History
Chillicothe First Methodist Church
Originally organized in 1886 in the Jackson Springs community, this church was first served by circuit riders C. T. Neese and J. T. Hosmer. Shortly after the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway came through Chillicothe in 1887, the Jackson Springs Church moved into town. This edifice was erected at the church's second Chillicothe location.
History
Hardeman County
Created February 1, 1858 Recreated August 21, 1876 Organized December 30, 1884 Named in honor of Bailey Hardeman, 1785-1836, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jones Hardeman, 1788-1854 member of the Texas Congress and Legislature. County seat, Margarette, 1884-1890 Quanah, since, in honor of Quanah Parker, a Comanche chief
History
Hardeman County Courthouse
Hardeman County Courthouse Hardeman County was created in 1858 and named for early Texas legislators Bailey and Thomas Jones Hardeman. It was not organized, however, until 1884 when the population had increased enough to have a formal county government.
History
Hardeman County Jail
This native stone jail building was begun in 1890, when Quanah become Hardeman County Seat, and competed in March 1891. The lower floor housed the sheriff's office and living quarters, while the second floor held prisoner's cells. Malon C. Owens served the longest term as county sheriff in this building, from 1936 to 1964. Jail facilities were relocated in 1973.
History
Hicks & Cobb General Merchandise Store
The townsite of Medicine Mound had long been a thriving village when brothers-in-law Lon L. Cobb and Ira Lee Hicks arrived in the area with their families in 1927 and opened a general merchandise store. The store sold such items as work clothes and clothing material, shoes, cotton sacks, groceries and horse feed.
History
Medicine Mound Community
Early inhabitants of this area were Comanche and Kiowa Indians whose campsites were situated around four dolomite hills called Medicine Mounds and known for their healing properties. In 1854, area land was deeded to a railway company. Anglo settlers began to arrive in the 1870s. A small village developed but was moved 2.
Transport
Medicine Mound Depot, 1910
Built by Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway as passenger and freight station, in area where Chief Quanah Parker's Comanches prayed and rolled in gypsum, believing it was healing dust. Later Santa Fe Station. Site of holdups and shootings. Has bullet holes, but escaped a 1935 fire that burned entire town. Retired from use, 1959; was moved via Highway 287 to its present site.
History
Old Mounds Cemetery
This cemetery served residents of the original site of the community of Medicine Mound in southeast Hardeman County. The settlement took its name from mounds that rise abruptly from the otherwise flat topography of the county; one mound contained springs, herbs and gypsum believed to have medicinal properties.
Architecture
Simpson Building
After serving as manager of the Cameron lumberyard in Quanah and then as a general manager in Waco, L. Simpson began his own lumber company and returned to Quanah in 1906. In 1910, Simpson had this three-story commercial building constructed to house his offices; other local businesses, including the corner drug store from 1920 until 1998; and the elks lodge, which occupied the top floor.
Industry & Science
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Substation No. 12, Home of Hybrid Sorghums
Forage crop field station at which in 1909 (when situated 6 miles NE) was planted the United States' first sudan grass, a sorghum especially adaptable to semiarid regions. The United States Department of Agriculture had brought the seed from Khartum, Africa. Here ensued more than a half-century of sorghum breeding under supervision of A. B. Conner, J. R. Quinby, J. C.
Architecture
Trinity Church of Quanah
The Rt. Rev. Alexander C. Garrett (1832-1924), first missionary bishop of northern Texas, preached to local Episcopalians in a schoolroom when he first visited Quanah in 1887. The property for this church building was donated in 1890 by G. M. Dodge, developer of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad.
History
W. P. A. Sanitation Project
In 1937 the State of Texas and Hardeman County worked with President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration in an attempt to provide much-needed employment to indigent citizens and replace unsanitary privies with improved facilities. The advantages of these structures included a decrease in such diseases as typhoid fever, hookworm and dysyntery.
History
William Jesse McDonald
(1852-1918) Fearless frontier law officer. Known for crack marksmanship and lightning-fast disarming of foes. His long-time friend Governor James Hogg made him captain of Co. B, Frontier Battalion, in 1891. There he handled the "Murder Society of San Saba" and Wichita bank robbery. Conducted President Theodore Roosevelt on a wolf hunt in 1904. Was a U.S. marshal under President Woodrow Wilson.
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.
