Texas Historical Marker #00166
Original Townsite of Andrews. Founded when Andrews County was organized in 1910, on land owned by Robert Madison Means (b. 1878). With his father, J. S. Means, "Bob" Means began homesteading here in 1899 and organized an abstract company in 1909. When Andrews battled Shafter City to acquire county seat, Means donated lots to local cowboys so they could vote; helped win election. Married Atwood Wilder, 1910; was county clerk, 1918-1922; civic leader throughout life. Town has grown through many gifts of real estate and funds from Means, who retired after finding oil on his land in 1934. (1970) #166
700 W. Broadway (SH 176), Andrews, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00167
Andrews County. Created August 21, 1876, organized May 11, 1910. Named for Richard Andrews killed at the Battle of Concepcion, October 28, 1835, the first man to fall in the Texas revolution. County seat, Andrews. #167
?, Andrews, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00168
Andrews County Discovery Well. C. E. Ogden No. 1, producing 200 barrels a day from San Andres lime formation was brought in, Dec. 1929, by Deep Rock Oil Co.--the Andrews County discovery well and first of 730 wells in Fuhrman-Masco oil field. Bought, Feb. 1932, by Tripplehorn brothers, of Fort Worth. Has now pumped for more than 35 years. Since 1956, Andrews has been top producing county in Texas and U. S. Fuhrman-Masco field has produced 55 million barrels of oil--its contribution to total of more than a billion barrels for Andrews County in May, 1965. (1965) #168
?, Andrews, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00170
Anneville School. Located on 3-acres donated in 1883 by E. M. Curtner, N. E. Young, P. H. and N. C. Neal for a cemetery, school, and church. First school (a 2-story building) was 30 yards west of cemetery. First church was about 300 yards south of the cemetery. About 1913 a new school was erected on original school site. In 1930 the school district consolidated with Boyd District. The structure was then used as a church until it burned, 1959. Anneville, one-mile south, had 2 stores, a post office, gin, gristmill, and other businesses. It was probably named in honor of Mrs. Annie Davis, early settler. #170
CR 4371, SW of Decatur, Decatur, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00171
Annie Riggs Hotel. Fort Stockton's first hotel of significance. Built 1900. Adobe, with "gingerbread" trim. Large verandas, dining room, parlors, guest rooms. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966. #171
301 S Main, Fort Stockton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00172
Ansgar Evangelical Lutheran Church and Cemetery. The Danish Folk Society obtained a land option from the Texas Land and Cattle Company and helped 93 Danish families from the midwest establish the Danevang Cooperative Settlement here in the early 1890s. The settlers, strong adherents of the Lutheran religion, organized an evangelical Lutheran congregation in 1895 with the help of the Rev. F. L. Grundtvig. Worship services were first held in the home of Mads and Maren Andersen. Early pastors came from Denmark and held services in the Danish language. The congregation erected a meeting hall at this site in 1895. A sanctuary made of native pine and cypress was erected here in 1909. A painting of St. Ansgar baptizing a child was placed inside the new church building and a 1700-pound bell, which could be heard four to five miles away, was placed in the church steeple. The sanctuary was destroyed in a 1945 storm and replaced with an army chapel which the congregation reassembled at this site. The first recorded interment was that of Maren Andersen in 1895. The cemetery, maintained by a board established in 1965, contains three former pastors and veterans of wars ranging from the Civil War to World War II among its more than 500 burials. (1994) #172
CR 426, Danevang, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00173
Anson Opera House. Built 1907 by A.W . Johnson and Dr. D. Williams, with Thomas Vetch, contractor. House was site for diverse programs: stock company and Chautaugua productions such as "East Lynn" and "The Klansman" (for which Sheriff Tom Hudson's horse was borrowed and led on stage); "Perils of Pauline" and other silent moving pictures; a state championship wrestling match in era of local pugilist Boomer Moore; and Anson High School's first (1909) graduation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1963 #173
1120 11th St., Anson, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00174
Antelope Cemetery. Established as early as 1882 (date of the oldest tombstone). Site was sold to Antelope Methodist Church in 1890 by Texas Land & Mortgage Company. The church deeded tract to the Antelope Cemetery Association in 1954. W. R. Hill gave an additional 2-acre tract in 1955. (1969) #174
?, Antelope, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00175
Antelope United Methodist Church. The Rev. Isaac Newton Crutchfield organized this congregation in 1879 as the Antelope Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Charter members were Mollie Edwards, James and Sarah Nicholas, and W. L. Eliza, and Emma Patton. A Sunday School program was established as early as 1887. Materials for the church building were hauled by wagon from the nearest railheads in Graham and Henrietta. The structure was shared with the local Baptist congregation until their own sanctuary was completed. (1985) #175
?, Antelope, TX, United States
Subjects
Texas Historical Marker #00176
Anvil Park Ranch. Begun 1891 by blacksmith J. C. Studer who came from Kansas in 1886. His occupation inspired Anvil brand and name of ranch. Ran only purebred cattle after 1919. Drew top cattle buyers. Spread grew from two sections to 5,000 acres. Famous for annual professional rodeo 1918 to 1941. Attracted top cowboys from throughout nation. Many stars of rodeo world started here. As many as 8,000 visitors viewed 3-day performances. Ranch was sold 1951 to Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission for game breeding purposes. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967. #176
?, Canadian, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00177
Aqueduct. Built by the Franciscan friars in 1731, the stone aqueduct was used to carry the water from the San Antonio River to irrigate the lands in the vicinity of Mission San Francisco de la Espada. The aqueduct is still in an excellent state of preservation and still in use after more than 200 years. The massive round arches that span the Piedras Pintas Creek, though only a few feet high, resemble the arches of the Roman aqueducts built by the Caesars. It is only structure of its kind in this locally that remains today. It is said to be the only aqueduct of its kind in the United States. A park has been developed by the San Antonio Conservation Society to provide a proper setting for this small monument to the faith and ingenuity of man. A stone house on the property is known to date from the Spanish era. #177
?, San Antonio, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00178
Aranama College. Named for 18th century Indian converts of Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga. A men's college. Founded 1852 by Western Presbytery of Texas. Used buildings of old mission plus funds given by Goliad. Taught Latin, Greek, geography, surveying, bookkeeping, writing, reading, elementary and higher mathematics, English grammar and orthography. Closed--like most of Texas' 25 colleges--after the Civil War began (1861) and most students joined the Confederate Army. Had its buildings wrecked in the great storm of 1886. (1965) #178
?, Goliad, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00179
Aransas County. Created out of the coastal portion of Refugio County in 1871, Aransas County is the second smallest county in Texas. Within its boundaries are three bays of the Gulf of Mexico: Copano, St. Charles, and Aransas. The area was the site of early Indian inhabitation and Spanish exploration, as well as Anglo colonization efforts of the 1830s and 1840s. Aransas County communities are supported by such industries as fishing, agriculture, off-shore oil production, bird watching, and tourism. The county is home to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1937. (1990) #179
301 N. Live Oak, Rockport, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00180
Aransas County. Created September 18, 1871 from Refugio County, organized in 1871 with Rockport as the county seat. Named for the river Nuestra Senora de Aranzazu. (1936) #180
?, Rockport, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00181
Bolivar Point. In 1815 Colonel Henry Perry established a military camp here as part of a plan to invade Spanish Texas. In 1816 Galveston-based privateer Louis-Michel de Aury forced shiploads of captured African Slaves to walk from this point to New Orleans along old Indian Trails. Aury is credited with naming the point after South American liberator Simon Bolivar. While commanding a filibuster to win Texas independence, James Long established Fort Las Casas on Bolivar Point in 1820-21. His wife, Jane Herbert (Wilkinson), gave birth to a daughter, Mary James, in December 1821 at the fort. Mary James Long is often referred to as the first Anglo child born in Texas. A lighthouse, erected here by the Federal government in 1852 and later dismantled by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, was rebuilt after the war. Many area residents sought shelter within the lighthouse during the damaging storms of 1900 and 1915. The Gulf and Interstate Railroad was completed from Beaumont to Bolivar Point in 1896. A boon to peninsula farmers, the railroad was destroyed in the 1900 storm, then rebuilt in 1903. Ferry service, purchased by the Texas Highway Department in 1933, continues to provide free public access to Galveston Island. (1995) #181
?, Port Bolivar, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00182
Gail Borden, Jr.. Site of the home 1837-1851, of Gail Borden, Jr. pioneer surveyor, newspaper editor and inventor of a process for condensing milk, which he discovered while living here in 1840. Born November 9, 1801. Died September 2, 1874. #182
?, Galveston, TX, United States
Subjects
Texas Historical Marker #00183
Site of Aransas Hotel. Built in 1889 by civic leader and politician John H. Traylor, the Aransas Hotel covered this city block. The three-story structure, a major tourist attraction in Rockport, had about 100 rooms and a massive open dining room with a 200 person capacity. Guests were entertained by orchestras, plays, a mounted bird display, and beach facilities. They could also cruise in Traylor's yacht, or tour in surreys from the livery stable. Remodeled and named the Del Mar in the mid-1890s, it was sold in 1910. Deteriorated by 1906 and unused during World War I, the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1919. (1996) #183
?, Rockport, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00184
Aransas Pass Light Station. Construction of 67-foot tower was started in 1855. The French lens was lighted in 1856, to mark natural Gulf pass to Aransas and Corpus Christi Bays by way of Lydia Ann Channel -- named for the daughter of the first keeper. During Civil War, Confederates (in 1863) buried lens for safety before damaging tower to avert use of light by Federal forces. The auxiliary structures were rebuilt after 1919 hurricane. One of original Texas stations of U.S. Lighthouse Service (merged into the Coast Guard in 1939), this light was decommissioned in 1952 after pass shifted southward. (1973) INCISE ON BASE: Lighthouse not open to public. INCISE ON BACK OF MARKER: Restored in 1972 by Charles C. Butt #184
On Harbor Island, 2 mi. NE of east end of island, private and accessible only by boat, Port Aransas, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00185
Aransas Pass, C.S.A.. Aransas Pass, the natural inlet (3 miles east) to Aransas Bay, separates San Jose and Mustang Islands. These islands are part of a chain of barrier islands which extend along the entire length of Texas' Coastal Mainland. At the beginning of the civil war countless small vessels transported confederate supplies up and down the Texas and northern Mexican Coast virtually undisturbed by federal naval forces. Cotton destined for foreign markets moved freely through Aransas Pass. By early 1861 a union blockade had halted trafficking by confederate vessels beyond the barrier islands. However, confederate supplies inside the barrier chain continued and inlets such as Aransas Pass became sites of increasingly strategic military value. The Aransas Pass area came under the control of Federal Captain J.W. Kittredge's Naval Forces until his capture in September 1862. In November 1863 a massive federal force gained control of the south Texas Coast from the Rio Grande to Matagorda Bay. Eventually, Federal Forces lost control of the mainland behind Aransas Pass and in June 1864 withdrew from the area. Afterward, confederate ships successfully eluded the federal blockade and delivered vital supplies to the confederacy by way of Aransas Pass. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995. #185
SH 361 and Ferry Landing in Roberts Point Park, Port Aransas, TX, United States