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Historically Speaking
By Jean Hayworth
With the new Stephens County Courthouse in full operation, the Lions Club was focused on moving the pillars and entrance of the historic 1883 courthouse to the southeastern corner of the courthouse property, known as Lion Park. Prior to this, I mentioned that the cornerstone of the old courthouse also was being moved with the pillars and entrance. I kept thinking I missed something because there were only three city commissioners names on the cornerstone along with the name of the first judge of Stephens County in 1876, E.L. Walker. After further digging, I discovered that yes, there were only three commissioner names on the cornerstone because one got mad and resigned so his name was not included on the cornerstone. It appears that R.F. Repass, who had been the commissioner of Precinct No. 3, in the northeast corner of Stephens County, was opposed to a new courthouse being built, which would replace the historic 1883 courthouse. As a result, he resigned from his commissioner’s position for Precinct No. 3. If anyone checks the cornerstone, the three commissioner names on the cornerstone include J.D Rhea of Wayland in Precinct No. 1; S.S. Cook of Eolian in Precinct No. 2; and J.T. Crawford of Crystal Falls, in Precinct No. 4. Mystery solved. The other two names on the cornerstone are the architect, J.E. Flanders and the building contractor, Solon, who was the senior partner in the contracting firm of Solon, Laud and Kane of Dallas. He came to Breckenridge and personally supervised the building of the historic 1883 courthouse. The historic 1883 courthouse was built for $40,000 and it took five to six months to build. Lumber was brought in from Cisco and the stone was quarried on land owned by Thomas Moran, located about 1˝ miles west of the area that is now covered by the Hubbard Creek Lake and mile-long bridge. There also was some stone quarried from the Creagh land nearby. Irish stonecutters were brought in to cut the stone and some local stonecutters were employed as well. I have covered the early history of the formation of the city of Breckenridge last August when I began the Historically Speaking column. However, page four of the January 28, 1927 edition of the Breckenridge Weekly Democrat covered a lot of the early history.
As I mentioned before, the city of Breckenridge was plotted out for a square half-mile, which included 160 acres with four blocks east and west on Walker St. and then four blocks north and south on Breckenridge Ave. George Gray was the surveyor who was paid a total of $100, after the first lot was sold. In the beginning, Breckenridge boasted of one General Merchandise Store called Segal Dry Goods which was still in operation in 1927 and operated by J.M. Morris, who was the father-in-law of Judge B.B. Greenwood. The second store was established by N.S. Greenwood, father of Judge Greenwood. By 1926, the Fulwiler Motor Company occupied that spot. There also were three saloons in operation on Walker St. Two of the saloons were owned and operated by Captain Bob O’Hair. One young man, Bill McGee, wanted to fight O’Hair. After their fight, they were both brought before the Justice of the Peace who subsequently empaneled a jury. One of the jurors, Dr. J.L. Adams, who was poetically inclined, decided to give the jury’s verdict his poetic slant: “We the jury, do agree to acquit Old Bill McGee.” “We the jury, totin’ fair find not guilty Bob O’Hair.” Ranchers and area cattlemen would send wagons in two or three times a year for supplies to last for several months and pay in cash of $2,000 to $3,000. This occurred after the large cattle sales were completed after cattle roundups and branding of the longhorns. At that point in our history, there was mostly open range, with no fencing that had moved this far west. Cattle were rounded up periodically and branded and then left to graze on the open range. When the cattle came through it may have been 1,000 head at a time, herded right down Walker, on their way toward the Fort Worth Stockyards. In 1876, there also were large herds of buffalo that roamed through the southern parts of Stephens County until they were killed off indiscriminately by greedy Easterners or European hunters and became almost extinct by 1885. I apologize, I took us on a little journey but that issue was just packed full of historical happenings that were too good to pass up and as a result I regressed to an earlier time of our county’s history for a bit but will get us back to 1927 now. The Campbell Hotel, located just east of the site for the new hotel project, had to be moved because it was encroaching on the property surveyed for the new hotel site. It was supposed to have been moved by Jan. 1, but weather had delayed the operation for weeks. It was already the beginning of February and the 50-man crew could not complete the excavation for the foundation work to be set for the new hotel, until the Campbell was moved. H.M. Stevenson won the contract to move the hotel and he hired a crew of 10 men to move the 20-room hotel. It was one of the largest buildings ever to be moved in Breckenridge. The new location was set for 217 S. Court. Stevenson determined it would probably take five to six days to get the Campbell Hotel moved to the new location. On the first day, the crew girded the building with steel cables and the required block and tackle was put into place and the slow manuevering of the building began. Three or four major turns would be required for the movement of the hotel and it would have to go west on Walker for two blocks, which would interrupt business in the downtown area. Movement was slow and deliberate with constant adjustments to the block and tackle and steel cables. Finally, the Campbell Hotel was at home at the new address of 217 S. Court. |
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