 Denison Herald
July 25, 1972 WHITEWRIGHT COLLEGE LEFT IMPRINT Whitewright - Former students of Old Grayson College in Whitewright no longer gather during the third Sunday in June and swap tales about the long ago. They don't hand out scholarships to sons and daughters of former students either. But while Grayson College has been out of existence for many years and even though it has a namesake in the junior college at Denison, the fame and glory of that pioneer Texas education institutional will continue to shine brightly down through the years. For many of its graduates still stand tall by any standards. There was Kay Kimbell whose mills made fortunes, many of which he poured back into his love of art. His collection of art objects and paintings became world famous. At his death, the Kimbell Foundation made certain the art collection would remain intact. And he got his love of art from his first association with art at the old Grayson college. Will Fleming rose from a humble clerk in a grocery store to the head of an oil and grain empire that stretched around the world. And Fleming got his first training in the knowledge that was to help him become a financial power at Grayson College. Grayson College was a strict disciplinarian that taught Bible courses just the way they were. George W. Truett was impressed by what he learned and turned to the ministry. As Dr. Truett he headed the world's largest Southern Baptist church and went on to international fame as president of the World's Baptist Alliance. Many others reached high niches at national, state, county or even local level, but few went through Grayson College without coming away much better for it. Three of the famed people to come from Whitewright were Baptist Minister Dr. George W. Truett, philanthropist Kay Kimbell and businessman Will Fleming. Dr. Truett, a president of the World Baptist Alliance, gained international acclaim with his activities. With a multi-million dollar art collection and numerous charities, Kimbell stood tall even by Texas standards. Fleming rose from a job as grocery clerk to heal of an oil and grain empire that stretched all over the world. The success of many of Whitewright's most prosperous citizens can be attributed to the influence of the old Grayson College, one of the southwest's most honored institutions. Grayson College established on Miller's hill at the town's north edge in 1868, grew from a small school with poor facilities to a highly regarded college housed in elaborate surroundings. Throughout its operation, Grayson College maintained a primary and high school department which received state funds and so was termed a "free school." A co-educational school at a time when this was rare, Grayson College had 10 basic rules of operation which included number 7, "No young man shall engage a young lady at home as an escort elsewhere. Nor shall they walk and talk with each other to and from school or on the streets at other times. Nor shall they have any written communications through the mail from the date of entrance to the close of the session." By 1893, the college was doing well enough to enlarge its facilities and by 1904 there were over 700 pupils enrolled. In the spring of 1912, however, Grayson College was forced to discontinue operations. A Grayson College ex-students association was formed in 1939. Founded in 1878, Whitewright was named after an official of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, William Whitewright, who later sold his interest in the railroad to the Katy for $3,700,000. Like most frontier towns, early day Whitewright had far more saloons than churches. From the beginning, however, Whitewright also had some very strict ordinances against public drunkenness. One punishment for drunkenness was to tie the offender to a ladder and leave him and the ladder leaning against a house all night. A second method of dealing with offenders was to put them into a crate, nail it shut, and throw it into a pond. In 1883 the town voted dry, which was probably as much a relief to the town's drinkers as it was to its temperance league. As the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad came to Orangeville, Kentuckytown, and Pilot Grove were bypassed and those townspeople moved here. By 1894 Whitewright had 3 hotels, one tinshop, 3 lawyers, 2 dentists, 6 dray lines, 6 physicians, 2 restaurants, one cotton yard, one flour mill, 4 drug stores, 2 cotton gins, one bicycle shop, 2 papers, 2 grain houses, 2 wagon yards, and one planning mill. It also had a private bank, a national bank, 2 lumber yards, one photo gallery, 6 groceries, 3 barber shops, 2 meat markets, one bottling works, 3 livery stables, 2 furniture houses, 8 dry goods houses, one cotton seed oil mill, one grain and feed mill, one fire insurance office, 4 confectionery stores, one college, one public school, 3 hardware and implement houses, 2 jewelry stores, numerous contractors and no saloons. The first may or Whitewright was W.A. Benedict in 1887, who was elected to the post 2 years after H.S. Ellis had founded the Whitewright Eagle, now the Whitewright Sun. Earlier the first white child born in the town was Jesse Rathbun, born in 1879, a year after the town was founded. The first business was Perry Scullins Grocery and the first dray service was established by Jones and Fennell in the year the town founded, 1878. That same year saw J.A. Batsell appointed the first postmaster and Eli Wallace, who was later a mayor, established the first blacksmith shop. In 1879 Batsell and Reeves received a $500 bonus as the largest individual shippers of cotton from Texas, sending 5,000 bales out over the Katy railroads. In 1894 more than 3 times that total was shipped. Also included in Whitewright's history are a series of destructive fires. After fire did heavy damage to the town several times, on June 11, 1911 the city was almost destroyed as over 20 buildings in the business district were hit. Every on both sides of the main business block was burned, except the First National Bank building, and buildings on other streets also were destroyed. In less than 2 years, however, every building had been replaced with a modern brick facility. Included in its various industries are Carl's Sausage Plant, established in 1955, which serves a large area of Texas and now employees over 50 persons. The Parkland Plant employing about 40 persons in its manufacturing of sports wear and the Dawson Propane Company are also major industries. In the 60 years between 1904 and 1964 Whitewright had 2 mayors, F.M. Echols, who served for 40 years before retiring, and his secretary, R.R. Summers, who took over and served for many years. Since Summers' last term, the town which is operated by city manager firm of government, has had 3 mayors including the most recently elected Sonny Smith.  Grayson College History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |