Ward County History
Ward County
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_County,_Texas
Ward County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,644. The county seat is Monahans. The county was created in 1887 and organized in 1892. It is named for Thomas W. Ward, a soldier in the Texas Revolution.
Archeological investigations conducted in northwestern Ward County have found evidence of prehistoric man in the form of occupational debris, petroglyphs, and pictographs. Tribes occupying the area include Suma-Jumano, Apache, and Comanche. The sand hills have contained native artifacts.
The Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858 used Emigrant's Crossing, where exposed rocks afford one of the few places safe for fording the Pecos River. The stage line had an adobe station and a high-walled adobe corral there.
In 1881, the Texas and Pacific Railway crossed the region and established stations at Sand Hills, Monahans, Aroya, Pyote, Quito, Quito Quarry, and Barstow.
The Texas State Legislature carved Ward County from a portion of Tom Green County in 1887. The county was organized in 1892. Barstow became the county seat. Barstow became a farming and ranching trade center by 1904. Drought plagued the area in the early part of the 20th century.
Ward County benefitted from the opening of the Hendrick oilfield Winkler County in 1926. Pipelines and railroad loading tanks were constructed at Wickett, Pyote, and Monahans. Oil was discovered at Grandfalls in 1929, and the nearby community of Royalty was established. Shell Oil Company constructed an 8-acre (32,000 m2) tank that would hold a million barrels. By January 1, 1991, 668,715,000 barrels (106,317,200 m3) of oil had been produced in the county since 1928.
On May 10, 1938, Monahans won a contested election to move the county seat from Barstow. The election was upheld in 1939, and the county seat moved to Monahans that year.
Pyote Air Force Station opened in 1942, becoming the largest bomber installation in the United States. The plane Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was later stored here. The base became inactive during the Korean War.
Monahans Sandhills State Park opened in 1957. The Sealy-Smith Foundation leased much of the land to the state in 1956 until 2056. An additional 900 acres (3.6 km2) were leased from the Williams family of Monahans.
Monahans Sandhills State Park
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/monahans-sandhills
Monahans Sandhills State Park consists of 3,840 acres of sand dunes in Ward and Winkler counties, about a half-hour's drive southwest of Odessa. The park opened in 1957.
Ward County owns 300 acres of the park. The state leased the remaining acres (about 3,000 acres from the Sealy-Smith Foundation and about 800 acres from the Williams family of Monahans).
Early Americans
Native Americans were present in this area as far back as 12,000 years. Various tribes, most notably Apache and Comanche, used the area for temporary campgrounds and a meeting place. They found game, abundant fresh water beneath the sands, and acorns and mesquite beans which they ground into paste with stone tools.
More than 400 years ago, Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to report the vast hills of sand.
Modern development
Native Americans continued to use the area until the 1880s. That’s when the Texas and Pacific Railroad selected Monahans as a water stop between the Pecos River and the town of Big Spring.
In the late 1920s, oil production began in what is now known as the Permian Basin. Today, Monahans is a shopping hub for more than 800 square miles of oil and cattle country.
Monahans
https://www.cityofmonahans.org/
In the summer of 1880, shortly after the Texas & Pacific Railway was completed to Sierra Blanca, a New York Irishman named John Thomas (Pat) Monahan discovered water at the western edge of the sandhills. The water source came to be called Monahan's Well by the summer of 1881. Eventually, a pump station was installed and two water tanks were erected on the south side of the track. Later, a depot and an old boxcar were located near the tracks, thus Monahans came into existence.
In 1882, Mollie Dawson came with her family to the area. The Dawsons found three other men and their families here, one was a pumper for the railroad, one had a small general store north of the railroad tracks and one operated a hotel where cowboys ate when they came to town. The name of Monahans was officially adopted by the Post Office in 1891.
During the 1890s, a grocery store, general store, boarding house and the Holman House Hotel were built. The next ten years showed progress with the building of new stores, a restaurant, the Terrell Boarding House, cattle pens and a lumberyard. By 1905, the estimated population of Monahans was 89. Ranching and farming were the industries of the Ward County until oil was discovered in the 1920s.
The town grew rapidly after the opening of the nearby Hendrick oilfield in 1926 and was incorporated in 1928. In January of 1928, Shell Oil Company constructed a million barrel tank to relieve the markets' glut of oil. Once completed, the tank was immediately filled with oil. The tank covered eight acres of land and its capacity was 1,084,000 barrels. The tank was only used once then abandoned due to the tank leaking. In 1929, the Texas-New Mexico Railway completed tracks from Monahans to Lovington, New Mexico to handle the increasing transportation demands of the oilfields. By 1930, the population had increased to 816. A carbon black plant was opened in 1937 at Monahans and a chemical plant was opened the following year. In 1938, Monahans became the county seat of Ward County.
By 1940, the population of Monahans had grown to 3,944. The Texas Electric Service Company's Permian Basin Generating Station began in 1948 and later developed into a larger plant. Because of the oilfield expansion in Ward County, Monahans continued to grow to a population of 6,311 in 1950 and 8,567 in 1960.
As oil activity declined, so did the population. The Monahans population had declined to 8,333 by 1970, to 8,101 by 1990 and to 6,821 by 2000.
The population in Monahans has began to grow again due to an increase of oil and gas production in and around Ward County once again. The 2013 Census Estimates population at 7,356 which is an increase of 5.8% since 2010.
Grandfalls
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/grandfalls-tx
Grandfalls is a town in Ward County, Texas, United States. It was named for its location near the "grand falls" of the Pecos River, located roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west. Early settlers were attracted to the Grandfalls area in the late 1880s by the steady supply of water flowing in the Pecos River.
Grandfalls is at the intersection of State highways 11, 18, and 329, on the Pecos River in southeastern Ward County. It was named for its location on the upper, or grand, falls of the river. The area near the falls was an early campsite for travelers. The first settlers came in the late 1880s, attracted by the steady supply of water in the river and by the natural beauty of the countryside. Among them were the families of two brothers-in-law, R. I. Carr and J. T. Sweatt. These farmers built a brush dam above the lower, or great, falls near the site of the present State Highway 18 bridge and powered their cotton gin by the falls. On July 12, 1892, the Grandfalls school district was established, and a school building was constructed on the Carr farm. Mamie McFadden taught in the 1892–93 term. The building was also used for a union church consisting of seven denominations. In 1894 a flood demolished the raceway that powered the cotton gin, formed a new river channel, and destroyed the dam at the lower falls. Some farmers left after the flood, but the Carr and Sweatt families rebuilt the brush dam and constructed new canals to extend irrigation. A post office was opened in 1897 with James G. Baker as postmaster. In the late 1890s a land-development company laid out the town, and the Texas and Pacific Railway advertised land for settlement. Hardware, feed, and lumber stores were built. A dry-goods and grocery store, a hotel, and a blacksmith shop also opened. In the 1890s a number of Scandinavian families moved to the community and established St. Gertrudis Catholic Church. One of them, Dr. Charlotte Bergman, founded a medical practice. Although women physicians were rare in West Texas in 1897, she was well received and was successful in fighting tuberculosis in the area.
After 1900 Grandfalls had a steady supply of drinking water, the First Baptist Church was organized, a new school building was built, and the community received telephone service. During the 1906–07 school term the town reported one school, 105 students, and two teachers. A bank was chartered in 1906. By 1914 it had merged with a Pecos bank. A severe drought hit the Pecos valley in 1916, and many settlers left Grandfalls. In 1925 the town had a population of 250. In 1928 oil was discovered in Shipley field, near Royalty, three miles north of Grandfalls. The boom increased the population of Grandfalls to 500 by 1929. During the boom the school in Grandfalls changed its name to Grandfalls-Royalty. By 1939 Grandfalls had a population of 600 and twenty businesses. The town incorporated in 1940. Throughout the 1940s it had a population of 653 and twenty businesses. The population was around 1,000 during the 1950s and 1960s. The number of businesses increased to seventy-two by 1961 but fell to twenty-five by 1970. During the 1970s and 1980s the population wavered between 557 and 981, and the number of businesses between seven and twenty-five. In 1990 Grandfalls was a small incorporated community; it had a post office, sixty-three businesses, and a population of 583. The population dropped to 391 in 2000.
Wickett
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/wickett-tx
Wickett is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Farm Road 1219, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in northeastern Ward County. The town was named for Fred H. Wickett, an oil operator who promoted the townsite after the discovery of oil in 1927. Previously, Wickett was known as Arroya, a switch on the Texas and Pacific Railway built in 1881. The opening of the Hendrick oilfield in 1926 established Wickett as a tank and refining center. In 1927 the first oil pipeline from the Hendrick field to a tank farm and railroad loading rack began operation, and a post office was established. In 1933 Wickett had a refinery, several oilfield supply houses, and an estimated population of 200. During the 1930s Wickett attracted several oil industry processing plants, including a Gulf Oil gasoline plant and a Cabot Company carbon black plant. By 1940 the estimated population had grown to 350, and the town had fifteen businesses. The population peaked in 1964 at an estimated 1,000 residents. By 1982 Wickett, incorporated since 1965, had a population of 689. The population was 560 in 1990 and 455 in 2000.
Pyote
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pyote-tx
Pyote, originally called Pyote Tank, is on Farm Road 2355, State Highway 115, U.S. Highway 80, Interstate Highway 20, and the Missouri Pacific line, seven miles southwest of Wickett in central Ward County. In 1881, before the Texas and Pacific Railway laid its tracks through the area, the company opened a telegraph office at Pyote Tank. The name for the town has been credited to the Chinese railroad workers' pronunciation of coyote. Other sources indicate it was named for the peyote cacti common to the region. In 1885 J. A. Stewart established the 7S Ranch, covering forty sections, three miles south of the community. In 1907 a post office was established with Albert D. Pigman as postmaster. Also in 1907 Cicero S. Sitton and his sons opened a store, a three-day barbecue was held, and most of the town lots were sold. A school petition was circulated at the barbecue, and later a one-room school building was constructed. Eventually, a $100,000 school building was erected on land donated by Otey Nockells Rogers. By 1925 the population of Pyote was reported at 100. In 1926 oil was discovered in Hendrick oilfield in nearby Winkler County. By 1928 Pyote became the trading and shipping center for area oil activity, and its population soared to 3,500. Thirty-one rooming houses and hotels were quickly built. City services could not meet the needs of the increased population. However, the boom ended in the 1930s when the railroad built a spur to Monahans, eliminating Pyote from oilfield shipping. In 1931 Pyote declined to a population of 1,097 and 115 businesses. The town incorporated before 1933 and maintained its population through 1939, by which time the number of businesses had declined to thirty-six. By 1941 the population was reported as 201 and the number of businesses as fifteen. In 1942 Pyote Air Force Station was constructed at Pyote south of Highway 80 on land owned by the University of Texas; it was used for bomber training. After World War II more than 4,000 bombers and fighter planes were sent to the Pyote base for melting into scrap metal. Among those stored there were the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb, and Swoose, General MacArthur's plane. However, those two famous planes were rescued from destruction by the Smithsonian Institution. In the early 1960s Pyote had a population of 420 and eight businesses. Throughout the 1970s it had fewer than 200 people and either one business or none. In the 1980s it had a population near 400. Pyote is the site of the West Texas State School and the Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum, which displays World War II memorabilia in an old building from the base. In 1990 the population was 348. The population dropped to 131 in 2000.
Barstow
https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/tx/barstow.html
Barstow is one of the rare towns in Texas where the founder/ namesake is buried in the local cemetery. George E. Barstow was an interesting man who came to Texas from Rhode Island (via New York) and was one of the leading world experts on irrigation.The town was organized in 1892 and the courthouse built the following year.The population in 1900 was over a thousand people, due to recruiting efforts of Mr. Barstow Irrigation was successful enough for Barstow to win a silver medal for grapes at the 1904 World's Fair. 1904 was also the year that fruit and vegetable farming received a nearly fatal blow when the Pecos River dam broke. Droughts followed and by 1918, farming was a memory. The population in 1930 was 468 - less than half of the 1910's 1,219. Ward County Courthouse The former courthouse built in 1893 was razed in the 1950s. The red sandstone used for the courthouse was quarried locally and was also used in the construction of the first bank in Ward County,
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/barstow-tx
Barstow is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Farm Road 516, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, five miles east of Pecos in southwestern Ward County. The town was named for George E. Barstow, a Rhode Island land promoter who established it. The Texas and Pacific Railway reached Barstow in 1881. Ten years later the townsite was laid out and a post office established. Barstow became the county seat when Ward County was organized in 1892. That same year George E. Barstow formed the Barstow Improvement Company to promote the sale of land irrigated by the Pecos River. He constructed irrigation canals and a dam and brought trainloads of prospective settlers to the town in land promotions. A red sandstone courthouse was constructed in 1893. By 1900 Barstow had a population of 1,103. In 1914 the community had three churches, a bank, a hotel, an opera house, and a weekly newspaper, the West Texas Journal. Two years later a power plant was built to generate electricity. The farms around Barstow grew grapes, peaches, pears, and melons. In 1904 the Barstow Irrigation Company won a silver medal for grapes at the World's Fair. The same year an earthen dam on the rain-swollen Pecos River burst, and the resulting floodwaters raised soil salinity levels, thus ruining many of the farms. In 1907 and 1910 serious droughts plagued Barstow farmers. Vineyards and orchards began to decline in 1911, and by 1918 farming ceased. The population fell from 1,219 in 1910 to an estimated 490 in 1925. Barstow had 468 residents in 1930. In June 1938, after the discovery of oil in Winkler County and eastern Ward County, Monahans replaced Barstow as the county seat of Ward County. Barstow had a population of 683 in 1955. Four businesses and an estimated 637 residents remained in 1982. The population in 1990 was 535; by 2000 it dropped to 406.