The Texas Historian, Volume 41, Number 4, March 1981 Page: 2
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out of open range in Tom Green County.
This open rangeland was a dry, dusty re-
gion, subject to drought and sandstorms.
When pioneers crossed this land, they fre-
quently had to seek rock shelters for protec-
tion from sandstorms and excessive heat.
Plants only emerged when there was enough
moisture. Sandstorms, drought, and heat did
not promise much for pioneers; so few people
lived in Upton County at the time of its
founding.
In the early 1900s, the population re-
mained sparse. Only ranchers and cowboys
lived there, and the entire county had but
three families. These were the Jim O'Bryans,
the Frank Inghrams, and the Arthur Francis
Schnauberts.
In 1905 Schnaubert accepted a job as fore-
man on the John R. Johnson ranch in north-
western Upton County. He moved his family
there despite the risks involved. Ranch hands
built a house for them and helped convert a
bunkhouse into a schoolroom. Then Schnau-
bert went to San Angelo to get a stove, black-
boards, desks, books, and other things es-
sential to a proper education. While there,
he hired Ruby Epps for the 1904-1905 school
year. The following year Schnaubert could
not find a teacher. However, for three months
in the spring of 1906, he was able to hire
sixteen-year-old Lela Christy. When she left,
the Schnaubert children were again without
a school. Thus education was off to a shaky
start in Upton County. The desire for a cen-
trally located school was one of the reasons
for Upland's creation and a one-room school
opened there in 1908. By 1912 the town had
grown so that a $6,500 bond election was ap-
proved for a new building.
In 1908 Henry Halff and his son mapped
out the townsite which included a courthouse
square, and Midland promoters helped ad-
vertise Upland by publishing this announce-
ment:
The new town of Upland (intended County
Seat of Upton County) contains the only post
office, school, church, stores and hotel within
an area of 100 mile square and is distributing
point for all this vast expanse of territory.
Resident Lots in Upland ........ $25.00
Business Lots ................. $50.00 eachThe Upland Townsite Company
J. A. Haley-President
F. F. Elkin-President Midland Loan, V. Presi-
dent
W. B. Elkin-Cashier Midland Natl Bank,
Treasurer
S. 0. Richardson, Real Estate Broker
By 1908 Upland had a general store, a
post office, and a school. Henry Halff's gen-
eral store had such staples as horse collars,
nails, hardware, calico, beans, flour, sugar,
and other kinds of general merchandise; Halff
sold the store to John R. Johnson in late 1908.
There was also a two-story hotel, which had
a small telephone office, owned by N. A.
Zinn. Church services had been held here and
there, and on January 30, 1911, a deed for a
Methodist Episcopal church was recorded.
Halff appointed G. S. McLaughlin, W. L.
Taylor, and John Lane as trustees for the
church.
Although Upton County had been created
in 1887, there were not enough people to
organize a county until 1910, when centrally
located Upland became the official county
seat. A bond election in 1911 secured funds
to build a courthouse, and in June, 1913, L.
R. Wright and Company of Dallas was
awarded the contract to erect the new stone
building.
On May 10, 1910, the first Upton County
elections were held to vote on the county
seat and to select a long list of officers. The
county was divided into four precincts, each
of which elected a commissioner. One pre-
cinct met at the Upland school, and the others
at the Lee Breckenridge ranch headquarters,
the McElroy Ranch headquarters, and at Jim
O'Bryan's headquarters. Pioneer settler A. F.
Schnaubert was elected sheriff and tax col-
lector.
On May 15, 1901, A. E. Stillwell and as-
sociates in Kansas City, Missouri, formed the
Orient Land Company to buy, plat townsites,
and sell land in Texas. Also, Stillwell proposed
to build a railroad from Kansas City to Topo-
lobampo, Mexico, passing through San An-
gelo. When the Orient Railroad was finally
established, it missed Upland by approximately
ten miles. Instead of going through Centralia
Draw, the railroad went through Spring Creek
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Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historian, Volume 41, Number 4, March 1981, periodical, March 1981; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391525/m1/4/?q=civ-war: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.