Quanah Commercial Historic District

The Quanah Commercial Historic District encompasses the city's original downtown area, presenting a cohesive collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century commercial, agricultural, industrial, and governmental buildings. This area reflects Quanah's role as the county seat and agricultural service center of Hardeman County. The period of significance extends from its establishment as the county seat in 1890. through the beginning of the era of post-war prosperity in 1950. The arrival of the railroad and subsequent shipping of grains and cotton provided the primary economic stimulus for the growth and development of Quanah through the period of significance. The majority of the contributing resources in the district are commercial buildings which reflect this pattern of development. The inclusion of the Hardeman County Courthouse and jail represents Quanah's role as the focal point for government and political activity in the county. The Quanah Commercial Historic District is nominated to the National Register at the local level of significance in the areas of Commerce and Politics/Government.

Early History of Quanah

Established in 1858, Hardeman County was created from a parcel of Fannin County as part of the Red River Municipality. At that time Hardeman County included what is today Foard and Hardeman counties. Named after Matagorda legislators Bailey and Thomas Jones Hardeman, the large expanse of grasslands remained sparsely populated until after Reconstruction. Primarily used as open grazing lands, Hardeman County was administered by neighboring Wilbarger County until 1884. Beginning in the 1870s, ranching became the first economic generator in Hardeman County. This first stage of ranching consisted of large grazing operations. Before the arrival of the railroad, these ranches drove their cattle along the Western Trail to Dodge City, Kansas. The 35-square mile R2 Ranch was one of the first and largest operations in the county.

Like many towns in Texas, the history of Quanah is tied to the railroads that shaped the western half of the United States during the late nineteenth century. The town of Quanah was founded in 1884 when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway surveyed the townsite and began selling lots a year later. As the first railroad to cross Northwest Texas, the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway tremendously influenced the settlement and economic growth of the region. Named after Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Quahadi Comanche Indians, Quanah took the shape of a grid pattern, with two railroad-facing business streets on either side of the tracks.

With the coming of the railroad, speculators aggressively bought and sold land along Mercer Street, where it was thought the railway would establish a depot. As a result of the speculation, the cost of land on Mercer rose rapidly, shifting Quanah's center of business east to South Main Street, where less expensive lots encouraged development. The majority of commercial activity is concentrated along three blocks of South Main Street, between McDonald Street and the railroad tracks, where Fort Worth and Denver City erected a depot. Up and down the street, merchants built wood-frame stores to take advantage of the traffic generated by the railroad. Subsequent commercial development occurred along Mercer Street and included the notable stone-constructed Quanah Hotel (no longer standing) and a row of saloons and lodgings serving railroad workers.

During this period, Quanah became the primary cattle shipping center for the surrounding counties. To facilitate the shipping of cattle, the FW&DC built stock pens in the downtown area, north of the tracks. Quanah also received cattle shipped from South Texas to drive north to Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and Denver. Because of its prominence as a cattle shipping point, Quanah assumed the role of the trading and banking center for the region.

In the late nineteenth century, wheat became an important agricultural product for Hardeman County. The mix of clayey and loamy soils in Hardeman County proved to be well-suited for its cultivation. The combination of inexpensive land and the prospect of a wheat boom attracted hundreds of new settlers to the county during this period. Wheat was the predominant crop in the eastern half of the county until the 1890s when falling prices and adverse weather forced many farmers to abandon their land. This trend is reflected in the county's population which dropped from 3,904 in 1890 to 3,634 in 1900.

County Seat and Cotton Shipping Center

Although the county's population declined during the 1890s, Quanah's population increased rapidly when it became the county seat in 1890, strengthening its role as the economic and political center of Hardeman County. After a bitter feud with the first county seat in Margaret, Quanah assumed this role in 1890 after hundreds of railroad workers living in Quanah voted to move it across the Pease River. The town's newfound prominence was soon interrupted when a devastating flood occurred on June 4 of the following year.
Leaving fourteen inches of rain in four hours, the flood destroyed much of the community. A fire in August, only three months after the flood, ravaged a large area of downtown. The wood-frame buildings on the east side of South Main Street, between Clark Street and the railroad, experienced the heaviest damage. From this disaster, the community rebuilt itself, often using rock salvaged from burned buildings. Many of the local businessmen took this opportunity to rebuild their stone buildings with brick facades. A number of the early commercial buildings in Quanah today reveal sections of stone used during rebuilding.

Cotton farming made little impact in Hardeman County until the wheat crop failed in the early 1890s. Cotton, which had been introduced in Hardeman County in 1892, by the first decade of the twentieth century replaced wheat as the principal agricultural product. In 1926, cotton reached its peak with 53,902 bales of cotton. The cotton boom influenced local industry as gins, cottonseed oil mills, and warehouses began to appear along the railroad tracks in Quanah. The railroads also made harvesting possible by bringing as many as 2,000 migrant workers per season to pick cotton.

The railroad and cotton ushered in a period of economic expansion in Quanah. The buildings downtown, such as 204-208 South Main Street, reflect this prosperity. The owners of the building, J.B. Stiteler and J.D. Carrol, both prominent citizens, hired J. M Forsyth to construct this two-story, cast iron front building in 1893. The first floor of the building functioned as a bank, while the second floor housed doctors' offices. Carroll owned other pieces of downtown property, including a successful implementation business. James David Carroll, a native of Conyers, Georgia, met business partner John B. Stiteler while working as a clerk in for Caruthers Hardware Store in Corsicana, Texas. The two young clerks, with financing from the Chicago hardware franchise of Hibbard, Spencer & Bartlett Co., opened a hardware business in McKinney, Texas. Convinced of Quanah's potential, Stiteler and Carroll moved their operation to Quanah in 1889. The hardware store prospered after the town became the county seat in 1890 and is reported to have been the first business in Quanah to sell farming implements and barbed wire. The handsome Citizens National Bank building at 122 South Main was also constructed at this time, along with a large dry goods store at 202 South Main Street in 1898.

Gypsum, along with cotton, proved to be an important economic generator for the community and the genesis for the Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Railroad. James Sickler, who operated a gypsum-processing plant in Kansas, is credited for discovering gypsum deposits in Hardeman County. In 1890, Sickler helped Sam Lazarus organize the Lone Star Cement Plaster Company in nearby Acme. The gypsum milling plant refined the raw product for the production of construction materials. By 1893, Sam Lazarus had gained a controlling interest in the company by purchasing the majority of the stock, and in 1898 became its president. In c.1890, a second Kansas company organized the Acme Plaster Company approximately a mile downstream from the first operation. To ship gypsum to the main rail lines in Quanah, Lazarus organized the Acme, Red River, and Northern in 1902. Later renamed the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway, the railroad expanded southwest into Cottle and Motley counties, and along with the processed gypsum, brought employment, growth, and financial stability to Quanah and Hardeman County.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Quanah had established its place as an important regional transportation and agricultural shipping center. This and the town's role as the county seat directly influenced the growth of the downtown and the community as a whole. The town's population reflected this growth, increasing from 1,477 in 1890 to 3,127 in 1910. Ranching as an economic force evolved into a second stage, characterized by land enclosure and the break up of the large ranch operations. The 1898 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map indicates the town supported a hotel, three lumber yards, a five-grain mill and elevator facilities, three churches, and an opera house.

1900 to the Great Depression

The industries that began in the late nineteenth century would continue to grow and eventually dominate the economy of both Quanah and Hardeman County until the Great Depression. As these industries grew, so did the wealth of the community and, as a result, Quanah solidified its place as an important regional trading center connected to the outside world by four rail lines. The combined income from cotton, gypsum, agricultural products, and railroads spread throughout the community. The downtown was the beneficiary of most of the prosperity of the early twentieth century. Many of the town's and county's most important structures were completed during this time, including the R.H. Stuckey-designed County Courthouse, the First Presbyterian Church, also designed by Stuckey; the Simpson Building and its companion, the Vestal Building, constructed by local rancher and superintendent of the Acme Mill, G.A. Vestal. One of the most significant buildings erected in the community during this period was the Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Depot, designed by the architectural firm of C.H. Page & Brothers of Austin.

The railroads again played a pivotal role during this era, as large-scale ranch operations were broken into smaller tracts of land and sold to farmers. The construction of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway in 1903, between Quanah and Oklahoma, increased settlement and permitted county agricultural products to be shipped to distant markets. Many ranchers realized the value of the railroad lines and made quick cash by selling land to new farmers. As a result of this change in land use and increased access to outside markets, the number of farms grew markedly from 262 in 1900 to 1,068 in 1910, with much of the increase occurring in the west half of the county.

The railroad companies actively engaged in the promotion of land and townsites along their rail lines. The employment of immigrant agents helped publicize and encourage the settlement of areas served by the railroads. Quanah and Hardeman County were heavily promoted by the FW&DC as ideal places to start a farm. An advertisement by the FW&DC in a 1906 edition of Texas Farm and Ranch magazine stated that the area possessed "really high-class lands at low prices...the agricultural and stock-farming possibilities of this section are the equal of, and in some respects, better than three to five times higher priced property located elsewhere." A separate article in the same edition profiled the F.F. Ranch owned by Fred Fleming of Dallas. The article stated that there was "an explosion of dividing up ranches into smaller farms." "Farms are being taken up rapidly on all sides of the ranch, for it has been proved that this is a good country for cotton and diversified agriculture" the article went on to comment.

To facilitate this migration, the railroads added "immigrant" cars to their railroad. Many of the new settlers attracted to the region originated from East and Central Texas, or Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma. W.F. Sterley, of the FW&DC, implied in the Texas Farm and Ranch article that Hardeman County and Northwest Texas were the fastest growing areas due to the advertising blitz by the railroad. Such success in this venture for the railroad created a market for more farmland and thus contributed to the division and selling of large ranches.

Cotton continued to play an important role in the growth of Quanah and Hardeman County during this period. Cotton was considered the single most important crop in the state at this time, with the total value of cotton and cottonseed products reaching $188,673,954 in 1909. Large-scale cotton planting was introduced to the area at the turn of the century and, in the early 1900s became an important cash crop for Hardeman County. In 1890, there were 314 acres of cotton cultivation. By 1899, approximately 1,335 bales of cotton were ginned in the county.

During the first years of the twentieth century, cotton production increased dramatically in Hardeman County. In May of 1902, the local newspaper reported that there were 15,000 to 20,000 acres of land in the county planted with cotton. In 1906, approximately 4,000 acres of cotton were ginned and 1,181 tons of cotton seed shipped from Quanah, a fifty percent increase over 1905. By 1909, there were over 34,000 acres of cotton cultivation and 10,409 bales ginned. Reflecting the increase in cotton production, a number of cotton-related buildings began to materialize along the rail lines in Quanah. One of the largest operations was the Quanah Gin and Feed Mill located at Elbert, First, Starr, and Second Streets.

The Quanah Cotton Oil Company was another important cotton business operating in Quanah in the first decades of the twentieth century. Founded in 1907, by R.K. Wooten, J.W. Simmons, and W.A. Wilhelm, the corporation dissolved in 1913 and reorganized into a partnership between Wooten and Simmons. By the early 1920s, the company employed 100 men, with a payroll in excess of $150,000. The company operated 35 gins in Northwest Texas and shipped their products throughout Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. The Jones Cotton Gin and the Hughes Cotton Gin were two other successful cotton processing businesses operating in Quanah.

The advent of World War I resulted in a noticeable decrease in the demand for cotton. This is evidenced by county statistics that show 30,025 bales of cotton ginned in 1914, followed by a downward trend ending in 1918 with 5,356 bales. A local newspaper article struck an alarming note when it stated that exports of cotton fell by one million bales from the years just prior to the war (Quanah Tribune: Oct 15, 1914). In an attempt to mitigate the loss of this important agricultural revenue, the community constructed a warehouse where cotton would be held until economic conditions improved. Despite the worldwide depression in cotton production, a number of cotton-related businesses remained active in Quanah. The 1915 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows four cotton businesses operating in Quanah at this time, all clustered around the railroad tracks at the north end of downtown. By the end of the war, cotton production had recovered, reaching 21,880 bales in 1919.

The 1920s saw increased cotton production and an expansion in population in Hardeman County. The 1920 census indicates that 4,000 people resided in Quanah and 12,487 in the county. The town boasted nine wholesale warehouses, ten churches, the QA&P Roundhouse, the Quanah Cotton Oil Mill, and bank deposits in surplus of $2,000,000. The 1920 census also stated that 133,000 acres in the county were under cultivation, as compared to 44,000 in 1900. In 1926, the cotton crop was valued at $46 million and the next year reached $50 million. Approximately 50,000 bales of cotton were ginned at seven gins in Quanah during this period. The Quanah Cotton Oil Mill continued to prosper as one of the largest operations of its type in Northwest Texas. According to the 1927-28 Agricultural and Industrial Edition of the Quanah Tribune, the local payrolls were bolstered by the employment of several hundred men employed at the two local plaster mills in Acme. These booming economic times encouraged construction in the downtown area. The new City Hall was constructed in the early 1920s, along with a number of one-story commercial buildings along the east side of South Main Street.

Being situated at the crossroads of the North Texas Highway and SH 16, made Quanah a natural stopping point for travelers. Several gas stations, car repair shops, and car dealerships were located downtown. Chaney Chevrolet at Green and Third Streets and a Ford Dealership at Third and South Main Streets served the needs of motorists along with a number of gas stations situated at the intersection of SH 16 and Fourth Street.

A 1928 Agricultural and Industrial Edition of the Quanah Times documented the prosperity of the era. The article indicated that Quanah supported 6,000 residents, bank deposits of almost $3,000,000, and 135 retail institutions. The town's trade area spread over 2,500 square miles and included a population of 60,000 people. The publication also detailed transportation in the county, including four railroads: the St. Louis-San Frisco, the Quanah, Acme, and Pacific; the Fort Worth & Denver City, and the Kansas City and Orient. The improvement of highways was also noted with the paving of the Colorado to Gulf Highway, occupying the same roadway as the North Texas Highway, and modern bridges erected over the Pease and Red Rivers. Utilities were also upgraded as the West Texas Utilities acquired the Old Dam Site irrigation project at Lake Pauline and built a power plant to serve Quanah, Crowell, Childress, and Vernon. Although cotton was still the predominant cash crop, grain farming had regained its ground. The diversified grain market included acreage planted in corn, wheat, and grain sorghum.

During the Great Depression, the effects of the national economic downturn and an area-wide drought in 1929 and 1930, drove many families off their farms. During the depression, Quanah lost almost sixteen percent of its population. The town felt this shift as merchants lost much of their trade generated by the farming population. Even the QA&P railroad, under dire financial stress, tried to help by lowering freight fares and hauling Red Cross drought relief supplies and water to distressed farmers for free. The Quanah Post Office, the only major building constructed during this time, was erected in 1934 as a Federal Works Agency project.

Toward the late 1920s, cotton, once the main cash crop for the county, began a period of sharp decline. The prolonged drought of 1929-1930, boll weevil infestation, and falling prices as a result of the depression drove down crop production after 1932. In 1930, there were still 144,994 acres under cotton cultivation, but farmers were only producing 26,573 bales, one-half the peak figure of the late 1920s. By 1936, cotton production dropped to 4394 bales.
The loss of cotton had a profound effect on Quanah and the county. As a result of these low yields and the reluctance of the local banks to lend money, many tenant farmers and land-owning farmers were forced to leave. Between 1930 and 1940, the number of farms in the county fell by almost one-third. In 1940, only slightly more than one-half of the tenant farmers remained in the county. The population in the county dropped from 14,532 in 1930 to 11,073 in 1940, with Quanah losing approximately 700 people.

1940 to 1965

By 1950, Quanah's population returned back to its pre-depression level. World War II assisted in bringing back the economy, but many of Quanah's and Hardeman County's able-bodied men were sent to war, placing a strain on the agriculturally based economy. By 1950, Quanah's population had expanded to 4,589, and the town advanced toward economic recovery. In response, the downtown merchants updated their commercial buildings by replacing wood storefronts with modern metal designs. The changes to the buildings during the post-war years reflect a pattern seen across the United States, as merchants improved their storefronts to accommodate the new retail trends of the post-war economy.

During the mid-1950s, agricultural land use patterns shifted again. Land used for crops such as wheat and cotton was reduced and more acreage was put into grain sorghum and pasture. These changes in land use resulted in a decrease in crops and an increase in livestock production between 1954 and 1959. The cotton industry continued to decline throughout the period. By the 1960s, there were only six gins in operation in the county, as opposed to sixteen in the early 1930s.

First drilled in Hardeman County in 1917, oil became an important revenue in the late 1950s with the discovery of the Conley oil field, south of Quanah. Other fields were subsequently discovered and petroleum production rose rapidly, reaching its height of 952,875 barrels in 1964. By 1962, crude oil production in Hardeman County approached a million barrels. In the first seven months of 1963 alone, production from the eleven fields in Hardeman County totaled more than 669,000 barrels. The oil proved to be an economic generator for the county through the 1970s.

The arrival of the 1970s ushered in a downward trend to the downtown area as businesses closed and retail shopping moved away from the center of town. The lumberyards also went out of business and many of the agricultural service facilities located along the railroad closed. It was not until the mid-1990s, that a resurgence of interest in the downtown occurred when Quanah was chosen to participate in the Texas Main Street program. Since 1996, the Main Street Program has helped revitalize the downtown area with more than 36 building rehabilitation projects completed. Today, the Quanah Commercial Historic District contains the town's best examples of historic commercial and institutional architecture and continues to thrive as the center of Quanah and Hardeman County.

The Quanah Commercial Historic District illustrates Quanah's role as the commercial and governmental center of Hardeman County. The majority of the contributing buildings in the district represent the theme of commerce. The inclusion of the county courthouse and jail reflects Quanah's function as the focus of government in Hardeman County. Nominated at the local level of significance in the areas of Commerce and Politics/Government.