A Guide to the History of Richardson, Texas

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A Sesquicentennial History of
Richardson, Texas

Or, How a Tiny Railroad Town Became One of the Biggest Small Cities in the Lone Star State

By Steven R. Butler
Author of John Neely Bryan: The Father of Dallas

Volume One Contents

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: PREHISTORY

  • The Land
  • The Native People

CHAPTER 2: THE PIONEER ERA

  • 1841: The Peters Colony
  • The Earliest Settlers
  • 1844: The Prigmore Family
  • 1845: The Jackson Family
  • 1851: The Campbell Family
  • 1851: The Routh Family
  • The Routh or Spring Creek or "Stagecoach" Cemetery
  • The Jacob Routh Family Cemetery
  • The Mount Vale Academy and Another Settler School
  • 1853: The Blewett Family
  • The Blewett Cemetery
  • 1853: The Huffhines Family
  • 1853: The Skiles Family
  • 1856: The Floyd Family
  • The Floyd Pioneer Cemetery
  • 1857: The Bowser Family
  • 1858: The Coit Family

CHAPTER 3: BRECKINRIDGE

  • The Settlement
  • Stagecoach Days
  • The Floyd Inn
  • The Routh Stagecoach Station
  • A Stagecoach Poem
  • The Civil War Years
  • The Cyclone of 1867

CHAPTER 4: A LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE

  • The Birth of Richardson
  • The Founding Fathers (and one Founding Mother)
  • A Brief Biography of Bernard Reilly
  • A Brief Biography of William J. Wheeler
  • The Land That Became Richardson: The W. R. Bodine Survey
  • The Land That Became Richardson: The W. H. Dye Survey
  • Who Was Richardson's Namesake?
  • A Brief Biography of Alfred Stephen Richardson
  • How Was the Town of Richardson Governed?
  • First Press References to Richardson
  • The First Maps of Richardson
  • The First Property-Owners in Richardson
  • A Glimpse of Richardson in 1881
  • What Did Early Richardson Look Like?
  • The Land of Cotton
  • The Patrons' Institute
  • The Wheeler School
  • School Segregation in the Age of Jim Crow
  • Enter Professor Hill
  • School Days Recollected
  • What Happened to the Train Depot?
  • Richardson's First Post Offices
  • A Tragic Accident
  • A Shocking Suicide
  • Run Over By a Train
  • A Terrible Train Wreck
  • A Regrettable Tragedy
  • Shot Himself While Hunting
  • Two More Shocking Suicides
  • The Roadmaster's Lonely Grave
  • The Unlucky Doctor and His Wife
  • Some Early Day Criminal Activity
  • Richardson's First Two Newspapers
  • The Fire of 1892
  • Give Me That Old Time Religion
  • A Pullman Porter Taught a Lesson
  • The Harben Family Arrives
  • A Richardson Boy Reports from the Philippines
  • Richardson at the Close of the Nineteenth Century

CHAPTER 5: A NEW CENTURY BEGINS

  • The Changing Face of Richardson in the Early Twentieth Century
  • The Birth of R.I.S.D.
  • A New School for a New Century
  • The Sad Saga of Sam Overton
  • The Dangers of Level Crossings
  • Sam Harben Starts The Richardson Echo, but when?
  • The Richardson Telephone Company
  • The Automobile Age Comes to Richardson
  • More Inventors
  • The Glidden Tour Comes to Richardson
  • Banking Comes to Richardson
  • Did Teddy Stop?
  • Another Tragic Suicide
  • The History of "Miss Belle's Place"
  • Richardson's Brilliant Scholar
  • The Herring-Gant Imbroglio
  • Enter the Interurban
  • What happened to the Interurban depot?
  • What happened to the Interurban tracks?
  • Trade Days
  • Richardson Expands
  • The Mothers Club
  • A Narrow Escape
  • An Unsung "Texas Hero"
  • The Roller Stop Tragedies
  • Another Fatal Train Accident
  • Cotton Still King
  • The Huguley Brothers Build and Rebuild
  • Richardson Gets Wired
  • A Presidential Candidate Comes to Town
  • Another Governor Comes to Town
  • A Tragedy That Could Have Been Worse
  • The Blue Bonnet Club
  • The Music Men
  • Take Me Out to the Ball Game
  • Richardson on the Gridiron
  • A New School is Built
  • Splendid Homes
  • A Poetic Look at Richardson in 1917
  • World War One Touches Richardson
  • Blewett vs. Richardson Independent School District
  • Another (almost) Governor Comes to Town
  • A Landmark Disappears
  • Oil Be Seeing You in All the Old Familiar Places (or Not)
  • The Echo's Editor Endorses the KKK
  • The Klan Comes to Richardson
  • Richardson's Minority Population in 1920
  • An Unsolved Crime
  • Can I Get an Amen?
  • Another Tragic Hunting Accident
  • The First Annual Richardson Community Fair
  • Was There a Semi-Centennial?
  • The 1923 Richardson Community Fair
  • Follow the Red Brick Road
  • The Cyclone of 1924
  • Sam Harben Takes a Partner
  • Three Enduring Businesses
  • What Next Richardson?

ADDITIONAL READING MATERIAL

  • The Comanche Indians
  • The Wichita Indians
  • The Caddo Indians

SOME EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF RICHARDSON, TEXAS, 1841-1924

Index

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