Stamford, Texas, Jones & Haskell Counties. (original) (raw)
Main street (Swenson Avenue) buildings in Stamford.
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
History in a Pecan Shell
A Texas Central Railroad executive named the town after hometown in Connecticut. The town dates from 1899 when a railroad boxcar was put on a siding and served as the community�s first post office. In 10 short years the town swelled to almost 4,000 people.
Stamford�s importance was cemented in place by a flour mill that was in operation from 1906 until it burned in the mid 1940s.
Stamford had a railroad roundhouse and shops as well as a cottonseed oil refinery, brick yards and a foundry.
In 1907 the Methodist church opened the Stamford Collegiate Institution (which later became Stamford College). After a fire in 1918 and decreased enrollment due to WWI, the college closed in 1920 as McMurry College was opening in Abilene.
During WWII a private school for military pilots opened at Arledge Field. The town has been hosting The Texas Cowboy Reunion every 4th of July since 1930.
Rodeos are held just west of town adjacent to the Swenson Ranch. The Cowboy Country Museum was founded in the 1970s.
The population of Stamford has remained over 4,000 from the 40s through the 80s when it entered a slight decline. It fell to 3,817 for 1990 and then to 3,124 for the 2010 census.
The Texas Cowboy Reunion:
From Old-time Cowboy by Mike Cox
"When the Baylor County cowboy reunion played out is not known, but the concept calved again in 1930. Despite the ongoing Great Depression, 13 businessmen at Stamford (which is on the border of Haskell and Jones counties) met to talk about organizing an event calculated to cheer people up -- and maybe stimulate the ringing of local cash registers.
Given that their town lay near two large ranches, those civic leaders decided to put on a rodeo called the Texas Cowboy Reunion. In addition to giving dispirited Texans something to whoop and holler about, the event would help preserve the state's cowboy heritage. Whether the first cowboy reunion in 1896 led to the later reunion can only be speculated on, but some if not all of those organizers would have been old enough to remember the pioneer cowboy reunion in Baylor County.
Interestingly, in chartering the Texas Cowboy Reunion Old-Timers Association, the Stamford men stipulated that members had to have worked on a ranch prior to 1895 and be at least 55 years old. Now, the only requirement is that a member has to have cowboyed and be 45 or older.
The annual gathering continued even during World War II and is still held for three days every summer around July 4." Read full article
Stamford, Texas Landmarks & Attractions:
The St. John's Methodist Church, built in 1910, has a one-hundred foot tower and was, for many years, the tallest church between El Paso and Dallas.
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
Another view of the St. John's Methodist Church in Stamford
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2004
The First Baptist Church on Swenson Avenue was built between 1908 and 1909.
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
The Swenson Land & Cattle Co. established its headquarters in Stamford in 1927.
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
More Stamford main street scene
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
The MacKenzie Trail Monument is about 1.5 miles north of Stamford at the intersection of US277 and SH6, just across the Haskell County line. - Barclay Gibson
Mackenzie Trail by Clay Coppedge
"The best of what's left of the Mackenzie Trail today is probably on private property. You're near it when you're at the intersection of U.S. 277 and Texas 6 in , where a monument tells you the trail ran a little north of there. The trail also ran between Dickens and Spur, so when you're on parts of U.S. Highway 82 from Dickens to Lubbock you're probably following Mackenzie's path pretty closely." - Read full article
Stamford, Texas Chronicles:
From "Get Along Little Turkeys..." by Mike Cox
"... No matter that it's been largely forgotten, herding large flocks of turkeys from Point A to Point B once was as much a part of the wild west as gold rushes, gambling and gunfights. The reason was the lack of refrigeration. Meat only stayed fresh on the hoof--or scaly four-toed feet. With large trucks yet to be invented, and assuming no rail service, the only way to get large numbers of turkeys from the farm to the dinner table was for mounted men to herd them.
Though it probably happened earlier, the first known Texas turkey drive took place around 1907, when pioneer Stamford resident R.M. Dickenson paid to have 500 turkeys driven 18 miles from Haskell to Stamford. The drive didn't work out too well..." Read full article
Buena Vista Home 1928 Neon Sign
Jimmy Dobson Photo, July 2017
Stamford, Texas Vintage Images:
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