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Dulaney, Ethel C., 'ill& 1. Falls, Texas
8/19/138
nuila s aNcEs OF MRS. T. H. DOING
Mrs. Downing is one of Wichita Falls' lovable
-pioneer citizens. She -has spent practically
her entire life here; and is one of the oldest
members in point of service in the First
Methodist C/urch. Her "Reminiscences" are on
file at Kemp Public Library.
;e-ts„t
"I cane here in 1884 starting from Fat Sill, where I had been for
three or four years. My father worked for the government saddle and. harness
shop there. We started in/ government Red Cross wagon. We were with a crowd
of people coming this way. We could not get across,the ferry so we stayed
all night at Grogan's. They took us on to Henrietta the next day, and. we
came on the train to ichita §alls. My father worked. in the harness shop of
u
John and Henry Stockett on Ohio Avenue. The first man I spoke to was Ike
Marcus.- •Mr. J.A.1Cemo had a little general merchandise store in a red
brick building on/Ohio Avenue. We lived, in a little log house on Ohio
.several blocks south of the stores.
"I used to see the cowboys ride throu,gh. and shoot up the town, but they
didn't mean any ham; they were just having a good time.
"At that time there was just one Sunday school, and it was a Union
school. Judge Baxwise was superintendant. Miss Lula Barwise played the
organ._ _ _
"When school. started in September. iTc'met in the little building
that stood where the Masonic Temple now stands. •As the school grew,.
the authorities put up another., until there were several little separate rooms
,on the• lot.
"In September they had the first annual -Picnic. Barbecued beef,
43icicles, and. light bread were sei-ved to allvho came. The picnic was. held
on the old 1Y.illiams place out on Holiday Creek. Lots of people came from
nearby towns. Many of them did not come prepared to pay hack fare from
Dulaney, Ethel C., Wich" Rails, Texas Page 2
RE IINI SCETCES OP S. W. H. DOWNING
the depot to the picniC grounds, and they had to walk out throught the deep
sand. There were no side walks anywhere and the sand was severa4 inches de
in the roads in some places. Hundreds of Indians came and that night they
got together out at the Knott Barn on the hill and had a War Dance.
"Old man Gilbert from Gilbelri Creek neighborhood used to bring milk
and deliver to every one who wanted it. He had chain harness instead of
leather on his old horse, and could alwayi hear him coming. We just
hung, our bucket on the fence and when he came along be just measured a .quart
of milk and poured into it. He was a very kind hearted old man: One time
a,widow woman was about to stop taking milk because could not pay for it;
he found it out and brought the milk without pay.
flmy husband, Mr. W.H.Downing, came here in 1835, and he and his
brother and a man maned Dud Hart started the firstlaursery in thie part of
the country. They bought a piece of landjust north of the river where they
grew their nursery stock. The drought came in 1886, and they did not, make
anZ2thing. Their former employer at Terrell, Texas, offered them jobs if
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they would come back, but therefused. During that year carloads of flour we
sent in to the drouth suffers, but they did not accept any help.
"In 1889 Mr. Dawning and I were married.
"The rains came and times got better, and the Downing Brothers'
ursery began to be a going concern. They bought more land south of town
known as the Keen Place, where the Cedar Park Pool now is located. Mt.
Downing had the first green house in Wichita Nails on our little home place
north of the river, and people drove out from town in their buggies after
flowers.
Ethel C.,Dalaney, Page 3
'Achita '°a..11s, Texas
REMINISCEITCES OF 1411.1. W.H-DOJITING
q.21 1904 we had a terrib4)sand storm. Mr owning was plowing in the
field, and the wind became so strong that it blew him out of the row, so
he quit and came in. 'here were other bad sand storms in those early days;
sometimes we could not see the building across the street. One storm lasted
for three days and night's.
"Yr. Dawning and his brother had a wind mill on their farm south of
town, and did some irrigating on a small scale, and raised all s of vege-
tables for the market. Later when water was available from the Wichita
Lake, they knew how to use it and had irrigated gardens all the time.
Later Mr. Downing sold out the nursery business to his brother, and he
spent his time raising strawberries, tomatoes, green peppers, etc. for the
wholesale produce market. One.rholesaleit, dubbed him 'The Pepper King',
for he seemed to be.the only man around here who could grow sweet peppers.
Each spring. he raised early vegetable plants and sold them all over this
vicinity.
1\:1
"Mr. Do4nig and my mother, Mrs. Bettie Gentry, organized a little
Sunday school across the:. river in 1891. _Mother went out and collected money
and built a little house, which had two rooms and an L. It was made a
mission Sunday school ----later abandoned when so many people moved away from
that side of town.
rift% Doming was very active in the work of the Methodist church, and
was Sunerintendant of the bundpoy school for sixteen consecutive years. He
was one of the earliest stewards of the church, and at the time of his
death in 1926 he was the oldest steward in point of service and in point
of age.
"I have been a member of the Methodist church here for forty-nine
years, having joined in Au,'7ust., 1835.