 The Sherman Democrat July 4, 1976 WHITE'S INN ON 'WOLF PATH' FIRST WHITESBORO VENTURE Whitesboro - It was 128 years ago that Captain Ambrose White settled on the "wolf path" and established an inn which became the nucleus of the town of Whitesboro. That Wolf Path is now the main street of Whitesboro, named after the Captain. It was called "Wolf Path" because the path skirted the cross timbers which provided excellent cover for the wolves that ranged the headwaters of the Trinity and Red River Valleys. The path also was part of the California Trail, an emmigrant trail of about 2,000 miles across western North American continent from Missouri River to what is now the state of California; and was used by many on their way to the California gold rush. White's Inn became the cattle and buffalo hide trading center between the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and the Texas area. Several families preceeded White, however, arriving from Missouri as early as November 1845. They included the families of Elizur D. Webster, Charles Wheelock and Myron Mudgitt, and also Widow Underwood, Frank Carpenter, Dr. Leaky and the Widow Middleton. The group settled on Jordon creek, four miles south of the present town site. Growth of the town prior to the Civil War was due to the town being a stop on the western route of the Butterfield Stage Line. The town had a post office then, and was given the name that had been its for more than 10 years - Whitesborough. In 1858 White, Charles C. Quillen and other surveyed the first town plat that consisted of 10 blocks running east and west with a central street 60 feet wide. The first town charter was received in 1873 when the town had approximately 500 inhabitants. Bussinesses at the time included James McGillicuddy, grocer; J.M. Brooks, farmer; Frances Reast, farmer and land owner; W.H. Moss, grocer; and J.G. Jamison, dry goods store. Whitesboro began to take the lead in cotton production in Grayson County by 1887 after the coming of the railroad. Whitesboro farmers also produced corn. By 1888 the town forged ahead as a grain market. H.H. Robertson, one of the prominent grain buyers in the town, purchased as much as 25,000 bushels of grain in two months in 1888. Prices ranged from 20 to 21 cents per bushel unsacked and from 22-1/2 to 23 cents sacked. The town's first sorghum mill was established about the same time. The town's cotton oil mill was built prior to 1910 on the south side of the railroad on Church Street. The business thrived for 30 years. In late 1877 the people of Whitesboro convinced the Denison and Pacific Railroad to pass through town by offering the company a deed for 100 acres of land in the city and right of way from Mustang Creek, six miles to the east, to and through the city, including sufficient ground for depot purposes. The route gave the community railway outlets to the east, northeast, west and south. The first depot built in 1878 was a small wooden structure that offered employment to 18 men. In 1900 the finest depot building in this section of the state was built at a cost of $35,000 by the Texas and Pacific Company. It was jointly used by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company which had absorbed the Denison and Pacific Railroad. The depot was torn down in 1972. Whitesboro has been the home of five colleges, since the first school was opened here on Quillen Street, at one time the main road leading north. Miss Brink and her brother taught school in a log house there built by a Mrs. Williams. A Rev. Steed taught school on the corner of Hall and Quillen, and than a Mr. Taylor taught school in Captain White's hotel during the Civil War. The next school building was "The Old Log School House," known as "Tin Pan Alley" school house, located in the southwest part of the city on the corner of Church and South streets. The one-room structure grew to four rooms as the town grew, and the building was the meeting place of all church denominations and all public gatherings. In 1888 the schoolwas conducted in a three-story wooden building that had housed several colleges. A year later a brick building was completed at the same location where Ambrose White's Inn once stood. The new school was a two-story brick structure with six classrooms. In 1918 a three-story structure with 10 classrooms, science laboratory, auditorium and stage, gymnasium and home economics laboratory was opened. This building was torn down in 1973. The first Whitesboro Parent Teacher Association was organized in 1925 and Mrs. C.D. Price as president. The present elementary complex was built in 1938 as the new high school. The new high school on Fourth Street was completed in 1953, and the new elementary school was completed in 1973. Whitesboro's first college was the Shiloh Baptist Institute, with a Professor Berrymanas first president in 1876. It functioned for only three years. For 13 years the Whitesboro Normal School was successful here. It began in 1875 when Professor J.C. Carlisle was president of the school housed in the former Shiloh Baptist Instutite building. The school averaged 100 students per year, and teachers included Professor E.B. Smith, a graduate of Emery College in Georgia; Miss Lizzie March of Huntsville (Alabama) Female College, and Miss Myra White, assistant to the educators. Two other schools of higher learning established shortly after the Shiloh Baptist Institute was established were conducted by Smith and Carlisle in the Old Log School House, and Professor Hobbs on the northwest corner of Collinsville and Water streets. In 1894 Professors C.L. and Noah Adair opened the Adair Normal School in the former Carlisle Normal School building. It was claimed that the school gave the most rapid and thorough work in the shortest time at the smallest cost. Attendance dropped when the methods of advertising and misrepresentation became known. This was Whitesboro's last college. Whitesboro had an organized police force as early as 1876 when the town's population was 300 to 400. McCutcheon was constable. At that time, business establishments included a saddle and harness shop, three dry goods stores, two grocery stores, two hotels and as many as seven saloons. There were regular freight wagons from Whitesboro to Sherman, two photo galleries and barber shops, two butcher shops, milliner's store, a brick yard, cotton gin and a grist mill. There were four doctors: Dr. Trollinger and Dr. Graves, Dr. Henry T. Trollinger and Dr. A.M. Huff. Capt. T.J. Dove had a coffin shop, and the water system was a well dug and walled up with brick or rock. There were three public wells in the middle of the street, with soft and palatable water. Judge Joseph Bledsoe of Sherman was first president of Whitesboro's first bank, organized in 1896 when the City Bank of Sherman built a $2,500 building on the corner of Main and Center streets. The Sherman Bank sold its interest to the City Bank of Whitesboro on September 19, 1895, and a co-partnership was organized, composed of H.L. Hall, J.M. Buchanan, H.H. Robertson, B. Bennett, C.D. Anderson and F.G. Jamison. In 1909 it became a state bank, and in 1914 was nationalized as City National Bank of Whitesboro. It later consolidated with First National Bank and Security State Bank, and later became Whitesboro Consolidated Bank and then Whitesboro National Bank. Security National Bank opened in 1940 under new management and in June of 1961, it opened its new $50,000 building on the corner of Mainand Center streets.  Whitesboro History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |