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The remains of
the school in Middle Water
Photo courtesy Erik
Whetstone, April 22, 2004 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Named
for Middle Water Creek, the town was established as a division of
the XIT
Ranch in l888.
Middle Water became a shipping point on the Rock Island Railroad.
By l940 the town had a solitary business and 25 persons to support
it. It decreased to ten by the 1980s – and the same figure was given
for the 1990 Census. |
Middle
Water, Texas Forum
Subject:
Middlewater, Texas
Here is a little info about Middlewater, Texas from 1967-1968.I
lived in Middlewater in 1967-1968.
The brick schoolhouse was still standing and in pretty good
condition. The school had consolidated with Channing School System.
Channing
was 60 miles one way. There was about 15 kids that was bussed to
Channing.
One of the school teachers from Channing
moved to Middlewater and lived in the house that was located behind
the school. I believe that at one time the school probably had one
teacher and they must have lived in the house. It was in pretty
good condition but was small. The teacher that moved to Middlewater
was Mr. Dooly he taught Physics and French at the school in Channing.
He had a wife and two children.
There was a US Post Office in Middlewater and it was run
by Mrs. Sylvester "Red" (Babe) Smith. The post office was located
right off the porch in Mrs. Smith's home. It was the house which
was located at the railroad tracks near the water pump. I am not
sure when it closed. - Name witheld by request, September 06, 2006
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The
original school
for Middlewater was two wood structured buildings. In August of
1930 a $12,000 dollar bond election was held to build a new school,
which is the brick structure still standing today, well, sort of
standing. The brick school house opened in 1931 and classes
were held there until around 1960 when most of the smaller school
districts were consolidated to the larger towns. The original wood
buildings were sold to local ranches and moved there for bunk houses.
A great reference for this is the "Tale of Two Counties, Dallam
and Hartley County". Also see "Panhandle Pilgrimage", it has a photo
of the Rock Island Railroad Depot on page 300.
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original cattle shipping pens still stand where they loaded and
shipped cattle via Railroad. Also still there is the old water
pump jack used to refill the old steam engines. - Randy Johnson,
October 24, 2004 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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