Initial Focus on Electra

    While at the Archives I follow alphabetically my study of the markers, and would rather continue such an organized approach, I pounced today upon the opportunity to journey to Electra, breaking my methodical study. Such exuberance put me before each of the markers mentioned below without having studied any information about them. I hardly knew where to find them, who made them possible, and barely their relevance. So this post merely relates the cursory glimpse that each marker gives us, while we wait until I return to the Archives to open each file, sure to find a deeper meaning to each of them.
   
    I uploaded some of these photographs to the Wichita County Historical Commission's web site, sans GPS coordinates, which are forthcoming after verification. In addition, disappointed in my photography, I do plan to return for better pictures.

    A blogger who dabbles in photography would enjoy today's outing. Stormy skies brooded over Wichita County, providing an interesting background, while across the rolling plains, flowers bloomed in yellows, purples, and blues. My only disappointment was my choice of settings on my camera: Auto. My thoughts are to return to Electra's historical markers and do a better job at photographing them, but how to stage again the stormy skies in the background and the lovely bluebonnets in the foreground? Lesson learned.

    John drove while I strained to spot the markers, which, ultimately, appeared easily. Not until the very last one did I relax a bit and decide that for our next marker search outing, I will not strain so hard. Markers in and south of Electra are marked by large brown signs posted by the side of the road.

   One marker we did not find was the Kadane Discovery Well, but then, we left that one marker for later, since I could not remember which oil marker one of the companies damaged, and that now sits safely in the sheriff's office, waiting for us to replace the post upon which it stands.

    Walking around Electra is a surprise in that it sparks my imagination. What was that town like during the 1920s when the buildings were recent, the economy good, and vaudeville playing at the Grand Theatre? How grand it must have been!

The Grand Theatre in Electra.

The marker reads:

Electra's population surge in the 1910s led
local business leaders to hire Meadow &
Wolfe of Fort Worth to design a theatre to
accommodate the town's growing
entertainment needs. It opened here in 1920
and featured vaudeville, operas, boxing and
other events. It included an orchestra pit
which later housed an organ and piano for
silent movies. It has been both a movie house
and performing arts venue. The Grand's 
eclectic design features mission and 
classical elements done with emphasis on
fancy and fantasy. Panels with swags and
piers frame a vault motif.
Recorded Texas Historical Landmark - 2006

                                               Located at 114 North Waggoner in Electra.

    Around the corner, a young woman parks her car on the curb in front of an old building. Well, "old building" in Electra sounds redundant. All the buildings are old and historic. This particular building at which she parked her car was the Electra State Bank, a building with a historical marker. She carries in her hand an envelope, walks toward the building, and slips it into the night deposit slot.
   

Night deposit box for the Electra State Bank.

Electra State Bank. On the outside column to the right of the door, we can see the marker.

The marker reads: 

Building erected 1908, the
first brick structure in
Electra. Occupied 1908-1911
by Waggoner Bank 1911-1931
by First State Bank, since 
1931 by Electra State Bank.
   Remodeled in 1952, using
original foundations and
walls.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966

Located on the corner of North Main and West Cleveland, 101 West Cleveland, in Electra.

     Life continues to thrive in the small town of Electra. People still need to go to their jobs, do their banking, grocery shopping, and other relevant activities. In the meantime, they celebrate the structures that reflect the lives of the people of the past.

     Driving south on Highway 25, we come upon Farm Road 2326 and turn to the west, and about a mile down a road flanked by lush green fields and growth, we find the Beaver Creek Cemetery.

Gate to the cemetery.

The front of the marker says:

To the memory of the Circuit Riders and 
early settles, who established the homes - the 
camp meeting ground - the church - the school
and the cemetery of the Beaver Creek community -
this monument is affectionately and gratefully dedicated.
     Their courage was reflected in the glow of
their campfires. Their faith and industry tamed
an untamed land. Their love and devotion to 
Almighty God pointed us Heavenward on that 
upward path that leads to the Great Divide.

The back of the memorial marker says: 

TO THE PIONEER CIRCUIT RIDERS

THE REVERENDS

      J. W. Campbell      S. O Gafford       I. N. Crutchfield

D. J. Powell          A. B. Trimble      C. C. Davis

       J. T. Hosmer          L. G. Rogers       F. L. McGeehee 
 A. P. Smith            T. J. Minnis          E. H. Coburn
 Casey                   C. C. Williams    T. E. Cannon
                                                         G. R. Slagle  

   Some people find taking pictures of flowers, in this instance bluebonnets, a bit hackneyed. Not me. I love it. And the more hackneyed the better. It is a joy to see the countryside blanketed by flowers.

Located on Farm Road 2326, about a mile west of State Highway 25.

    Continuing our drive to the south on Highway 25, we search for the Old Buffalo Road marker. It is a sad marker for me, for it shows the struggles of the people back then, natives and pioneers. And for the bison, too.

(About 100 Yards to the West)
    Named for its traffic in buffalo hides and bones,
this North Texas road gave subsistence to pioneers
while aiding in mass "harvest" of the American Bison.
As long as buffalo survived (providing food, shelter
and clothing) the Indians were lords of the plains.
Recognizing this, the authorities encouraged hunting.
Harvested hides were taken to market over this road.
     The buffalo and Indians gone, permanent settlers
arrived. In adverse years (while a man tried to get
a start at farming, ranching or storekeeping), bones
were salvaged and sold for grocery or seed money.
     The old road was route of hundreds of wagons
taking buffalo hides to market before 1878 and
hundreds of wagon taking bones to Wichita Falls
and Henrietta before 1890. The road came east from
the plains, near south line of Foard and Wilbarger
counties to guide the mound; then three miles east (near
this marker) and south to Wichita River bridge, then
to the county line three miles west of Holliday.
Next it passed the north edge of Holliday, and south
of Lake Wichita, then crossed at the old Van Dorn
crossing five miles south of Jolly. Pioneers also
called it "Great North" Road or "Good Creek" Road. it
proved invaluable to economy and mapping of the area. 
                                                                                        (1970)

Looking to the south from the location of the marker.

Behind the marker, sitting in the field, a parked work-over rig ready for work in the oil field. 

Find the Old Buffalo Road marker on Highway 25, approximately twelve miles south of Electra.

    At Kadane Corner, passing by Kathy's cafe where they serve nice sandwiches and coffee, we gave only a lazy search for the oil field marker. I could not remember which oil marker was sitting safely in the sheriff's office after a company damaged the post upon which it stood. Hence, we decided we would search for that information (and the marker) later. Then, not seeing it, we drove to Valley View. There, in front of a church, we spot the Van Dorn Trail historical marker. 

(One Mile North)      First important wagon road in Wichita County. Blazed by brevet major (later General) Earl Van Dorn in September 1858 with 200 men of the crack 2nd  U. S. Cavalry. Just ahead of him went young L. S. "Sul" ross (Governor of Texas 1887-91, and President of  Texas A&M College 1891-98) with 100 Indian Scouts from the Brazos Reservation. Loyal Tonkawa Chief Placido guided Ross and his party.      After opening the trail, Van Dorn camped on Otter Creek, in present Oklahoma, for over a year. He routed the Comanches in a battle near Rush Springs (70 mi. E.), although he and Ross were wounded in the fighting.      In 1859 Van Dorn won another decisive victory over the Comanches in Ford County, Kansas. Famous persons in this battle were Kirby Smith (later a   noted Confederate General) and Fitzhugh Lee (later Governor of Virginia). They had recently ridden up the west branch of the trail. the 15 Army wagons which brought supplies to the men leveled a trail much used by pioneer settlers who came afterward.      The trail ran from Fort Belknap, near Newcastle, Texas, to Camp Radziminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick, Oklahoma. At Van Dorn Crossing the road branched off to Montague County for supplies.                                                                                  (1969)

    Just up the road, we come upon the Valley View High School, a grand building but in decay.

   Area families established the Denny and Jones Dale schools in 1897. In 1918, the schools combined, and J. A. Kemp and R. S. Allen sold land to the trustees of Wichita County School No. 6 at this site to build the Valley View School. The next year, oil discovered in the Kemp-Munger-Allen (KMA) filed brought many new residents. in 1924, the completion of lakes Kemp and Diversion, and the creation of a farm irrigation district, influenced even more growth. Two years later, with 325 students in grades one through eleven, the school opened a larger building, and voters created the Valley View Independent School District in 1928. Local African American students attended school at the  Wichita County Rural Colored School, which operated on the Munger Farm from 1925 to 1942.
     In the 1930s, the Valley View School student population increased, peaking in the 1937-38 school year with nearly 600 students. The district added new buildings as needed, including a second brick structure completed as a federal project in 1942. In the 1950s, however, with the mechanization of farming and decline in the oil industry, the area's population began decreasing. The Eagle Bend School merged into the Valley View district in 1956, and although it completed new facilities in 1968, the district consolidated with Iowa Park in 1970. The Iowa Park  Consolidated Independent School District utilized former Valley View facilities for several years, but most have since been dismantled. The significance of the Valley View school continues, though, in the lives of those who were students here over the years.
                                                                                                                    (2004)

The front of Valley View High School.

    The text on the marker and the beautiful architecture of the building reflect the devotion of the community in teaching culture and education to their youth. I can hear the pride and melancholy in my friend Gary Jones' inflection when he tells me that he attended the Valley View School. 

     

 Located on Arkansas Lane, just north of Farm Road 1206 and the Van Dorn Trail marker.