Orange

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. 

Through the years I've driven past Orange a number of times on I-10, but I've never stopped to enjoy the historical sites. Recently I drove into the town named for wild orange groves on the banks of the Sabine River. Intending to make an overdue visit to the historical attractions of Orange, I stopped first at the magnificent First Presbyterian Church. 

The Orange Presbyterian congregation organized in 1878. By the first decade of the 20th century, Mrs. Henry Jacob Lutcher decided to erect a new sanctuary - the Lutcher Memorial Building - as a memorial to her family. Frances Ann Lutcher never divulged the cost, but no expense was spared, and a maintenance fund was established. Mrs. Lutcher secured an architect from Kansas City. Pink granite came from Llano, while marble was imported from Italy. Construction began in 1908, and the church was dedicated in January 1912. The foyer features three prize-winning stained-glass windows from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Mrs. Lutcher purchased and stored these windows for future use in her church, and other windows also were ordered from the same New York City artist. There is a grand glass dome and striking columns and a pipe organ that boasts 2,435 pipes. It is one of the most superb examples of church architecture in Texas. 

Looking up at the glass dome

The oldest daughter of Frances and Henry Jacob Lutcher, Miriam, married William Henry Stark in 1881. The Lutcher and Stark families created a fortune through timber, and in 1894 Miriam and William Henry Stark built a splendid Victorian residence. There are regular tours, and entry is through the large carriage house, which exhibits an excellent museum. The Stark Mansion is only a block east of the First Presbyterian Church. 

Across the street from the Stark Mansion is the Stark Museum of Art. The museum showcases an outstanding collection of Western Art, featuring paintings and bronzes by Charles Russell, Frederic Remington, N.C. Wyeth, and other classic Western artists. A fine assembly of Native American objects also is of interest to historians.

The Heritage House Museum is a rambling frame two-story residence built in 1902. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a Recorded Texas Landmark. Inside are period furnishings and changing historical exhibits. I took a long walk and enjoyed a number of other Victorian residences. A visit to the venerable Farmer's Market Mercantile is a step back into the commercial past. While not a historical destination, the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is an exceptional tourist attraction, and so is the Lutcher Theater for the Performing Arts. The traveler who stops at Orange in the southeastern corner of Texas will be richly rewarded.

For more information:  www.firstpresorange.com
                                  www.whstarkhouse.org
                                  www.starkmuseum.org
                                  www.heritagehouseoforangecounty.com
                                  www.shangrilagardens.org

West Texas Cattle Kingdom

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. 

On February 11, Arcadia Publishing Co. of South Carolina released my latest book, West Texas Cattle Kingdom. Arcadia has more than 8,000 titles in print. Each book is 128 pages long, with one page devoted to Acknowledgements and a two-page Introduction, which serves as an outline or overview of the story. There are 200 or more photographs, with captions not to exceed 75 words. Total wordage may not exceed 18,000 words, counting the Introduction. The story in an Arcadia book is told through photos and captions -  it is fortunate that an image is worth 1,000 words! When I began buying Arcadia books, the price was $19.99; now it has increased to $21.99 for any title.

Most Arcadia books have been about cities, towns, or counties. My first Arcadia book was about Carthage, where I have lived and taught for more than 40 years. Carthage was published in 2009. It was a different kind of book for me to write, and I enjoyed the process and the results. Since I did not anticipate writing about another town, I assumed that Carthage would be my only Arcadia title. But soon I received a call from Luke Cunningham, editor of Carthage, informing me that Arcadia had an unexpected publication opening later in the year, and he inquired if I had any ideas for a title. For more than 30 years I had taught Texas History every semester at Panola College, and one of my favorite lectures was "Texas in World War II." Texas and Texans made extraordinary contributions to the war effort, both in combat and on the home front, and I thought that the subject was ideal for the Arcadia approach. The Arcadia sales department, accustomed to local promotion, asked that the topic be narrowed to East Texas in World War II. I agreed, defining East Texas to myself as the entire eastern one-third of the state, and permitting myself forays outside of even that vast region into Fredericksburg, for Admiral Chester Nimitz, and into Sweetwater, for Avenger Field, the only all-female training base in the United States. There was a pressing deadline to make the publication slot, but I knew what I wanted to write, and I immediately began field trips to collect the necessary photos. East Texas in World War II was published on time in 2010. 

A year or so later, in a casual conversation with acquisitions editor Kristie Kelly, she mentioned to me that she had long dreamed of producing a book about the range cattle industry in Texas, and would I be interested? Would I - wow! For decades, in books and magazine articles, I've written about cowboys, ranchers, trail drives, cattle towns, range wars, great ranches, and other elements of this iconic Texas story. The Arcadia treatment would allow me to highlight compelling and little-known aspects of this popular adventure.

In an Arcadia book, in order to write about a person or place or event, there must be a representative photo. I have a large collection of photos of cowboys, ranches, etc., but there were things I wanted to write about that required special images. My wife Karon and I drove in search of needed images. At the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, for example, we found examples of artful cowboy lariat knots. On the State Capitol grounds a recently unveiled Tejano statue group offered photo ops of a mounted vaquero. In the Visitor Center at Fort Griffin, a can of condensed milk, invented by Texan Gail Borden, was on display. Cowboys loved "canned cow," and invented a ditty: 

"No tits to pull, 

No hay to pitch.

Just punch a hole 

In the son-of-a-bitch."  

We had a fine time roaming through West Texas on our image hunt, and putting the book together was a deep pleasure. I'm grateful for the opportunity to revisit a favorite subject, and I hope that readers will enjoy Arcadia's version of this colorful Texana heritage. 

Beaumont

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine. 

Beaumont has labeled itself "The Museum Capital of Texas." When I drove to Beaumont recently for a speaking engagement, I arrived early so that I could once again enjoy the city's excellent museums. I stopped first at the Visitor Center, which houses the Babe Didrickson Zaharias Museum. Raised in Beaumont, Babe was a superb all-around athlete: a three-time basketball All-American, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the first star of the women's pro golf tour. Sports fans and parents of daughters will enjoy the free exhibits, and maps and brochures of Beaumont attractions will facilitate a visit to the city.

The Fire Museum of Texas is located in the two-story brick fire station built downtown in 1927. Outside, tourists are greeted by the "World's Largest Fire Hydrant." a 24-foot-tall prop donated by Walt Disney Studios in honor of 101 Dalmatians. My mother grew up in a fire house, because my grandfather was the only paid fireman of the Lampasas Fire Department. I've always enjoyed visiting the Fire Museum of Texas, with its antique vehicles and equipment. 

 A short walk brought me to the Texas Energy Museum. The executive director of this state-of-the-art facility, genial Ryan Smith, acquainted me with the museum's background and layout. It was my first time to visit the Texas Energy Museum, and I was highly impressed and entertained. Next door is the Tyrell Historical Library, which offers thousands of books on Texas history, genealogical research resources, and a fine art collection. Erected in 1903 as the First Baptist Church, the Romanesque-Gothic building is a magnificent example of historical architecture. Across the street is the Jefferson Theater, a vast and ornate movie house built in 1927, and now beautifully restored as a performing arts enter. I was permitted to tour this glorious old theater during a Beaumont meeting of the East Texas Historical Association. But I wanted to photograph the auditorium for this blog, and security personnel graciously granted me access to the interior.

Also downtown is the Edison Museum, which boasts the largest collection of Thomas Edison's inventions west of the Mississippi, as well as interactive exhibits. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas, while not a history museum, is a major cultural center of Beaumont's museum district.

Several blocks west of downtown is the McFaddin-Ward home, a beaux-arts colonial mansion and carriage house built in 1906-1908. Beautifully furnished, the mansion hosts guided tours every half hour. The McFaddin-Ward mansion is a notable attraction in a city that offers many tourist attractions of an historical and cultural nature. Another such attraction is the Gladys City boomtown, an excellent living history museum which I described in my last blog. The history-minded traveler can spend a busy and enjoyable day in The Museum Capital of Texas. 

Tyrell Library

Jefferson Theater

McFaddin-Ward House

Gladys City

Gladys City

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.

The first State Historian
to present in a saloon!

On Friday evening, February 8, I was guest speaker at a meeting of the Webb Society at Lamar University in Beaumont. The Walter Prescott Webb Historical Society was organized at the University of Texas in honor of the legendary UT history professor and author. The history departments at many Texas colleges and universities sponsor Webb Society chapters, which provide attendance and programs at the annual meeting of the Texas State Historical Association. Under the leadership of Dr. Mary Scheer, the Lamar University chapter meets weekly on Wednesdays during the school day. Occasionally the chapter meets on Friday evenings, and these events feature a faculty chili-cookoff and a speaker. These occasions take place in the saloon at Gladys City, an outstanding reproduction of the ramshackle oil boomtown adjacent to Spindletop. There was a fine crowd of students and faculty members, and the chili supper was terrific. After eating I became the first State Historian of Texas to present a program in a saloon!

I arrived at Gladys City early so that I could photograph the boomtown buildings in good light. After looking around the visitor center and gift shop, I stepped back into the past. Gladys City is a living museum which features more than a score of clapboard, false-front buildings. There is a two-story hotel, drug store, post office, livery stable, print shop, surveyor's office, tin shop, photo studio, two-story saloon, blacksmith shop, doctor's office, and other boomtown enterprises, all connected by boardwalks. There are wooden oil derricks, along with the nearby Lucas Gusher Monument, a towering granite monument which originally stood at the Spindletop gusher site, about a mile south of today's Gladys City replica. 

Early Spanish explorers used seepage from oil springs near Sabine Pass as caulking for their sailing craft. A few scattered oil wells were drilled in Texas, starting with a producing well near Melrose in 1866. Thirty years later the growing town of Corsicana tried to expand its water supply by drilling wells. Instead of water the wells produced oil, and Corsicana developed the first oil field and oil refinery west of the Mississippi River. 

Meanwhile, promoter Patillo Higgins insisted that there was oil beneath the "Big Hill" (20 feet high!) about three miles south of Beaumont. A.F. Lucas, an expert on salt domes, hired Alfred and James Hamil - brothers who had drilled the Corsicana water/oil wells - to drill for oil at the Big Hill. Ten days into the 20th century, on January 10, 1901, the Lucas Gusher came in, and the Spindletop Field soon was producing 90,000 barrels of oil a day. Patillo Higgins already had platted a townsite nearby, naming it after a young lady in Beaumont, Gladys Bingham. Today the Gladys City replica, with its clapboard buildings and thousands of artifacts, powerfully evokes the atmosphere of an earlier time. Walking the boardwalks and strolling in and out of the buildings, it is easy to feel the ghosts of a century and more ago.

The Lucas Gusher Monument

 For more information: www.gladyscity.weebly.com

Black History Month

"Lone Star Historian" is a blog about the travels and activities of the State Historian of Texas. Bill O'Neal was appointed to a two-year term by Gov. Rick Perry on August 22, 2012, at an impressive ceremony in the State Capitol. Bill is headquartered at Panola College (www.panola.edu) in Carthage, where he has taught since 1970. For more than 20 years Bill conducted the state's first Traveling Texas History class, a three-hour credit course which featured a 2,100-mile itinerary. In 2000 he was awarded a Piper Professorship, and in 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wild West Historical Association. Bill has published almost 40 books, half about Texas history subjects, and in 2007 he was named Best Living Non-Fiction Writer by True West Magazine.   

During the first week of February, I traveled to Longview to visit the Black History Month exhibit in the Gregg County Historical Museum.  This fine museum is housed in a handsome 1910 bank building which has its own historical marker. The large entry gallery boasts a superb permanent exhibit about Longview and Gregg County. Other exhibits are alternated in an even larger gallery, which sometimes is equipped with chairs and can be converted into an auditorium for history programs. I've had the pleasure of speaking in this venue on a couple of occasions. 

Museum docent Arlene Roberts

This year's February exhibit is: "Black History: African Americans in Public Service." Miscellaneous displays include a nice collection of African American dolls. But the focus of the exhibit is African American citizens who are conscientious public servants in Gregg County. This exhibit hall features numerous photos and explanatory captions of men and women who are devoted citizens of Longview and surrounding communities. 

One of several portrait displays of Gregg County public servants

Sgt. Vince Williams

Chief Wilbert Williams

Vince Williams is a veteran East Texas police officer, who currently is a sergeant on the Marshall Police Department. Vince provides security for the Gregg County Museum: every evening at 10 o'clock, he checks the museum building, and he is a reliable presence at museum events. Wilbert Williams is a retired chief of the Longview Fire Department. Walter Derrick was the first African American coach at Gladewater High School. He was the first African American Mayor of Gladewater, and he has served 22 consecutive years as a member of the Gladewater City Council. 

Mayor Walter Derrick 

A number of those exhibited were military veterans. I was reminded of Doris Miller from Waco, one of the first African American heroes of World War II. Soon after Eakin Press moved from Austin to Waco, the director of the firm asked me to write a short biography of Miller. Miller joined the U.S. Navy before the nation entered World War II. At Pearl Harbor Miller was aboard the U.S.S. West Virginia. As the stricken battleship was sinking, Miller carried his mortally wounded captain to a less exposed position, then manned a machine gun. Miller became the first African American awarded the Navy Cross. Sadly, he went down with his next ship, the escort carrier Liscombe bay, in 1943. There are numerous memorials to Miller in Waco, and I never pass through the city - nor do I experience Black History Month - without thinking of this brave Texan. 

For more information: www.gregghistorical.org