Grayson County; an illustrated history of Grayson County, Texas. Page: 32
180 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SIX YOKES OF OXEN pulling three wagons loaded with hides
in early-day Whitesboro. The tallest building appears to be the
Westview Inn. Just beyond the log house on the left, the portico
of Doctor Huff's house can barely be seen.the site of the present lodge building owned jointly by
Masons and Odd Fellows.
The latter lodge, known as the B. F. Christian
Lodge, No. 102, I.O.O.F., was organized on Dec. 11,
1866. It received its charter on February 6, 1869.
Among its charter members were B. F. Christian, W. H.
Trollinger, S. B. Savage, A. B. White, Asa Davis, T. W.
Graham, T. J. Dove, J. R. Diamond, and Jacob Myers.
Before the war broke out, young Doctor Huff and
his family had moved to Whitesboro from Clinton,
Missouri. After his service in the Confederate army,
Huff returned home to build a suitable residence to
replace a log house and medical office that had stood
on the site later to be occupied by the White Hotel. The
new house was considered remarkable for its luxury
and took two years to build. Cedar timbers from the
Red River and pine carted painfully all the way from
Jefferson were carefully seasoned before they were put
to use. The soundness of building techniques used made
the structure desirable after styles had changed and the
old house was considered too old-fashioned. It was
therefore moved to the adjoining lot and became a part
of the lower floor of the G. T. Summy house.
The builder employed by Huff was so impressed
with the house he had built that a year or so later, when
he was employed to build the Trollinger house, he used
the same plan. The lines of this house even today are
very handsome, and the building deserves to be preserved
as perhaps the sole surviving example in this area
of a true Greek revival house.
What business houses existed in the community by
the end of the 1860's would be difficult to record accurately;
but the vivid accounts of many who in later
years recalled the early days present the picture of a
thriving frontier town. The main street was narrow,
being only fifty feet wide, and normally congested with
traffic. The stage coach and the Indians in native dress32
must have given the village much the appearance of
the western settlement stylized in a later day by cowboy
fiction and films. Nearly all memoirs of the period refer
to a number of saloons which attracted the Indian
and a rough element of whites. Mrs. Lillie Jane Kelly,
daughter of Dr. Huff, recalled that "Women folks were
forbidden to get out on Saturday nights because there
was so much shooting. Men were often shot in the
streets."
A new era began with the incorporation of Whitesboro
on June 2, 1873. The corporation limits of the
town were set to include one square mile of land so
located as to make the crossing of Main Street and
Union Street approximately the center of town. More
specifically, the landmark in the charter was L. Kelley's
store. Other business houses that are remembered as
belonging to the early days of incorporation were
Schneider and its
progress has been constant from early days.
But one area of settlement remains to be discussed
before the advent of rail transportation. This is the area
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An illustrated history of Grayson County, Texas with numerous photographs and a pioneer name index (p. 120).
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Landrum, Graham. Grayson County; an illustrated history of Grayson County, Texas., book, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24647/m1/36/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.