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Webb
& Hill Cattle Contracting
Click on image to enlarge
Courtesy General Land Office |
Old
MKT Depot - Now Albany Chamber of Commerce
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
Historical Marker
- Marker location:
112 Main Street (Hwy 180) & Hwy 283
City of Albany
Chosen county seat
of Shackelford
in 1874, Albany had a 43-acre townsite donated by Sheriff Henry C.
Jacobs. County clerk W. R. Cruger named city for his old home, Albany,
Ga. A wooden picket courthouse was erected. The post office opened
August 1, 1876. By late 1877 there were 16 buildings - homes, hotels,
saloons, a blacksmith shop. Merchants were T. E. Jackson and firm
of Woody & Hatcher. Physicians W. T. Baird and W. M. Powell and lawyer
A. A. Clarke located here. D. H. Meyer and Edgar Rye began (1879)
publishing "The Albany Tomahawk". Already on the western cattle trail,
city expanded as a frontier shipping point when Houston & Texas Central
Railroad built a terminus here in 1881. By 1882 a church building
had been erected. Music lovers organized a cornet band. In 1883 an
opera hall opened, and a permanent courthouse of native stone was
built. Succeeding D. R. Britt as the school principal, W. S. Dalrymple
founded an adult study club, "The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
Circle". Albany had an academy, and then a college in 1898-1915. Local
activities include ranching,
petroleum production, small farming, and annual staging of the historical
drama, "The Fort Griffin Fandangle".
(1975) |
Albany Landmarks
/ Attractions
A Postcard of
a Town
Albany Chamber in the old railroad depot, a proper bookstore on the
square, restored Aztec Theater and Art Center in the
Old
Jail. The 1883
Courthouse has clock and bell.
Albany Guide published twice a year to correspond with the County's
two major events: The Fort Griffin Fandandle (last two weekends
of June) and hunting season.
Photo Gallery: |
Shackleford
County Jail
(circa 1878)
The restored jail now houses The Old Jail Art Center.
One block East of Courthouse. Admission: Free |
Ledbetter Picket
House
112 Main Street
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
Historical Marker
Text
Ledbetter Picket House
William Henry Ledbetter (1833-84), a native of Georgia, came to Texas
in 1858, and established a salt works on Hubbard Creek (8 miles southwest)
in 1862. Ledbetter withstood fierce Indians attacks before moving
near Fort Griffin (15 miles north). He was elected first county judge
in 1875. In the mid-1870s, Ledbetter built this picket house near
the army post, using construction methods typical of this frontier
region. It was moved here and restored by the city of Albany in 1953.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1962 |
Historic Trinity
Episcopal Church in Albany
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2005 |
(Don't put your
money in the slot.)
The preserved Albany Ice Company
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
The closed Gulf
Gas Station in 2009
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
Even closed gas
stations look neat in Albany
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
The closed gas
station in 2017
Jimmy Dobson Photo, July 2017 |
The restored
Sinclair gas station in May 2007
Photo courtesy Steve Johnson |
The Fort Griffin
Fandandle (last two weekends of June)
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 |
Albany
Nearby Destinations
|
"These smokestacks
are on FM601 about eight miles southeast of Albany. May have been
an old oil production facility." -
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2008 |
Shackleford
County Wind Farms
"As
I went to the Fandangle at Albany I had to drive through a Wind Farm
on the way... The Fandangle lasted until 11 PM. Driving back through
this wind farm at night, the moon was out quite bright enabling me
to see the wind farm bathed in bright moon light. The towers were
so tall they had to have flashing red lights on them mainly for aircraft
safety I would guess. The entire farm red lights all flashed on and
off at exactly the same time. It was quite a sight to see...
more" - Gerald
Massey |
Historical Marker
- Marker location:
US 180, about 14 mi. W of Albany
(In Chimney Creek Ranch)
Bud Matthews Switch of the Texas Central Railway
In 1900 the Texas Central Railway extended a line northwest from Albany
across this portion of Rose Ella (Matthews) Conrad's cattle ranch.
Ella and her brother John A. "Bud" Matthews, for whom this site is
named, promptly constructed cattle pens and a loading chute at this
location. Surrounding ranchers soon were shipping their cattle from
this switch to markets in Fort
Worth. As many as 105,000 head of cattle were shipped annually
until the railroad ceased operations in 1967. Since that year local
ranchers have continued to load cattle onto trucks from this site.
(1992) |
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Albany
street scene
Old post card circa 1930, courtesy THC |
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Reynolds
Presbyterian Academy in Albany
1909 post card courtesy of THC |
Albany Chronicles
The
Saga of Texas Iron by Clay Coppedge
A long time ago in a land not very far away a large rock fell out
of the sky and landed just a little shy of present-day Albany, Texas.
The rock stayed there for untold centuries, an object of reverence
for generations of Native Americans. The Comanche name for it translates
into Medicine Rock. Anglos called it Texas Iron... more
Roger Todd Moore's Texas history cartoon:
Albany
Old Jail
Aug
4, 1978 - Record rain in Albany
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Centennial Marker:
Shackelford
County
Formed from Bosque
County; created February 1, 1858; organized September 12, 1874.
Named in honor of Dr. Jack Shackelford 1790-1857; captain of the "Red
Rovers," a company from Alabama which became a unit of Fannin's command
- one of the few spared by the Mexicans in the Massacre
at Goliad. Albany, the county seat.
(1936) |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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