[by
Lee Linn]
A Souvenir
of the Texas State Fair
and Dallas Exposition
1872-1887

Denison, Texas
In the spring of 1872 a few unpretentious men appeared in Grayson County, Texas, looking for small farms. They all bought in the same neighborhood, and the settlers all chuckled over the quality of land they were able to dispose of to some of them. But not until these purchases had aggregated over two thousand acres in a solid body, and a few deeds had been spread upon the records conveying the whole to R. S. Stevens, was it discovered that this land was intended as a site for a city to be built at the terminus of a great trunk railroad, the first to penetrate the Indian Territory.
These purchases heralded the birth of Denison. At that time the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railroad had hardly reached Muskogee, one hundred and fifty miles away, but was making rapid strides toward Texas and was known to be pointing in the direction of Grayson County. What were supposed to be the only available crossings of Red River had been gobbled up by native land-sharks in the belief that a fortune was in store for them in selling out to the coming railroad. Sherman, the county seat, and the prospective terminus of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, had turned the cold shoulder to this Yankee enterprise, refusing to give any aid or to make any concessions of land. True, she wanted the road and expected it to come, but it was to be as a favor to the road and not an obligation to the city.
From the very first, this great enterprise, which was destined to do so much good for Texas, was characterized as a "Yankee innovation" and was antagonized and hampered in every possible way, but it was in the hands of a man who knew his business, who had faith in his work and in himself, and who knew no such word as fail. Unwelcomely received by a city already established, he determined to found one of his own. With a faith born of inspiration and in the face of opposition that would have discouraged ordinary men, he pushed on his work, laid out the best planned city in the South, and on the 23rd of September, 1872, made a public sale of lots. A goodly number of people were in attendance and notwithstanding the fact that his railroad was yet a hundred miles away, that two hundred laborers were resting idly upon their shovels between this point and Red River, restrained from building a road bed across his own land by an injunction of the District Court of Grayson County. The bidding was spirited, and lots in an open prairie sold at an average of over $100 each, or more than $1,500 per acre. The confidence of the man gave confidence to the people. In less than three hours after the close of the sale, building had commenced on Main Street and to this day has never been discontinued.

Public Schools
The city was incorporated in March 1873, and before the new officers had become warm in their seats they began agitating the subject of free schools.
Within a year the foundation was laid for a pubic school building, which cost, when completed, forty-five thousand dollars and was at that time, by far, the best in the State. The public school fund was small in amount and precarious in collection, but our people were enthusiastic and what the public fund lacked was made up by private subscription. Business men contributed freely, old bachelors and men of family vying with each other as to which should give the most, and in 1874 there was a public free school in Denison for ten months of the year, the first instance of the kind in the history of the State. It gave Denison at once a prominence in educational matters which she has never since forfeited. The noble almoners of the Peabody Fund, noticing the struggle, came to her aid in 1875, and again in 1876, but at the end of that year the people said: "We thank you for the assistance you have rendered us but will ask no more. Give now unto those who are more needy, for Denison is both able and willing to provide for her own children".
And nobly has that promise been redeemed. Ten months of public school in every year, free to every child within the city's limit, extending through a period of fourteen years and still going on, is a record which no other city in Texas possesses and one of which Denison is justly proud.
The single building which was erected at the start has been supplemented by another and another, until the city now owns three brick edifices for the education of white children, and one for colored, all filled to overflowing and half a dozen business houses temporarily occupied besides.
The corps of teachers has been increased from three in 1874 to twenty-five in 1887. A thorough system of grading has been introduced and maintained, and the curriculum has been gradually extended until it embraces all the branches of the ordinary city high school.
Nor are facilities wanting for those who prefer private to public instruction. The Academy of St. Francis Xavier furnishes accommodations for a hundred young ladies from home and abroad and is well worthy of the liberal patronage it is receiving, while Professor Harshaw's Commercial College gives the finishing touches to the young men.
Music and the Arts have not been neglected, and Denison boasts of as high an order of musical education as any city in the land, a fact which the prominence her young ladies have already attained in Chicago, Boston, and New York will sufficiently attest.

Denison as a Health Resort
* * *
Rheumatics and Consumptives
At its foundation, the people of Denison, who were carrying life insurance, had difficulty with their respective companies in securing permission to let their policies continue in force. The reason for this lay in confusing the upper Red River country with the deadly lowlands of the same river in Louisiana. The upper Red River is so remarkably healthy that the insurance companies have not only withdrawn their opposition, but all have their agents there actively soliciting business.
If the selection of a town site had been made with reference to health alone, no other consideration influencing its location, a better could not have been made. The place chosen was on an undulating, upland, wooded prairie, two miles south of Red River. The surface is sufficiently sloping to give the whole city a thorough drainage and near enough level to require the minimum amount of grading for streets, alleys, or yards. Indeed, the amount of grading in the entire city in fifteen years would not equal one block in Kansas City.
The elevation of the city at its lowest part is two hundred feet above the river, and eight hundred feet above the sea.

"The fog that rises when the sun goes down"
The highest ground is over eighty feet additional, making the select resident portion of the day two hundred and eighty feet above the river and eight hundred feet above the sea.
Its situation, on the south side of the river, in order to be appreciated, must be accompanied by the statement that in Texas the prevailing wind is from the South. Due care is not always taken in the origin of a town, to get it in a healthy locality. It is either built on low land, in the river bottom, or on the north side of a stream, where it catches all the malaria borne upon the wind. It is not uncommon to find pneumonia, bilious fevers, ague, and malarial diseases prevailing in a territory five or seven miles from the north bank of a river, or in the river bottom, when no cases can be found south of the river. Even the ordinary prevailing diseases are mild in type and are easily managed on the south upland, while they take on violent characteristics in the river bottom or on the north bank. A residence on the north side of the river means not only anxiety, sorrow, lost time by sickness, or untimely death to some member of the family, but it means, after a fortune is secured, its expenditure in seeking for a restoration of the health lost in accumulating it. Better not get riches if they have to be squandered on doctors. Better not labor for profit if all the gain must go to the drug store: it is poor consolation, after years of toil, to see the results swept up by the undertaker. Yet many a man, superior in business qualifications, makes the mistake of settling in the city built on the low lands, leaves his wife a widow, his children orphans, and has his estate divided between the grave-digger and the hearse owner.

No Mud
The soil on which Denison is built is mostly sandy, in some places underlaid with a ledge of lime stone. Mud is almost unknown. Even a half hour after a violent rain you can walk out without getting the feet wet, throughout most of the town. This fact, coupled with the dryness of the climate, gives convalescents more days in the open air than can be secured in almost any other portion of the United States.

Here can be found the greatest number of
Perfect Days
There are few extremely hot or cold days. The lowest thermometer observed in fifteen years was eight degrees, Fahr., while the highest was one hundred and eight degrees, Fahr. These are exceptional readings. Careful observation shows an average of four degrees (throughout the summer) below the temperature of the Missouri Valley five hundred miles to the north, and during the summer of 1887 at no time was the temperature above ninety-six degrees. No matter how hot the day may be, there is always a refreshing breeze at night, which reinvigorates the. system. Hot sweltering nights are unknown. Throughout July, August, and September there is no dew, everybody sleeps in the draft, with doors and windows all open, and "catching cold" is unknown. The idea prevails so extensively that the farther North the colder, and the farther South the warmer, that it is difficult to convince people of exceptions to this. Take any daily summer reading of the weather reports as furnished by the signal service, and most invariably it will be found that Texas points are lower than Iowa or Kansas. Why? The prevailing wind from the south is cool, off the gulf, takes up the heat of the earth as it travels north, and by the time it reaches Nebraska is five degrees hotter than in North Texas.
The winter temperature seldom reaches zero, never does so in fact except when the wind turns into the North, and never continue[s] so beyond two or three days. There is seldom ten days during the winter season that a person cannot be out of doors without, or with[,] a light wrap. February, the most abominable month in the North, is usually the most delightful in North Texas.
Medical men understand too well the aggravation of all lung troubles by damp weather: first, through the debilitating influence of moisture, relaxing the system, prostrating the vitality, lowering the tone; second, the increase of the bronchial secretion, requiring more coughing and still farther debilitating an almost exhausted frame; third, the liability to take fresh cold, rekindling the subsiding fever flame. Denison is in an essentially dry atmosphere. We have enough rain to mature crops, but no excess of moisture. Fog is almost unknown, and snow has not fallen for two years. This dry atmosphere is peculiarly suitable for sick people. A hot moist day at seventy degrees is more exhausting than a hot dry day at ninety degrees, or a cold damp day at thirty degrees is more liable to produce sickness than a cold dry day at ten degrees. Moisture, if cold, causes a rapid extraction of bodily heat, followed by a shock to the system, the full force usually falling on the diseased tissue. An absence of such moisture means greater security from back-sets.

The Water Supply
is drawn from wells. Through the strata of sand surrounding and underlying the city is filtered an abundance of pure water that would be unexpected on top of a hill. The waterworks have a stand-pipe fifteen feet in diameter and one hundred and twenty-five feet high, two hoisting engines with a capacity of over one million gallons daily, and draw their supply from several wells connected with each other by a tunnel. C. W. Clark, Master Mechanic of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, says that is the purest water found anywhere on their ten thousand miles of railway system. It is also the most expensive and extensive system of waterworks in the State of Texas.

The diseases existing in this section are the same as elsewhere in the United States, though modified by the climate.
Of typhoid fever there has never been but one authentic case since the city was started fifteen years ago.
Measles are the same as elsewhere.
Of hay fever about one-half the people afflicted with it are relieved by coming to Texas. The other half suffer in a milder form.
Scarlet fever, that terror of northern households, is hardly worth considering. There have not been to exceed three deaths from it since the founding of the city. In the majority of instances it is so mild that the patient never goes to bed. In the worst cases medical attendance is seldom required beyond a few days, and sequellae are almost unknown.
From diphtheria there have been about seven deaths in a population of fifteen thousand during 1887 from this disease, and that equals the number dying from the disease in all the fourteen years preceding.
Rheumatism exists but is a rare disease. All persons coming in afflicted with it recover their health by a few months' residence, without taking any medicine. Climatic influence alone banishes the disease.
Consumption is the disease above all others that is benefited by a residence here. The reason for this will become apparent with a moment's thought as to its nature. While classed by recent researches among the diseases caused by the implantation of a tubercular germ, yet all doctors know that the disease is virulent or held in abeyance according to the amount of fresh air a person receives. Stinginess of fresh air in the bed-room means death from consumption. The more fresh air persons have, the less liable they are to take it; if there is any suspicion of inheriting the tendency, fresh air diminishes its possibly coming; if it is already in the system, fresh air holds out more hope of cure than any other plan of treatment.
Look at this first in the point of elevation. No person standing in certain depots in the Rocky Mountains can shut his eyes to the constant stream of coffins going eastward, while the palace car daily delivers new victims. "Too late, too late; you put off coming too long", is the song the dying consumptive is greeted with, when in fact he has been killed by the change. The attenuated atmosphere of a mountain region contains sensibly less oxygen to the cubic foot than that of a lower region, the lungs have to move more rapidly to extract it, and exhaustion follows as a matter of course. Too late to say that the patient went there too soon would strike the truth oftener. A moderate elevation from five hundred to one thousand feet above sea level is much better adapted to consumptives than extremes either above or below.
As to moisture, a residence on the sea coast, near great lakes, or in a damp climate, always aggravates consumption. At Denison is a climate essentially dry. For three or four months in the year there is no dew, frequently from sixty to ninety days between rains and sometimes six months without rain, no snow for two years, and consequently an absence of all these conditions hinging on moisture which tends to aggravate consumption, at the same time permitting more outdoor exercise, more fresh air, more of the essentials which strengthen the system to resist the encroachments of the disease, at the same time that there is diminished chances of back sets.
During the winter season [in] the North, and especially along the sea coast, patients are housed up, unable to venture out. If a few days of mild spring weather lures them from their retreat, it is at the risk of wet feet, new colds, and a fresh impulse to the disease. In Denison, during both winter and spring, the ground is generally dry, and the dust flying. There are not to exceed ten days in the winter that an invalid cannot live out of doors.
Ah, but those horrid Northers! Yes, they have throughout the Southwest a keen, cold, penetrating wind coming down suddenly from the North, that chills everything. If prepared for it, as every sensible person ought to be, it is an invigorating change, giving sprightliness to the step, brightness to the countenance, and snap to the appetite. If not prepared for it, you will suffer just as any other fool, who is caught in a shower without an umbrella. These Northers are no worse in Texas than in New York or Pennsylvania. The only difference between them there and here is that in New York they are mixed up with so much abominable weather that a worse spell is not noticed, while in Texas they occur right in the pleasant weather. The temperature falls father but no more suddenly in Texas than Pennsylvania.
One more point, frequently overlooked by doctors in sending patients away for their health. All cough, from whatever disease, jars and debilitates the stomach. Nausea and vomiting are frequently present even from the violence of a whooping cough. Under these circumstances a patient should never be sent to a health resort, no matter how superior the climatic influences, if the food to be provided, or the style of cooking[,] is "behind the age". Patients by hundreds have been sent to localities where pine land, sandy soil, genial skies, and pleasant surroundings existed, yet where "hog and hominy" was the unvarying diet, everything was fried in grease, and while the lungs drank in the grand atmosphere, the stomach was disgusted at the provender or method of preparation. North Texas is settled with a class of people abreast with the age, who know how to cook, how to live, and how to enjoy life.

Denison, Texas, October 20th, 1887.
This is to certify that the Mortuary Record of the City of Denison, Texas, show[s] a mortality for the year ending October 1, 1887, of one hundred and forty-three (143), of these ten died of Pulmonary Consumption, four of whom were born in Texas, three born out of Texas, and the birth-place of three unknown.
T. E. Kennedy,
Secretary of City of Denison

The average death rate of all England as given by Carpenter, is about twenty-two per thousand. The lowest actual mortality quoted by him is eleven per thousand. The following report gives the mortality for 1870 for the cities named. The death rate is per thousand inhabitants:

St. Louis 21.3
Boston 24
Chicago 24.5
Baltimore 27.1
San Francisco 21.4
Sacramento 25
Philadelphia 25.5
New York 29.3

Denison's death rate for 1886-7 is only 12 per 1000. Consumption is credited usually with producing the death of one person out of every six. In some localities this rate is far exceeded. Including those who came to Denison with the disease, and died, the rate is only one in fourteen. Excluding known foreign-born cases, the rate is only one in twenty. Still farther excluding the cases of doubtful nativity, and considering only those positively known to originate here, the rate is about one in thirty-six. To put it in different language, six times as many people die elsewhere of consumption as in Denison. If that dreaded disease is lurking in your system[,] your chances of reaching old age are six fold greater in Denison than at any average point in the country.

Denison's Water Supply
The Best in the State
Texas is often referred to as a drouth-stricken state, and persons not acquainted with the facts, have been led by the reference mentioned to believe that the entire state is subject to disastrous drouths.
Neither Denison, nor the country tributary to her, lie within the dry belt. Copious rains fall to bless the husbandman, and his broad acres never fail to yield paying crops. Denison has as fine a system of waterworks as can be found in the state. They were built in 1886, by S. R. Bullock & Co., of New York, at a cost of over $200,000, and have a capacity of three and a half million gallons daily. Water is drawn from fourteen wells, and two thousand five hundred feet of tunnel, with a reservoir capacity of sixty million gallons. The water tower is one hundred and twenty-five feet high, and with ten miles of mains, varying in size from six to ten inches, a pressure of seventy-five pounds to the square inch is obtained.

The Water Supply.
The volume of water is so abundant that during the past summer the immense water trains of the Missouri Pacific Railway were supplied from the Denison waterworks, and this without perceptibly diminishing the supply at the works. The water, a free, soft sandstone, is clear as crystal and just sufficiently impregnated with iron to make it very healthful. Manufacturers seeking a good location will find no better point than Denison. Its abundant supply of water, supplemented with one of the best fire departments in the state, reduces the risk from fire to the minimum.
The question of water, and the best in the world, is solved at Denison, and persons desiring to escape the drouthy sections of Texas, and find homes in a city where water of the very best quality may be had in abundance, should come to Denison.

Churches
The moral atmosphere of Denison is inviting to all who delight to "walk in the ways of the Lord". There are eight churches in the city, as follows: Presbyterian, Christian, Baptist, North Methodist, South Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, and German Lutheran. Each has a strong membership, and each congregation, with the exception of the German Lutheran, owns the church edifice in which it worships. St. Xavier's Academy, for young ladies, is maintained by the Catholic Church, and is recognized by the highest educational circles as one of the best institutions of its kind in the Southwest. Both the Presbyterian and Christian churches contemplate establishing colleges in Denison at an early day. With these moral influences at hand, parents seeking a point at which they may educate their children without exposing them to the temptations of immoral surroundings cannot do better than locate in Denison.

Denison Real Estate
A Few Suggestive Figures
Less than thirty days ago Denison passed the fifteenth anniversary of her existence. At that earlier period[,] the ground upon which now stands the metropolis of North Texas could have been bought for from fifty cents to one dollar and fifty cents per acre. Shrewd, far-seeing men saw and appreciated the advantages that the surrounding country offered and[,] taking advantage of them[,] planned and platted the city of Denison. Of course, older and better settled portions of the country scoffed [at] the idea that a town, much less a city, could be built where Denison now stands, but the originators, firm in the faith of her future, went manfully to work and to-day Denison stands a proud memorial of their enterprise and pluck. Situated, as it were, upon an uncultivated track of land, her first hope was in railroads. One came, they were bound to come, come, for the then hamlet's geographical position commanded them. Property, of course, became enhanced in value, not from any worked up boom but from real intrinsic value. The attention of investors was attracted and capital began to flow in. Lots and blocks that were held at hundreds rapidly appreciated in value into the thousands, and the tents and shanties that hitherto had marked the town site gave way to the brick storehouses and the handsome private residences that now adorn her business and residence streets. To cite a few examples of the rapid enhancement of real estate in the earlier days, and those days are not so far away but that they are vivid in the recollection of many of the pioneer residents of the city - vivid because those who had nerve enough to catch on and hold on now have the substantial proofs of their judgment to their credit in the banks, and vivid to others because they daily pass lots and blocks which they might have owned to-day had they had faith. In a recent edition of the Denison Morning News, there were cited a considerable number of instances where property sold at a song but a few years ago and quoted the reigning prices of to-day.
There were men of little faith in those days as there are now and always will be. They laughed a few years ago at Mr. Schultz when he paid three hundred dollars for a block near the cemetery, yet he has been offered sixteen thousand for it. In 1880, a block on West Woodard Street was offered for two thousand and three hundred dollars. The proprietor was offered fourteen hundred dollars for half of it, but the sale fell through because the parties disagreed as to how the block should be divided. To-day that same half cannot be bought for four thousand dollars. Six years ago the block on Woodard Street, corner of Eddy Avenue, was purchased for six hundred dollars. It is now worth eight thousand dollars. In 1876 William Hughes paid two hundred dollars for a block just beyond the Main Street school house. They weakened and sold it for one hundred and fifty dollars. It has recently changed hands at the rate of twenty-four hundred dollars per acre and in five years from to-day cannot be touched at the rate of forty thousand dollars.
These instances might be multiplied ad nauseam. They are not drawn from fancy but the official records of the transfer of title, and the amounts paid are upon record upon the County's books. The instances cited are none of them upon the main business street of the city - Main Street. Property has not changed as frequently upon Main as elsewhere in the city, but it has advanced in perhaps a still greater ratio. In 1877 P. O'Donnell purchased the lot where the United States Clothing Store now stands for fourteen hundred dollars, although there was a house on it worth twelve hundred dollars. To-day the lot is covered with a fine brick store house and the land alone is valued at eight thousand dollars. Jack Gallagher's property, on the corner of Main and Burnett Avenue, which cost him twelve hundred dollars a few years ago, is now worth fifteen thousand dollars without the improvements.
With her assured future, Denison real estate is as cheap to-day as it ever was. Denison is now the main point in Texas of the entire Missouri Pacific Southwestern system. She is the terminus of the Houston & Texas Central. Lateral branches of the Missouri Pacific extend in every direction. The Denison, Bonham & New Orleans, a line that owes its conception and building to Denison enterprise, will be in running order to Bonham by January 1, 1887. The subsidy asked for to build the Denison & Washita to the coal fields of the nation has been raised, the survey has been completed, and this road will also be ironed to Red River by the first of January, 1887.
If property so enhanced in value during the few years of Denison?s transition state from a hamlet to a city of her now proportions, who can dispute the fact that it will still keep pace with Denison's upward and onward march. The completion of the Denison & Washita road to the coal fields, which will be accomplished in less than one year, will not only supply her with cheap fuel but enable her to command the price of that article throughout the entire state of Texas. The extension of the Denison, Bonham & New Orleans, to the long-leaf pine forest, will furnish abundant lumber for all kinds of manufactures of furniture, etc., at prices that cannot be competed with.
Added to this[,] Denison is situated in one of the richest agricultural counties in the state, which cannot be surpassed in the production of cereals, fruits, or vegetables.
If ever a city had a brilliant prospect for her future, Denison is the place. Her property is as cheap to-day, comparatively, as it ever was. Investors who now place their money here cannot fail to realize largely upon their investments. Denison cordially invites everyone to come, look over the ground, and judge for themselves.

Read This Carefully
This little brochure will doubtless find its way into the hands of many visitors at the State Fair, who will be interested in noting the productiveness of the different counties in the State. The appended certificates speak for themselves.

State of Texas,
County of Grayson,
Personally appeared before me, T.V. Munson, who being by me duly sworn, upon oath states that he has raised on his farm adjoining Denison as follows:

Sweet corn, which netted him per acre $100
Asparagus, which netted him per acre $300
Melons, which netted him per acre $60
Sweet potatoes, which netted him per acre $300
Four thousand quarts of blackberries to the acre $350
Five thousand quarts of strawberries to the acre $750
Peaches, which netted him per acre $350
Grapes, extra fine varieties, netted, per acre $500 to $1000
Grapes, ordinary varieties, netted, per acre $300 to $500

T. V. Munson
Sworn and subscribed to before me, this September 15, 1887.
W. L. Nevins, Notary Public
State of Texas,
County of Grayson.

Personally appeared before me, J. J. Fairbanks, who, being by me duly sworn[,] upon his oath states that he has cultivated ten acres of land, situated one mile south of the city of Denison, in fruits and vegetables for the past four years with about the following result:
The entire ten acres has yielded an average for the four years of two hundred dollars per acre per annum, net product, after deducting freight and cost of marketing.
I have raised fruits, apples, peaches, plums, blackberries and grapes.
My product of grapes has averaged not less than $350 per acre per annum. I have cultivated principally the Ives, Delaware and Herbemonts.
I have manufactured a fine quality of wine, and consider this a first-class wine producing country.
J. J. Fairbanks.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this September 15, 1887.
H. Tone, Notary Public.

State of Texas,
County of Grayson.
I hereby certify that I have raised on my farm, situated about two miles from Denison, in Grayson County, the following fruits and vegetables:
Blackberries, 1800 quarts per acre, netting $100
Sweet potatoes from 250 to 300 bushels per acre, netting $225
Tomatoes averaged per acre $150
Melons averaged per acre $100
Irish potatoes averaged per acre 4100
Onions averaged per acre $200
These profits were in each crop, and I have raised from two to three crops of vegetables on the same ground per year, and two crops of potatoes per year.
Dan Groman.
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this October 12, 1887.
W. L. Nevins, Notary Public.

State of Texas,
County of Grayson.
Personally appeared before me, the undersigned authority, this September 15, 1887, H. Tone, who being duly sworn, deposes and says that he, in connection with E. T. Bush, was engaged in the cultivation of strawberries in and near the city of Denison, Texas, from the year 1874 to 1885. That the average returns during said time ranged from $200 to $1000 per acre per annum, after deducting cost of marketing.
H. Tone.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this September 15, 1887.
A. R. Collins, Notary Public.

State of Texas,
County of Grayson.
I hereby certify that I have raised an average of over fifty bushels of corn per acre for the past six years on the farm now occupied by me, situated three miles north of Denison, Texas, and my entire corn crop this year will average over seventy-five bushels per acre. I further certify that the average of my cotton crop for the last six years has been over three-fourths of a bale of 500 pounds, and my crop this year promises to yield considerably over a bale per acre [if] no misfortune befalls it.
J. H. Nelms.
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this September 30, 1887.
S. S. Fears, Notary Public.

Denison History

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