History
Selden
This community was originally named Garrett Springs for early settler J. B. Garrett who owned land along Sims Creek. It became known as Selden after the mid 1850s, when John Selden moved to the area. The settlement developed as an important early commercial center for nearby farms. It was the site of a grist mill and cotton gin, as well as a school, post office, lodge hall, and stores.
History
Site of Hotel Knox and Thurber Mining Office
The Texas and Pacific Coal Company built the first-class Hotel Knox about 1895. In addition to serving out-of-town guests, it was a social center in Thurber and home to many of the town's white collar workers, including store clerks and staff of the adjacent mining office where general manager William Knox Gordon maintained his headquarters.
History
Site of Thurber Big Lake and Dairy
In 1891, a 20-acre "Little Lake" was built south of the Thurber townsite to supply water to the community. It soon proved inadequate, however, and five years later a 150-acre "Big Lake" was constructed here about a mile southeast of town. Texas and Pacific Coal Company president R. D. Hunter organized a hunting and fishing club at the Big Lake for company executives and staff.
History
Site of Thurber Brick Plant
Texas and Pacific Coal Company general manager W. K. Gordon, seeing potential in the shale mud found in Thurber, persuaded company president R. D. Hunter to build a brick plant here in 1897. Original machinery included three Ross-Keller brick presses powered by a Corliss steam engine nicknamed "Old Hunter." The operation covered five acres and employed 800 men.
History
Site of Thurber's First Coal Mine
Two hundred yards southeast of this site, at the base of the hill and at a depth of 65 feet, the first coal mine in this area was placed in operation by brothers William W. and Harvey E. Johnson. After Harvey's death in 1888, and because of labor and financial difficulties, William Johnson sold his mining interest to R. D. Hunter's Texas and Pacific Coal Company.
History
Smith Springs Cemetery
This burial ground, established by 1907, served the rural Smith Springs Community. Most of the interred were related to Swiss-born Frederick Hook (d. 1920), a stonemason who helped build the Erath County Courthouse, and his wife, Emily (d. 1922). Milton Brown (d.
History
St. Barbara's Catholic Church
Most of Thurber's immigrant population, representing eighteen nationalities, were Catholic. Missionary priests ministered to the town until 1892, when the coal company erected a Catholic church at the bottom of graveyard hill. Originally named St. Thuribus, it was renamed St. Barbara's to honor the patroness saint of miners. A church school, Hunter Academy, operated from 1894 to 1923.
History
Stephenville Drug Stores
Local drug stores were an important and essential part of the economy and well-being of early Texas towns. This site at the corner of Washington and Belknap streets served as the location of a series of Stephenville drug stores from 1899 until 1994. The original proprietor was F. A.
History
The Community of Huckabay
In 1875 a small group of pioneers from Arkansas and Tennessee acquired land here on the headwaters of the Bosque, starting the "Flat Woods" settlement. Confederate veteran John Copeland (1841-86) taught the first local school sessions (1876,1877) in his home, and gave land (1879) for a cemetery and (1883) for school. A Church of Christ congregation was formed in 1876. G. W.
History
The Denny Cemetery
(1 mile north) Alfred W. Denny (d. 1877) came to Texas in 1853, settling first in Clarksville, and then moving to Weatherford in 1860. During the Civil War (1861-65) Denny served in a Ranger unit stationed at Stephenville that guarded Texas' western frontier. In 1867 he bought 320 acres, which included the site where he was later interred.
History
The Rev. Henry Hurley
(Dec. 24, 1796 - Sept. 14, 1869) A minister in the Primitive Baptist Church, the Rev. Henry Hurley came to Texas in 1844. His years in the state were spent organizing frontier churches and helping pioneers settle in new communities. He established churches in Hunt, Fannin, and Collin counties before moving to Erath County about 1859.
History
Thurber
Most important mine site in Texas for 30 years. Coal here, probably known to Indians, was "discovered" in 1886 by W. W. Johnson, who with his brother Harvey sold out to Texas and Pacific Coal Company in 1888. (T. and P. Coal Company provided fuel for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, but was independently owned.) Town was named for H. K. Thurber, friend of T. and P. Coal Company founders.
History
Thurber Cemetery
Encompassing slightly more than nine acres, the Thurber Cemetery documents the multi-ethnic Thurber community. The graveyard was divided into three sections with separate entrances: Catholic, Protestant, and African American. There are more than 1,000 graves here, including almost 700 unmarked burials. The oldest tombstone is that of Eva Chapman, an infant who died in 1890.
Architecture
Trinity Episcopal Church
Bishop A. C. Garrett preached in Dublin 1881; in 1884 organized Trinity when he found an Episcopalian, Mrs. John Harris, living here. Church building started in 1889 was first used for services by the Rev. W. W. Patrick in 1890, consecrated in 1897. Frame building had stone veneer added in 1947. (1972)
History
Turnbow Cemetery
Kentucky native Chesley Turnbow wed Sabra Rose of Tennessee in 1827. They lived in Tennessee and later in Arkansas before moving to Texas in the 1850s. By the 1870s they had settled on land at this site. The cemetery began as a family burial ground in 1879 with the interment of their grandchild, Henry Lee Rose, the infant son of Granville and Mary (Turnbow) Rose.
History
Upper Greens Creek Cemetery
Early settlers to the Greens Creek area arrived from Georgia and Alabama in 1873. They bought farms, cleared the land, built homes, established a school, and organized two churches. Religious services for the Baptists and Methodists were held separately in members' homes until 1877, and later were held in a log schoolhouse. John W. Moore deeded two acres of land to the Baptist church in July 1880.
Industry & Science
William T. Miller Grist Mill
Stonemasons Joe E. Bishop, "Rocky" Davis, and "Old Frank" Hamilton built this 2-story native stone mill for William T. Miller (1846-1936) in 1882. Steam power was used to grind grain here until a crude oil engine was installed (1918). The grist mill was converted to feed production after W. M. Wright and his son-in-law, Ted C. Robbins, purchased it in 1926.
History
Wyatt-Boyd Ranch Complex
This is a rare example of a virtually complete 19th-century Cross Timbers farmstead. Thought to have been built in the early 1870s by James J. Wyatt, the Cumberland plan one-story rough limestone two room ranch house was altered in the 1890s by J. H. Boyd and modified in the 1930s and 1940s.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
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