Transport
Ranger Municipal Airport
The Texas Department of Transportation's Aviation Division lists this field as the third oldest operating in the state. The earlies documentation for an airplane landing in Ranger was on November 24, 1911, when Robert G. Fowler landed his Wright biplane on the V.V. Cooper, Sr. field just west of the present airport building, on the eastern edge of Ranger College.
History
Rising Star
First settlers--families of Andrew Agnew, Isaac Agnew, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith and W. W. Smith--arrived in a wagon train from Gregg County, Jan. 6, 1876. Area was known for hardships: Indian raids, vigilante activities, gunfights. But a stable community developed around log school-church building erected in 1876. First store was founded about 1879 by Thomas W.
History
Roaring Ranger
Boom of high excitement and strategic importance. When oil demand was high during World War I, Texas Pacific Coal Company general manager W.K. Gordon, a believer in deep drilling, persuaded his company to make the venture that started Ranger's oil boom at McClesky No. 1 (1 mi. S). This blew in, October 1917, as a 1700-barrels-a-day gusher.
History
Site of Blackwell Hospital
Much of Eastland County's medical history can be traced to the work of two brothers, George and Edward Blackwell. George (1882-1955) attended Baylor Medical College and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where Edward (1890-1956) also attended. Both men returned to Eastland County after receiving their degrees.
History
Site of J.H. McCleskey No. 1, Discovery Well of the Ranger Oil Boom
The Texas and Pacific Coal Company struck oil at 1,000 feet about 10 miles east of Ranger in 1915. This event raised the hopes of area ranchers, farmers, and businessmen struggling to survive an economic slump brought on by severe drought and boll weevil-ravaged cotton fields. Oil expectations mounted then subsided when subsequent test-drillings turned up dry holes.
History
Site of Scranton Academy
A private, coeducational school organized in 1903 to augment Scranton Public School (opened 1887). Scranton, a small farming-ranching community, was only 13 years old when citizens founded the academy, by public subscription. The school expanded rapidly, reaching an enrollment of 325 by 1910. At its peak all grade levels (then numbering 11) were taught. First president, O.C.
History
The Connellee House
Home of Charles U. Connellee (1851-1930), who opened much of West Texas to settlement. Coming as a surveyor from Kentucky in 1874, he platted town of Eastland and promoted it as a county seat. He built lower story of his home in 1876, of lumber hauled from Dallas by oxwagon, and kept open house for all of West Texas. Second story was added in 1924.
Architecture
The Kean Home
Construction on this home began soon after the destructive Cisco tornado of 1893. Originally built for George and Carrie Langston, it was purchased in 1899 by Edward Everett Kean (1857-1942). A dry goods merchant, Kean had come to Cisco in 1889 and was active in community affairs.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
