Ozona's Water System TX3898

This site was selected for the Crockett County seat in 1891 because of a producing water well (200' northwest). Joe Moss, who drilled for water throughout the area, dug the well for E.M. Powell (1847-1925), railroad surveyor, financier, and land developer. Powell laid out the town, donated the water well, windmill, storage cistern, and land for public buildings. Immediately the Commissioners Court designated the well site as County property. Residents hauled water home by hand, on horseback, and by wagon. Later a wagon delivered barrels of water door-to-door.

As a result of Ozona's rapid growth by 1900, Judge Charles E. Davidson organized locally-owned "Ozona Improvement Company." The business drilled more wells and laid a pipeline in town. This hilltop, a familiar site of windmills and sprawling storage tanks, was called "Waterworks Hill." In a few years power equipment was added to provide electricity and ice. A municipal water district was formed in the late 1930s under the guidance of Joe North.

Ozona's has not suffered from a decrease in its water supply during times of drought. Its water system utilizes the vast underground limestone formations in which moisture is stored.

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Port Arthur - Beaumont Interurban Railway TX10380
Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban Railway

Electric railways known as Interurbans existed in Texas from 1901 until the 1940s to provide frequent opportunities for the public to travel between urban centers. Interurban service between Beaumont and Port Arthur began on December 16, 1913, lasting until competition from automobiles and buses caused passenger use of the rail line to decline. The Jefferson County Traction Company and the Beaumont Traction Company, subsidiaries of the East Texas Electric Company, owned and operated the Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban Railway.

Tickets were 90 cents for a round trip. Passengers departed from Port Arthur at a terminal station and maintenance facility at this site and could board or get off the interurban at any of 10 stops along the route. The electric rail cars seated 48 people, but often there were many more on board. The cars could also be chartered for group trips and were popular for weekend excursions. The interurban service was used to evacuate Port Arthur citizens fleeing the 1915 hurricane until the high water caused a power failure. Some passengers were stranded in the cars for 12 hours.

The last recorded trip of the Port Arthur-Beaumont Interurban was August 15, 1932. By that time, private automobiles had become the more popular mode of transportation, while increased consumption and new demands for electricity more than made up for the electric company's loss of the interurban's need for electric power.

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Preston Rose Austin TX4120
PRESTON ROSE AUSTIN
(November 11, 1872 - September 29, 1929)

A far-sighted businessman who contributed much to the development of South Texas, Preston Rose Austin was born in Harrison County and grew up in Victoria County. After achieving prominence as a stock raiser, Austin became a partner in the Refugio Land and Irrigation Company, which acquired large landholdings in this area in 1902. Austin conducted a series of agricultural experiments and determined that the land was best suited to raising cotton. The company divided the property into small cotton farms for sale to German and Bohemian farmers. Austin then founded two market towns to serve the settlers. The townsite of Tivoli was platted in 1907 by J.W. Ward. Austwell, named for Austin and one of his partners, Jesse McDowell of Pennsylvania, was platted in 1912 by L.A. Gueringer. The company provided each community with a church, school, store, hotel, and cotton gin and mill, as well as modern conveniences such as electricity and a telephone system. Austin and his associates also financed a branch line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which connected Tivoli and Austwell with Victoria when it was completed in 1912. Austin's energetic ventures resulted in extensive settlement of northern Refugio County.

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Saffold Dam TX4436

Named for William Saffold, who owned land here in the mid-1800s, Saffold Dam is typical of many mill dams built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally a natural rock outcropping, the dam was first improved by Henry Troell in the late 1800s when he added rock to the dam to raise the water level to power a cotton gin. The city of Seguin bought Troell's property in 1907 to further develop the river's hydroelectricity, and subsequent improvements have led to the establishment of a hydroelectric plant on the dam's south side.

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Site of Center Point School TX11688

Yoakum County was organized in 1907. By the 1920s the area around this site was rural farm and ranch land without electricity, paved roads or a railroad. Building lumber was brought by freight wagon. Several local men erected a one-room frame building near this site in 1924 to serve as a school for the widely-scattered rural families. The structure also was used for Sunday school, monthly services and Methodist and Baptist revivals. Designated as Center Point School District No. 8, it served an area of 64 square miles. Classes ranged in size from four to more than twenty students over the years. Some walked a mile or more across open prairie to reach the school. Others rode horses, which they kept tethered behind the building. Students participated in Yoakum County Interscholastic League events in addition to their usual studies. Teachers earned $80-$100 a month to teach all grades, do janitorial work and in some cases even provide daily transportation for the students. Teachers usually boarded with local families. Enrollment increased slightly when oil camps opened in the county in 1935. In the spring of 1939, voters opted to merge Center Point School District No. 8 with others to form Plains Rural School District. The one-room school was closed and moved to Plains for use as a music building, later becoming part of the American Legion hall. Center Point School served the educational, spiritual and social needs of the surrounding community for fifteen years. Although short-lived, its legacy remains a vital part of the history of this part of Yoakum County.

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The City of Orange TX11504

The first known settlers in what is now the city of Orange were John and Elizabeth Harmon, who arrived in 1828 with their three children. Known first as Green's Bluff, the small farming community that developed along a bend in the Sabine River was selected as the seat of government when Orange County was created in 1852. The town was called Madison from 1852 until 1858, when the name Orange was adopted.

The early Orange economy was based on the lumber and shipbuilding industries. Led by prominent pioneer area lumbermen and aided by the advent of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in 1876, Orange was recognized as the leader in East Texas sawmill activity by the 1880s. The deep water port and the availability of lumber made the city an ideal location for the shipbuilding industry, which reached its highest production levels during World Wars I and II.

For many years the city of Orange has maintained a full range of services for its citizens. Public schools have operated since the 1880s and electricity was instituted in 1890. Orange's shipbuilding and petrochemical industries continue to make the city a leading commercial center in southeast Texas.

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The University Tradition in Nacogdoches TX9210

The Spanish Friars who built the Mission of Our Lady of Nacogdoches passed to the townspeople a sense of scholarship and educational responsibility. Prominent citizens such as Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk were well known for their attention to education. Town citizens pursued the establishment of a university in the 1840s.

The Republic of Texas granted a charter for a school in February 1845. Nacogdoches University was a preparatory school with some college subjects included in the curriculum. Townspeople gave money, materials, land and labor to support the school and secure for their children the best education possible. The school moved into its permanent home on Washington Square in 1858. Hard times began with the Civil War; later, several entities operated the institution, including the Catholic church, local Masons, and Keachi College of Louisiana. In 1904, the trustees deeded the campus to the newly created public school district of Nacogdoches. Citizens began a movement in 1906 to lobby for the formation of a new college. This culminated in the first, although ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to establish an east Texas normal school in 1915.

When legislation in 1917 called for a college "east of the 96th meridian," Nacogdoches organized a citizens' committee. A pamphlet entitled "twenty-three reasons why Stephen F. Austin State Normal College ought to be located at Nacogdoches..." stated their case. As they had 70 years earlier, the people of Nacogdoches lobbied heavily for the new college, pledging 208 acres of land, 250 students, paved streets, and free electricity to the institution. When the opening was postponed from the summer of 1923 to the fall, the two recruited students from all of east Texas and even supplied a temporary home for a year -- Washington Square.

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Thompson's Island Homeplace TX10332

Dr. William Alexander Thompson (1803-1879) made an agreement with neighbors in 1850 to use the San Marcos River for irrigation and as a source of energy. He and his sons William A. and James used slave labor to build a gristmill, sawmill and cotton gin. The land masses formed by digging a ditch for the waterwheel and a sluiceway from the river were called "Thompson Islands." The Thompsons directed the business until 1911 when John Matthew Cape (1861-1933) bought the mill. The use of electricity in 1942 ended the mill's need for water power.

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Philip Syng PA1496
Near here, silversmith Philip Syng, Jr. created the inkstand used to sign the Declaration and Constitution at Independence Hall. With Benjamin Franklin, took part in experiments in electricity; founded institutions like the American Philosophical Society.

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Conestoga Navigation Company PA343
A slackwater canal between Lancaster and Safe Harbor, built following the company's incorporation in 1825, facilitated access to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other ports. This canal's 18-mile course included nine sets of locks and dams; Lock No.1 was here. The company's name varied after 1837; financial problems mounted, and last lock fees were collected in 1872. Later, between 1913 and 1946, surviving dams were used to generate electricity.

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