Grimes County Historical Commission
Issue 1 Volume 4 September 2019 Meetings of the Grimes County Historical Commission are held on the Second Monday of the Month at 6:30 pm in the Courthouse Annex in Anderson, Texas Contact Information: Al Peeler Al.peeler@grimescountytex as.gov Visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ GrimesCountyHistoricalCo mmission
Photo of the Month
Grimes County Historical Commission Executive Board Chairman Al Peeler Vice Chairman Susan Boudreaux Secretary Vanessa Burzynski Treasurer Janice Trant
COMMITTEES Historical Markers Denise Upchurch
Original movie prop from the Movie “Hope� being presented to County Judge Joe Fauth by County Clerk Vanessa Burzynski during the 125th Birthday Celebration of the Grimes County Courthouse held on Saturday, June 15, 2019.
Photo courtesy of the Navasota Examiner
Cemetery Committee Vanessa Burzynski Archives Committee Sarah Nash Newsletter & Publicity Lucy Ybarra GIS Committee Katherine Dornak
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
Fanthorp Inn and Washington-on-theBrazos will now be operated by the Texas Historical Commission 86th Legislative Session was on property tax and education reform, receiving little press were three “historic” bills that will enhance the preservation of Texas history, one triggering a constitutional amendment. Effective Sept. 1, HB 1422 transfers operation and management of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site (WOB) and the Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site in Anderson from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to the Texas Historical Commission (THC). The recommendation came during the Sunset Committee’s review of the THC and also included Lipantitlan State Historic Site, Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites, Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historical Monument and Park, and the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. District 13 Rep. Ben Leman who supported the bill said, “While TPWD has admirably managed many historic sites in Texas, THC is the more logical agency to manage WOB because of its historic nature.” According to Republic of Texas Complex Superintendent Jon Failor, the transfer of historic sites is not new. Ten years ago, 18 historical sites were transferred from TPWD to THC. Failor said, “Over the last 10 years, the THC has really learned a lot about running sites, managing land and these types of places. What’s really good about this is that many of the Texas revolution sites will be managed by the same agency.” Reflecting on the historical significance of San Jacinto and the Alamo, Failor said, “This story here is just as important and some would argue more. People risked their lives here to declare independence and sometimes that gets lost in the story because there was no literal blood shed on the grounds. There was no cannon fire, musket fire, sabers clanging. There were pens and political debate, arguments and risk. The risk was just as great because without it, there would be no Texas.”
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What Changes? According to Failor, changes for park staff are minimal – no break in service, loss of benefits or impact on retirement. They will terminate from TPWD, begin new employment with THC, and the familiar khaki garb will be replaced with a more casual polo shirt with the THC logo. Changes for park visitors include making reservations through WOB staff instead of central reservations in Austin, and single site ticket sales at the Visitors Center instead of separately at Barrington Farm, Independence Hall or the Star of the Republic Museum. Facilitating this change is the conversion of the two-way roads to one way, directing traffic to the Visitors Center. Regarding Texas State Park Passes, THC doesn’t have a membership or park pass program but is “receptive to it.” Failor said, “I’ve made a request that if the THC doesn’t develop its own membership program that we have a grace period to accept a state park pass.” Star of the Republic In addition to $8 million secured by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst for improvements to the Star of the Republic Museum at WOB, SB 2309 authored by Sen. Kolkhorst with Rep. Leman, transferred the jurisdiction and maintenance from Blinn College to THC, a move supported by Blinn College by letter and testimony. While THC will oversee operations, ownership of the building and collections remains with Blinn. In a press release, Sen. Kolkhorst said, “It was the right time to secure funding and to put the operation under one umbrella agency.” Constitutional amendment According to Rep. Leman, since 1993 more than half of the sporting goods sales tax revenue designated for TPWD and historic sites has been diverted to other uses. That could change, thanks to SJR 24 authored by Sen. Kolkhorst, and a constitutional amendment addressing that tax. Failor said the amendment “will mandate that the full allotment of that money no longer be picked at and will go to the places intended TPWD and historic sites.” He continued, “As much as Texans love their historic sites, love their parks and know they
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
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need help, I think it will pass overwhelmingly. This is game changing legislation for these sites. They will receive funding that they’ve never seen before and that is huge.” Association Support Continues The WOB Park Association, created in the 1950s, is the oldest TPWD park support group. Improvements during its 70 years include construction of the Visitor’s Center, staff offices, renovation of Independence Hall, moving Anson Jones’ home to WOB, and were financed by Association fundraisers and a few grants. President Cyndee Smith said, “We’ll continue to raise money for the park. We have a master plan for improvements that we worked on for a couple of years with TPWD - a lot of park enhancements, a new entrance, new flags -a nearly $2 million project which hit the pause button for THC to review.” Included is the recent purchase of 4 acres to “create a new grand entrance we think this park deserves.” The 501(c)(3) will continue to receive approximately $30,000 in hotel/motel occupancy tax (HOT) funds from Washington and Grimes counties and funds park advertising. Failor said, “If we’re talking about major improvements over the next few years, that’s only going to increase the HOT funds. It’s going to put more heads in beds and people staying in this area.”
Fanthorp Inn Anderson, Texas
Focused on history Failor said, “There were a lot of bills in play in this last legislative session that directly affect our site, THC and TPWD, from the transfer of the parks, to the transfer of the museum to the transfer of the sporting goods tax bill. When it all comes out in the end, the visitors’ experience will be greatly enhanced, and the sites will be taken care of better than they have ever been.” He added, “Working for an agency whose primary focus is historic site management, archeology, collections, architecture, that’s all going to be a big plus for the stewardship of this place and the experience of its visitors.” Article courtesy of Connie Clements, Reporter for the Navasota Examiner.
Washington on the Brazos Washington, Texas
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
News from the Past Navasota Examiner November 24, 1994 Interactive system 1st of kind in state Grimes County Explorer offers history via computer By Hank Hargrave ANDERSON – With the push of a button and the whir of a hard drive, the Grimes County Explorer interactive computer program roared to life Saturday, Nov. 19. And when it did, the dream of the Grimes County Historical Commission’s Map Committee to log county history as a multimedia computer presentation was realized. This is a very special program which was done out of love, love for the county and love of its rich history, said Ralph Speich, historical commission chairman. “I’ve been told by Linda Roark (of the Texas Historical Commission) that there’s nothing else lie it in the state and we belie, in the country,” The multimedia presentation, which was developed by Gene Vasconi, president of Communications Arts of Austin, as unveiled before approximately 28 people at the Sunshine Center in Anderson. The Explorer itself is composed of a top of the line IB M compatible 486 computer equipped with a sound card and mouse ball. The county’s history is stored on 100 megabytes of hard-drive disk storage.
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What makes the Grimes County Explorer unique, Vasconi said, is that the interactive system is on “the cutting edge” of computer technology and includes features unusual in other, larger settings. “It’s unusual for Austin to have this technology, much less a rural area like Grimes County. It’s a testament to the vision of your historical commission that this pioneer program has been developed here,” he said. According to Speich, most of the thanks for the Explorer’s existence go to longtime county resident and historical commission member Alixe Taylor, who recently moved to Baton Rouge, La. Speich said, five years ago, the Taylor chaired the Map Committee was charged with creating a visual record of Grimes County history which could be used by schools, organizations, libraries and museums. A paper map with symbols illustrating different items, with a book describing what each symbol meant, was researched. The map committee later expanded the paper map and book idea to putting the country’s outline on a piece of wood, said Speich. Historic areas would be lighted and connected to a push button which, when pressed, would recite specific items of history.
“in other words, the hard drive contains about 100 million pieces of information.” Vasconi said. The audience sat silently amazed for most of the Austin man’s two-hour presentation watching as county history appeared on an enlarged computer screen, accompanied by appropriate color graphics, maps, photographs, music and sound. The presentation chronicled the area’s past from 1825, when it was founded as part of Stephen F. Austin’s original colony, to the present.
Note: We have yet to locate this valuable piece of information so if anyone knows where it might be please let us know.
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
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courthouse moved in 1852 to its existing site, where it lasted until another fire consumed the building in 1891. Still another fire destroyed its replacement in 1893. At the time the fifth and present courthouse was built in 1894, four courthouses had been lost in 48 years. So few citizens believed at the time that this building would last a century, Mallard said. “We’d be 500 years old if (each of the courthouses) lasted as long as this one” he said.
GRIMES COUNTY COURTHOUSE CELEBRATES 100TH ANNIVERSARY Odessa-American Monday, September 26, 1994 ANDERSON (AP) – The roof leaks. There’s not enough lights unless it’s a sunny day. And the constant clatter of the window units on the first floor sometimes makes it hard to hear. But townsfolk and passers-by have a hard time denying that the Grimes County courthouse is simply a beautiful building. As for it’s shortcomings, well, one must be fair. After all, the building is 100 years old. And it is this milestone that on Saturday will being citizens and dignitaries alike to this small town nine miles east of Navasota. They will gather in the town square and pay reverence to a building that survived when several of its predecessors did not. In 1894, there were no documented festivities surrounding the new building’s completion. Marcus Mallard, Grimes County commissioner and resident historian said people were probably happy just to have a courthouse that stood. The first courthouse was a cedar cabin that opened in 1846 but burned down in December 1848. So they built another one, which blew down in a freak storm three years later. The
The fifth courthouse, although largely ignored at inception, has become the main attraction in Anderson, called by some “The Rome of Texas” because of the seven hills the town is perched on. It has graced numerous drawings, postcards and at least one calendar cover. It has brought tourists miles out of their way for just one glimpse of the unique edifice. “These folks just walked in the door one day. They were dressed for a wedding,” said County Judge Larry Snook. “They had seen the building in a previous trip through the town and they were impressed with it. They said they wanted to get married in this building. So, I took them upstairs to the courtroom and married them.” The upstairs courtroom itself has been witness to its share of memorable events. Joe Palmer, a member of the infamous “Bonnie and Clyde” gang was tried there in 1934 after a change of venue. ‘He was in the pen in Limestone County for armed robbery, and he killed a TDC (Texas Department of Corrections) major while in jail.” Said District Clerk Wayne Rucker. Palmer received a death sentence and was executed the same year. The lack of enthusiasm about the completion of the fifth courthouse is reflected in the building’s absence from old minutes of Grimes County Commissioner’s court meetings. Mallard said no mention of the building’s exact date of completion exists anywhere. “The only mention of the building in the minutes was when they changed the specs for
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
the hallway to one-part sand-one part cement to two parts cement-one part sand.” He said. After a termite problem developed several years back, county officials used that opportunity to check the building’s foundation. Rumors swirled that a basement containing unseen historical relics existed in the structure that burned down in 1893. But excavators only found pieces of tin, pencils and a bunch of rubble that apparently helped to support the existing foundation, Mallard said. “They (the builders) just cleaned it down to a point where they could build,” he said. No one knows exactly how any of the four destructive fires started, but Anderson legend credits an old stove for the last one in 1893. Mallard credits his story from the late Trinston Harris, a former Grimes County Clerk, who said courthouse workers were cleaning up the place by burning old documents in a wooden stove. He said since the building burned down in the heat of the summer, there would be no other reason to keep a fire going. “The general belief was that it was too hot to have a fire, so there wouldn’t have been a fire anywhere in the courthouse, except for the stove,” he said. Whether it’s true or not, the legend stuck. The newest courthouse has withstood 100 years of exposure, and even though its still revered for its beauty, the building’s underbelly shows a few scars. The historic courtroom has plywood nailed to the ceiling to stop water leaking. The building has central air conditioning upstairs, but only window units downstairs, which Mallard says makes a terrible racket. “They’re loud as hell,” he said. “That old building echoes so bad in there that you turn the air conditioning on in the office and you’ve got to immediately talk a couple of decibels higher.” County officials hope a state grant will cure some of what ails the building. The state is giving $215,000 to help repair a building that originally cost $12,597 to build. Yet the original builders never thought that the county
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government would expand as much as it has. Snook said that in 1894, there was plenty of breathing room in the courthouse. Now, three other buildings are needed to carry out the business of government. “Back then, these weren’t jobs. They didn’t expect them to be. There were more civic type duties,” Snook said. The center of Grimes County government continues to face Main Street in downtown Anderson, just as it did a century ago. Today, it might be too small. The rain might seep through at times. And that air conditioner is just as noisy as ever. But the old building is still standing, something a lot of people never expected. “It’s been there a hundred years, and it will be there another hundred years,” Mallard said.
The Galveston Daily News, Bedias, Tex., November 5, 1886 On the 4th day of April 1880 my son, D. B. Morgan, commonly called “Dock” ran away from home. Since that time, I have heard nothing from him. At the time he left he was 17 years old, of slender build, about 6 feet 8 inches high, smooth face, light hair, deep blue eyes. If he is still living it will be greatly to his interest to come home or write to me. If dead, any person having knowledge of same will confer a great favor upon his mother by letting me know where he died, the cause of death, and where buried, and by publishing this in the Galveston Weekly News, you’ll greatly oblige an aged widow and mother of the lost boy. Mrs. A. E. Morgan Bedias, Texas
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
The Galveston Daily News, Thursday, August 15, 1895 TREASURE HUNTERS Stories of Buried Wealth in Texas along the Old Santa Fe Trail Navasota, Grimes Co., Tex., Aug. 13 – Like all that part of Texas through which the now extinct Santa Fe trail ran, this section has numerous legends of buried treasure, all having the same general features for a plot, with variations as to location and cause of burial. Sometimes it is a band of Mexican traders cursed by Bedias Indians; again, it is a Spanish pack train with supplies and money for the settlements and running from Cherokees. The end is always the same; they bury their money and a single messenger escapes to tell the tale and give to some benefactor maps and minute directions for the recovery of untold wealth before he shall meet his end, which is fast approaching him in his adobe, the furniture of which consist usually of squalor and rags. Every year when the Bermuda grass takes on the greenish-brown color that indicates that fly time is here there are one or more expeditions from here to search for the hidden wealth of the Spaniards or Mexicans of long ago. Last summer a party was organized to pump dry a hole which has been full of water for sixty years in which a party of Mexicans, hotly pursued by Indians, is said to have thrown an great number of bags of money and then to have diverted a stream, so that the hole has never gone dry. The leader of this party got up an instrument that, in his opinion, would indicate where there was silver. It was a glass tube, about ten inches long, open at both ends. In one end he placed a cork stopper, then a quantity of quicksilver was placed on the inside and a stopper placed in the other end; the instrument was adjusted so it would lay flat on the water and float except where there was a large quantity of silver, when the originator claimed the instrument would assume a perpendicular position. The inventor and others gave it a trial in a barrel of rainwater
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and all the silver they could raise, and the thing would not work, so they whole scheme was given up; not because the indicator would not work as the inventor claimed, but on account of the stringency of the money market and the inability to manipulate a loan of enough money to give it a fair trial. A lot of negroes across the river in Washington county have been at work now for about two weeks digging for a treasurer amounting, so they say, to $160,000, that was buried by some Mexicans about sixty years ago. They have done so well with their picks and shovels that they succeeded in digging a hole ten by fifteen feet and forty feet deep, without coming to any sign of the hidden wealth. They have a spiritualist conjurer, mulatto woman who is directing the work. They have arranged with the owner of the land, a white man, to give him one-third of the amount they get, and they are to have full control of a small strip of land, around which they have drawn a circle and permit no one to enter. The Mulatto woman superintends the work and permits no word to be spoken in the hole. The hole has six or seven floors of plan and as the earth is dug, it is carried from floor to floor by men who work only on their own floor. The mine is located just the other side of Washington, the former state capital and the woman’s instrument indicated the spot where they are digging. A peculiar coincidence is that where they dig about thirty years ago, a negro plowing uncovered a gun barrel of an old gun sticking straight down in the ground. He mounted the barrel on a stock and now the gun is exhibited in proof that the money is there. Just at present the woman has gone away for more instruments and she is daily expected to return. The woman will not give her name or home. The businesspeople here are much interested, for if the money is gotten, business will quickly revive.
GRIMES COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2019
Texas Almanac 1964-1965 Grimes County, Texas Twelve miles south of Navasota on State Highway 6 is the site of home of Jared E. Groce, built in 1833. Known as “Groce’s Retreat”. He started commercial cotton growing and ginning in Texas. Navasota has monument to La Salle, wo according to generally accepted history, was killed and buried nearby.
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One mile west of Keith, site of cedar log house built by William Trant in 1850. Old Lawson home five miles south of Navasota. Indian Village and burial ground located at home of Mrs. Earl Allen in Piedmont; relics at A&M University. Ruins still visible of Piedmont Inn, historic health resort, mineral spring and stage stop. Luxton grave and monument marks site of grave of mother of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest three miles east of Navasota. Ruins still standing of Camp Inn, stagecoach hostelry built of native rock two miles east of Navasota. Camp cemetery two miles northeast of Navasota.
On Main Street in Anderson is Fanthorp Inn, built in 1834 by Henry Fanthorp as a home for his bride, Rachel Kennard. Other notable homes are H. F. Foster home (originally Gibbs home), built in 1859 at Navasota. Margaret McIntyre house built near Anderson in 1820; burned and similar house built in 1838; still standing.
Three-fourths mile west of Bedias is site of Old Bedias; town moved to be near railroad. At Bedias is grave and monument to Sarah Dodson who made Texas flag. Baptist Church built by Ira M. Camp in Anderson; organized 1844, one of first in Texas.
First mercantile establishment and first post office (1835). Kenneth Lewis Anderson, VicePresident of the Republic died here July 3, 1845. Stage lines from Houston to old Springfield and from Nacogdoches to Austin crossed here. Eleven miles southeast of Navasota is marker on site of old Jesse Grimes home. At Plantersville is old Markey Seminary founded in 1858, now called Easley place.
In Fanthorp Cemetery in Anderson is monument to B. B. Goodrich, signer Texas Declaration of Independence. St. Paul’s College, Episcopal seminary and liberal arts college, est. 1852; formerly Masonic Collegiate Institute, one of first free schools in Texas. Marker erected in old Baker Cemetery at Plantersville to Frances Coleman, called “Real Daughter of Republic of Texas”.
At Anderson is site of munition factory of southern Confederacy, established in 1861, operated until 1865. At Anderson are Green house, built about 1850; and following houses, all built about 1850, Pahl, Buchanan, Boggess, John Bowman, David Wilson home, built about 1830; John S. Black homestead, built 1829; Womack, Fuqua, Dickson. Also, site of old Antioch Baptist Church, built about 1855 burned in February 1955, restored in late 1955. At Navasota is site of following old homes, all built around 1850; Foster, Scott Plantation. At Plantersville is site of “The Cedars” (Baker House), Walton house, both built about 1850. At Roans Prairie is site of A. D. Kennard house, built early 1800’s and Mark Kennard home, built about 1850.
Mrs. Frances Coleman Womack
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HOLLYWOOD COMES TO ANDERSON During the early 1960s, Kate is faced with a dreary small-town existence, surrounded by her mother, who is a stroke victim, and her bigoted Uncle Ray, who owns a theatre. When a black minister dies in Uncle Ray's theater, Ray is charged with wrongful death. This movie was filmed mostly in downtown Anderson and inside the Grimes County Courthouse. Many residents were allowed to be a part of the movie process. The site where the Confederate Memorial Plaza now stands was the location of the movie theater in the movie and the building was actually burned down to be used as a scene in the movie. Everyone was excited to meet the actors including Goldie Hawn who directed the movie. The film was released on October 19, 1997. It was filmed at several locations in Texas including Anderson, Houston, Thompsons, League City and Manvel, Texas. It was filmed in May of 1997. It was nominated for a Golden Globe award.
Courtroom Scene from movie “Hope”
Fire scene from movie “Hope”
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We have copies of the Navasota Bluebonnet on sale for only $25 each. This book was published in 1954 and has 100 years of Navasota History. This book was reprinted in 2001.
Grimes County Cemetery Books $30 each Volume 1 - North (Bedias/Iola/Keith) SOLD OUT Volume 2 - Central (Anderson/Shiro/Roans Prairie/Singleton) Volume 3 - South (Courtney/Plantersville) Volume 4 – Navasota You can also purchase a CD with all 4 volumes for $20
Grimes County History Book
The Grimes County Heritage and Progress History Book is a great addition to your family library. It contains the history of our county as well as family histories of Grimes County Residents. $50 The Early History of Grimes County by E. L. Blair can now be purchased on CD for only $10.