Document text
_Lat. vionlora
niss Jffite a.it=sr, e.
BeLonnan Gounty,
District ;;o. 3.
taijaseav
Intlrtsi 'r. Ltie. Jones, kettem;, itacan.
i4o a wo‘‘in ;4;,450
Pile o. 040
kAge L -o. 1
A1A,Y Parente r/.re Richard and Sarah Jones, and born it,
Carolina County, Virginia, in 1852. I Cane with my prat 8 to Texcc in
the vilAr 1340. 'A; came by boat down the Risciacippi river, them through
the Oulf ef Nexieo and larded at Galvoeton, Texan, and came from there
up the Bayou to Roueton And from fountor t*e eame overland in ox—Pcgone
to our Tirol: home, which roe et kavanota, TOMO. ay father bought lent
from none sgratterr and in time, the rightIta heirs eame and eleimed it,
t we loA the land.
Ter° living It tavae9teo the Olvil r -0.v- de 1 'Ala end
four A' mr TsrotherE2 erVed under the flag of the Confeclerney. lter
was lu Uriaade and wee, killoC in action; anothr, iiapoleur,6
tNo IirlEade but he lived to return home. :7:tonfield fought ir
,reick-at Brip:ade and'heo ti -)o returned home After the uar. tie fauttet
in Loulliana. Aohard l'A„empton vas tn Creer'm Brigade aniteL too,
came back. ne also ir nome of the battlen.
'4Ats the elope of the wsr, the yellou fever broke out In_Texare and
was clotting elooe to where re lived near Ngvaeota, no, when the t!ouston
ord TeLx Central Railroad reached nrynn, re moved to malls Contr.
rode the:: firrt englre inte Dr7ar, Terry,. co settled on of,.3 ellard, a
little r,Atlnmort a fey milec pbovo the prenert tour of fiengan, rine
rilen mmth ef Aerlir„ Texas. At this tire the torn of Reavor tad not
beer 'pie off, brt t"ber the railrend eerie, Bill Reagan, brother of the
late Jude %-ion H. Reagan, owned a lot of land near by and he donated
YOLZIOJKS 'Alto Pioneers File No. 216,L,
Pace hp. 0
Miss Rffie Cnorm,
McLennan County, Tome
District No. 8.
the town site, hence the name of Reagan, in honor of the man who gave
the lend for the town -site.
*when father became settled at Hog Island he organised a Baptist
Sunday School. however other denominations worshipped with us until
their church was built. Until we built a church, we held servioes in
our hems. Two of our first ministers were Rev. harper and Tubb. Rev.
Harper was the first postmaster and brother Tubb had a store and later
the post office was located in his store. The present postmaster,
Pr. Niggle, has served as postmaster at Reagan for fifty-two yours.
*Ar the railroad was being built through the community, I spent
my time playing around and watohing the men at work, and during their
lunch hour I remember how the men had their fun with me. After the
railroad We built on to Perlin and '..aco, we moved to Reagan and lived
there while I ries a boy in school. The first stores at this time were
owned by Sam and Andrew Peyton, Captain Johnson and Dr. AeDowell had a
drug store. Other families were those of harper, Robbins, Fountain,
Boyles, McCoy, Cotton, Rankin, hayes, Hagen, *gars, Gully, Davidson,
and J. L. Davis. At the foot of Blue Ridge were the families of Dick
Deal, Owen, bunnicutt, Uarlar, Johnson and Adams. This was only About
sin or eight miles from Reagan and they came to attend (Aura% after the
Reagan churches mere built.
*At the close of the war there u,,as constant fear of the negroes
*rising up* against the whites, but in our community they settled omoe-
fully to work, most of them stayed on with their former masters. A'tey
worked the lid on the shares" (part of the crop). Lrtil the railroad
eegt
Aomeern
Bffie Jveae,
leoleennme lertety. To
Jintrie •Io.
ew
rile ill. 240
lees e-4. 2
*awe thre'eeh, 7e trevelled by ntsee (vole. There is en eld Rutted
le the Konee—P.earm reel, it 'floe frem Reagan, and it etmnde tedey
.Jurt me in tbe &eye when the stape travel ree at it best, ant tt tc
noe; weed Per a bmrn f*r stock, in a oeetnre. AS one loake beck n 7ielon
of the hlerry of the etege on Its Time ms the horror daeh madly lep. te the
stand and the it ie only long enouph for the horeee to bp ehaneeele
Inetead of changing or for dell points north wet south, to Roneten or
too, fort emth and Dallan‘ the driver ehoutm as the ringinp2 of the bells
on the bridles of the horses, Ye/in the reeennrore they Are reartr e
mtop, oChenge Item, Cemeher0. teld the easeengere crerl nrt of the
old cOaeh And feel to mee if their hatm or re are their k,onde mIsc ettll
er. For ror or thmt the ecnches did rot ever here er npr rel
me,ke rtdelrg ener, but rere held br huge leetieer etreps treteed of the
later —day sprirge.
vTur frelpht rem brought by Ymgor train from Kouetor &rd. Pillihen,
the tereirel of the Moueton and Taxer Central rellroed when re moved to
!Palle Cour Gil i,t'erd rpr c freight line and x. ance Cnbireen Nerdled
reoe horege god eold not only (settle but fire horses to mar rho follored
the rece track. A thousand dollars elm not uncommoe for a fire race
horee to brine, vhen it Yee sold.
eept mber 1677, i married -.Ils illie PAley, ughter of
Otptain Aley 4f Alabama. To us were born thirteen children. All lived
to be gro77r. There are to boys: howard and Auntie, !eho live in LeeLeen;
another, ;lter Lee, liver in Beaumont; tillsrd lives in Goose Creek;
Clyde, 4tie Ciueeter, Earle and Byrd live in kort erthur. Two daughters
alas art* Gowan, r. N.
flex0uanty, limas
District Au. 8
File No. 260
rage IN;J. 4
live in Dallas. '41oville Groner, liven in Dallas and le finane.al secre-
tary of the !artist Convention. Mre. Maud Dilworth lives Ian tongvier,
and Dikter in 'taco', Tom, deeeased.
-fter t reache merhDod I liVed for few years in 4arlir and did
eontrsctinr work. I belned to build POMe of the first business bangles
and hotels tn Vnilin. The wrecking of the Arlington Hotel recently,
hrirgr blmk to memory the days when the first hotel was called a taverr.
This was dirirq the days of the stage coach and the '"tavern" wan owted
and opernted by i. 8. Coleman, who wan knom to all who frequented the
place as qWele Uenry4. T. J. Read bought it from hr. Oolemen •and owned
the lot shieh was bought by the garlin Vatatorium Company In 1895.
Irhe tavern was the center of social life in Aarlin and the beiter
class of visitors, travelling men and politicians stopped here. It be-
came the favorite gathering place, especially of the politicians. Here
they gather e0 to Pelect their candidates and to hold their party meetings.
But it was not antil laA that the first indioatior of the curative power
of the Jarlin ot Leila beeame a thing to consider, r4).en a visitor was
curer i of a blood tmfectioe after bethin in the hot water.
"In the s::ring of 189!;, the first effort was made to compercialirs
the hot wells and the Marlir Nntatorium Company was formed of local resi-
dents and bought the lot where the old lead tavern stood from Jr. Folder.
The tavern wee torn down and the company greeted a hotel and bath house.
The name of the firm wae changed to the Darlin Sanitarium Company.
swimming pool was first built, but later the bath tubs were installed.
In January 1899, fire destroyed the bath house and hotel. After this
koi...wmumb tAtite kAoneers File O. 240
Page t4o. 5
Aloe Stile Cowan, k.
kicLannan County, TeXaa
Distriet to. 8
happened, tho company sold the property to Aarx Levy, who immediately
began the building of the New Arlington aotel, which ras to servo the
torn for many years. The cost of the hotel and furnishinge were in ex
mess of .200,0C,O. An artist was seoured at an expense of several thou-
sand dollars to decorate the interior of the building and these decorat-
ions sere recovi ed as some of the M014 beautiful in the southwest for
Intolf yerrr.
"The hotel when first erected contained /to osn heatin& ryetem,
laurdr7, poTer plant, barber sho4 bar, and all convenieueer of a redern
ind up-to-date hotel of this period. L. z. Earrison, a sor-in-ler of
IV. Levy, uns mtde menager of the her irslingtor, and c. C. 'JhrAben wns
the mana6er uf the old hote4,. ix the old heed tavern Iv dor gore by was
the carter f the t7ociA. ;.1rd po iticel life, so the Vew :xlington became
the °enter of this same life again.
t ta about thl:, time that the or letkeue baseball tfams begar
to send their oams to arlin for their trsirin6. The :flite Sox firrt
oane in 1A. Then the ittiludelphia ehillies, Oincinnatti Rids, St. Louis
rowns tol a nuAber of other leagues trained here for a mmber of yearn.
All of these teams made the Lew Arlington their headquarters, add Ii
many illustrious /Innate of the baseball world to the hotel register.
"But it 40,P for the New York Gisnts to bring fame to Merlin an the
training site for baseball teams. They prepared their own training field
that was known as *Giant's Park°, and is rememberoi by )14 baseball fans.
They too, made their headquarters at the old Arlinzton and it was there
that 3ob Ripley, creator of the ',Believe It Or Not" cartoon spent a tins
FoLKLU a AlAte Pioneers
Mies rffie °warp p.
ci•07..enele.• eTreity, Texec
Notrlet !!o.
File No. 260
ki4e L. C
rith the t!7. He suntainee lit-otion arm while working with the hiants
nra uti; beebtll 7irter this. Oevotine hie time to his present work of
oertlowAnp. ihile the mejor teams tAltNi training here, famous eport writers
haoluding !IV1 Grno, 2osemon olgor, Danes kunyan and iirantIand *Ulm
accompanied the teems Carlin.
4Famous politician,. stetesmen, governors and others who visited in
karlin otop:Jed at the 4rlington. Ute of then was £4., butler who rose
from n blockseith to 31110 of the most tanous vortre bosses of St. Louis.
meng the femur lecturers who ottopii.ed at the Arlington were henry
'atterrml and ex-Oovernor Jab '''aylein A' Tennessee who vire to Berlin as.
1?ot-Irsrz $1 e4arrte.
*Jmnt no the old t47orn served its time, no the uld and i-cievf
Nrlington 4atels lerved theire. After retirement af Mr. Levy, the hotel
chan7e4 handn seeerIA times lnd in 1936, it ceased to operate as a hotel
and 1,,aP terwli inta an ai)artqaot Nouno. number oT mere iiioderm hot&
1714 been bmilt in thn 7oevr. in i3J, the property was sold
to the Fails Aotel Compar:, At o loyj price, and a for mentht; later the
beildinE tlan deeded to the i4arlin independent .5ohool iJistriot, with the
anderptanding thet the ricronl mad nee thc material ealvaged iron the
huge strocturee for the purpose of erecting an auditorium -gymnasium tor
the school. The pele conrideretIon rier thtt thu whop' district was to
secure ,r.j. project for wrecking the euilding and erecting the
auditorium-gyrnaelum and fill the beeement of the hotel site and cover
the entire site of the building with eighteen inehscrof Boil. This con-
piderptior hes beer cerried Put ard the lot fp repdy orce more for another
FuLKLUME whiAp ?frappe's File No. 810
Pagm ro. 7
Miss NM* Cowan, p. w.
teLennan County, Texas
District 11J. 8
building.
*%nother interesting teeident worthy of note is the wrecking of the
Falls county Court House, preparatory to building a new 121.8•01.A) County
Court Rouse. or especial interest to as is the removing of the old Falls
County cloak, which hung in the cupola of the building, It leas silenced
otter fiftr-ore yeare of service. It had gone thro all kinds of !leather,
but had elwa7p tolled the dinner and quitting hour for the employees of
the eourt house end town.
"Neither the hest of summer or the cold of winter wa% ever able to
completely cor9rer the old time piece and it has been in constant use
sty, for short periods when minor accidents unused it to cease its con-
ctart tioklrg. The big hail of 1913, which shattered 144 Andows in Lh.
court house, including those about the clack tower, failed to halt its
ticks. Thick blankets of snow or heavy costing of toe did not halt its
faithful striking of the hour. In times of storm or eels', always the
hour would be struck, though sometimes muffled by the blowing of the wind
or heightened by the stillness of the night.
"Tweereing as it did above the country -side, the clock tower wee
reed as s lookout in times of flood, to observe the progress of the ris-
ing rater from the near -by Brazos river, and many a warning was given to
tire to rescue inhebitents of the lowlands by the use of the tower. It
is poseihle to view the whole country on a clear day or night. The
liebts of moo RP miles away, may be clearly seen. Mary btrdis eye views
of Marlin and Reagan, Oust 11 miles away) have been viewed from the
tower it has been in other nearby communities. /any ao old pioneer
71ies erne ga7ean, p.
PeLenren County, Tomer
Aistriet Ab. C
FOL.-46,41B iqopeerl Vile Lc),
PriTe C
ean remember in his early days the lookout ti the Conrthonee mar ?trod
built, and how it vas often used by visitere for e vies of the eorntr7.
The etory of the ?elle County Ceurthoufve ere of equel inteneet to
the people aver the whole county. The old time court dnye ere 'till
held, and at this time the vhole 'county is usualle renreeentod. 7ev 'Ay
nee the *rend, a typical one, from the 3reson bottom reern taient to the
veelthy Bremoe bottom planter rlhe takce this day to 01TO end vielt 71th
hie friends or to lieten to tho lateet enee being trie4 in the Oeurthouse.
*I remember the City Rail at be the oldeet bwildinc to MArlin.
It lent, erected befere the Civil er and vas *coupled in ente-bellum der.
as a mereartIle eetabliehment by lertlett are Borges And then by Grose
and Rart/ett. It served an a seheel building for A time end '19e fins/ly
bought by the city and eonverted into the Cite Pell, houltn ell of the
city officarq.
n a certein occasion during the reconstruction Olre, ite roof rip
ported a oitinente mimed of vigilante, armed with lonp rifle e and shot-
guns, with (*yea riveted on the eourthonne, vetehing every oreo ,2!nd torn
ae the white voters marched betreen linen of beeonete in thc herds of
'freedmen eeldiere* to everciee their right of the polls. The oaranct
nen of this buildirg fforded a good El= rest for the vigilarteo durg
the :lietcb.
or four dew, thie mane rieo reiiested, it taking this, long for the
voters to relsiffter, the county only entwine one voting 7)lece e
neerpet-bee° government then in poc/er. But an It so nappened t/e negro
erreedmee c7oldierer maner,ed to help keep the pee and the voting ;Tent off
iit4taii.4fra; vibilk,104,Ar0
Mieo 3rfie Golvan, V. k).
McLennan County, Texas
District
File No. SfiC
he AO. 9
With no trouble, altbo'. it yes said that out at a spirit of mitchief,a
reckless white men began shooting on the lart day and this eauced a
hurried departure to the Brazos bottom of the negro voters who h&d been
to r later.
"fq the southeast corner of the building there rar crleted in 1872
a meat flagpole, 10C, feet high, trap the top of which eurperded an 1*)
mare, flap by the supporters of horse, freely when one branch of the
Patioral Democratic, party aceepted hi, a Liberal Republican, an a eom-
PrOO1ne oandidete for the preeidency. The pole 'Mood there for many
reara after the heat of the campaign had died down and the fiery -ripped
and torn by the qind, as finally lowered. or Imlay years afterard
cuntil• it finally sucoumbed to the elements of nature) the flvg pole n s
knows to the 4irreely
cAlen the city of Marlin bought the building ami converte0 it trio a
City 4ell, it was worked over, inside pnd out, ard wing T;,,retl fadae.
Totiay all the officers of tne city ere housed there, durigg the building
of the nec vourtnonse, while the Americnn Legion meet'- rr,stairs -hare the
City Library la also housed. The Anxiliari meets doctet-ir
'The seeond floor of this old building ''7ao uoed for mary yeare rB
l•w efficee by some of the Marlin attorneys. Among them as the firm of
Goodrich end Clarkoon, attorneye in the famous suit of PilIncock ve k4Ineock,
involving the title to a large tract of Valls County land and which wont
up and dorm through the courts of Texas for thirty veers.
kThe eepineering workmen of Levi Goodrich, city engineer ocounie the
name zyrfica filers hiefather'o law office was during the years he was a
itt ,qaneite
Micm ;rfie Jomnn
acLarnan riounty,
District 8
G
TOXaS
Pile I. 240
Page t.,. 13
Preitieinc nttorvey iv the early &lye. This building s aleo ueed xar
n high school buildim following the burring of the high school buil4Ing
tr "sytanber of 19C( that stood in the lot where the ilarlin Compress
Company soy stands.
'The trildivg of the new Folic County Courthouce is another link
of the pre-ent 771th the pet, the story of the lifferent Failc County
Clurth,w-er tr ttnelf is another story."