The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Friday, July 17, 1987 Page: 4 of 6
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Page 4/The J-TAC/Friday, July 17, 1987
Modern-day ghost town once roared
Legends, memories, smokestack all that's left of Thurber
i i
By THAD MILLER
Contributor
If you had lived in Stephenville in
the early 1900's, and you wanted to
go live it up in the big city, where
would you, go? Fort Worth and
Dallas were days away by wagon,
and the only other towns around
were the tiny but bustling com-
munities of Dublin, Alexander, and
Harbin,. .except, perhaps for
Thtirber.
Thurber? Most of you have pro-
bably never heard of this ghost town
at the northern edge of Erath Coun-
ty,-but it once was the largest city
between Fort Worth and El Paso, Ail
that-remains now are a few scattered
buildings and the area's only land-
mark, a tall red brick chimney, but
this tiny place once was one of the
most culturally varied, rip-roaring
western towns in Texas.
Thurber's existence was based on
coal, which was discovered by two
brothers working on their ranch in
1887. In 1888, the Texas Pacific
Coal company was founded and an
important chapter in Texas history
began. From the start, it seemed that
excitement and upheaval would
always follow the existence of this
new boom town,
A gigantic miners' strike lasting
for nine months plagued T&P from
the beginning; a strike mainly caus-
ed by T&P's founder Colonel R.D.
Hunter when he said,"I will run my
business or run it to Hell," and
drastically reduced miners' wages.
This strike was eventually solved on
Hunter's terms, but not before the
Texas Rangers had to be brought in
to avert potential violence.
Part of the excitement of life at
Thurber was the boom town at-
mosphere, but the unique feature of
the city was the ethnic make-up of
the citizens. Most of the miners had
come directly from Europe (mainly
Polish and Russian), and they retain-
ed all of their customs. Instead of
.' -mixing with one another, distinctly
different sections of town
represented different nationalities.
Thurber became a kind of melting
- pot in which the ingredients wouldn't
quite melt. Unrest was caused by
political prejudices in Thurber. Peo-
' pie who were separated by language
and cultural barriers were tied
together through religion; most were
Catholic. Work and a strong feeling
of pride in their town also united the
pppulace.
•' Thurber was a company town, and
it; was only fit that since the city ex-
isted only through T&P, it should
also be owned by the industry. Every
hibuse, every store, and every street
was owned by T&P. It would seem
tKt this "does not fit in with the idea
ofla free nation, but the residents
w'f re quite content, for the rent was
reasonable and the stores were the
best-stocked anywhere around.
::For thirty years Thurber was the
njbst important mine site in Texas,
(there is still an estimated 127
million tons of coal underground),
but this does not mean that it was an
easy task to remove the coal from the
vein, which was approximately
thirty-six inches wide. To dig out the
coal, a miner would have to lie on
his side to dig out chunks of coal.
Miners were paid by the ton, and it
was not a fun way to make a living.
To keep up a pace such as was re-
quired to be a miner, the men would
relax as hard as they worked. Polish
wedding parties would often last
three days and the celebrations pro-
vided as much beer and dancing as
the guests would take. Other ac-
tivities included an evening at one of
the area's saloons such as the Snake
or the Lizard.
The Snake had a huge capacity for
serving thirsty miners, with its
horseshoe-shaped bar able to seat
over 100 patrons. One year T&P
purchased 160 carloads of beer,
which was 11,935 kegs. This does
not include wine, for which the
Italians would buy entire carloads of
grapes for home-brewing.
Thurber's second industry, which
didn't have the impact of the coal
mines, but did leave a much longer
lasting impression, was the brick
factory. This factory provided bricks
for projects all over Texas, notably
the Galveston Seawall and the brick
streets in Stephenville.
Thurber enjoyed many features
that could not be found in most other
Texas towns at the time. One of
these was the Opera House, where
travelling plays and operas would
stop to provide entertainment to over
650 patrons at a time. One of the
favorite pasttimes of Thurberites was
playing a special practical joke on
visiting Yankees.
This joke was the "badger fight"
scam. The men would explain to the
Easterner about badger fighting,
then show him a large crowd of men
in the opera house making bets on~
a large, vicious looking dog and on
the contents of a tilted barrel,
presumably containing the badger.
Since he was a visitor, the Yankee
would be given the honor of pulling
the badger from the barrel. Filled
with excitement and anticipation, he
would give the rope a mighty yank
and pull out, to his surprise, a
porcelain chamber pot.
Thurber owed its existence to
coal, and coal eventually became its
downfall. When oil was discovered
20 miles away in Ranger,, Thurber
began slowly melting away. Pro-
mpted by nore labor disputes and a
smaller demand for coal, the 10000
or more inhabitants moved away. By
the 1920's, all that was left in the city
was T&P's main office, but by 1933
T&P's executives had all moved to
new offices in Fort Worth. That
marked the end of the city of
Thurber, but in the hearts and minds
of many oldtimers, the legends and
memories live on.
,:V."
Bandstand provided gathering place in Thurber town square
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J I .
Thurber coal processing plant in action
I
Bicycles were a popular means of transportation
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Smokestack is
all that remains
General store provided all the necessities of life
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Friday, July 17, 1987, newspaper, July 17, 1987; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth141651/m1/4/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarleton State University.