Tales of Early Bishop

Bishop, Nueces County, Texas 1910 - 2010 One Hundred Years of South Texas Heritage!

[The following is part of a program presented in 1970 to members of the Harden Study Club

by Mrs. Sankie (Lottie) Harlan. It was graciously provided to us by her son, Kenneth

Harlan.]

Bishop did not grow gradually as most towns do. It sprang into being, almost fully

developed, and in 1910, the year of its founding, this was rare.

F. Z. Bishop, a young insurance agent, figured that the blackland prairie he traveled

was "mighty good cotton and corn land", and he visioned a model town, surrounded

by farm tracts, in this region which had been horse and cattle range since the

beginnings of history.

Straightway he made a deal with the Driscoll Ranch for 2,300 acres bisected by the

rails of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad which had been extended to

the Rio Grande Valley four years earlier.

For the townsite he selected the cattle loading station which the Driscolls called

"Julia" for Mrs. Robert Driscoll, Sr. Tardily, the railroad got around to names, and

called the station "Brookings" for one of the directors. After months of argument, early

residents had the satisfaction of seeing a paint crew splash a coat of grey across the

Tales of Early Bishop

name "Brookings" on the new depot and letter "BISHOP" in bold black.

Three square miles formed the first townsite, and was later reduced to two square miles to meet state requirements on

population. The founder brought in 20 steam plows to turn under the waist-high grass and low mesquite, and to lay out

farms in mile square tracts, linking the sections with 120 miles of improved roads.

Some of the first farm land was sold as it was broken. But before Mr. Bishop put a single town lot on the market, he

mapped a well-zoned community, drilled 3 artesian wells, put in a water system and built an electric light and power

plant. Three miles of concrete sidewalks were laid over the black waxy soil, 10 miles of streets were graded and

improved, 600 palm trees were set out bordering the curbs. He built a small schoolhouse for his future residents, and

set aside lots for churches.

May 30, 1911 was set as the "birthday" for BISHOP. Early in the morning a trainload of prospectors, largely from

Central and North Texas, puffed to a stop at the little depot. They breakfasted at the new Bishop Hotel, where sterling

silver sugar and creamers and an array of cut glass made an impression. In groups the people toured the irrigated

gardens and tested the rich black soil of the farm land.

At noon there was a barbecue in the 40-acre City Park, where the roses and flowering shrubs were in bloom before the

fountain and band pavilion. Hundreds of young trees were set out in every direction. Walks let to the bathhouse and

canoe sheds and wharf on the lake front. In the afternoon visitors took a swim or watched the boat races on the long

lake which had been created by a dam on Carretta Creek. Others wandered over to feed the herd of 60 deer in wire

enclosed pens along the highway.

By dusk they returned to talk business, and thusly were many of the present day residents introduced to Bishop.

By 1912, Mr. Bishop and his chief assistant, Dan W. Taylor, father of Mrs. Ernest Miller, had sold more than 40,000

acres of farm land. The town had grown to 1,200 inhabitants, and was incorporated in April, 1912 with a commission

form of government.

Early settlers who turned this virgin prairie into farms and started businesses here in the second decade of the 20th

century focused their eyes largely on agricultural development and little dreamed of such 1970 industry as Celanese,

Southern Minerals, Gulf Plains and other plants. But perhaps these old timers who are still with us are not so amazed

at the progress, for mighty high hopes were held out to them when they came to Bishop, as a Special Edition of the

Bishop News of 1912 declares:

"THIS IS YOUR opportunity. It's up to you to grasp it, for the Blackland Belt Tributary to the thriving little city of Bishop

is the LAND TO BUY, whether for a home or an investment", a page ad in the special edition declares.

The old paper, a well organized 28-page edition edited by the late Zenas Deer, and dated Nov. 28, 1912, is so far as is

known the only early copy here today. Original files of the News before 1916 were destroyed by termites. Almost

disintegrating, the old paper turned up in the effects of the late Charles Jones, Bishop's first postmaster, and was given

to Mrs. Dale (Betty Lou Taylor) Woods of Kingsville, a sister of Mrs. Ernest Miller.

"Mama didn't have any trouble buying a ticket to Bishop when we moved here from Celina. She just convinced the

ticket seller in Dallas that the town was on the map, but she DID have to use persuasion to get the conductor to stop

and let us off the train when we reached here", Mrs. Miller recalls. "At that time the point was in process of the change

of name from 'Julia' to 'Brookings', and Mr. Bishop's successful wire pulling settled it to 'Bishop' ".

Fresh cantaloupe grown in Bishop's irrigated gardens was the part of the first breakfast in Bishop that the first family

remembered best. We had that first meal with Charlie Jones and Tom Moudy (brother-in-law of Mrs. Bryan Harrell and

Henry Foster). Tom had a store, post office and what-have-you in a little frame building. The Taylors went to live in the

first house that had been built in town. The Bishop Hotel was under construction.

October and November of 1912 had been extremely busy for the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad here: 78

cars of immigrants had been unloaded, 81 cars of lumber had come in for the three lumber yards and 100 more were

in transit, 37 cars of merchandise were received.

Two handsome new church buildings were under construction for the Baptists and the Methodists. Lutherans and

Church of Christ had organized congregations and were holding services in the Bishop Hall.

There was an active Men's Commercial Club, and the Robert E. Lee Literary Society chose as a debate subject:

"Resolved that Environment has a Greater Force than Heredity in forming Character". The B. Y. P. U. program for

Sunday had a paper on "Meddlesomeness". The only out of town advertisement in the old paper was that of the John

B. Ragland Mercantile Co. of Kingsville, which carried this statement, "Just eight years ago J. B. Ragland came to

Kingsville and built the foundation of what is now the John B. Ragland Mercantile Co. erecting a one story frame

building 25 by 40 feet. The store has grown until it now occupies a 2-story building and basement, with about 15 times

the amount of space originally required to handle the business".

In the Real Estate columns of the old paper, business lots in town were listed to sell for $200 each and up, residential

lots $100 and up; unimproved farm land $30 to $60 per acre, the price being based on location and nearness to town.

The school, which opened in 1910 with seven pupils, by 1912 had 121 enrolled, and occupied one 4-room building

with 2-room annex and plans were being made for a handsome new brick building. First State Bank boasted a Capital

and Surplus of $55,000 with deposits Aggregating $110,000.

The Woman's History Club was organized and Federated in 1913. Mrs. G. R. Drury, the only living charter member, is

still one of the Club's life members. Another member, the late Mrs. L. B. Harden, was a leading spirit of the club, and

organized your present Harden Study Club.

When F. Z. Bishop closed out operations in 1916, he had opened up more than 80,000 acres of land for settlement and

established an economy in which cotton, grain, and livestock raising furnished income for more than 75 per cent of the

population.

Severe drought, the hurricanes of 1916 and 1919, and the depression after World War I gave the whole area a

setback. Bishop recovered steadily, but slowly, until in the early 1930s John A. Wuensche pioneered grain milling and

elevator storage to put the farm economy on a firm basis.

Bishop will enter its 61st year in May, with an estimated population of something over 5,000, and approximately 2,700

in the rural area. Ninety-five percent of the 100,000 acres is in cultivation for farms listed in the high income brackets,

and largely home-owned. A multi-million dollar chemical and petroleum industry is constantly expanding, bringing with

it a young and well-educated working force to help mold the future of the community.

Our past has bequeathed to us a rich heritage. Now, as we march into the future, we must face forward to meet the

challenge of our changing world affairs, and dedicate ourselves to making Bishop, and our beloved Texas and our

country a better place for those who will follow in our footsteps.