Ward County, Texas

... ... ... is a part of Texas history. Join: Texas Project Discuss: Texas

• Texas Space Page
• Mary Richardson is leader of Texas subproject and this Ward county page.

History/Timeline

.

• Ward County was formed 1887 from Tom Green County and organized, 1892.^[1]

There have been evidence of prehistoric men found, such as petroglyphs, and pictographs.

Suma-Jumano, Apache, and Comanche artifacts were found in the sand hills.

Cabeza de Vaca didn't describe Indians, he mentioned "the cow nation"

Espejo led Spanish expedition through west Texas and referred to the Suma Jumano indians "the cow nation" that may have ranged over the area. ^[2]

Judge wore Spurs

1849 - Emigrant Road, routed on a survey, by Randolph B. Marcy, extended from Dona Ana to Preston actually passing the southern part of current Ward County. ^[2]

1858 -Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858 used Emigrant's Crossing, in the area where it was safe to ford the Pecos River. an adobe station was built for the stage with an adobe corral with high walls. ^[2]

1881 the Texas and Pacific Railway crossed the region, setting up stations near Monahans, Sand Hills, Aroya, Pyote, Quito, Quito Quarry, and Barstow.^[2]

1887 - The Texas state legislature created Ward County from Tom Green County.

1890 - 75 people lived in Ward count.^[2]y

1892 -county was organized with Barstow as the county seat.

1904 - Barstow became a farming - ranching trade center. Drought plagued the area. Barstow had become a farming and ranching trade center located near numerous vineyards and orchards made possible by irrigation projects on the Pecos River.

1904, however, an earthen dam on the Pecos burst, and the resulting flood waters salted and ruined many of the farms near Barstow

1926 - Winkler county's first oil field, Hendrick oilfield began. Ward County benefitted.

1926 - Pipelines and railroad loading tanks were constructed at towns, Wickett, Pyote and Monahans.

1929 - Oil was discovered at Grandfalls

1928 - January 1, 1991 - community of Royalty was established. Shell Oil Company constructed an 8-acre (32,000 m2) tank that would hold a million barrels of oil. 668,715,000 barrels (106,317,200 m3) of oil had been produced in the county since 1928.

A period of economic prosperity following the opening of the Hendrick oilfield in 1926

May 10, 1938, Monahans won a contested election to move the county seat from Barstow to Monahans. ^[2]

1939 - The election was upheld in 1939, and the county seat moved to Monahans that year.^[2]

Peyote AF Station called Texas Rattlesnake Bomber Base.

1942 - Pyote Air Force Station opened- largest bomber installation in the United States. The plane Enola Gay, (dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima) was later stored here. ^[2]

post 1947 -The base became inactive during the Korean War.

1957 - Monahans Sandhills State Park opened. ^[2]

1956-2056 - Sealy-Smith Foundation leased much of the land to the state in 1956 until 2056. An additional 900 acres (3.6 km2) was leased from the Williams family of Monahans, Texas.^[2]

1960-s Oil production continued to increase in the early 1960s, then dropped off sharply. Population thus decreased also

Government Offices

There was another Ward county - Jan 19, 1841 - Ward County, was established for judicial and other purposes. It included the N part of Wharton co., with a small part of Colorado co., located in central Texas.The case of Stockton v. Montgomery (1842), in which Mr. Montgomery was a resident of Ward County but a voter in Colorado County, was appealed from the Colorado County courts to the Texas Supreme Court. Judge Anderson Hutchinson rendered an opinion that declared all judicial counties unconstitutionalif they were not represented in Congress. That Ward county was abolished by the decision.^[3]

• Present Ward County, in West Texas, established in 1887.

1892 -county was organized with Barstow as the county seat.( 5 miles East of Pecos). Barstow was named after George Eames Barstow, pioneer irrigation man who use water to produce profitable fruit and grape crops until the salty Pecos River flooded it, followed by droughts. When oil was discovered in Monahans, population in Barstow dropped. ^[4]

1883 Old Barstow County Courthouse.

1893 - red sandstone courthouse was built. ^[2] The former was razed in the 1950s. The red sandstone used for the original courthouse was quarried locally and was also used in the construction of the first bank in Ward County. ^[4]

Old Barstow, Ward Co. Courthouse before being razed..

• This picture shows the 1893 courthouse in Barstow as it appeared in the mid-thirties right before the move to Monahans.

Barstow was named after George Eames Barstow, a brilliant pioneer irrigation scientist from Rhode Island who used water from the Pecos River to produce abundant and profitable fruit and grape crops until a devastating flood and a succession of droughts stopped things cold. Shortly after farming stopped in Barstow, oil was discovered in Monahans.

Monahans Ward county, TX courthouse 1938.

May 10, 1938, Monahans won a contested election to move the county seat from Barstow to Monahans. Following this move, the courthouse was constructed.

Judge wore spurs sign.

Black marble courthouse entrance.

Geography

Ward County

Location - in the Pecos region, on SW edge of the High Plains region of SW Texas.

Center of the county is at 31°32' north latitude and 103°07' west longitude, near Pyote, TX. ^[2]

County Seat Monahans, the county seat,-located in NE corner of Ward County, intersection I-20 Farm Road 18. Monahans is 33 miles SW of Odessa on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. ^[2]

River/creeks - Pecos River - only river.

Size -539,460 acre,

Elevation of 2,400 to 2,800 feet, land is level .

Topography --North part has loose windblown sand dunes, affected by wind erosion.

Vegetation - scattered oak grooves, then barren areas, occasional grassy if there is rainfall. Near the Pecos River, in the SW are fans of sand, gravel, Scrub brush, creosote bush, and cacti.

Soil - poor shallow stony soil. Less than 1% is considered decent farmland. ^[2]

Grandfalls and Royalty are areas of caliche with bedrock and alluvial material in the substrate. Scrub brush, sparse grasses, creosote bush, and cacti grow in the shallow, stony soils. Less than 1 percent of Ward County is considered prime farmland. The Pecos River is the only river.^[2]

Temperatures in Ward County - low in 29° F in January to high of 98° F in July.

Growing season lasts 223 days, except poor soil, insufficient rainfall. ^[2]

Adjacent counties

Winkler County (north)

Ector County (northeast)

Crane County (east)

Pecos County (south)

Reeves County (west)

Loving County (northwest)

Protected areas

• Monahans Sandhills State Park

Monahans Sandhills State Park.

Demographics

Ward county has a total area of 836 square miles (2,170 km2), of which 836 square miles is land and 0.2 square miles (0.03%) is water.^[2]

In Ward county there are 10,909 people, 2,929 families residing in the county. This gives population density of 13 people/ square mile. There were 4,832 housing units at an average density of 6 per square mile (2/km²). ^[2]

Races: - 79.8% are white, 7% Black, and of the white population, 42% are Hispanic. ^[2]

The median income for a household in the county was $29,386, and the median income for a family was $36,014. 15.80% of families and 17.90% of the population were below the poverty line,^[2]

The economy revolved primarily around ranching at that time. Almost 13,000 cattle and about 4,400 sheep were reported in the county that year, while only eighty-three acres were planted in corn and 1,500 acres in cotton.

POLITICS - voters of Ward County supported the Democratic candidates in every presidential election between 1892 and 1968, except for1952 and 1956. ^[2]

Highways:

• I-20 Interstate 20
• Texas State Highway 18
• Texas State Highway 115
• Texas State Highway 329

Towns/Communities

• Barstow
• Grandfalls
• Monahans (county seat)
• Pyote
• Royalty
• Thorntonville
• Wickett

Unincorporated community

• Pyote is the site of the former Pyote Air Force Base. Following that, facility housed the West Texas State School, operated by the Texas Youth Commission, until the youth detention facility closed in 2010.

Formed From

• Tom Green County

County Resources

Mural of ward county.

• • Oil, gas -The production of petroleum and natural gas are quite important to the economy.^[2]

• Pyote Air Force Station- largest bomber installation in the United States. The Enola Gay, (dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima) was later stored here.^[2]
• Royalty was established. Shell Oil Company constructed an 8-acre (32,000 m2) tank that would hold a million barrels of oil
• 1928 - January 1, 1991 - 668,715,000 barrels (106,317,200 m3) of oil had been produced
• Things to do/See:
  
• Monahans Sandhills State Park, 3,840-acre (1,550 ha) state park located in the southern Llano Estacado in Ward County and Winkler County, Texas. (nearby county). The closest major town is Monahans, Texas, and the closest limited-access highway ingress is Exit 86 on Interstate 20. The Monahans Sandhills are part of the Permian Basin, some 70 ft high, are hydrocarbon formations. ^[2]

Judge wore spurs

Census

1890 - 77 —

1900 -- 1,451 1,784.4%

1910 -- 2,389 64.6%

1920 -- 2,615 9.5%

1930 -- 4,599 75.9%

1940 -- 9,575 108.2%

1950 -- 13,346 39.4%

1960 -- 14,917 11.8%

1970 -- 13,019 −12.7%

1980 -- 13,976 7.4%

1990 -- 13,115 −6.2%

2000 -- 10,909 −16.8%

2010 -- 10,658 −2.3%

Est. 2015 -- 11,721

Notables

• Thomas William Ward- Texas soldier and land commissioner, while

*John Monahans dug the first water well between the Pecos River and Big Spring. Barstow was the First County Seat in Ward County (5 miles East of Pecos).

Barstow was named after George James Barstow, a brilliant pioneer irrigation scientist from Rhode Island who used water from the Pecos River to produce abundant and profitable fruit and grape crops until a devastating flood and a succession of droughts stopped things cold. Shortly after farming stopped in Barstow, oil was discovered in Monahans. George Barstow came to West Texas in 1905 and is now buried in the cemetery. The current population of Barstow is just over 500 people.

• Carter Casteel, Lawyer and Republican politician from New Braunfels; born in Monahans in 1942
• Guy Clark, American songwriter and country musician. 8.
• Danny Mason (1938–2007), golf coach (1969–1980) and physical education professor at Texas Tech University.
• Natalie Zea actress

MILITARY Soldiers

Korean War Casualities

BROWN, HAROLD G. CPL Army Ward Texas 30 Jan 1951 Killed in Action

KEESE, JIMMIE PFC Army Ward Texas 27 Jul 1950 Killed in Action

Vietnam War Casualities

DIAZ, JOSE RENTERIA, SGT.

EMILIO GAMBOA GARCIA, CPL.

HUMMEL, JOHN FLOYD, CWO

ARMSTEAD, ROCKY D., WO

CARMEN, ROBERT LEON, HM3

NIELSEN, ROLAND ALBERT, SP5

THOMPSON, WAYLAND KENT, PFC

Texas Peace Officer's Memoria,l Austin, Texas

Dan Horn

Leroy Nylon Hutchinson

Lee Wayne Russ

Cemeteries

• Monahans Memorial Cemetery

• Familysearch Ward County cemeteries
• FindaGrave Ward county
• TexGene cemeteries, Ward county
• List of Ward County, Texas Cemeteries, by Gloria Mayfield

Sources

1. ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/topics/government/ward-county
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23} https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcw03
3. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcw51
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Monahans/WardCountyCourthouseMonahansTexas.htm#1893

• "Texas: Individual County Chronologies". Texas Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. The Newberry Library. 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
• Texas Handbook, Ward County Ward County
• Fort Tours
• Texas and Pacific Railway Home Page
• Texas Escapes, Pyote
• Texas Escapes, Grandfalls
• Texas Historical Markers, Million Barrel Tank
• Rootsweb, Million Barrel Tank and Museum
• Texas Escapes, Pyote Air Force Station
• Texas Historical Markers, Rattlesnake Bomber Base
• TPWD Monahans
• Handbook of Texas, Monahans Sandhills State Historic Park
• State Parks, Monahans
• "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
• "County Totals Dataset: Population, Population Change and Estimated Components of Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Retrieved July 2, 2016.
• "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
• "Texas Almanac: Population History of Counties from 1850–2010" (PDF). Texas Almanac. Retrieved May 12, 2015.