Seymour, Texas

Principal cattle trail from Texas to Kansas and beyond from 1876 to 1887; superseded the Chisholm Trial after Dodge City replaced Abilene as the main intermediate northern beef market. As its name implies, the Western Trail ran west of the Chisholm Trail, by about 100 miles. Most of its feeder trails started in South Texas, although some made connections at San Antonio and Fort Griffin. Here in Baylor County the trail crossed Brazos River, passing half a mile east of Seymour, a major supply center. The herds bedded near Seymour Creek, at the site of the present Fairgrounds. The Millett Ranch (established 1874) served as a watering spot, and the Millett Brothers--Eugene, Alzono, and Hiram-- were among the first users of the trail. From Seymour the route continued north, leaving Texas at Doan's Store on the Red River. It then ran through Oklahoma to Dodge City, with lesser extensions proceeding to Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. During its life, the Western Trail moved hundreds of thousands of cattle north to stock ranges, Indian reservations, and markets. But after the fencing of the open range and building of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, it ceased to be used by the cattle industry. (1972)

Thena Mae Farr, champion cowgirl, rodeo producer, and cofounder of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association , daughter of Tom and Lula Farr, was born on December 16, 1927, in Baylor County, Texas, where she lived all of her life. Both her parents were Baylor County natives, and they raised three children on their ranch near Seymour. A typical ranch youngster, Thena Mae learned to ride at a very young age and became a noted equestrienne as well as outstanding all-around athlete. At Seymour High School, where she graduated in 1944, she was class secretary and basketball captain in 1942 and 1943. But her equestrian skills and outgoing personality earned her greater honors in the community. In her four terms as "Miss Seymour" she represented the town at rodeos and horse shows throughout the Southwest. She earned many honors in amateur "sponsor contests," combination beauty and equestrian contests that during the early 1940s were the only rodeo events open to women. She attended Texas State College for Women (later Texas Woman's University) in 1944-45 before returning home to become a full-time rancher. However, her interest in rodeo remained strong, and she dreamed of the chance to compete in real, rough, stock and roping contests like the cowboys. She and her close friend Nancy Binford of Wildorado, Texas, often discussed their frustration at being shut out of rodeo competition. In September 1947 they solved the problem by producing an all-girl rodeo at the Tri-State Fair in Amarillo. Their successful venture broke all fair attendance records and motivated the participants to form the Girl's Rodeo Association (now the Women's Professional Rodeo Association) the following year. Farr served on the original board of directors of the GRA and followed Binford in the presidency in 1951. In addition, the two incorporated their production company as the Tri-State All Girl Rodeo and for the next five years produced all-girl rodeos in Texas, Colorado, and Mississippi, thus providing women opportunities they had long lacked. Farr also continued competing, winning saddles, trailers, and prize money in cutting, bareback bronc riding, barrel racing, and flag racing. By the time she and Nancy Binford decided to dissolve their company in 1953, all-girl rodeos were well established in many states, and the GRA had become accepted as the sole governing body for women's contests in American rodeo. The two, confident that they had achieved their goals, left the business having broken even but never having shown a profit. According to the Wichita Falls Times , Farr was a noted rattlesnake hunter in the Seymour area of Baylor County. She had gone on these hunts, which were necessary to protect both people and livestock, since she was six years old. Over the years she had plenty of opportunity to hone her skills on her father's 7,000-acre ranch, which was stocked with 1,400 Herefords. In 1955 she and Rae Beach, a GRA director and bareback bronc rider from Monterey Park, California, showed newspaper reporters how they cleared two snake dens on the ranch. Beach used a hoe to goad the snakes to move into gunsight of Farr's .22 rifle. On the evening of December 29, 1955, twenty-six-year-old Farr suffered a severe gunshot wound when a 12-gauge shotgun accidentally discharged as she exited her truck at her family's ranch home. The charge broke her leg and severed an artery. After several transfusions, doctors at the Bayor County Hospital amputated her left leg. Farr then turned her attention to ranching and community activities. She served as an adult leader for the 4-H Club and belonged to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association , West Texas Chamber of Commerce , American Cattle Raisers Association, Seymour Remuda Club, Seymour Chamber of Commerce, Baylor County Farm Bureau, and American Quarter Horse Association. She was a lifelong Democrat and active in the Seymour First United Methodist Church, to which she donated several items in memory

Baylor County, in North Central Texas, is bounded on the south by Throckmorton County, on the east by Archer County, on the north by Wilbarger County, and on the west by Knox and Foard counties. Its center is 30º37' north latitude and 99º12' west longitude, fifty miles southwest of Wichita Falls. The county is level to hilly. It comprises 845 square miles with an average elevation of 1,250 feet. The land is drained by the Salt Fork of the Brazos and the Big Wichita rivers. The soils vary from sandy to loam and red, and the ground cover is largely grasses, mesquites, and junipers. The average annual rainfall is 26.36 inches. Temperatures range from an average high of 98º F in July to an average low of 28º in January. The growing season averages 214 days. Before it was settled, the area that is now Baylor County lay within the range of the Wanderers, a nomadic Comanche band, who relied upon buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and ornaments. In 1848 special Indian agent Robert S. Neighbors found 250 Comanche, fifty Tonkawa, and ten Wichita lodges on Lewis Creek at the site of present-day Seymour. When the first surveys were made in the area in 1853 the Indians were still using it as a major hunting ground for buffalo, a fact that made settlement nearly impossible. This continued until the final defeat of the Comanches in 1874 by the United States Army and their removal to a reservation in Indian territory ( see RED RIVER WAR ). Baylor County was separated from Fannin County in 1858 and named for Henry W. Baylor , a surgeon in a regiment of Texas Rangers during the Mexican War . The county was attached to Jack County for administrative and judicial purposes. The first settlement was at Round Timber, nineteen miles southeast of the site of present Seymour. Tradition holds that the first settler was Col. C. C. Mills, who may have been at Round Timber during the Civil War and was certainly there by 1870. He was driven out by Indian raids, but returned by 1875 to join J. W. Stevens, who had arrived a year earlier. This was the era of free-grass ranches, a time in which farmers and ranchers sometimes violently contested for land. Settlers from Oregon, led by Col. J. R. McClain, moved to the site of Seymour in 1876, for example, but were driven off when cowboys ran cattle over their corn. In 1879 the Millett brothers—Eugene C., Alonzo, and Hiram—came from Guadalupe County to begin ranching in Baylor County. They ran a tough outfit and used their armed cowhands to intimidate would-be settlers and the citizens of newly founded Seymour. Violence and contention plagued the county during the first years of settlement. Baylor County's first two county attorneys were forced to resign, and in June 1879 county judge E. R. Morris was shot and killed by saloon keeper Will Taylor. Later the Texas Rangers gradually brought peace. Baylor County was formally organized in 1879 with Seymour as county seat. That same year both Seymour and Round Timber were assigned the county's first post offices. By 1880, fifty farms and ranches encompassing 13,506 acres had been established in the county, supporting a population of 708 people; more than 13,506 cattle were counted in the county that year. Baylor County's first newspaper was the Cresset, which began publishing in 1880 and lasted for several years. It was followed by the Seymour Scimeter , which failed in 1886. Early settlers were tested by a drought and severe winters in 1886 and 1887, but these hard times were followed by seasons of bumper wheat crops, which led to a settlement boom. By 1890 there were 169 farms and ranches in the county, and the population had climbed to 2,595. In 1890 county residents raised $50,000 to insure the completion of the Wichita Valley Railway, which linked Seymour to Wichita Falls, fifty-two miles to the east. By 1892, the Texas Gazetteer reported that Seymour was a thriving town, with two newspapers (the Monitor and the News ), the First National Bank, two physicia

Seymour, the county seat of Baylor County, is at the intersection of U.S. highways 82, 183, 283, and 277 and Farm roads 422 and 1919, near the center of the county. Earlier, Seymour was situated where the Western Trail crossed the Brazos River. It was settled by pioneers from Oregon who called the place Oregon City. When its post office was established in 1879, the name was changed to Seymour, reportedly for Seymour Munday, a local cowboy. George Jones opened the first store at the community in 1879, and that same year the first newspaper, the Cressett , began publication. A stone hotel was built in 1880, and a courthouse followed four years later. The early days were lively because of conflicts between cowboys and settlers, which culminated in the killing of county judge E. R. Morris in 1880. Seymour boomed after citizens raised $50,000 to encourage construction of the Wichita Valley line through the area in 1890; when the railroad built through, most residents of nearby Round Timbers moved to Seymour. Seymour grew again after the discovery of oil in the county in 1906. The 1890 railroad boom had been short-lived, and the town corporation, organized in 1890, was dissolved in 1892 because of its inability to meet obligations. With its economic revival in 1906, Seymour once again incorporated. Its population increased from 500 in 1884 to 1,900 in 1892, but by 1904 it had declined to 1,475. It rose to 3,778 by 1950 and stayed at around that level for some time thereafter: 3,754 residents were reported in the mid-1980s. In 1990 the population was estimated at 3,185. At that time Seymour was primarily an agribusiness and legal center, rather than an oil industry center; the town also drew some tourists who visited nearby Lake Kemp. Clothing and metalworks were manufactured in Seymour, and cotton, grains, and cattle were the most important local products. Fish Day in May has been an important local event since the 1920s. The Old Settlers Reunion and Rodeo held each July originated in 1896 as the Cowboy Reunion. In 2000 the population was 2,908.

(January 25, 1861 - August 6, 1916) Sheriff of Baylor County 1912-1916. A champion of the law, he was feared by the many rustlers and bandits in the area. He gave his life in the line of duty. First wife was Barnetta (Ashton); second, Sarah E. (Scott). He was Presbyterian. Recorded--1969.

Built 1877 by Charles Holman, builder-carpenter from Sweden. Stone was quarried south of town. Over the years, structure housed a school, churches, a newspaper office and a community center. It was purchased by J. E. McClelen in 1949 and restored as a private home. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1969.