Van Alstyne Era
February 18, 1930
pg. 1
(Published by the Junior English Class, Van Alstyne High School)

REFUSED MILLION DOLLAR PROPERTY FOR HORSE
Returning home from the Civil War, where 3 perfectly good years from some standpoints, had been used in fighting other American citizens, and resting in the little village of Dallas, J.H. Arnspiger, one of the oldest and most interesting residents of Van Alstyne, was offered the ground where the Jefferson Hotel and the Union Terminal stand, in return for his horse.  So goes the story the high school students are telling.  They also add that the bargain was no good from the Grayson County man's viewpoint, and he journeyed back to Mantua, which was the center of life in this end of the country.
He had moved to Texas in 1845, the year Texas became a state and settled with his parents, natives of Illinois, in the clearing near Mantua, from there were no other settlements near, no railroads, or any other signs of the community now called Van Alstyne.  After the Civil War he married Miss Mary Jane McComb, who was the daughter of the Baptist minister, who organized the first Baptist Church in the county.  She was a native of Missouri but spent most of her life near Farmington.  She tells most interesting stories of the pioneer days, of Indians, the expensive "store bought" dresses, and of the religious fervor of those early settlers who sometimes came as far as 30 miles to attend religious services.  And that, remember, before the days of sidewalks,  highways, or even bicycles.