Scurry County, Texas
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Surnames/tags: Scurry County, Texas US History
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History/Timeline
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Its county seat is Snyder, which is the educational home for Western Texas College. [1]
- 1876 - Scurry County created from Bexar District in 1876; organized in 1884 The county was named for Confederate Gen. for William Read Scurry, lawyer and Confederate Army general.[2] [1][3]
- 1877 W.H. Snyder opened a trading camp in the county on Deep Creek. He hauled lumber on wagons from Dallas to build his store and also hauling a good portion of his goods from the same place. He used what was known as trail wagons, with seven yoke of oxen to a team, each wagon having a capacity of 50,000 pounds. Mr. Snyder built a house in Scurry County and began dealing in general merchandise and supplies for buffalo hunters. Others arrived in the area, and that was the beginning of the Town of Snyder.[1][3]
- 1882 Mr. Snyder planned the future town of Snyder and first school opens.[4][3]
- 1882 Mr. Snyder laid out the town, and two years later it became the county seat.[1]Soon there were houses, stores selling supplies and 4 churches.[3]
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| Hermleigh Calaboose for rowdy. |
- 1884 County was organized and Snyder becomes county seat. [4]
- 1890-1909 without railroad facilities , and the nearest shipping points were Colorado City on the south and still later the railroad towns in Fisher County on the east.[1]
- 1892 Snyder has two newspapers as well as two banks, and two churches.[4]
- 1892 (10 years later) Scurry had 4 churches, was important center for trade, and an independent school district.[1]
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| 1912 Jail, remodeled. |
- 1908 The Altururian Woman's Club is formed[4]
- 1909 The first railroad ,Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway, built from Roscoe on the Texas & Pacific in Nolan County, to Snyder, the county seat of Scurry County. [1]
- 1910 population was 2,154. Towns began up along the railway, the most important of which is Fluvanna, at the terminus of the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific, and Hermleigh.[1]
- 1910 Population reaches 2,500 - a significant number for West Texas. [4]
- 1911 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad comes to Fluvanna, in Scurry County and Snyder.[4][1]
- 1911 Texico-Coleman division of the Santa Fe system was built through the county, giving it a trunk line of railway. [1]
- 1931 First State Bank Closes due to The Great Depression.[4]
- Nov 21, 1948 A discovery well in Scurry County o was the first of several major developments in that region. It is considered to be part of the prolific Levelland Field, that were discovered in Cochran and Hockley counties, 1945.[5]
- 1948 Oil is discovered and Snyder is overwhelmed when it's population triples in one year.[4]
- 1950 The Snyder Daily News becomes first daily newspaper published. [4]
- 1964 The Diamond M Museum Opens - regarded as one of Texas' best art collections. [4]
- 1968 Due to the efforts of community leaders Snyder is chosen as one of only 11 "All American Cities". [4]
- 1971 Western Texas College is opened. [4]
- http://lubbockonline.com/local/news/2017-02-27/fireball-rocks-region-following-reports-explosion-scurry-county Fireball land Meteor explosion]
- 2009 a fireball produced 100 meteorites that were removed by area residents.[6]
- 2016 a fireball was reported, Fire Department went to the site.[7]
The White Buffalo
This event happened commonly in the 1860's and 1870's. Boom and another Bison, commonly called buffalo was killed.. The rifle roared, a .50 caliber hunk of lead smacked into the side of the buffalo and the huge animal tumbled to the ground. But this was different. It this was no ordinary bison – it was all white, one of only seven known to have been killed on the North American continent.
- And it was killed about 10 miles north of present day Snyder.
- The Indians considered the white buffalo to be sacred and would not kill one.
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| White Buffalo |
While buffalo no longer roam the prairie, a life-sized statute commemorating that white buffalo stands in the Scurry County courthouse square. Beneath it is a historical marker about J. Wright Mooar, the man who brought the white beast down, Oct 7, 1876 near Deep Creek, a stream the town of Snyder has expanded around.
Mooar, b Aug. 10, 1851 in Vermont came to Texas in 1873. But Mooar was not the superstitious type. Buffalo hunting had been in progress in the 1870's. The animals were killed primarily for their hides, which were used for many things, even shipped back East for tanning. The carcass was left to rot on the plains, with the bones bleaching in the sun.
Said to have killed 22,000 buffalo from 1870 to 1880. Mooar first began killing buffalo to supply the Army with meat. When demand ran high, he could get a quarter a pound for buffalo meat. In 1876, the same year he took the white buffalo, he sold 62,000 pounds of meat at Fort Griffin. He made only seven-and-a-half cents a pound on that deal, but netted $12,000 for all the hides.
The Indians considered the white buffalo to be sacred and would not kill one. But Mooar was not the superstitious type. The white buffalo in downtown Snyder is eight feet long and five-and-a-half feet high at the shoulder. Though large as some buffalo were in real life, the statue is said to be smaller than the bull Mooar killed.
Mooar, of course, skinned the white buffalo and tanned its hide. The hide still exists, still in the family of one of his descendants. Buffalo hunters were not noted for placidness. Operating well beyond the settlements, they enforced their own law or did without.
Though the Comanches gladly would have scalped Mooar if they could have gotten their hands on him, the buffalo hunter lived to be 89.
http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/White-Buffalo.htm
Government Offices
Texas Escapes tells us Scurry County has had 2 courthouses: 1886, 1911
1st Courthouse, 18862-story built with locally made red brick and was built on NE corner of the square on the site of a former Buffalo Trail. A jail was built farther NE and attached to courthouse by a corridor. Board sidewalks, led to the buildikngs, with a chain hitchin post for horses. A Public windmill on the ground made this building the civic and social gatherings. The building was razed in 1911 after the second courthouse was build.1909. [8]
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| 1886 Courthouse and jail in back |
2nd Courthouse, 1911 brick, with a dome resembling Cooke County Courthouse. It had a dome which was removed in remodeling of 1950. [8]
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| 1911 courthouse, remodeled 1950. |
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| 1911 courthouse remodeled 1950. |
SECOND remodeling 1972, created a Courthouse that looks brand new. Windows are mostly gone on front, granite has been added to outside, the dome was removed. If thel structure is good, a lot can be done..!!! The interior is also completely different. [8]
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| 1912, remodeled in 1972 COURTHOUSE. |
1912 Scurry County Jail
Used until 1978, the crenellated towers have since been removed and the original red brick has been plastered over. In front of old Scurry County jail is the Historical Marker. - Terry Jeanson [8]
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| 1912 Jail, remodeled. |
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 908 square miles (2,350 km2), of which 905 square miles (2,340 km2) is land and 2.1 square miles (5.4 km2) (0.2%) is water.
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcs07
- Scurry County is at the base of the Llano Estacado in West Texas.
- Center lies at 32°45' north latitude and 100°55' west longitude, 90 miles NW of Abilene. :Snyder, the county seat, S of the center of the county and 63 air miles NW of Abilene.
- Named for William R. Scurry, a Confederate general.
- Vegetation: 904 sq. mi. of prairie bluestems, gramas, wildrye, wheatgrasses, mesquite trees
- Elevations 2,000 to 2,700 feet above sea level.
- Soil light to dark loam surface soils with reddish, clayey subsoils.
- Rivers - Colorado River cuts across the SW corner, ClearFork tributaries of Brazos River.
- Temperatures low of 26° F in January to of 95° in July.
- Rainfall 19.32 inches annually
- Growing season lasts 214 days.
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcs07
Adjacent counties
- Borden
- Fisher
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- Garza
- Howard
- Kent
- Mitchell
- Nolan
Protected areas
- Scurry County Museum - On the campus of Western Texas College
- Scurry County Jail
Demographics
Scurry County comprises the Snyder, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area.
- As of the 2010 census, its population was 16,921.
Liquor
Scurry County was one of forty-six prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, until a 2006 election approved the sale of beer and wine in Snyder, and a 2008 election approved the sale of liquor by the drink throughout the county.[9]
In 2000, there were 16,361 people residing in the county with a population density of 18 people/ sq. mi. The racial makeup of the county was 81.27% White, 6.06% Black or African American, 0.53% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 10.51% from other races, and 1.41% from two or more races. 27.77% of the population were Hispanic. The median income for a household in the county was $31,646, and the median income for a family was $38,467. The per capita income for the county was $15,871. About 12.60% of families and 16.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.60% of those under age 18 and 11.70% of those age 65 or over.[10]
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| Veteran's Memorial. |
College:
Western Texas College.
Cities
Towns
- Arah, Texas - historical
- Pyron, Texas - historical
- Wheat, Texas - historical
Formed From
- 1876--Scurry County was created 21 August 1876 from Bexar Land District.
County Resources
Census
- 1880 --- 102 —
- 1890 --- 1,415 1,287.3%
- 1900 --- 4,158 193.9%
- 1910 --- 10,924 162.7%
- 1920 --- 9,003 −17.6%
- 1930 --- 12,188 35.4%
- 1940 --- 11,545 −5.3%
- 1950 --- 22,779 97.3%
- 1960 --- 20,369 −10.6%
- 1970 --- 15,760 −22.6%
- 1980 --- 18,192 15.4%
- 1990 --- 18,634 2.4%
- 2000 --- 16,361 −12.2%
- 2010 --- 16,921 3.4%
- Est. 2015 --- 17,615
Notables
Land Grants
Cemeteries
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- Scurry county Cemeteries Gloria Mayfield
- https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScnty=2727 FindaGrave cemeteries]
- Scurry co. Cemeteries, TxGen
- FamilySearch cemeteries, genealogy
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurry_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/government/scurry-county
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 http://genealogytrails.com/tex/panhandle2/scurry/
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11
- ↑ http://texasalmanac.com/topics/business/history-oil-discoveries-texas
- ↑ http://lubbockonline.com/local/news/2017-02-27/fireball-rocks-region-following-reports-explosion-scurry-county Fireball land Meteor explosion]
- ↑ http://lubbockonline.com/local/news/2017-02-27/fireball-rocks-region-following-reports-explosion-scurry-county Fireball land Meteor explosion]
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/SnyderTexas/Snyder-Texas-Scurry-County-Courthouse.htm
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurry_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurry_County,_Texas
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