Historic Walker County

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❖ Above: New Waverly School, early twentieth century. COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE ARTS COMMISSION. Below: Three Houston children, two veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto, and William Jennings Bryan attended the 1911 unveiling ceremony for the Sam Houston Monument in Oakwood Cemetery. COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON MEMORIAL MUSEUM. Huntsville, the university offered its first baccalaureate degree in 1919 and changed its name to Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1923. The University’s progressive era ended with the Semi-Centennial Celebration which included the dedication of the Sam Houston Woodland Home and the dedication of the new Estill library building on May 3-4, 1929. 65 African American leaders in Walker County pursued new educational opportunities for their children as well. In 1906, Samuel Walker Houston, the son of Joshua Houston, took a teaching job in the small community of Galilee about five miles west of Huntsville. Disgusted with the poor facilities that existed for his students, Houston used part of his own teaching salary to rent the Galilee Methodist Church to use as a schoolhouse. With the help of the local community, he secured the donation of one acre of land from Melinda Williams for the construction of a new school building, which soon became known as the Sam Houston Industrial and Training School. Over time, Houston hired more teachers, including Jack Beauchamp, Paul Chretien, and Hope Harville, his future wife. With these colleagues, Houston emphasized a vocational form of education designed by Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute. At Houston’s school, young women were trained in homemaking, sewing, and cooking, while young men learned carpentry, woodworking, and mathematics. In addition, there were classes in music, educational philosophy, and the humanities as well. Local residents loved the school, and Houston soon provided free education to African American children from all over the county. Within fifteen years of its founding, the school was serving 400 students and was regarded as one of the “best rural black schools in Texas.” In 1930, Huntsville Independent School District incorporated the school into its 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 superintendent of black schools. 66 As local educators strove to improve the opportunities available in Walker County, the area’s business and political leaders worked with the Texas legislature to memorialize the region’s greatest hero, Sam Houston. In 1909, legislators allocated ten thousand dollars to hire Pompeo Coppini to construct a granite statue of Houston to replace the small grave marker that Margaret Houston had erected at the time of her husband’s death. Two years later the monument was complete and a dedication ceremony was held. While there were numerous issues with the sculpture—including the misspelling of the word governor on the back of the statue—the service on April 21, 1911, was a success. William Jennings Bryan, the great Democratic politician and three-time presidential candidate, gave the keynote speech to a crowd of over seven thousand people. Bryan reminded the audience that General Houston was a crucial “part of the nation’s history” and had been one of the “the very foundation stones upon which this great and growing state was built.” 67 T H E G R E A T W A R When the Great War broke out in 1914, Walker County residents had little interest in joining the European conflict. Instead, they were busy supporting a local hero, Tom Ball, as he waged a prohibitionist campaign to win the Democratic nomination for governor. Although Ball had the support of President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, he lost the contest to James “Farmer Jim” Ferguson, who won the governor’s race in November 1914. Following Ball’s defeat, however, a series of events focused local attention on Germany and the threat it posed to American interests. German U-boats were sinking American ships off the European coast, and the German government had encouraged Mexico to declare war on the United States in the infamous Zimmerman Telegram. Taken together, these threats led the U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917, and Walker County residents quickly got behind the war effort. By June, the Dallas Morning News reported that Huntsville banks had subscribed to “more than double the amount [of war bonds] allotted” to the area, and men were joining the military ranks by the hundreds. 68 Young soldiers from many of the surrounding communities gave their lives in the “war to make the world safe for democracy.” Huntsville residents William F. Benge, Benjamin E. High, George Gillaspie, and Charley V. Thompson were among the local men killed in action, as were Samuel I. Crawford, Jennings B. Crow, and Clarence L. Perry of New Waverly, Douglas H. Cansler of Pine Prairie, and James S. Patterson of Jordyville. ❖ Above: World War I soldiers on the steps of Old Main, c. 1917. COURTESY OF THE WALKER COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION. Below: John W. Thomason, Jr. (1893-1944). COURTESY OF THE SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES. C h a p t e r V ✦ 3 1
Page 2 and 3: Thank you for your interest in this
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTS 3 CHAPTER I Native America
Page 6 and 7: ❖ Above: William E. Moore found t
Page 8 and 9: Eight decades later, following a di
Page 10 and 11: ❖ Cincinnati town survey. COURTES
Page 12 and 13: ❖ Advertisements from The Huntsvi
Page 14 and 15: ❖ Above: Sam Houston (1793-1863).
Page 16 and 17: ❖ Above: “A typical Texas cotto
Page 18 and 19: I need not assure you that whenever
Page 20 and 21: ❖ Above: Thomas Jewett Goree (183
Page 22 and 23: ❖ Right: Memphis Allen sat on the
Page 24 and 25: Five miles further north and east,
Page 26 and 27: ❖ Top: The Austin College Buildin
Page 28 and 29: ❖ Above: The Henry Opera House (l
Page 30 and 31: ❖ Top, left: Marcellus E. Foster
Page 34 and 35: ❖ Operators at the switchboard, H
Page 36 and 37: ❖ Above: Andrew Smither, Lee Cart
Page 38 and 39: ❖ Above: Men with the Civilian Co
Page 40 and 41: ❖ Above: The Sam Houston Memorial
Page 42 and 43: imprisoned at the University of San
Page 44 and 45: ❖ Top: Huntsville City Council wi
Page 46 and 47: ❖ Wendell Baker with his wife, Au
Page 48 and 49: ❖ Above: An aerial view of Sam Ho
Page 50 and 51: ❖ Above: A map of Walker County T
Page 52 and 53: ❖ Above: An inmate is pulled by a
Page 54 and 55: ❖ The Texas Prison Museum proudly
Page 56 and 57: ❖ Above: The Storybook House (for
Page 58 and 59: 27 Patricia Smith Prather and Jane
Page 60 and 61: 95 Bernadette Pruitt, Wendell Baker
Page 62 and 63: HUNTSVILLE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Like s
Page 64 and 65: to-date with industry trends, equip
Page 66 and 67: ELKINS LAKE RECREATION CORPORATION
Page 68 and 69: COMMUNITY SERVICE CREDIT UNION ❖
Page 70 and 71: ❖ MCCAFFETY ELECTRIC CO., INC. Ab
Page 72 and 73: FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF HUNTSVILLE O
Page 74 and 75: COMFORT SUITES- HUNTSVILLE Local re
Page 76 and 77: BETHY CREEK RESORTS For families wh
Page 78 and 79: CANDYCE FARRIS DIXON, CPA ❖ Candy
Page 80 and 81: ❖ CHARLES W. MONDAY, JR., M.D., P
Page 82 and 83:
SMITHER, MARTIN, HENDERSON & BLAZEK
Page 84 and 85:
SAM HOUSTON CANCER CENTER In just a
Page 86 and 87:
SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY In res
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HUNTSVILLE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTR
Page 90 and 91:
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Historic Walker County

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