UNIVERSITY<br />

CANCER CENTER<br />

HUNTSVILLE<br />

University Cancer Center Huntsville (UCCH)<br />

combines over twenty years of oncology experience<br />

and has earned an exemplary reputation<br />

for providing quality, state-of-the-art diagnostic,<br />

medical and oncology services for patients.<br />

It was Mark A. D’Andrea M. D., FACRO who,<br />

in 2003 saw the need for an oncology treatment<br />

center in <strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong> that could also benefit<br />

surrounding areas. His goal was to establish<br />

such a center that would be all-inclusive in<br />

detecting and treating patients with various<br />

forms of cancer. Through determination and<br />

hard work, he galvanized the community and<br />

professional leaders to build UCCH. Sister<br />

facilities are located in Brenham, Houston and<br />

Pasadena, Texas.<br />

Using local contractors, a state-of-theart<br />

facility with “Old World” atmosphere<br />

was built that offers comfort and puts patients<br />

at ease. Future expansion will encompass<br />

emerging technology.<br />

Today, UCCH offers<br />

comprehensive, cutting<br />

edge technology for<br />

patients in Huntsville<br />

and outlying areas. This<br />

community-based center<br />

eliminates the need<br />

for patients to travel<br />

long distances for daily<br />

treatments because<br />

everything is under one<br />

roof and close to home.<br />

UCCH’s some fifty<br />

employees work as a<br />

team dedicated to providing<br />

cancer detection<br />

and treatment options.<br />

UCCH utilizes Positron Emission Tomography<br />

(PET) scans. PET is the definitive test for cancer<br />

detection and is also instrumental in the planning<br />

of radiation treatment. In fact, UCCH’s<br />

PET equipment was the first in Huntsville and<br />

<strong>Walker</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Radiation therapy encompasses<br />

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)<br />

and Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) to<br />

maximize treatment accuracy and minimize<br />

radiation exposure to healthy tissue.<br />

The entire professional team reiterates the<br />

organization’s mission statement: “We help our<br />

patients understand their diagnosis, prognosis,<br />

and options for customized treatment. We are<br />

committed to providing compassionate care to<br />

them and their loved ones in a comfortable,<br />

technically sophisticated environment. We take<br />

the time to learn about patients, and explain in<br />

as much detail as possible each step of their<br />

journey. That’s important to them—and, to us.”<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 8 5


HUNTSVILLE<br />

INDEPENDENT<br />

SCHOOL<br />

DISTRICT<br />

❖<br />

Above: Our mascot is the<br />

Huntsville Hornet.<br />

Below: The district’s current motto<br />

and mission is FOCUS which is our<br />

acronym for: For Our Children’s<br />

Unlimited Success!<br />

Huntsville Independent School District is a<br />

public school system that is deeply rooted to a<br />

strong education-minded community with very<br />

solid traditions of spirit and pride as every<br />

student in the district is a Huntsville Hornet.<br />

The district has educated children for more<br />

than 100 years.<br />

Accredited by the Texas Education Agency,<br />

Huntsville ISD offers a comprehensive and<br />

rigorous curriculum from pre-kindergarten<br />

through high school. With enrollment today of<br />

more than 6,000 students, the district offers a<br />

full-day pre-kindergarten center, four elementary<br />

schools for K-4, an intermediate campus<br />

for grades five and six, a middle school for<br />

grades seven and eight, and one high school<br />

for grades nine through twelve. Additionally,<br />

children with specific behavior issues can be<br />

served by the Excel Center for grades K-12.<br />

Students are afforded advanced academic<br />

opportunities with several options for<br />

earning college credit while in high school<br />

via online and dual credit courses. Vast<br />

opportunities are available to broaden the<br />

educational experience including several<br />

licenses and certifications through the<br />

Career & Technology Education Program<br />

such as cosmetology operator, pharmacy<br />

technician and certified<br />

nurse assistant, to name a few.<br />

An excellent Child Nutrition<br />

program and Transportation<br />

Services are also available for<br />

students along with bilingual, ESL, and special<br />

education services for students who qualify.<br />

A highly qualified staff is committed to<br />

providing a safe and caring environment for all<br />

children to learn and grow.<br />

Students have access to a wide variety of<br />

extracurricular activities, as Huntsville ISD is<br />

home to many award winning fine arts and<br />

athletic programs including band, choir,<br />

theatre, dance, art, and team sports, which<br />

allow students valuable experiences outside of<br />

the traditional classroom.<br />

The task of educating a digital generation of<br />

learners poses quite a challenge for today’s educators<br />

since the traditional teaching approach<br />

is not always as stimulating for students as<br />

they often become bored and disinterested.<br />

Huntsville ISD has a new vision joining many<br />

other Texas school districts working towards<br />

an initiative that moves from the “traditional<br />

approach” of teaching students “about the<br />

world” to a “learning based approach” where<br />

students learn through engagement within<br />

the world. Huntsville ISD embraces the use of<br />

technology and allows for the integration of<br />

digital devices into the learning process as<br />

student engagement is the key to learning. The<br />

district is focused on doing whatever it takes for<br />

each student to achieve success today while<br />

preparing them for a successful tomorrow.<br />

“FOCUS: For Our Children’s Unlimited<br />

Success!” Learn what is buzzing in Huntsville ISD<br />

at www.huntsville-isd.org.<br />

8 6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


Stately columns frame the entrance to The<br />

Whistler Bed and Breakfast while towering<br />

oak, pecan, cedar and crape myrtle trees shade<br />

its expansive, green lawn. Rocking chairs and<br />

a swing beckon visitors to “rest a spell” on<br />

the wraparound front porch. Built by her<br />

ancestors in 1859, this beautiful, two story<br />

home has been in owner Mary Thomason<br />

Clegg’s family for five generations. It is she who<br />

has worked tirelessly, preserving the family’s<br />

heritage and the structure’s authenticity saying,<br />

“It is important to keep the historical elements<br />

of the structure intact.”<br />

Guests retreat to spacious bedrooms for the<br />

night and are served a sumptuous breakfast<br />

the next morning in the formal dining room.<br />

“It is a trip back in time,” says Mary, “yet it has<br />

all the amenities of modern day lodging.”<br />

THE WHISTLER<br />

BED AND<br />

BREAKFAST<br />

The house contains original furnishings,<br />

artifacts, and memories of her family’s heritage<br />

including a rosewood dining table. Originally<br />

a piano, it was owned by Mary Clegg’s great<br />

aunt, Mary Scott, a native of Mississippi. At age<br />

six, she pleaded with Union soldiers to spare<br />

her piano during their path of destruction<br />

through the South.<br />

In 1977 the home was recorded in the Texas<br />

Family Land Heritage Register. Originally, it<br />

was part of a larger family estate—one of the<br />

first to qualify for the honor. “It is a distinction<br />

conferred only upon those with continuous<br />

family land ownership for more than 100 years,”<br />

Mary adds. The Whistler Bed and Breakfast<br />

also known as the Eastham-Thomason house<br />

is a recorded Texas <strong>Historic</strong>al Landmark and<br />

is a member of the Texas Bed and Breakfast<br />

Association, an organization of Texas’ finest<br />

inspected and approved bed and breakfasts.<br />

The Whistler celebrated its twenty-fifth<br />

anniversary as a bed and breakfast in 2011.<br />

For additional information, please visit<br />

www.thewhistlerbnb.com.<br />

The Whistler’s polished hardwood floors<br />

and antique furnishings, along with Mary’s<br />

welcoming hospitality, place this home at the<br />

very height of Victorian style and comfort.<br />

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 8 7


For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.hpnbooks.com.<br />

Albemarle & Charlottesville:<br />

An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years<br />

Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas<br />

Care By the Sea: A History of Medicine in Nueces <strong>County</strong><br />

Coastal Visions: Images of Galveston <strong>County</strong><br />

Ector <strong>County</strong>, Texas: 125 Years of History<br />

Garland: A Contemporary History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Abilene: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Alamance <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Albuquerque: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Amarillo: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Anchorage: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Austin: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Baldwin <strong>County</strong>: A Bicentennial History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Beaufort <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Beaumont: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Bexar <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Birmingham: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Bonneville <strong>County</strong>: A Centennial History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Brazoria <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Brownsville: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Charlotte:<br />

An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Chautauqua <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Clayton <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Columbus: A Bicentennial History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Comal <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> DeKalb <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Denton <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Edmond: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> El Paso: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Erie <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Fayette <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Fairbanks: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Gainesville & Hall <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Gregg <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Hampton Roads: Where America Began<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Hancock <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Henry <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Hood <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Houston: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Hunt <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Illinois: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Kennesaw: 1887-2012, Celebrating 125 Years<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Kern <strong>County</strong>:<br />

An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Lafayette:<br />

An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Laredo:<br />

An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Las Cruces: The Story of Las Cruces & The Mesilla Valley<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Lee <strong>County</strong>: The Story of Fort Myers & Lee <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Louisiana: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Mansfield: A Bicentennial History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Midland: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Mobile:<br />

An Illustrated History of the Mobile Bay Region<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Montgomery <strong>County</strong>:<br />

An Illustrated History of Montgomery <strong>County</strong>, Texas<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Oklahoma: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Oklahoma <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Omaha:<br />

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Orange <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Osceola <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Palestine: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Paris and Lamar <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Pasadena: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Passaic <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Pennsylvania An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Philadelphia: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Prescott:<br />

An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai <strong>County</strong><br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Prince George’s <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Richardson: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Rogers <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Santa Barbara: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Scottsdale: A Life from the Land<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Shelby <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Shreveport-Bossier:<br />

An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> South Carolina: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Smith <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Temple: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Texarkana: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Texas: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Victoria: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Tulsa: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Wake <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Warren <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Williamson <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear:<br />

An Illustrated History<br />

<strong>Historic</strong> York <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />

In the Heart of Louisiana: An Illustrated History of Rapides Parish<br />

Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego<br />

Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future<br />

Miami’s <strong>Historic</strong> Neighborhoods: A History of Community<br />

Midland: Window to the West<br />

Montgomery in the 20th Century: Tradition & Change, 1880-2010<br />

The New Frontier:<br />

A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant <strong>County</strong><br />

Old Orange <strong>County</strong> Courthouse: A Centennial History<br />

Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle<br />

Rich With Opportunity:<br />

Images of Beaumont and Jefferson <strong>County</strong><br />

San Antonio, City Exceptional<br />

The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait<br />

Southwest Louisiana: A Treasure Revealed<br />

The Spirit of Collin <strong>County</strong><br />

Valley Places, Valley Faces<br />

Water, Rails & Oil: <strong>Historic</strong> Mid & South Jefferson <strong>County</strong><br />

8 8 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y


$29.95<br />

LEADERSHIP<br />

SPONSOR<br />

Huntsville<br />

Memorial<br />

Hospital<br />

ISBN: 978-1-939300-00-3<br />

XXXXXXXXXXX<br />

<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network

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