Marquez, Texas

Everything Marquez is known for

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Music in Marquez

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Logan McCune
americana

Rivers & Roads in Song near Marquez

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Marquez.

Interstate 45 8 songs Kickapoo Creek 4 songs Trinity River 11 songs Brazos River 42 songs

History of Marquez

Lignite: The Hidden Power Beneath Your Tires RoadyGoat

As you travel through Marquez, you're driving over a massive, hidden source of energy. The geology here, part of the Wilcox Group, is packed with lignite, a soft brownish-black coal. It isn't as rich as the hard coal of Appalachia, but there is an immense amount of it. For decades this resource fed a major industry just north of here. The technology involved is staggering. Giant walking machines called draglines, some of the largest land vehicles ever built, scraped away the overburden to expose the lignite seams in vast surface mines. The coal then moved a short distance to the Limestone generating station up near the Leon and Limestone county line, one of the biggest coal-fired plants in the state, where it was pulverized and burned to raise steam, spin turbines and generate electricity for millions of Texans. Mining here has wound down and the land is being reclaimed, but the engineering and geology that turned humble brown coal into a powerhouse shaped the economy and the landscape of this entire region.

RoadyGoat →

Marquez, TX RoadyGoat

Marquez is a diverse community with a rich ethnic heritage. According to the 2000 census, the racial makeup of the city was 81.82% White, 8.64% African American, 1.36% Native American, and 8.18% from other races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 12.27% of the population. This blend of cultures contributes to the unique character of Marquez.

The Disposable Syringe That Was Killing Cattle Embryos RoadyGoat

Out here in the cattle country around Marquez, one of Texas's stranger science detective stories played out in the late 1970s and 1980s, when Granada Genetics ran a major commercial cattle embryo-transfer operation in town. Embryo transfer lets breeders get many calves from one genetically valuable cow: she's hormonally stimulated to release multiple eggs, inseminated, then flushed days later, and the embryos are examined under a microscope and moved into surrogate cows or frozen. In late 1983 and 1984, embryo-transfer companies nationwide started reporting sharp drops in pregnancy rates, and the Marquez researchers suspected something almost insultingly ordinary: the plastic syringes holding the nutrient medium around the embryos. Their experiments were damning. Mouse-embryo survival was 67% in medium kept in a full disposable syringe, but fell to 0% when only 10 milliliters sat in that same syringe, while glass syringes ran 84% and no-syringe controls 86%. The manufacturer had switched sterilization from ethylene oxide to gamma radiation, which altered the plungers' rubber gaskets and let a toxin leach in, more concentrated the less liquid was present. The syringe composition was eventually changed. (Source: Granada Genetics; scientific literature on embryo-transfer syringe toxicity.)

Long Hollow Community

1880

Named for the pioneer Long family, the Long Hollow community consisted of area farm families. A school erected in the 1880s also served as a community center and church. When it burned in 1918 members of the community worked together to build a larger structure. A store operated by Alfred and Margaret Petty, so small that customers conducted business through a window, served the area for many years, catering especially to school children. The store closed in 1929 when the school consolidated with Marquez. (1988)

Historical Marker → · 4.7 mi away

Boggy Community

1865

With limited resources and many challenges, the Boggy Community was established in 1865 by Robert (Bob) Bowers, a former slave, and Celia North Bowers of the Keechi tribe. The Keechi Indians, until around 1835, maintained an agricultural village on the banks of the Middle Creek north of Centerville. Celia brought to Boggy her agricultural heritage and knowledge which contributed to their success as a community. The area produced cotton, Irish potatoes, corn, peas, tomatoes and watermelon. A typical day in Boggy included working long hours in the fields planting, removing bare grass and harvesting crops. Education in Boggy was an important facet of life and a desire many parents had for their children. The first school was established in 1865 and met in a log building under a hill. Later buildings were shared by Bethana Baptist Church, Masons and Order of the Eastern Star. Bethana Baptist Church was established in 1883 under a brush arbor near Boggy Cemetery. The current church building was built around 1892. The Bowers were one of the first families to settle in Boggy and they had seven children, although two died in infancy. Their son, Newton Amos Bowers, relocated to the Mackay Community near the Pierce Ranch just outside of Wharton. There he established a community very similar to Boggy with a church, school and cemetery. Boggy's founders, Bob and Celia Bowers, and many of its original citizens, veterans, church and family members are buried in the Boggy Cemetery. (2014)

Historical Marker → · 8.6 mi away

Concord Schools

1870

Formal schools in Concord operated for nearly a century. J.E. Anderson taught in Redland and Concord in the late 1870s and early 1880s. A two-story frame schoolhouse, active from the early 1880s to 1919, stood on the hill later occupied by the Old Methodist Church. Trustees bought land from D.W. Montgomery, with a two-story red brick building completed in April 1920. The wooden schoolhouse was moved adjacent to the new building and used for primary grades. A new two-story structure, built in 1927, included an auditorium used for school and community purposes. The wooden schoolhouse moved to Concord Hill West for use as an African American School. Concord School added home economics and agriculture classes the following year. In 1929, Griffin, Bowling, Hickory Grove, Redland and Union schools consolidated with Concord, and in 1933 the school achieved state accreditation and attendance peaked above 400 students. The gold and white Concord Bulldogs participated in district sports and other school activities. The Concord Independent School District organized in 1937, and five years later added twelfth grade coursework. However, enrollment dwindled, and in 1948 the school reclassified to an eight-grade system, with students attending high school in Centerville. In 1950, six one- and two-teacher African American schools consolidated to one campus at Concord, succeeded by Carver Elementary and High School in 1953. In 1960, the Board of Education voted to consolidate with Marquez and Jewett to form Leon Independent School District. The home economics building remained as a community center, polling place and post office. The site remains a testimonial to the importance of rural education in the area. (2008)

Historical Marker → · 6.6 mi away

Alexander, Alger [Texas]

1927

Blues singer Alger "Texas" Alexander was born in Jewett, Texas, on September 12, 1900, the son of Sam "Ernie" Alexander and Jennie Brooks. He was raised by his grandmother, Sally Beavers, in Richards. He spent most of his life working as a railroad section hand or on farms in East Texas. He was a short, stocky man who sang with a deep, booming voice. He often shouted out his lyrics in the tradition of field slaves, although this sometimes made his words difficult to understand. He always carried a guitar with him but could not play it. When he sang in migrant work camps, in honkytonks, or on the streets, he sought out a guitar player to accompany him. His accompanists included Blind Lemon Jefferson , John T. (Funny Papa) Smith , George (Little Hat) Jones , and Alexander's cousin Lightnin' Hopkins . Pianist Sammy Price discovered Alexander in the early 1920s and arranged a recording session for him. Alexander recorded extensively after that, collaborating with other blues legends, including Lonnie Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Little Hat Jones. Between 1927 and 1934 he recorded more than sixty sides on the OKeh and Vocalion labels. His extensive recording helped him become one of the most popular blues singers of that era. He also served at least two prison terms, including a stint in Paris, Texas, for allegedly killing his wife. Alexander's songs reflected his prison and work experiences. After his release from jail in the mid-1940s he and Hopkins performed for tips on Houston street corners and buses. After moving back to Richards in 1951 he spent the last years of his life in poor health. He died of syphilis on April 16, 1954, in Richards, and is buried in Longstreet Cemetery in Grimes County.

Tsha Handbook → · 10.6 mi away

Jewett, TX

1871

Jewett is on State Highway 79, Farm Road 39, and the Missouri Pacific line near its intersection with that of the Burlington Northern, some twelve miles northwest of Centerville in northwestern Leon County. The town was laid out in 1871 by the International Railroad Company and named for Henry J. Jewett, a prominent judge and politician who helped organize Leon County. During the community's first year a store and a post office were opened, and the town's first newspaper, the Advance , dates from this period. The Jewett Methodist Church was built in 1873, a Baptist church was organized in 1876, and a Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized in 1884. In 1875 citizens opened a private academy, which eventually merged with the public schools. The Grange opened a store in Jewett in 1880. By 1884 the community had an estimated population of 500, five general stores, three saloons, three churches, a steam cotton gin and gristmill, and the weekly Independent Farmer . The Independent Farmer in 1885 became the Jewett Messenger , which was still in operation in the 1980s. A bank was opened at Jewett in 1890, and that same year the town incorporated. By 1900 Jewett had a population of 433. In 1905 the Houston and Texas Central Railway built through the community, as did the Trinity and Brazos Railway in 1907. The town was served by three railroads until the Houston and Texas Central was abandoned in 1933. Several motels served the passengers who transferred lines there. By 1910 the community had 586 inhabitants, and in 1914 it had seven general stores, two drugstores, and a cotton gin. In the 1920s Jewett had the only accredited high school in the county, and in 1930 the Jewett schools served 179 White and eighty Black pupils. Jewett's population declined to 515 by 1930, rose to 589 by 1950, dropped to 445 by 1960, and began to rise again in the 1970s. Nucor Steel-Texas opened a plant in Jewett in 1974 and by the next year employed 280 workers. By 1980 the town's population had risen to 597. A public library was started there in 1983, and in 1990 Jewett reported 668 residents and thirty-two businesses. The population grew to 861 with 100 businesses by 2000.

Tsha Handbook → · 10.6 mi away

Everything Near Marquez

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