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BASSETT FARMS SITE HISTORY

from BFC Cultural Landscape Report - June 2022

by Preservation Texas

from BFC Cultural Landscape Report - June 2022, page 126

Article from: BFC Cultural Landscape Report - June 2022

BASSETT FARMS SITE HISTORY

Chapter 4: The Hirshfield Farm

The Hirshfeld Farm1 consisted of 90 acres in three tracts: 10 acres known as the "Sulphur Spring" in the Reinhardt] survey, the "Moseley Homestead" tract of 60 acres in the northeast corner of the Memucan Hunt survey which are a part of this study, and a discontiguous 20 acres in the far northwest corner of the Memucan Hunt survey which are not. The southern boundary of the Sulphur Spring tract adjoined the 60-acre Mosley Homestead tract. The discontiguous 20-acre tract is bounded by the Bassett's Pasture on its north and west and by the Hopewell Freedom Colony on its east and south. All three tracts were acquired by Jay C. Bassett on May 27, 1897 from the estate of John S. Hirshfield (1829-1877). Bassett in turn deeded the 90 acres to his mother, Hattie Ford Bassett, and brother, Willie Ford Bassett, in 1903, to settle outstanding debts to them.

The Sulphur Spring Tract

A ten acre tract of the Hirshfield Farm, fronting the Kosse-Marlin Road across from the Bassett Home Place, was explicitly referred to as "the Sulphur Spring tract." Sulphur Creek flows through this tract of land that was sold

1 W. F. Bassett referred to the property as "The Hirshfield Farm" in an unsigned, undated offer to sell thirty acres of the property to W. R. Wilkin of Kosse, a deal which was never completed. Bassett Archive.

by B. J. Chambers in 1869 to Charles and Robert W. Turner for $260 in gold.2

The next year, as the Houston & Texas Central Railroad approached the area, the Turners sold this same tract of land for an astonishing $1,000, or $100 per acre, to John S. Hirshfield, a merchant and pioneer settler of Fort Worth.3 The significant value placed on the Sulphur Spring tract in 1870 suggests that there were recreational improvements on the site, but no documentary records, photographs, or physical evidence has been located.

The development of railroads in Texas in the late 19th century created opportunities for the commercial development of above-ground springs and well-fed mineral water pools in central Texas as resorts.4 Examples in the vicinity of Bassett Farms included Fairview Springs (Falls County), 2.5 miles southeast and Wootan Wells (Robertson County), 12 miles south. In the early 1900s, the nearby Falls County seat of Marlin developed as a hot mineral water resort that marketed itself as the "Carlsbad of the United States," becoming the spring training home for the New York Giants baseball team in the 1910s and site of one of the first Hilton Hotels in the 1920s.

Historically, springs were gathering places for indigenous people, and as such a likely area for archaeological resources to survive. With European settlement, springs continued to be significant gathering places, often for political rallies and religious camp meetings, sometimes drawing thousands. In July 1880, a political barbecue at Fairview Springs on Tucker Creek gathered 1,500 attendees and featured speeches by candidates for statewide and federal offices. A special omnibus owned by a Kosse hotel proprietor brought several of the visiting political dignitaries to the site accompanied by a band.5 In 1881, an out-of-state visitor from Kansas described Fairview Springs as:

… beautifully situated on the east bank of Tucker creek, about two miles from the point where it enters the Little Brazos river, with nice shaded grounds running back from the springs, covering about twenty acres which has been very artistically arranged by Mr. Pamplin, the overseer and proprietor of the Springs, with cottages, lawns, croquet grounds, etc., furnishing many pleasant hours for the gay crowds that you see stopping here through the season. His bathing arrangements are also handsomely arranged, and afford ample accommodation for all who come. As the hour has come for a party of which I have the honor of being a member, to start out to the [Little Brazos] river with rod and gun for an afternoon's sport..."6

2 Deed, Bassett Archive.

3 Deed, Bassett Archive.

4 For more background on the development of springs as spas and resorts in Texas, see Valenza, Janet Mace. Taking the Waters in Texas: Springs, Spas, and Fountains of Youth. Austin: UT Press, 2000.

5 "Grand Political Rally," The Galveston Daily News, 9 July 1880, page 1.

6 "Fairview Springs, Texas," Topeka Weekly Times, 29 July 1881, page 7.

Perhaps the potential of the Sulphur Spring on the Hirshfield Farm was ultimately eclipsed by Fairview Springs. Future archaeological work might provide evidence of improvements on the Sulphur Spring tract.

After 1903, when the property was transferred to Hattie Ford Bassett, the Sulphur Spring Tract was incorporated into the Bassett Pasture and used for grazing. Later, between 1939 and 1952, a stock tank was constructed just north of Sulphur Creek to support this land use.

The Moseley Homestead and Mary E. Moseley sold the two tracts on May 23, 1870 to John S. Hirshfield (1829-1877) for $1,200. Hirshfield and his estate held the property for 27 years. On May 27, 1897, the heirs of John S. Hirshfield sold the Moseley parcels to J. C. Bassett for $10 per acre.8

A portion of the Hirshfield Farm was, for a brief period, the Moseley Homestead. On May 14, 1869, William J. Moseley (1834-1901)7 acquired two tracts of land totaling 80 acres in the Memucan Hunt Survey from Alexander Beaton for $320. Moseley declared it his homestead. One year later, with Kosse area land values rising, William J.

7 In 1870, William J. Mosely, 34, born in Tennessee, planter; wife Mary E., 30, born in Texas; household included George B., 11, and Harriet S., born in March 1870. The census was taken after he sold his property to Hirshfield, as the agricultural census shows Mosely as the owner of 200 unimproved acres, 1 horse, 10 working cattle, and no other livestock.

During the Hirshfield family's ownership from 1870 to 1897, the property was likely leased as a cotton farm, making use of whatever improvements might have been made by the Moseleys. The Hirshfields were absentee owners who lived in Fort Worth. There is no record of the family ever having lived on the property.

Sulphur Creek cut across the northern boundary of the Mosely Homestead tract which would have provided a source of water for whatever house and outbuildings were associated with the Moselys. Whether the Bassetts in turn leased the 60-acre Moseley Homestead tract as a cotton farm after 1903 or incorporated it into the Pasture is unclear. By the mid 20th-century, the Moseley Homestead tract was used for cattle grazing. Between 1965 and 1981, a stock tank was constructed along its eastern property line.