The Sherman Courier
Wednesday, August 15, 1917
Fiftieth Anniversary Edition

E.F. HALSEL DESCRIBES BUILDINGS IN BUSINESS PART OF SHERMAN IN 1862.
SAYS HOGS SLEPT IN SHED ON NORTH SIDE OF SQUARE

One of the early settlers in Sherman was E.F. Halsel, who gave The Courier the following interview in 1910.  Mr. Halsel has since passed away but he has children and other relatives and many friends now living in Sherman.

I came to Sherman in February 1862.  I afterwards lived a while in Collin County and came back here to live in 1865.  When I came back here, the two story brick building over on the Northwest corner of the square that Bal Fielder now owns was being erected.  There was then a brick building on the Southeast corner of the square, and my recollection is these were the only two brick buildings here.  There was a frame building where the Commercial National Bank now is and possibly one next to it.  There was then a little shed of a thing along on the north side and I remember seeing the hogs sleep in it and a little further down on the north side was the old frame hotel that stood there so long.  On the west side of the square old man Gatewood had a residence over near the Southwest corner.  On the South side, Ed More's father owned a building or two and there was a livery stable along about where Bailey's furniture store now is, I think on the frame building on the corner where the Murphy building now stands and there were a few little shacks along up North Travis Street.  Judge Binkley had an office along up where they are now building the new five-story M.& P. Bank building.  Over on the East side there was three or four houses.  There was one, I think, a frame, where the Continental Bank now is, and next to it I think was a log house.  Down further where the Stinnett building is where they now have the moving picture show was a building which I bought and that is about all there was to the business part of Sherman when I first came here.  I don't know how many people were here then, but only a few hundred and there were only a very few farms and them small all the way from here to McKinney.  Old man Martin had a farm out here on Choctaw and there were a few other little farms along the way whereas not it is almost one solid farm all the way from here to McKinney and one of the finest farming countries any man ever saw and in those days there were only a few people that had any idea that those deep black hog wallow lands were fit for anything except to grow grass.

Sherman History
Susan Hawkins
© 2024

If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message.