Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Newcastle isn’t on the way to anywhere, really. You don't stumble upon it by accident. But in the late 1800s, it was a crucial hub. Coal, you see, was king, and Newcastle, Texas, built its bones on it. The geography played its part — sitting up high at nearly 1,200 feet, the town commands a view of the plains that stretches forever. That elevation also meant easier access to the coal seams that drew people in. For a time, it was a boomtown, supplying fuel to a growing region. They even named it after the original Newcastle, back in England, a nod to its industrial aspirations. Of course, the coal eventually played out, and the Depression hit hard, shrinking the town. But the land endures. Ranching and farming took root, and that's what sustains the place today. The Brazos River watershed keeps the water flowing, feeding the cattle and crops. You might hear whispers of lost outlaw loot buried somewhere near the old mines, a romantic notion that adds a little color to the landscape. But what really draws folks back – or keeps them here – is something deeper. Some will tell you it's the wide-open spaces, others might mention the legendary six-man football team, a source of immense local pride.

10.7 mi away

Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Newcastle sprang up from the prairie in the late 1800s, a direct result of the black gold found beneath our feet. Coal mining was everything then, the lifeblood that turned this patch of rolling plains into a vital supply town. You can still imagine the bustle, the shouts echoing around the mine shafts, the trains hauling coal out across the landscape. Legend even whispers of outlaw gangs stashing their loot in the abandoned mines, a secret treasure still waiting to be found somewhere in the shadows. Standing up here at 1,165 feet, you can see for miles, and for a while, all that land was Newcastle’s domain. Of course, times change. The coal boom faded, and the Great Depression hit hard, drawing folks away. But Newcastle’s grit never disappeared. Ranching and farming, always part of the story here thanks to the Brazos River watershed, took over again. And something about this place breeds a certain kind of spirit. And every Friday night, you can feel the whole town holding its breath as our six-man football team takes the field, chasing another state championship. Even the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl win back in '96 felt a little like a Newcastle victory, a reminder that even a small town can dream big.

10.7 mi away

Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Newcastle, Texas, is a place where the wind whispers stories of coal dust and hard work across the high plains. Standing at 1,165 feet, you can see the Brazos River watershed shaping the land, a landscape that has always demanded resilience.

10.7 mi away

Young County Jail

1878

(1878-1921) This jail was built with two stories in 1878. The jailer lived downstairs, and above were two cells--one with a steel cage for maximum security. There were many dramatic jailbreaks, with lives lost on both sides of the law. In 1881, killer Jack Post, the only man legally hanged in this county, rode from the jail astride his coffin. The five Marlow brothers broke out in 1888, causing a major shootout and manhunt. The property was phased out as a jail in 1921, and saw many changes in use and appearance before being bought by Kelley B. King in 1975.

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Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

1877

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the United States, was launched at Graham, Texas, on February 15, 1877, under the name Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas. Cattlemen in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the Indian Territory were invited to join. The call for the initial meeting was made in the fall of 1876 by a few leading cattlemen, among whom were James C. Loving and C. C. Slaughter . The immediate objective was to systematize the "spring work" and to curb cattle rustling . Col. C. L. (Kit) Carter was made chairman of the organizational meeting, which was held at the courthouse in Graham (rather than under an oak tree, as subsequent legend had it). Among the ranchers present were John Nicholas Simpson, Samuel Burk Burnett , and Joseph Graham. Carter was elected president of the association, a position he held until 1888 except for one year, when poor health intervened. Loving was elected secretary and was reelected each year until 1902. Such strong measures against cattle thieves were proposed at the original meeting that some present did not take membership for fear of retaliation by the lawless element. The association was incorporated in 1882. That year the system of assessment "per head" of cattle was adopted; it is still in force. In 1883 the inspection system was inaugurated. Inspectors were eventually located along the trails, at shipping points, and at terminal markets. This practice resulted in recovering many cattle that by accident or design got into herds in which they did not belong. The protection offered by this system drew small and large operators into the association fold, including Robert Justus Kleberg of the King Ranch and the Kokernots of West Texas. Other measures for discouraging theft included granting rewards to those who identified persons who had stolen cattle or horses from association members (payable after conviction). In addition, from 1893 to the mid-twentieth century the association employed a staff attorney to assist with the prosecution of those charged with theft, as well as with other matters. The secretary's office remained at Loving's ranch until 1884, when it was moved to Jacksboro. In 1883 the association listed 730,000 cattle, and by 1895 its members reported 1,385,303 head. By 1893 the distribution of its membership had spread to such an extent that the name was changed to Cattle Raisers Association of Texas. The present name was adopted in 1921, when the organization merged with the only other cattlemen's group remaining in Texas, the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockman's Association, which had been founded in 1880. In 1945 membership stood at 6,000 and represented 3,500,000 cattle. Rains in the spring of 1957 brought an end to one of the Southwest's most severe and widespread droughts and resulted in a resurgence of membership, which reached a new high of 13,000. In the late 1950s the association's officers went to Florida to observe the results of screwworm eradication in the Southeast and to help set in motion a series of events that resulted in screwworm eradication in the Southwest. The program, financed in the beginning largely from voluntary contributions by the stock industry, was perhaps of more benefit to livestock producers than any other program in the twentieth century. Working through and with the Southwest Animal Health Research Foundation and government agencies, the association played a major role in the program, which brought about an end to the pest through release of millions of radioactive-sterilized screwworm flies. In 1961 the association recognized the growing importance of cattle feeding in the Southwest by establishing the cattle feeders division, and that same year the association established award programs for Four-H members and Future Farmers of America who had made distinguished records in livestock production and management. In little more than a decade the Southwest had bec

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Third County Courthouse, Site of

1856

Young County was organized in 1856 with Belknap designated as county seat. After retreat of frontier troops during Civil War, county records were moved to Jacksboro 1865 during renewed Indian trouble. County was reorganized 1874 with Graham, county seat. Courthouse (of which only archway remains) was built 1884. Native sandstone for the two-story structure was quarried east of Graham by Irish workers. N. J. Rosenquist, a native of Sweden and builder of Texas courthouses, was chief stonemason. Building had two halls in form of Greek cross--a plan that followed points of the compass. (Archway belonged to east hall.) Officials at the time of construction were: County Judge, R. F.Arnold; Treasurer, J. W. Wadley; County Clerk, C. O. Joline; Tax Assessor, J. G. Hill; County Attorney, J. A. Woolfolk; Sheriff, W. T. Bunger; County Commissioners, W. C. Blakey, J. J. Hughes, J. . Mercer and H. D. Williams. Courthouse was razed in 1932 after completion of present structure. A. A. Morrison, fire marshal, led efforts to preserve historic archway during street improvements in 1936. During its existence, this Courthouse witnessed and preserved the records of many historic events of Young County.

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Ryus Store Building

1879

Druggist Joseph E. Ryus (1848-1909) built this structure of locally made bricks in 1879 after his frame store on this lot burned. The large room above Ryus's drugstore served as Judge Andrew P. McCormick's first courtroom in 1879 when Graham was named site of a federal district court, which later moved to Abilene. Since purchasing the building in 1892, Knights of Pythias Corinthian Lodge No. 143 has used the upper floor as a meeting hall. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974

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Graham, Edwin Smith

1872

Edwin Smith Graham, a pioneer and founder of Graham, the son of Gen. Robert and Roxana (Winchell) Graham, was born on February 15, 1831, in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his younger brother, Gustavus Adolphus, received their early schooling in Rockhaven and became involved with their father's cotton business and the development of the Glasco oilfield in Kentucky. Edwin married Addie Mary Kintner in 1865. They had five children. After the Civil War the Graham brothers became affiliated with the Texas Emigration and Land Company of Louisville. During a prospecting trip to Texas they bought from the Peters colony 125,000 acres of land in Young County at seventeen cents an acre. They also purchased Capt. A. B. Gant's salt works on Salt Creek for $5,000 and invested another $2,000 in new equipment. In 1872 they established the town of Graham and set up the Graham Land Office. Subsequently they became active in the reorganization of Young County and the designation of the town named for them as its seat. Although the salt plant produced and bagged some 2,500 pounds of salt daily, the cost of exporting it proved more expensive than the product itself; after a few years the plant was closed, and the Graham brothers devoted their efforts to real estate and civic improvements. Throughout the 1870s they divided their time between Texas and their families back north, but in 1879, with the town flourishing, they moved their wives and children to Graham permanently. Edwin and Addie lived there until 1891, then moved to Spokane, Washington, where Graham died on May 7, 1899. His body was brought back to Graham for burial. Addie moved back to Graham and became a leading civic booster and philanthropist. In 1921, with her son Malcolm, she set up the Graham Foundation as a continuing fund for the city's growth and improvement; before she died in 1930 she was responsible for the establishment of the Eden Home for the aged.

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Lester, William Lewis

1932

William Lewis Lester, painter and art teacher, son of John Lewis and Mildred Matilda (Padgett) Lester, was born in Graham, Texas, on August 20, 1910. He had nine sisters. He moved to Dallas with his family in 1924 and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School there in 1929. He then studied at the Dallas Art Institute with Thomas M. Stell, Jr. , and Olin H. Travis , while associating with other young artists, including Alexandre Hogue , Jerry Bywaters , Otis M. Dozier , Everett Spruce, and Perry Nichols , among others. ( see DALLAS NINE.) He was an active member of the Dallas Artists League beginning with its formation in 1932. During the Great Depression era, the members formed a nucleus of artists who led in the development of a Texas Regionalist style. At the time, Dallas was one of the strongest and most dynamic centers of the regional art movement in the country. In 1938 many of the Dallas artists, including Lester, formed the Lone Star Printmakers. For the next four years they created and exhibited their lithographic prints. The impetus for this activity for these young, financially poor artists was the chance to explore a new medium and to display their work without incurring the higher costs associated with crating, shipping, and insuring paintings and sculpture. Also in 1938 Lester married Sylvia Louise Bachrach of Dallas; they were married for fifty-three years and had two children. Lester spent two summers in the early 1930s painting at Olin Travis's cabin in rural Arkansas. He served as a staff artist with the Civilian Conservation Corps at Palo Duro Canyon and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1934-35. During the latter part of the 1930s, he earned his livelihood as a draftsman with Texas Power and Light in Dallas while he continued to paint. From 1940 to 1942 he taught at the school of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (later the Dallas Museum of Art ). Lester joined the faculty of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin in 1942 and taught there until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1972. He served as chairman of the art department from 1952 to 1954. During the summers of 1949 and 1950, he was guest professor at Sul Ross College in Alpine, Texas. William Lester died November 27, 1991, in Austin. The Dallas movement in which Lester played a central role reflected the distinct influence of the local environment. The artists' paintings characteristically projected an intensely subjective approach to the landscapes and other subject matter around them within an American Scene and surrealist aesthetic. Their work revealed an interest in ideas and in distinct forms rather than in illustration. They rejected imitations of established artistic styles, such as impressionistic treatments of nature, and renditions of conventional local subjects, such as bluebonnet fields. For a time, Lester's subject matter remained allied with the American Scene movement, but his treatment became looser and more abstract. His paintings of natural scenes, buildings, and people became very personalized and gestural. Color became more vibrant and central to his work, as did his emphasis on strong composition. His admiration of certain Mexican artworks, particularly the striking combinations of brilliant color by Rufino Tamayo, influenced his own use of color from the mid-1950s onward. By the mid-1960s many of his paintings tended toward complete abstraction. Lester exhibited widely and achieved considerable recognition during his career. He first gained national attention as one of the exhibitors at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas in 1936. In that same year, his work was shown at the First National Exhibition of American Art at the Rockefeller Center in New York. His paintings were also shown at other expositions and museums around the country, including the Pan American Exposition in Dallas (1937), the Golden Gate Exposition, and the New York World's Fair Exhibition (1939). It was also shown at the Philadelphia Acad

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Graham, Texas

Music in Graham

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Graham

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Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Newcastle, TX RoadyGoat

Young County Jail

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

Third County Courthouse, Site of

Ryus Store Building

Graham, Edwin Smith

Lester, William Lewis

Things to Do in Graham

Everything Near Graham