2009 Welcome to Wise.indd - Wise County Messenger

WISE COUNTY Historical Markers
Alvord Lodge No. 512, A. F. & A. M.
113 N. Wickham Street, Alvord
Prominent founding member R. W. Johnson
led efforts to organize Audubon Masonic Lodge
No. 512 in the village of Audubon (seven miles
northeast) in 1879. The lodge moved to Alvord in
1886 where members built a second floor onto a
schoolhouse to use as a lodge hall. The name was
officially changed to Alvord Lodge in 1890, and in
1991 a new two-story stone lodge hall was erected
at this site. The Masons met on the second floor
and a local bank rented the first floor until 1984.
The lodge continues a tradition of public outreach
to the Alvord community.
Aurora Cemetery
About 1/2 mile south of FM 114 on Cemetery
Road in Aurora.
The oldest known graves here, dating from as
early as the 1860s, are those of the Randall and
Rowlett families. Finis Dudley Beauchamp (1825-
1893), a Confederate veteran from Mississippi,
donated the three-acre site to the newly formed
Aurora Lodge No. 479, A.F. & A.M., in 1877. For
many years, this community burial ground was
known as Masonic Cemetery. Beauchamp, his wife
Caroline (1829-1915), and others in their family are
buried here. An epidemic which struck the village in
1891 added hundreds of graves to the plot. Called
“spotted fever” by the settlers, the disease is now
though to have been a form of meningitis. Located
in Aurora Cemetery is the gravestone of the infant
Nellie Burris (1891-1893) with its often-quoted
epitaph: “As I was so soon done, I don’t know why I
was begun.” This site is also well known because of
the legend that a spaceship crashed nearby in 1897
and the pilot, killed in the crash, was buried here.
Struck by epidemic and crop failure and bypassed
by the railroad, the original town of Aurora almost
disappeared, but the cemetery remains in use with
over 800 graves. Veterans of the Civil War, World
Wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts
are interred here.
Indian Captives Dot and Bianca Babb
From Chico, take FM 1810 about two miles
east to marker
Two of Texas history’s best-known Indian captives,
13-year-old T. A. “Dot” Babb (1852-1936)
and his 9-year-old sister Bianca (1855-1950) were
stolen by Comanches from their home near here in
September 1865. While at play one day, the children
were surprised by a raiding party of 35 to 40 Native
Americans. Mrs. Babb was killed and Dot, Bianca
and Mrs. Luster (a visitor) were taken to Indian Territory
(present Oklahoma). After helping Mrs. Luster
escape on the way, Dot was very nearly executed,
but so stoic was he in facing death that the Native
Americans admiringly spared his life. For the next
two years Dot and Bianca lived, in different tribes,
as adopted Comanches. Bianca later recalled that
the Native Americans held a feast - with coffee, a
luxury - upon her arrival and that they colored her
blonde hair with charcoal and buffalo tallow. Dot,
after a winter as the squaws’ flunky, asserted his
male rights and thereafter spent his time taming
horses. He was taken on raids against other tribes
and showed signs of becoming a fine warrior. After
two years, the children’s father ransomed them and
a joyful reunion occurred. Both Dot and Bianca
spoke with sympathy, however, of many Indian customs
and of kind treatment during captivity.
Toll Bridge and Old Bridgeport
West of Bridgeport at FM 920 and Trinity River
Bridge
When Butterfield Overland Mail traversed this
area (1858-61) on St. Louis to San Francisco route,
a crossing over West Fork of the Trinity was a necessity.
Colonel W. H. Hunt on Feb. 11, 1860, obtained
a charter and built a toll bridge here (50 yards
west). The Overland Mail ceased operating as Civil
War began. The bridge soon collapsed. However,
a settlement had begun here, and in 1873 Charles
Cates, a Decatur merchant, spanned the river with
an iron bridge. When the Rock Island Railroad built
to this point in 1893, town moved but retained
historic name.
Bridgeport Coal Mines
Located at 8th and Hovey Streets, Bridgeport
Once a staple of Bridgeport’s economy, coal was
discovered here in later part of 19th century. Diggers
hit vein 60 feet deep while seeking water. Mine
No. 1 lies under northeast Bridgeport, and entire
area is honeycombed with tunnels and shafts.
Wise County Coal Company was chartered Aug. 23,
1882, by C. D. Cates, J. C. Carpenter, J. G. Halsell, J.
J. Lang, H. Greathouse, and D. Waggoner. The firm
was bought in 1900 by Colonel William H. Aston of
Virginia. Renamed Bridgeport Coal Company, it had
500 employees at Zenith. Mines closed in 1929 due
to increased use of oil and gas.
Bridgeport Lodge No. 587, A.F. & A.M.
Located at 1012 Halsell Street -Bridgeport
On Dec. 12, 1884, the Bridgeport Masonic Lodge
was granted a charter by the Grand Lodge of Texas.
The 27 charter members consisted primarily of local
coal miners, ranchers and businessmen. The group
met in a tin building on the old Town Square until
about 1900, when a second building was completed.
A two-story brick building was purchased from
Dr. K. L. Buckner in 1925. From its beginning the
lodge has been active in community affairs, with its
membership providing civic leadership and support
for local public schools.
Brown Hotel
East Decatur Street, Chico
Located one block east of Chico’s public square,
the Brown Hotel was developed in several stages
beginning in 1888 and lasting through 1910. The
Brown Hotel exemplifies the type of lodging once
found in numerous small Texas towns near the turn
of the century. In 1876 J.T. Brown, builder of the
hotel, purchased the land on which Chico is located
from R.C. Mount. That year the town of Chico was
laid out by Brown, an immigrant from Chico, Calif.,
near Dry Creek, a tributary of the West Fork of the
Trinity River. Over a decade later, Brown built his
hotel near the public square. Although another
hotel, The Chico, which no longer stands was built,
the Brown Hotel was an important social center for
the community. In about 1908, R.L. Morris, a banker
from Mississippi, purchased the hotel. Morris, who
established a bank and mercantile store in Chico,
retained ownership of the hotel until his death in
1965. He made the hotel his permanent residence.
Butterfield Overland Stage Line
Marker located at north city limits on Old US
81/287, Decatur
Through Decatur passed the Butterfield Overland
mail line connecting St. Louis and San Francisco
with semi-weekly stage and mail service, 1858-
1861. The length of the route, 2,795 miles and the
superior service maintained made this a pioneer
enterprise of the first magnitude.
Decatur Baptist College
1602 S. Trinity St., Decatur
The Administration Building of the Decatur
Baptist College is a three-story limestone building
situated on a hill overlooking the town of Decatur
decicated Sept. 6, 1893. The Northwest Texas Baptist
Association, composed of 138 Baptist Churches
in five counties in northwest Texas, founded Northwest
Texas Baptist College in Decatur in 1891. During
the 1892-1893 session, the college held classes
in the opera house above a grocery store in Decatur.
By the second year the Administration Building was
completed. The Administration Building, a Victorian
structure with certain castellated Romanesque
features, contains 15 rooms and a chapel.
During the second school year, the college had
an enrollment of 149 students and a faculty of
eight. The school became bankrupt in 1896 due to
the failure of the supporting churches to pay their
pledges and in the fall of 1897, the Texas Baptist
Convention purchased and operated the school,
changing the name to Decatur Baptist Junior College.
This junior college founded in 1897 was the
first private junior college in the United States. Its
primary function was as a preparatory school for
Baylor University. In 1964 the college was moved to
Dallas and became Dallas Baptist College.
The building now serves as the Wise County
Heritage Museum.
Decatur First United Methodist Church
104 S. Miller, Decatur
Organized in 1862, this congregation is the oldest
in Decatur. The Rev. J. R. Bellamy conducted the
first services in a vacant store on the south side of
the town square. Other churches were not started
in the community until after the Civil War. The
first sanctuary was constructed at this site in 1881.
Property for the congregation was deeded by the
county government. Built during the pastorate of
the Rev. E. D. Dejernet, the edifice was destroyed
by fire in the early 1890s. A second church structure
for the fellowship was soon built at this location. It
served the growing membership until the present
brick sanctuary was completed. Constructed under
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