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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBrazos County Sesquicentennial 1986Page 4C Bryan-College Station lragle Sunday, April 20, 1986 • • • • • ' . 1 scan, ran oome wit comin o rat roa s By PAUL McKA1' ryan was bom, Boonville died, Millican had a rebirth, and Washington-on-the- Brazos withered, all be- cause of a railroad. ....Brazos County had two econo- micbooms about a century apart. The Houston & Texas Central Railroad (H&TC) sparked the first boom when it extended rail through the county in the 1860x. About a hundred years la- ter, Texas A&M laid the foundation for a second boom by admitting women and making other changes that stimulated growth in the school and the community. The motor vehicle appeared be- tweenthe booms, and cars and trucks obviously changed the nature of busi- ness and industry. But the impact of the county"s first car was not as im- mediate as the impact of the first train. Communities thrived or perished according to where H&TC track was laid. The rail bypassed Boonville by only three miles, but it may as well have been three-hundred -the population of old Boonville, which was never a very big town anyway, quickly shifted to new Bryan. Before the railroad, Brazos County was sparsely populated and thor- oughly agrarian. Farms and planta- tions were largely self-contained. Wealth was measured in terms of land and slaves, business was done by barter, and banks weren't needed. The county's few merchants had to rely on the slow and cumbersome freight wagons for their goods. The railroad made business convenient and profitable and opened the door to real commerce, Washington-on-the-Brazos had re- jected the opportunity to have the H&TC come through, as citizens there staked the future on their thriv- ing riverboat commerce. But the riverboats hit a few too many snags, and Washington died a slow econo- nricdeath while Brazos County came to everlasting life. ~Millican As the northernmost terminus, TEXAS SESQUICENTENNIAL ~': PAPER WEIGHTS `` In Pcwtcr ~ Glass Available at CLOCKS & COLLECTABLES 7Q7 Texas Ave., C.S. '~'` ~ r r . ~ ~ t/ ~1~. f~j LINCOLN ~Zl~l~~~][~ Millican was set for the boom when the Civil War ended. "Terminus merchants" -opportunists who fol- lowed the railroad wherever it ex- tended -poured into town after the war. One of them was Lehman Sanger, a veteran who passed through Milli- can on a trip to Houston. He was so impressed with Millican's appear- ance and warm business climate that he decided to get in on some of the prosperity. He opened a business that was the start of a famous retailing venture, as he was one of the Sanger brothers - the famous "merchant princes" of frontier retailing in Texas. Beginning with the Millican store in 1865, the Bangers followed the expansion of H&TC to Dallas, opening stores in Bryan, Hearne, Calvert, Bremond, Kosse, Groesbeck and Corsicana along. the way. An account of the Bangers' stay in Millican, from 1865-67, is given in the book called "Bangers': Pioneer Texas Merchants," by Leon Rosen- berg. He drew heavily upon the 1908 memoirs written by Lehman Sanger, from which this excerpt is taken; "Millican at that time was not a ~;°., ~ ~'+ ,~ ~ ~, f, rf " Y M s ~ ~ ~` s~ W°`.- ,~ 'r ~~ ~ ~' ~~'1'#t~ ~ ^ ~~: ' ~.~~ ~~~ y, ~ very desirable place to hve. It was regarded as tough, but we never got This castle-like jail was opened in 1878 at 25th and Washington streets on the present courthouse into trouble, as we were too busy sgtuue. attending to our business... The Federals still maintained a garrison at that time, and it was hard to tell who were the tougher, the troops or the floating population, which was com- posed of all kinds of mixtures." Lehman and a partner he called "Little Wolf 'rented half a Millican storeroom from a cobbler for five dol- lazs amonth and set out "a small lot of dry goods... and a little assortment of stock." Lehman recalled in the memoirs that "the meager stock" was gone within 24 hours. He wrote: "Business kept up nicely for a time and goods brought fair profits. The staple articles with us proved to be revolvers, shotguns and musical in- struments, the most popular of the latter being the accordion... "Our goods were sold, generally, for gold, very little currency being in circulation at that time. This gold was worth One Hundred and Thirty to One Hundred and Forty in exchange for greenbacks. Confederate curren- cywas gelling more undesirable, and it took a large amount of the latter currency to buy even a cordial. The money `picnic,' however, did not last very long. Competition in trade about that time became very sharp, and goods took a terrible slumps rgther suddenly, which cut down prb~its." Lehman and Wolf dissolved their partnership in the fall of 1865.Other of the Sanger brothers joined Lehman in Millican and a branch store was opened. According to Rosenberg's book, Lehman and brother Philip minded the store, which was called "L.&P. Sanger," while brother stock at auction sales in New Orleans... When the rail extended to Bryan, Lehman didn't hesitate to move on with it. "It became necessary for us to follow the railroad to retain our trade," he wrote. The severe yellow fever epidemic of 1867, along with the railroad ex- tension, dealt Millican a severe eco- nomic blow. Businessmen who might otherwise have settled in Milli- can staked their futures instead in Bryan, establishing it as the county's trade center for the hundred years that followed. • Bryan When the railroad bed of the Hous- ton and Texas Central was graded through Brazos County in 1859, Wil- liam Jce1Bryan, anephew of Stephen F. Austin, had a tract along the right of way, which he had given the rail- road company, surveyed and platted for a townsite to be named in his honor. The plans for the city were designed by 'Pheodore Kosse, a sur- veyor for the H&TC. The original plans called for a city park surrounding the train station, and land was set aside for the court- house square, for a school and a Methodist church. Lots were ren- dered for taxation in 1859. The 80-foot-wide east-west draft and specifications for a new courthouse, and 4) proposal for a new road from Bryan to Prewett's Bluff on the Navasota River. A gala celebration was held when the first train steamed into Bryan Aug. 19, 1867. Some of the business men who had moved to Bryan were Milton Parker, who had been presi- dent ofthe Millican Bank; George T, Haswell, one of the organizaers of the Episcopal Church; J, Allen Myers, Major J.W. Tabor, and Col. Henry Bates Stoddard. The courthouse contract was awarded to Harvey Mitchell in 1868. The two-story brick building was completed in 1871 at the cost of $16,000. The structure soon proved unsatisfactory when the foundation began to give way and the soft brick cracked, but it lasted twenty years. It was torn down in 1892 when a new courthouse of white sandstone was built. Although Bryan residents voted in 1867 to incorporate, the town was not formally incorporated until an act of the Texas Legislature in 1872. The first city officers, appointed by the Legislature, were Alexander Ander son, Mayor, and Aldermen A. B. For- man, Lemuel Preston, A.B. Bow- man, Thomas Hall and William Hoverman. When Mrs. Bella French visited Bryan in 1878 to gather material for an article in American Sketch Book, she found much to commend. She included the Library Association as one of its attractions and commented favorably on the architecture and is the demand for lumber that the people of Millican are actually tear- ingdown their town, and transporting it by wagons to Bryan, to be there erected." Four days later, the Galveston pap- er had more from Bryan: "The moment the traveler approaches the region of the Central Railroad an entire change of aspect presents itself, and instead of the pre- vailing listlessness and inactivity which mainifest themselves in other communities, the whole country seems to be animated with energy, life and business enthusiasm. "There is so much of genuine activity and `modern goaheadism' in this company, that its very presence seems to infuse its own spirit where- ver it goes, and to arouse the dullest and most sluggish natures from natu- ral proneness to apathy. "Railroads...are apublic bles- sing... There is more intrinsic value in Bryan property than in almost any other depot along the line of the road, and while there is not enough of local prospective trade tojustify city prices for village real estate, there is enough in the surroundings of this place to warrant the hope of permanent ' prosperity.... " One of the Main Street business- men and terminus merchants was D.A. Orviss. He was typical of the "commission merchants" who thrived in railroad towns. [n a 1961 edition of "Southwestern Historical Quarterly," historian A. Ray Stephens wrote these words about Orviss• Isaac spent much of his time buying streets, mostly named for famous Boonville fail was `dungeon' The jail at Boonville (during approximately the 1850x) was dub- bed "the dungeon" because it had to be entered through the ceiling. Although it was considered very secure because of its double-walled log construction, prisoners did escape from it. Sometimes the escape was attri- buted to a storm removing the open- ing, but in at least one case the pris- oner appeared in court on the day set for his case with the explanation to the judge that there were "a million fleas in that place." ~~ t,, Over 130 Stores To Serve Your Shopping ~~ Pleasure r] r i ~,~ ~ Treat Yourself To Shopping, Food And Fun ~• ~.+ ~ All In One Easy Location See The Best In Spring Fashions Now! Texas 6 Bypass at Hwy. 30 College Station Mon-Sat 10-9; Sun 12:30-5:30 American statesmen such as Jeffer- son, Webster, Jackson, Clay, ' "In Bryan, Orviss became amid- Calhoun, and Franklin were later de- dle man for merchants and collected a signaled by numbers. Some of the ~ `At the present m0- two and one-half percent commission 100-foot north-south streets were merit, SO gnat lS the de- for each transaction. At this location he handled groceries, garden seed, named for towns and cities. Many have retained their original names, mand for lumber that the hardware, dry goods, gin supplies, butParker Street on Kosse's plan was people of Millican are ~ farm equipment, and acted as a con- signee for selling cotton.... called Red Top, and Sims Street was Wheelock. Dallas Street became Col- , actually tearing down "Orviss corresponded with mer- lege Road, and was later changed to their town, and transport- candle houses in the East and asked ' ' College Avenue, and then Texas cash men. He for special rates for Avenue. trig it by wagons to Bryan, prided himself in paying cash for any On April 9, 1860, Bryan sold his ~ ~ to be there erected item upon receipt of the product and interest in the town lots for $3,200 to . invoice. To a friend he states his busi- Abram Groesbeck and W.R. Baker, ness philosophy as the `economic both directors of Houston and Texas Jackson principle' which was to `buy Central Railroad Company. Two ma- when I have the Money & let the jot residential streets, Baker on the academic excellence of the newly Wants rest when the cash is out."' east side of the tracks and Groesbeck established Agricultural and Mecha- Many of the first lawyers acted as on the west, were named for these nical College, four miles away. land agents, as property was in de- two developers. Her article listed the following mand long after Bryan became the While railroad construction was types of business: two private banks, terminus. Consider this item from the halted at Millican during the war, 50 business houses, two lumber and February l7, 1872 edition of the Au- peoplebegan tosettle inBryan until it grist mills, one gin and mill, one oil stin American Statesman: had become a village with a popula- factory (cottonseed oil), two carriage „gryan is already and permanent- tion of 300 white inhabitants by the and buggy factories, two brick cotton ly improving. The shanty stores, built time the railroad reached it. Construction northward from Mil- warehouses, two public halls, and four livery stables. She mentioned on the advent of the railroad, are dis- lican began in 1866, and an election shipments of cotton, grain, livestock, appearing, and in their place good held October 15 of that year resulted wool and hides, and described the brick buildings are being erected.... in a vote of 190-42 to move the coon- city as a trade eenter of surrounding "Ten years since, the land in this ty seat to Bryan. The post office also counties. (Joseph Milton Nance, The neighborhood could have brought was moved from Boonville to Bryan Early History of Bryan and the Sur- one dollar per acre; not so now. From in 1866. rounding Area.) ten dollars to one hundred dollars is With an independence customary On September 4, 1867, the Gaf- the price demanded, according to the in Brazos County, the businessmen veston News gave this vivid descrip- size of the tract, and the distance from chose locations that better suited their lion of Brazos County: the road. Yet old fogeys say railroads purposes than the city plan. The "At the present moment, so great don't benett[ the county!!!" stores were located on the west side ' of the tracks where the lots were cheaper than those surrounding the assed Rails B o o nv ill e courthouse. Backing the shops,up to p ~ the railroad also facilitated loading. Thus Main Street was located at its d t d present site, and the street was made away own passe an wide enough to turn alive-voke ox- was~~~. In the Commissioners Court mi- nutes of November 3, 1866, the re- cord states, "It is ordered by the Court that a new Courthouse be erected in the Town of Bryan on the Courthouse Square..." The sale of the old courthouse at Boonville was reported in the minutes of Nov. 19, 1866. The court session of Feb. I8, 1867, handled four matters: 1) peti- tions for license to sell spirituous li- quors in Bryan, 2) petition for an election in March to vote on the ques- tion of incorporation of Bryan, 3) When the Houston and Texas Cen- tral Railroad extended the line from Millican to Bryan, by-passing Boon- ville, residents moved to the new ter- minus. An election held Oct. I5, 1866, resulted in over two-thirds of the votes cast in favor of moving the County Seat to "Bryan City." Court minutes recorded that "the said County Seat was by virtue of such election removed from the Town of Boonville to, and the same is now at the Town of Bryan. The sheriff was directed to remove archives with all other books, maps, charts, together with all furniture to Bryan. He was paid $20 for this trans- fer. The courthouse was sold to Wil- liam H. Bowman for "Four Hundred Dollars currency". Commissioners Court minutes also record the sale of the jail and jail lot by auction to the highest bidder for the "sum of $35 greenbacks." The purchaser was Gillespie B. Reed, Chief Justice of Brazos County. In a short time all that remained of Boonville was the cemetery which is the burial ground of some pioneer families.