Texas Historical Marker #09886
Blind Lemon Jefferson. Born near Wortham. As a young street musician, played a guitar and sang spirituals and blues. Composed many of his songs, and had a distinctive vocal style. From Dallas' Deep Ellum district went to Chicago in 1920's with a talent scout; made 79 great jazz and blues recordings. One of America's outstanding original musicians, influenced Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Bessie Smith, and other great artists. #9886
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09853
Old Judge Allegre House. Built about 1895 by Warren Allegre, who ran a drugstore nearby. Born in 1849, he came to this town in 1869. Here he gave music lessons and dispensed legal advice. Was later justice of the peace and mayor. This typical Victorian house has foundations and fireplaces of handmade brick. Stair rail and some woodwork are handcarved; 2 rooms are octagonal. Present owners, Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Beaver, restored home, 1968. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969 #9853
109 N. First St., Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09858
The Rev. G. W. Bounds. (January 25, 1854 - November 13, 1944) Born in Hickory, Miss. Family came to Texas, 1864. Preached his first sermon in 1880. Was ordained in 1890. Helped organize and was charter member of the Wortham Methodist Church. Instrumental in organizing area churches and serving their people. Beloved for good works. #9858
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09908
United Methodist Church of Wortham. Congregation organized in 1867 by the Rev. J. Hill Bounds, an immigrant from Mississippi who brought his family to Texas by ox-wagon in 1865. At first this church, as well as others in Wortham, shared a two-story building with the local Masonic Lodge. T. A. Bounds (son of J. Hill Bounds) donated this present, centrally located site. Bishop Kenneth Copeland (born 1912) of the Texas Conference joined this church as a boy, and at 17 held a revival here. A 1930s revival leader was Bishop John C. Broomfield. Present edifice was built 1925. #9908
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09889
Mrs. Lucy Haggard Longbotham. (1793-1873) One of nine children of the Rev. Henry Haggard, Baptist minister, and his wife Dorothy (Randolph), both natives of Virginia. Born in U. S. Territory south of the Ohio River (now Tennessee), Lucy Haggard moved to Alabama Territory about 1814. There, in 1820, she married Robert Brough Longbotham. In her lifetime, she lived under nine territorial, national, and state flags. She was the mother of nine children. #9889
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09890
Robert B. Longbotham. (Dec. 29, 1797 - Aug. 6, 1883) Born in Sunderland, England. Came to America as carpenter's apprentice on a ship. Married Lucy Haggard, 1820, in Alabama. Came to Texas, 1832. Obtained land grant from Mexico, 1835. In 1836 fought in Texas Revolution and in 1839 in Indian wars. In 1848 located here. Township was named for him until post office was renamed Wortham in 1874. Descendants prominent in texas. Longbotham Lodge No. 428, A.F. & A.M. named in his honor. #9890
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09915
The Wortham Oil Boom. The city of Wortham rejected a well drilled by C. L. Witherspoon in 1912 when it produced gas, not water. However, oil and gas wells in 1919-23 gave prosperity to neighbors north and south, and petroleum exploration began here. Discovery well for the Wortham Field, Roy Simmons No. 1 (1 mi. S), came in as a gusher on Nov. 27, 1924. Within three weeks over 300 drilling rigs were in the field. 3,509,768 barrels of oil were produced in Jan. 1925; total for the year was 16,838,150 barrels. Wasteful drilling slowed yield to 3,000 barrels a day by Sept. 1927, and the boom was concluded. #9915
?, Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09916
Wortham Schools. The first recorded school in the town of Wortham was a two-story frame structure built in the 1870s by the Masonic Lodge and local Methodist church. The Masons provided supplies and textbooks; ministers served as teachers. The first public school opened in 1883 in a one-room building; Professor Miller and Mrs. Thyrsia Garrison served as the first teachers. A two-story frame building was built in 1890, and in 1891 Wortham became the first independent school district in Freestone County. In 1902 the school building was destroyed and replaced by a brick structure with a bell tower. New facilities were built in 1922 to accommodate increased enrollment. The discovery of oil around Wortham in 1924 caused the town of 1,000 to swell to 20,000 almost overnight. The impact on the school was immediate; one classroom of 18 pupils increased to 84 in a four-day period. Through the years several rural community schools were annexed to and consolidated with the Wortham school system. In 1966 the F. W. Wheeler School for African American students merged with the main Wortham schools. Buildings were renovated and new structures were added to serve the district. (1997) #9916
200 S. 4th St., Wortham, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #09914
City of Wortham. Situated on grant given 1834 by Mexico to Robert B. Longbotham (1797-1883), a Texas colonist from England who settled here in 1839. Years later, in 1871, when Houston & Texas Central Railway was planned through the area, R. B. Longbotham sold right of way through his land for token sum of $5, and townsite was bought from him by investors. Although town was platted as "Tehuacana", post office was established Nov. 10, 1871, as Long Bottom, for original landowner. In 1874 name again changed, to honor Col. Luther Rice Wortham, a merchant instrumental in securing railway for area. Wortham was incorporated in 1910, but remained a modest market town until the 1920s, when rumors of oil attracted such prospectors as hotel man Conrad Hilton, who soon left when wells yielded salt water. A Thanksgiving Day gusher in 1924 opened the boom. Population leaped from 1,000 to over 30,000 at once. Law enforcement was impossible, housing inadequate, but in time the town met its obligations. Churches and schools prospered. The municipal band was the official band of 1926 United Confederate Verterans' Convention in Birmingham, Ala. Intensive drilling had ended the boom by late 1927. In 1972 a few wells are still pumping, and new horizons are being explored. #9914
?, Wortham, TX, United States