Development of Mangum, Oklahoma

              THE DEVELOPMENT OP'MANGUM, OKLAHOMA.
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APPROVED BY :
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M8m~e~ of the ThesIs OommIttee
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Dean Graduate School
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To My Wife
Genevra Foster
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iv
PREFAOE
Dr. Ault, Head of the Department of Eoonomi,os or
George Peabody College, Nashville, Tennessee , while leotur­ing
at Oklahoma A. and M.Coll.ege, during t he summer o'f
1937, expressed the opinion tha:t one need look no further
than one's own backyard for a thesis topio . Acoepting
this general statement, the subject, "The Development of
""Mangum, Oklahoma.," was seleoted.
This study has for its purpose the presentation or an
aoourate ac ooun t of the events which transpired throughout
the development of Mangum. An attempt has been made to
point out details oonoerning its growth and development
from the time of its establishment to the present day city.
The materials for this study have been gathered f rom
manusoripts, early day newspapers , city, county, and state
records, and conversations with pioneers of Mangum.
The writer wishes to express his sincere appreciation
to Dr. T. H. Reynolds for his sugge stions and helpful
cri ticismB.
TABLE OF OONTENTS
THE DEvELOPMENT OF MANGUY .• 'OKLAHOl4A.
Introduction
C1IAPI'ER I. ESTABLISHMENT AND FI -T DAYS
A. Land Granted to A. S . Mangum
B. Townsite SUrveyed
C. Firs t Families Arri va
D. Post Office Es tab ~i s hed
E. Death ot Mr. SWeet
CHAP'I'ER II. EARLY BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS
A. Butoher Shop
B. Firs t Livery Stable
C. Newspapers
D. Railroad
E. Later Bus iness Es tablis hments
CHAPTER III. POLITICAL I SSU1!S
A. County Seat Locat ion
B. City Government
C. City Ma.nager Plan
D. Munioipal Improvements
Page
1
3
3
4
6
9
13
16
16
17
19
22
28
34
34
36
39
40
CHAPTER IV. SCHOOLS. CHURCHES , FRATERNAL AND 44
SOCIAL ORGANI ZATIONS
A. First Churohes
B. Free School Established
c. Organizations
D. Normal School
E. Later School Improvements
44
4'7
49
54
55
T
INTRODUCTION
Although Oklahoma. as a state is onl y t hirty-three
years old, and although :Mangum beoame an inoorpore.ted
munioipality of the first olass only thirty-tive years '
ago, the development of the town began several years
prior to that time.
By 1885, the oountry surrounding this embryo ot a
town was the site of some at the greatest cattle ranges
in the history of the west. The great ranohes were broken
up when the Texas SUpreme Court, in a lawsuit against the
Day Cattle Company, invali dated all land titles ot this
region. It was deolared in this deoision that the land
of Greer County was not publio domain, but land set aside
for Texas Sohools , and payment of stat e debt.
Despite this deois ion, s ettlers oams and laid olaim
to the lands in and around the town of Mangum. None had
any real title to the land until enaotment by Congress
years later of the homestea d l aws . Here, truly, were tbe
"Sooners." Many of tbem, olaiming title under an Aot at
Tems legislature granting land to survivors of the Texan
war for independenoe, could not have been driven out at the
point of a gun. Suoh a man was the a otua l founder of
Mangum.
Between the time, when H. C. SWeet s et up his town and
named it for the man who never saw it, and 1895, when the
United States SUpreme Court tinally settled the boundary
2
quarrel by dec l aring t he re i on i n h l eh , angum was l oo ated
to be a part of Indian Territory, the r esident s of Mangum
and surroilllding cOillltr y s i de were ItSquatte r s . "
Although the sea t of a vast e~ire , angum ' s growth
was s low unti l the comdng of the f irs t r ailroad.
Mangum is loc a t ed in the southwest portion of t he state .
It is surrounded by a broad expanse of f ertile solI, lying
between the Elm River and t he Salt Fork River , t wo tr u ..
taries of the Red River. Spre ading out over a full section
of l and and sending projection s of growing s tre ets i nto all
the bordering sections of land, this i s the to,wn of Mangum .•
Historic ally illlique in a s t ate whose whole h i s t ory
r eads like a f airy t ale and outs tanding i n a CO.nnnonwealth
where progre ssiveness i s t aken as a matt er of cour s e ,
M.angum is indeed the "Cap i tal of Greer. ft
In t he pr epar a t ion of t his t reat ise , the pr esent
wri:ber has se l ec t ed for discus s ion t hose phases of growth
which h ave c on t r ibut ed t o making Mangum the t own tha t it
i s t oday.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANG • OKLAH
CHAPfER I
ESTABLISHMENT AND FIRST DAYS
The aity of Mangum received i ts name from one of 'the
seven hundred eighty-three Texans who partioipat ed in the
battle of San Jacinto, April 21. 1836. He was Captain
A. S . Mangum. After passage of t he Aot at 188~. Captain
Mangum made application for and received a certifioate
entitling him to land as a reward for his servioes in the
Texas Revolution. l
The patent issued by the State ot Texas to Captain
Mangum was a to~lows:
1
State of -~exas to A. S. Mangum:
In the name of t he State of Texas, to ~1 to
Whom these pres ents shall oome, know ye, I , John
Ireland. Governor of the s tate aforesaid by virtue
of the power vested in me by law and in a ocordanoe
with the laws of the said s tate in suoh oase made
and provided do by these presents grant to A. 8 .
Mangum, his heirs or as s i gns forever three hundred
and twenty (320) acres of land situated and desoribed
as f ollows : In Greer County known as Survey No.
156 on the waters ot Frazier River, a tributary of
Prairie Dog River about 1-2 miles S 45 E from Draw
Springs by virgue of Veteran Donation Warrant No. v
907 issued by the Co~s sioner of the General Land
Ottice on January 24, ~882. Beginning at a rook on
v the S bdy line of 1280 acres for Samuel MoCulock
950 vrs. East of the S . W. oor. of s aid sur. for
the N. W. CQr. of !fur'. thence -East 950 yds . to the
N. W. cor. of 320 acres for Din.smore known a s Survey
No. 152 for N. E. cor. of this sur. thenoe South
1900 vrs. to the S . E. cor. thence West 950 vrs.
the S. W. cor. thence N0rtb 1900 vrs . to t he beginn1.ng.
The Mangum Daily Star, Gctober ~3t 1937.
3
Hereby relinquishes to him A. S. Mangum and his
heirs or assigns rorever all the right and title in
and to s aid land heretoi'ore held and pos sessed by the
s aid State and I do hereby issue this l etter Patent
for the same.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of'
the State to be affixed as well as the Seal of the
General Land Office.
Done at the City of' Austin on the tenth day of
December in the year of your (sic) Lord one thous and
eight hundred and eighty-five.
w. C. Walsh, Commissioner o~ t he General Land
Office. John Irelan.d, Governor.
Captain Mangum, who lived in Travis County, made an
agreement with Henry Clay Sweet to locate and survey the
lands and to plot a townsite. Mr. Sweet, who had been in
,
the vicinity of the Mangum grant prior to this time, returned
to Greer County with his friend, John R. Crouch, Sr. They
located and surveyed the Mangum grant at that t ime.3
Just why they chose the present site of Mangum as the
location of Captain Mangum1s grant , on wh i ch to plat the
townsite, nobody w1ll ever know the exact reason. Both
Mr. Sweet and Mr. Crouch h ave been dead for many year s .
They alone knew the reason that impelled them to s elect the
particu.lar location they did for a townsit e .
However, one can reason and arrive at a conclusion 1n
that respect. Mr. Sweet and Mr. Crouch follo wed the old
Mobeetie Trail into Greer County until they arr1ved at the
present site of Mangum. The trail cros sed the present c ourt
2 Record of Deeds, Greer County, State of Texas, 1882-1886,
Book I, p. 15.
3 survefor's Field Notes, Greer County, State of Texas,
1880- 888, Book I, p. 12.
5
house square. In coming up t he trail f r om site on Red
River known as Doan's Cross ing, the site of t he pr·esent cIty
ot Mangum wa s t he first place the t 0 men saw t hat was locat ed
near a river, and that was high enough from t he r i ver t o be
out ot r each of any possible flood, and offered n a tural
draInage f acilities. Also it was near Draw Springs , whieh
would provide fresh water.
For some r eason, almost all towns are located near
rivers, wherever possible. Drainage is an important :fac tor
to be considered in locating a town and the natural drainage
features of Mangum doubtless had much to do with t he location
of the town. At that time numerous other land certi:fic ates
had been loc ated in this genera l region and n aturally Mr.
Sweet h ad to select a loc ation for the Mangum grant that d1d
not encroach upon any previously located grant.
The Jle.ngum grant was surveyed and duly recor ded as
Survey No. 156,4 on the wat e r s of the Frazier, t he name by
which Salt Fork was then known . Governor Ire l and and the
Commissioner of the General Land O1'1'ice, W. C. Walsh, ia aued
a patent to Mr. Mangum to the lands loca ted by Mr. s we et.
The patent was dated December 10, 1885.
After the location ot the Mangum gr ant, Mr. Sweet and
Mr. Crouch returned to their homes in Dallas County. The
next spring t hey started to Greer County with their families
4 Index to Record of Deeds, Greer County, state ot Texaa,
1882-1886, Book I, p. 1.
6
to establish their homes on the Ilangum. grant s.nd to layout
and begin a town.
On April 18, 1884, Mr. Sweet and his f am11y orossed
Red River. His family consisted of his wife, daughter, Lucy
(now Mrs. A. R. Wilson), and a son, Frank. With Mr. Sweet
crume his friend John R. Crouch, Sr., Mrs. Crouch, and three
children, Anna Belle, Lula Vee (now Mrs . L. A. Johnson of
Mangum), and John R. Crouch, Jr. 5 They were the fir s t persona
to come to the site of Mangum for the purpose of establishing
a home under authority granted them under the laws of Texas.
Mr. Sweet had implicit faith in the pa t ents issued by
the state of Texas and encouraged as many vet erans as pos sible
to locate their grant lands in andaround the r egion tha t he
had laid out for a town. He arranged to loc ate and survey
many of these grants and received interest in the grants in
payment of his work. In tha t way he ac quired patents to
about 1,200 acres of land and loc ative intere s t in s ome
20,000 acr-es more. 6
Mr. Sweet also encouraged settlers to come to Mangum
to engage in farming or to become r es idents of the town that
he was starting.
Mr. Sweet surveyed, platted, and n amed t he town of
Mangum on the Mangum land grant. He planned a t fir s t to
f5 Mrs. L. A. Johnson, Mangum, Oklahoma, Reminiscence,
October 14, 1940.
6 Record of Deeds, Greer County, State of Texas, 1882-1886,
Book I,-pp. 26-142.
name the town Lanham i n honor o ~ s . W. R. Lanham, t hen a
)Jlember of Congress and later vernor of Texas. Eo
Captain A. S . Mangum died soon after the work of plat ting
the townsite was starte d and Mr. S et deoided to name t he
town for him. "
"
A. S . Mangum received a grant of la.nd trom his adopted
state for the services he had rendered, but l ost it through
a deoision of the Texas Supreme Court. All he derived trom
his services in the Texas Revolution was the distinotion ot
having the name ot Mangum perpetuated.
The original plat of Mangum. as prepared by Mr. Sweet,
appears to have been named ~or the members of the SWeet
family.
The street now known as Jefferson was originally named
'~nnie," and the street now oalled Linooln was first named
"Luoy. It Oklahana Avenue was named "Henry" by the rounder ot
Mangum. Pennsylvania Avenue was named ' i lli e ." Oarolina
Avenue was first ngmed "Louis ." Othe r stre et names ohos en
8 by Mr. SWeet were "Mary," "Anna ," and "Robert."
The heirs of Captain Mangum, his ohildren, Robert Y.
Mangum, Wiley P. Mangum, and Mary A. Mangum, met at Sh arman,
Texas, on July 19, 1886, after the organization at Greer
Oounty, and deeded all the odd-numbered blooks in the t ownsite
" Mrs. A. R. Wilson, Mangum, Oklahcma, Reminis cence,
October 16, 1940.
8
Ibid.
8
of Mangum to Mr . Sweet. This deed was r ecorded October 22,
1886.9
The Sweet and Crouoh f amilies made th~ t r ip to Mangum
in t wo covered wagons. Arrivi n g a t the Mangum land grant in
the late tall, they set up tents in whioh to live tor some
t~e before buldding dugouts to be used as f amily h omes .
Their homes were loc ated in the edge of t he breaks a t the
southwest corner of the present cit y of Mangum. Their
furniture had been shipped by trai n t o Wiohita Falls, where
it remained in storage for about a ye ar while the members
of the families were waiting to see if they would be p ermitted
to remain in this territory.
Finally, believing the f amilies would be permitted to
remain, Mr. Sweet hauled logs from Sand Station and built
the .first house on the Mangum townsite. lO Later he hauled
lumber trom Wichita Falls , Texas to build a box hous e .
Mr. Sweet opened a small s tore from which he sold
merchandise to cowboys and Indi,ans who c ame ac ros s North Fork
River to buy supplies. The Indians called the st or e "Sweet,"
while to the cowboys it was known a s the nTin , City," b ecause
Mr. Sweet had used rolled-out tin trom tin c ans to provide
strips to cover the cracks in his store buIlding and to keep
9 Record of Deeds, Greer County, State of Texas , 1882-1886,
Book I,p. 183.
10
John R. Crouch, Jr., Al~8, Oklahoma, Reminiscence,
November 2, 1940.
out the oold blast ot thewlnter wind.
Mr. Crouoh established a ho 1. The :t'irst "hotel" was
100ated in the tent home o:t' t he Crouoh :t'am11y. but let r a
building was oonstruoted and known as the Hotel de Crouoh.
l.l
It later beoane the sooial center at Mangum.
J. R. CUrry soon :t'ollowed the SWeet and Orouoh tamilies
12 and established Mangum' s second store. Soon other :t'amilies
began to arrive and within a tew months a:t'ter the advent ot
the SWeet and Crouoh tamilies, there was a thri Ting oommuni ty-at
Hangum.
In l88~ the oitizens ot Mangum beoame desirous at a
post ottice and a petit ion was :t'orwarded to Washington ask-ing
the establishment o:t' a post ottice at Mangum. The petition
stated that there were three hundred people in and around the
oity at Mangum and tbat they desired to get their ma.1l at
~ngum. The petition stated :t'urther that thes e oitizens were
:t'rom twenty to eighty miles tram any other postof ti ee. the
nearest post oftice being at Doan's Store, a distanoe ot
over :t'orty miles trom. Mangum. The petition alaG stated that
Mangum was looated on the main travelled road trom Harrold,
the terminus ot the ~ort Worth and Denver Ra ilroad, to
Mobeetie and Fort Elliott·.
Signers ot the petition must have inoluded aQout all
11
~.
12 !lli..
10
o"t the residents of Mangum at that time, together with a
~." oowboys and setters who had looated on olaims near I4angum.
Signers of the petition were: H. C. SWeet, L. T. Kitzmiller,
L. R. Richerson, R. H. SUggs, J. R. Ourry, D. M. Paulk, J. J.
Summers, Fred Hoffer, S. E. Tomlinson, • C. Graves, Diok
Walker, George Soyler, A. H. Ausbury, J. R. Crouch, G. 8 .
lbite, L. L. Jones, J. C. Biglow, R. M. Brown, J. W. Rose,
H. G. Daniels, W. T. Lauderdale, W. M. MoComas, E. B. Clary,
James Crew, G. W. Gates, J. S. Woods, H. D. Anderson, Thos. W •
. 13
Crouch, W. A. Hughes.
When the petition reaohed the Post Office Department at
Washington, blank looation papers were returned. These looa-tion
papers were Signed January 16, 1886, by Henry C. SWeet,
proposed postmaster, and returned to Washington. The original
petition had asked that J. R. Suggs be aPPOinted postmaster,
but aooording to a notation on the location papers, Mr. Suggs
bad removed trom the oounty, and Mr. Sweet was ohos en to taka
his plaoe as proposed postmaster.
Establisb:aent of the post office Was reoommended by
Corwi.n F. Doan, postmaster at Doan, Texas, the nearest post ...
office, and by S. W. T. Lanham, Congressman from the eleventh
distriot of Texas.
The post office was established on Maroh 1, 1886, a
little less than three months after the location papers had
been returned. The .Post Office Department designated the
13 ~ Mangum Daily star, October 13, 1939.
II
ngum. of'f'i ce as being in "Greer County, Texas ."
Henry C. Sweet's commission as postmaster I s now in the
possession of' his son, Frank H. SWeet , Los AIlgeles, Calif'ornla.
The oommission reads as tollows:
To all to wliOIl these present s shall come, Gr eetings:
Wher eas, on the 15th day ot April, 1886, Henry O.
Sweet was PPointed Postmas te'r at Mangum, in the County
ot Greer, State ot Texas, a nd whereas he did, on t he
12th day ot l4e.y, 1886, execute a Bond, and has taken the
oath of otfice, as required by law; I do ooDEds sion htm
a Postmaster, authorized to exeoute the duties of' that
Off'lee at Mangum aforesaid, acoording to the Laws ot the
United States and the regulations of the Post Of'f'iee
Department; To bold the said af'tiee ot Postmaster, with
all the powers, privileges and emol uments to t he s ame
belonging, during the pleasure of the Postmaster General
ot the United States.
In testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand, and
causedt~e seal of' the Post Ottioe Department to be
affixed , at Washington City, this Tenth ·day of June, in
the year of our 1.0 d one thousand eigb. t hundred and
eighty-six. and of the Ind!iendenoe of the United a t tea
the one hundred and tenth.
The Qo~ssion was signed by Will i am F. Vilas , Post-master
General.
Mangum's first post o~fice was locat ed in a bul1~ing
built and owned by Mr. Sweet. Tbe pos t office was oonducted
in tbe front of' the building and the rear waS used by the
Logan and Cranford Drug Store. Mr. Sweet gave the drug firm
use of a portion of the building in exohange tor the servioes
of' J. W. Logan, a member of the firm, as assistant postmaster .
¥r. Logan looked atter the pos t oftioe during the a bsenoe of'
14 Frank H. Sweet, Mangum Daily Star, October 13, 1937.
12
Ilr. Sweet, who sometimes was away tor weeks t at lme. e1 ther
on surveying trips or in Austin on business.
Mr. Sweet administered the oath of offioe to lIr. Logan
as assistant postmas ter and t o his son, !Prank R. Sweet , as
mail oarrier tor the Mangum oftioe.l5
The Mangum post offioe was design.ated as being in Gre r
County, Texas, until Deoember 27, 1886 , when the tirst aS8i8-
ta.nt Postmaster General issued an order assigning the offioe.
without ohange of site, to the Indian Territory.
The Post Offioe Department not ified Postmaster SWeet
ot Mangum that the post otfice had been as s i gned to the
Indian Territor.y and that they should therefore tile new
bonds.
Mr. SWeet immediately wrote to his t riend, Oongressman
s . W. '1'. Lanham, telling him ot the proposed ohange by the
Post Ottice Department. The Mangum postmast er argu d that
no good could oome to anyone a s a result of the ohange and
that contusion of the mail matters was sure to fo l low it the
proposed oha.nge in deSi gnation were carried t hrough , s i nce
the Mangum post office had already been published 1n the
Post Oftice Guide as being located 1n Texas .
In response to the request of Mr. Sweet, Congressman
LanbPnwrote to the Post Offioe Department askIng that the
order for the Mangum post office to be deSignated as being
in Indian Territory instead of Texas be revoked. He s tated
15 J. W. Logan, Mangum, Oklahoma, Reminisoence, Ootober 24,
1940.
13
that he did not think that the way the pos t offloe was
designated would have any bearing on the fi nal deoision as
to whom the di s puted territory, in whioh Ma.ngum was looated ,
belonged. He concurred with Mr. Sweet in pointing out that
the result would be a oonf'usion of t e mail matters.
The order was not rev~kedt however, and the Mangum
post office remained in the Indian Territory, s o f a r a s the
United States Post Office Department was oonc erned. Thus
it is seen that, except :for the period between Maroh 1, 1886 ,
and Deoember 27 t 1886, a period of t hree hund.red and two days ,
the Mangum post office was orfioially in Indian Territory
until the creation of the Oklahoma Territory .
Thus the town of Mangum was s tarted .
Henry Clay Sweet, the founder, the surveyor, the pro­prietor
of t he firs t stor e, and, for s i xteen yea r s , the 1 ad­ing
oitizen of Mangum died in Mangum at midnight Deoember
26, 1900. He died at the home of hi s son-in-law, J. L. Herd,
a:ft er an illness of a little more than a week . The oommunity
was profoundly grieved by the death of this noble oitizen .
All business was suspended in the town he founded while his
funeral services were conduoted, with Masonio honors , t he
afternoon of Deoember 27, 1900.
Beoause of the important part Mr. Sweet played in the
development of Mangum and beoause of t he light it sheds on
the subjeot, his oomplete obituary 1s here reproduoed, as
follows:
Henry C. Sweet was born in Illinois Mar oh I
1838 and 1i ved in that state until he wa~ 15 year~
old, when he moved ~ith his f a t her ' s f amily to Dallas
County, Texas. He was married in 1856, when he was
only 18 years of age, to Miss Eli zabeth Peeler~ t
whom he lived until· her death 19years l ater. They
raised five ohildren, three sons and t wo daughters
who are among the best of Greer County' s oitizenship. ,
At the outbreak of the Civil ar he volunteered
and served throughout the confliot as a Confederate
soldier. He was tor many years surveyor of Dallas
COUIity, Texas and later dl much surveying for the
state of Texas.
Gov. John Ireland of Texas was his warm friend,
and it was at the request of Gov. Ireland that he
oame to Greer County in 1882, and took measures look­ing
to the peopling of this, then ,wl1aerness. He
had married again in 1874, to Mrs. Annie Davenport,
who came to Greer County with him in 1884, and spent
the remainder of her life here, dying only las t spring.
A history of this oommunity oould not be written
without the name of Henry C. Sweet. On th obher
hand, a history of his life, since settling in this
county, would be a history of t he oounty. How he
came, and induoed others to oome; hoW they oame and
were ordered out of the oounty by government troops,
and how he and a few others refused to go until
they were oarried by force, whioh was a gr eater l ength
than the troops oared to go. How he was ins trumental
in getting a couty government organi zed in Gr eer
County . How he organized the to\Yn of' Mangum, gaining
for himself the title of the "Nester of Gr eer" and
"Founder of Mangum" . How he kept t open house t, wel-oom­i
ng all str ange r s . All of these things a r e withln the
memory of the oldest settlers .
He was the first postmaster at Mangum, whioh
position he held for many years.
A few years ago an incident ocourred whioh showed
as nothing else bould the respeot and veneration in
which he was held by the oommuni ty. A foul IlDlrder
had been committed and the outraged citizens of the
community proposed to take the law in their own hands
and deal out swift jus tice. Sheriff Tittle locked
himself in the jail and told t hem he would proteot
the prisoners with his life. They were r e solute in
their determination but when Mr. Tittle sent for Mr.
Sweet and he made the mob a speeoh,pleading with
them to alloW the law to take its cours e , t hey dis ­persed,
probably saving Mr. Tittle the necess ity of
killing some of his friendS.
He held great faith in the future of Mangum~ but
lived to see only a partial realization of his hopes
16
15
for her. He Was public spirited and oharitable, always
ready to help tho.se Mloneeded help. He was a oonsis­tent
member of the Christian Churoh and alive t o his
duty as a Christian gentleman. His plaoe will be hard
to fill.16
~ Mangum Star. January 3, 1901.
0HA.PrER II
EARLY BUSINESS ESTABI.I Sl3R:FETS
The f'irst butoher shop ever to be established in Mangum
was open.ed tor business in the s pring ot 1885 by William.
Fullerton, Masoner Sm1 th, and Kellum brothe r s , Bob and Joe. 1
This butcher shop was looated in a dugout with one story
built above the ground. The buildlDg above the ground was
oonstruoted of cottonwood logs. It was located i n the edge
of the brakes leading up trom the Salt Fork of Red River or
in southwestern Mangum on the corne r lot of west Linooln
Street and South Oklahoma Avenue. At that time the re was
only one rt>.ad leading through Mangum, the old Mobeetie Tra il,
and the town had less than thirty inhabitants. Howeyer. there
·-was need tor a butcher shop.
The Mangum butoher shop soon beoame well-established.
It was not long until the owners decided to begin making bar­becued
beef, but sinoe they had but little oash , t hey made
arrangements with the ranc~n to turnish the beeves and
• 2
they would barbecue it on the halves.
By this time the Hotel de Crouoh and the H. O. Sweet
store were well-established and they began to buy barbeoue
from the butcher shop and sell it on Saturdays and it soon
beoame a regular feast day in ~Tin Oity. ~3
1 Frank Wickersham, Phillips Oollection, Greer County .
Oklahoma University Library.
2 Ibid.
3 ~ R. Crouch Jr., Altus, Oklahoma, Reminlsenoe,
November 2, 1940.
The tirst livery stable and wagon yard ever to be
4 established i .n Mangum was in 1887 , looated on the oorner
lot ot South Oklahana Avenue and the oorner ot Johnson
street, on the west side ot Oklahoma and north ot Johnson
Street.
John W. Ros e came from Tennessee in the spring ot 1887.
and in September of that year began the erection ot a livery
barn and wagon yard, mostly for the convenienoe at the oow­boys
and the ranohmen. Mangum had oome to be a regular
meeting place tor the oowboys and ranchmen. The lumber tor
the building Vias hauled from Quanah I Texas, by wagon.
With a limited amount ot me:terials, Mr. Rose oompleted
his orude struoture.5 He used most of his lumber in the
oonstruotion of' a bunk house, a long shed covered with
boards, whioh was built in connection with his barn. This
shed was out into stalls with two bunks to the stall. The
bunks were packed with prairie hay.
Soon after the oompletion of the building, the John
W. Rose barn oaught f~ and destroyed most all the struoture.
Mr. Rose never re-established his business.
Mangum was then without a livery stable until Frank
H. Da~is moved to Mangum and established the seoond and
only other livery stable and wagon yard Mangum ever had.
4
~ iokersham, ~. .ill.
5
~.
Mr. Davis remained in this business ror the ne~ twenty­I)
rour years.
18
Ed Bolding came rrom West Virginia. He shipped his
tools rrom Nashville, Tennessee to Quanah, Texas by ~reigbt ,
then hauled them by wagon in 1887, to the present site o~
where Mangum is now located. He was given possession of 8.
tract of land on which to erect the first blaoksmith sh p
ever to be built in Mangum. 7 This struoture was ereoted
on the northwest corner, just across Oklahoma Avenue from
the corner of the court hous e square. He built his build­ing
of scrap lumber and in this he arranged his soant equip­ment
which consisted ot an old fashioned balloon-shaped
bellows, a vise, an anvil, and a few other tools such as
hammers and tongs. 8
Bolding's shop soon beoame an asset to the pioneer
town of Mangum. The work of Bolding was chiefly that o~
shoeing horses and mules for the men who. hauled freight
from quanah, Texas, to Mangum. He made most all of bis
horseshoes and horseshoe nails by hand on the anvil. His
first supply or steel and iron was obtained from junk piles
in Quanah, Texas. This material cons isted mostly of old
wagon parts such as wagon tires and braces.
6 B. E. DaviS, Mangum, Oklahoma, Remini~cence, January 10,
1940.
7 Wiokersham, 2l!.. cit.
8 Ibid.
19
Bolding's blacksmith shop s somet i mes used as
place or celebration. fhen Cleveland was nominated on the
Demoora tic' ticket to be president of the Uni t ed States, the
settlers met at Mangum and used Bolding ' s a nvil ror the big
gun with which to celebrate the ocoasion. They used blaok
gun powder and the old anvil was charged and re-charged all
night arter word reached the' citizens ot the e lection:'
9 returns.
Becoming dissatis1'ied with the prospeots of Mangum ,
Mr. Bolding soon sold his blaoksmith shop and all of its
equipment and left Mangum.
Since the establishment 01' Mangum, there have been
seven newspapers established. They were: !.!!!. Mangum ~,
The Greer Oounty WeeklY ~, Greer County Monitor, Mangum
~-Monitor, Greer Oounty Democrat, !.!:! Mangum Mirror,
School and Farms.10 While sone 01' these were short-lived,
others were publis hed for several years .
The first newspaper to be published in Mangum was ~
Mapgum~. This paper was first publis hed on October 13,
11
1887, and was P!inted on an ancient George WaShington press .
The man to establish this newsp~per was Major A. M. Daws on;
a newspaper man of varied experience and considerable abIlIty.
He had previously published a newspaper in Texas , bu t beoame
impressed with the poss ibilities of a paper in Mangum.
9 John R. Crouch, Altus, Oklahoma, Remdniscence, Nov.2, 1940 .
lO~ Mangum Daily Star, October 13, 193?
l lwlCkershaIn, 2.E., ill·
20
This led him to move bis plant to Mangum and set it up in a
wooden building which oocupied the present site ot Greer
Funeral Home.
~~ was started with the proverbia l "shirt tail
full of type. ft The plant's equipment consisted of practi~
cally the same type and machinery used wben print ing was
first started. ~ ~ was the only one of several news­papers
founded in Mangum to remain in oontinuous publication
down to the present (194l).
George W. Br~. , a pioneer oowboy, wa s the first
subsoriber, paying one dollar for one year's subscription.
S~ -lie Tittle was the second subscriber. When the paper
celebrated its golden anniversary, both of thes e men were
still subscribers.
Major Dawson published ~ ~ until 1890. He sold
the paper to twenty-two oitizens of Mangum, who organized
the stook company.
The new stook company hired Chas . M. Tha oker as edItor
in 1890. The new editor and a friend, Mr. Eubank, soon
bought the paper and operated it during the remainder of the
year. In 1891 they sold it to G. B. Townsend.
Mr. Townsend moved the paper to the building whioh
occupied the site of the present Mangum Dray Company. In
1888 the plant was moved to the site of the present wm.
C~eron Lumber Company. This paper soon became the first
daily newspaper in southwestern Oklahoma. In 1900 Townsend
moved his plant to the Masonio building on North Carolina
Avenue. The . paper was then moved to a building on t he north
side of the square recently vacated by the First National
Bank. It oooupied the lots now oocupied by alter Cheek's
Garage, on the north side of the publio s quare . ~ ~
remained at this location until s everal years later, when t he
bUilding and all the equipment was destroyed by fire. It
was re-established on the south side of the square in the
building it now occupies.
This paper followed the growth of Mangum. from a village
of thirty persons to a thriving city of five thousand. It
became one ot the outstanding publications of southwestern
Oklahoma.
The first competitor of ~he Mangum ~ wa s the Greer
County Monitor, whioh was established in 1896 by O. P. Elliot,
and published by him for several years. Arter t he United
States Land Office was located in Mangum, the MOnitor, being
Republioan in politics, thrived on publioation of tinal proof
notices, contest notioes, and other legal publications oon-nected
with the homes t ead i ng of nv laims.12
The third newspaper to be established in MangUm was the
~reer Weekly ~ which was founded in 1896 by E. E. MoColsiter.
Mr. McCalister brought his plant from Wellington , Texas ,
where he had been previously using it to publish the
12 !h! Mangum Daily~, October 13, 1937.
22
Collinssworth County Echo. ~ ~ was a Populist news­paper
and engaged in bitter controversies with its Demooratic
contemporary, ~ Mangum ~.
On April 6, 1901 the Greer County Monitor and ~ Greer
Weekl.y ~ were merged as one paper and beoame the ~-Moni tor
under the direotion of H. L. Crittenden. Mr. Crittenden was
an experienoed newspaper man and published a creditable news-paper.
Being Republican in politios, the ~-Monitor obtained
13
the land office notioes for several years.
Arter the death o-t Mr. Crittenden, the ~-Monltor wa.s
sold to the Star Publishing Company and the name changed to
Greer County Demoorat. As suoh it was published until the
14
plant was destroyed by -tire.
As the oity o-t Mangum grew, citizens of the town be~e.n
to realize that railroads were neoessary for proper develop-mente
The nearest market was at Quanah, Texas , forty miles
away. The following of mere trails and fordi ng of streams
with covered wagons was a hazardous journey.
Due to this des1.re for a rail roa d, a mass meet ing of
the oitizens of Mangum and vicinity and all others interest­ed
were requested to assemble at the court house in Mangum
to devise such ways and means which would have as their objeot
the building of a railroad to 'III~_ 15 wuugum.
13 Ib.ld.
14 ~ersham, 2l!.. ill.
15 T-he Mansum s tar, February 17, 1900.
~--------------...................... .....
23
The railroad ques tion was at t blt time an all a bsorbing
quest i on and the citizens f el t tha t the t i me had come to
devote to it such public attention a s its importance to the
public demanded.
Naturally with the c ity bei ng rapi dl y s ettled , and '
prospeots for an i mmediate settlement of t he entire r egion
surroWld ing Mangum, it was important that t rans po rtation
facilities be provided other t han t he prairie schoone r , the
covered wagon, the ox-drawn freight wagon, and other anti­quated
means of traveling and bringing supplies for the
settlers of l~ngum.
The Chicago, Rook Island, and Pacific Railroad Company
had started construction 0,1' a railroad we stward from Chiokasha
16
but its terminus was unknown to the people of Mangum. How-ever,
Robert Jones , an exemplary young man, vi s ited i n Mangum
during Februar y , 1900 and he r eported to the oi tizens of
Mangum some favora ble r a ilroad news whioh he had gathered
while visiting at t he headquarte r s of the r a ilroad oonstrua ­l?
tion "gang" a few days before his arriva l 1n Mangum.
He had gone to the place where the gr adi ng was i ug
done to see for hims elf the progres s. Mr . Jones found while
there that a large force was at work on the grade and t hat
it, too, was get t ing closer to the Greer county line eve ry
day. In addition he also discovered whi le t he r e that a lar ge
corps of surveyors and the oompany of grade n.; were at work
16 G. W. Boyd, Mangum, Oklahoma , Reminiscence, Nov. 12 , 1940.
17 The Mangum Star , February 24, 1900.
•
·' .
24
on practically the same survey which passed j ust n orth ot
Mangum. Some of the h ead workmen in.f'ormed h im t hat t he old
survey was the route to be kep t. lS
Every indication point ed to the f act tha t Mangum might
soon h ave a rai l road. It was reported tha t the preliminaries
of a railroad had b een laid to North Fork of Red River at
a pOint near Quartz. l9
The citizens of Mangum sent a committee to Topeka,
Kansas early in 1900 to see what could b e done about getting
the Rock Island to build its line to Mangum, and the com­~
ttee reported that much interest was m~ife s ted in the
visit or Mangum's committee to the headquarters of the
Rock Island railroad system at Topeka, Kansas.20
It was also reported that everything wa s accomplished
by the committee that could have been expected to occur,
namely; the committee wa s cordia lly r e c e i ved, minutely heard,
and an investigation wa s promised.2l
Vice-president Parker of the r ailroad company vieited
in Mangum shortly after the v i sit of the Mangum committee
to look over the situation and canvass the f ac t s and the
induc ements tha t h ad been offered by the committee.
In the meantime, Mangum' s citizens were v e r y much alive
to the situation. They realized that all tha t wa s n e c e s sary
18 Ibid.
19 Report of Leo Bennett, Union Agent, for 1890, House
Executive Documents, No. 2841, 51 Cong., 2 sess., XII,
20 G. W. Boyd, ~. cit.
21 The Mangum Star, February 28, 1900.
p. 96.
25
to b8:.ve the Rook Island extended trom the mountains to
(a distanoe ot 12 miles) as that a proper showing be made
to tbe oompany o'f the advantages i n doing so. They realized
that muoh emphasis had to be placed on the exoellent and .'
almost limitless terminal 'facilities for handling oattle. '
The cattle trade was primarily what the railroad companies
desired and Mangum had an immense territory tor holding and
feeding purposes to place at their disposal. Asa whole the
prospects for a railroad to 22 ~ngum were most promising.
Nevertheless, the citizens ot Mangum were not satis-tied
jus t to wait and see it the road would be built to
Mangum. On February 18, 1900, Mr. A. R. Garrett and Jas.
Soarborough lett Mangum and traveled westward to collect
data that would be ot service 1n laying before the Rock
Island people to influence them in pushing the road on to
Mangum. They visited Hardmen, Chlld.r-e-sB, Ford, Collinsworth
and other localities in Texas before returning in hopes of
getting many promdses of patronage from oattle shippers
23
of that section. Mangum's citizens pointed out that
unparalled advantages oould be offered to oattle shippers
in the way of exoellent routes f..or -dri ving and holding grounds
for the oattle after they arrived. As the oattle industry's
22 !B!. Mangum, ~, February 11 J 1900.
23
~ Mangum ~. February 18, 1900.
~ g
:26
business was the thing whioh the Rook ISland was trying to
obtain by building into this section, no plaoe oould be
nearly so well adapted to :f'ao.ilitating the oattle shipping
24
business as Mangum.
On March 21, 1900, Mr. A. R. ~ilson returned to Uangum
f'rom Saint Louis by way of Topeka, Kana as, where he had met
with off ioials of the Rock Island and learned from them faots
highly favorable to Mangum's chances for tlie road. In faot t
everything pointed to the certainty of Mangum getting the
railroad.
The Mangum Star oarried an artiole upon the return of
Mr. Wilson whioh stated:
It may reasonably be oonsidered that within a
short time we will hear the whistle of the Iron Horse
in our midst. Mangum is 0001 and· deliberate and stands
ready to aot when the moment arrives. 25
On Maroh 26, 1900, Mr. H. .• ·Parker, vioe -pr~ s ident
of the Chioago and Rock Island Railroad Company, atter
inspeoting the line of his company's survey to a point in
the vicinity of Mangum, stopped at Mangum and spent the
night. He talked to the oitizens of Mangum in regard to
the extension of the line to Mangum, but left the impression
that the ohanoes between Mangum and some point northwest ot
26
Mangum were being oonsidered as a terminus for the railroad.
24 Ibid.
25
~ Mangum ~, Maroh 21, 1900.
26 ill!..
27
The question of building a railroad to ngum was s t i ll
unoertain, but it was believed t hat the railroad would devi at
a little from its located survey, and come to Mangum , it'
depot grounds, and right-of-way were rurnished as a oompensa­tion
for the 'difference in distanoe.
On April 4 , 1900, Mr. G. • Bord and J. E . Ca r rol, t he
oOImllittee seleoted to present to the o f fioials of the Rook
Island Rai lroad at Chioago, reasons tor buil ding the l ine to
Mangum, returned and reported that they had failed to obtain
any detinite promises that the railroad would be built to
Mangum, yet, they felt hopet'ul that in t he end the line would
27
be extended to their town.
On April 18, 1900, the chief' eng i neer t or t he Rook
Island Railroad System and the general superintendent visited
the prospeotive l i ne into greer oounty as f'ar as E1m Ri ver,
but no oomment or announoement was made in r egard ~o t he
building ot the line to Mangum. 28
Then on July 4, 1900, , he Mangum ~ pu blis hed the
tollowing artiole:
Bang! ~:. Bang! Anvi l s announce t he ooming
ot the Rook I sland Railroad t o Mangum. Exoitement
however, gradually abates and 0001 bus iness judgment
resumes its proper sway.
A portion of the construotion orew oame to Mangum July
10, 1900 and began to move dirt for the oonstruotion of the
27
~ Mangum Star, April 4, 1900.
28 ~ MaJlt$\llll ~, April 18, 1900.
28
railroad. The oitizens of :Mangum made good their promises
to the railroad oompany whioh inoluded donation of ri ght- ot­way,
depot and yardages s ites . The fir st t r ain arr i ved in
Mangum, September 2, 1900.
Mr. Tom Lawrence, well-known. pi one er oitizen, humorist,
and something of a genial philosophe r, went to Granite to
r ide the firs t train into Mangum and when he s t epped ' otr the
train at Mangum depot, exclaimed:
With Chicago at one end of the line and Mangum
at the other, the Rock Island ought to make a good
railroad. 29
Thus Mangum was given its first railroad. Ten years
later the Jassouri, Kans as, and Texas railroad oompany built
the second line to Mangum.
The first and only ioe plaut ever to be est ablished
in Mangum was built by Mark Pace and Clinton Paoe in the
30
s pring of 1900, due north of the northeas t oorner of the
publio square in downtown Ma.ngum. It was located on t he
south side of' Buohanan Street and west side of North Pennsyl-vania
Avenue.
When the plant was firs t built in 1900, it was diffi­cult
to keep ice in sufficient quantity to supply t he demand
due to the obsoleteness of the plant. The old plant was
29 The Mangum Star, September 3, 1900.
30 Mark Pace, Mangum, Oklahoma, Remini soence, May 24, 1941.
Boon vacated and a new modern pl ant established on East
Jefferson and Carolina Avenue. Raburn Morgan bought one­half
interest i n the plant and took over t he manager ship .
29
The perry Hotel was the s eoond hotel building to be
established·in Mangum. It was built by George Perry in 1901,
and was looated on the southeast oorner of the public s quare.
This was a t wo-story structure with eight bedrooms above and
f'our large rooms below. 31
The Perry Hotel was well establ ished and was a sooial
oenter during the early days. It oontinued to do bus iness
until the building was oondemned by the oity and torn down .
The first briok plant ever to be established in Mangum
was founded by Mr. J. D. Doyle. It was looated in the north­west
portion of' the city and began operation in the f all of
1901.32
Mr. Doyle was a Texan by birth and oame to Mangum dur-ing
the early development of the town and s oon e s t ablished
the Mangum Brick Plant on the same looation where the present
new plant is being operated by Mr. Doyle. All of the first
brick buildings to be ereoted in Mangum were built with briok
manufactured at the Doyle brick plant. Some of the buildIngs
v J built from the plant have remained s tanding in Mangum down
through the years.
31
ickersham, 2.E,.. ~.
32 J. D. Doyle, Mangum, Oklahoma, Reminiscenoe,
Deoember 23, 1940.
30
The first old plant was a rather antique stru.:cture.
It was constructed near the east edge of a deep oanyon and
near the head ot the canyon was an excell ent spring, Whioh
afforded the plant with water to mix the sand and olay to be
molded into briok. Ab-out one hundred yards sout h of the s pring
was the old mixing ground. Just above the mixing ground was
built a small dam where water was turned into t he sand and
clay for mixing. The mixed mud was delivered to the brick
yard where the mud was placed in the old wooden molds with
shovel and hands. Atter a time the mud brick were dried
suffioiently by wind and sun, they were then oarried to the
33
briok kiln and heated to make brick.
The sporadio growth of ootton in the vicinity ot Mangum.
turned the thoughts of its farmers to the de s irabl~y ot
having a gin in Mangum. Aooordingly a meeting waS dand
resulted in a decision to build the Farmer's Gin ot Mangum.
Sentiment having thus crystalized, another meeti ng was held
in the John R. Crouch Hotel to plan detinite aotion. 34
At tbis second meeting J. W. Logan otfered to build the
gin if the tar.mers would assure him of their trade . They
acceded unanimously. Without delay, the construotion ot the
building was commenoed upon the property ot Logan.35
33 illS,.
34
Wicke rsham, 2:E., ill·
35 J. W. Logan, Mangum, Oklahoma Reminiscence, March 14,
1940.
31
This gin 'WB.S a two-story 1'l8me structure , orudely oon­structed
and furnished. Its maohinery was a small t enty
horsepower. engine, a small boil er and one gin stand. It was
hand-ted, the cotton being ca rried in baskets and ted into
the gin stand by hand. Under ideal conditions and with· the
gin per1'orming as well as possible, its maximum putput was
one bale per hour.
At'ter five years of oonsecutive operation, it was
suspended. Logan organized a new oompany and built a more
modern gin during that same year, which was located in the
southwest suburbs 01' Mangum. This new gin was known as the
Tuoker, Tinsley, and Logan gin and oontinued to operate 1'or
several years. This gin was more oommonly known to the early
settlers as the old Red Gin due to its color.
Doctor Fowler Border came to Mangum, May 20 . 1901 , and
established the first hos pital and goiter olinio to be estab­lished
in southwestern Okl ahoma. end oftered to the settlers
01' this region surgical service whioh they could not othe r­wise
obtain without going to either Oklahoma City or Amarillo,
Texas. 36
The hospital was established under a dverse oonditions,
but soon became known as a mediaal oenter. The fi rst hospital
was housed in a 12 by 14 foot frame building . In 1905 Dr.
Border bought a 17 acre tract of land, one mile due ea s t of
Mangum, through which now runs Highway No. 283. On this
36 Dr. Fowler Border. Mangum. Oklahoma, Reminisoence t
June 4, 1941.
,..
32
looation, he began the oonstruotion of his seoond hos pital.
In t he l.atter part ot 1907, Dr. Border vaoated his f irst.
hospital building and moved h i s equipment i nto t he new
hos pital. He gave it the name of Border Heights Hospital,
because ot the high elevation of t he hos pital s i te . 37
In 1915 Dr. Borde r decided to build a l arger and mor e
modern hospital near t he business section ot Mangum. He pur ­chased
a one-half acre lot due we st of the north s i de at the
Oourthouse Square, on the corner of Jefferson Street and
Byers Avenue. On this s ite Dr. Border deoided to build a
larger stone building and moved, i n 1916, from Border Hei ght s
to this new building. During the yea r of 1927 Dr. Border
decided that he needed more room and began propa r ation tor
the construction of a more modern hospital. This hospital
continued to be one of the mos t modern a nd e tficient of i ts
type in ~klaboma until its financial tailure . 38
The Oattlemen's Exchange Bank, the torerunner of the
Firs t National Bank of Mangum, was o r gani zea:- W1..th a oapital
of 15,000. The first officers of the Cattlemen' s Exohange
Bank were: G. W. Boyd, President; N. B. Ol aunoh, Vice-Pres i­dent;
and J. C. Gilliland, Oashier. 39
The original bank was located in the rear of J. O.
37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
39 ~ Mangum Daily ~J October 13, 1937.
- I
Gillilands' store on the south side o'f the
The bank later moved to a building" on the site ot th
p.ost o'ftioe on the south side of t he square. However, this
bUilding soon beoame inadequat·e and a s tone building was J
oonstruoted on the north side o'f the s qua r e to whioh the
bank was moved. 40
The bank was nationalized with a oapital ot 25 ,000.
The following of ficers were seleoted: R. C. Neal, President;
J. A. Henry, Vi -President; and H. Mathewson, Oashier. This
bank was thereafter known as the First National Bank ot Mangum.
L. S. Nobles joined the First National Bank organization.
during the early establishment, as oashier. At this time
Mr. Mathewson was elected president. After the death of Mr.
Mathewson, Mr. Nobles was elected president, in whioh oapaoity
he has oontinued to serve.
By 1930, the oapital had been inoreased to approximately
$100,000. 41
39
40
41
~ Mangum Daily ~, Ootober 13, 1937.
Wickersham, El?. ill.
L. S. Nobles, Mangum, Oklahoma, Rem1nlse.e:n0e.,: J~ne
, .
4~ . ,1.941.
. . . - .
34
CHAPTER I I I
POLITICAL ISSUES DURING THE EARLY ESTABL.ISfIM:!m'
The decision of the United States SUpreme Court in the
case of United States v. Texas, 1896, changed the status of
Mangum by looating it in what was later to become the state
of Oklahoma rather than Texas. l
The chief worry of the citizens was that th y might
lose their homes. However, a bill-was rushed through Congress
providing for a six months' preference to settlers who ooou­pied
their Dmll and the privilege of purchas i ng an a dditional
seotion at one dollar a.n aore.
Four days after the United States Supreme Oourt decision
of March 16, 1896, John F. Lacy of Iowa introduced a bil12
to provide for the government being extended over Greer County.
The citizens of Greer County were called upon to have an
election to locate the county seat . A meeting was held in the
upper story of the old Greer County~t.s firs t j ail house .
located just east of where the present jail building now s t ands ,
on Linooln Street and South Carolina Avenue. It was the pur­pose
of this group to organize and do everthing possible to
get Mangum des ignated as the looation of the oounty s eat.
A bitter struggle concerning the location of the oounty
l.
SUpreme Court Reporter, XVI , pp. 735-754.
2
House Report No. 1905, 54 Cong .• , 1 sess., XXVIII, p. 3532.
seat developed between the citizens of the stern sect on
ot the oounty and those of the eastern section. Altus led
in the oppos ition to Mangum in the county e l e ation, but
Mangum was victorious in the final outoome ot the eleation
by a large majority.
36
The building of the county court hous e at Mangum aaused
muah diss ension throughout the county.3 The eastern halt ot
the oounty declared that the oitizens of the oounty should
wait until the two railroads pro jecting into the county were
built rather than mortgage their property tor ten or t wenty
years to a bond syndioate in order to build a fine court
house. Mangum, as leader of the western half, desi red immedi­at~
· construction.4 As early as 1897 there had been some
thought of county division since the county was so large.
This faot made it less desirable to pos t pone building so fa.r
as Mangum. was conoerned.
In 1897, plans to build a oourt house costing between
t wenty thousand and thirty thousand dollars, on the publio
square at Mangum by the rental plan, were submitted t o the
county commissioners. It was to be r ented at an annual
rental value equal to five per cent of the cost of the build­ing.
Altus, voicing the sentiment of the ea s tern division,
protested against the plan. She insisted that it was a
3
~Altus~, September 30,1897.
4 -Ibid.
36
scheme devised tor the purpose ot deceiving t he people ot
Greer County. For a t ime the building progr~ was postponed,
but it came before the people again on January 17, 1898.
On March 8, 1898 the oounty commissioners accepted plans
for building a oourt house on t he rental in Mangum.5 Again
there were protes tations from the eastern part of t he county,
but they were ignored. However, the territorial legi s lature
did not come to the assistance of t he county in their bu ild ~
ing program, so it was abandoned.
In the latter part of 1898, an effort was made by
Mangum to secure a court house by bond issue. Again Altus
opposed the issue. The people teared that they would have
to pay a part of the indebtedness of Greer Oounty even though
the oounty was divided. In order to retute this idea, the
01 tizens ot Mangum got s ixteen :Mangum lawyers to band down
an opinion on the matter. Their opinion was t hat shoul d
there be county division, the new counties could not be
forced to pay any part of the indebt edness t or the court
house at Mangum. 6 It was hoped that t his opinion might
increase the number of votes for the building of the court
house.
Three thousand nine hundred forty qualified electors
Signed the petition oal1ing for a special eleotion to vote
the bonds for the court house. The election was called tor
5 Minutes of County Commissioners, Greer County, 1898-1900
6 ~ Mangum Daily ~. October 13, 1937.
May 16, 1899. The people of Mangum at onc e began a strong
campaign to secure the approval o~ the court house.
There was a total vote c ast of five thous and three
· -
37
hundred sixty-nine. A majority of one thousand two hundred
f1fty-three were opposed to the building or the court house. 7
The court house question was aga1n b efore the populace
in 1900 when a rent a l plan for acquiring a c ourt house was
devised by Judge Irwin. July 20, 1900, was the date s et upon
which to receiVe bids. Citizens of Altus, Duke, Hess, and
Granite went to Mangum to see the commissioner s and enter a
protest against their accepting the plan for the new court
house.
In spite of this, the measure carried8 and Mangum was
to have the court house erected on the public square at Mangum.
The city of Mangum was inco~porated as a town October
10, 1900, with a popula tion of about 500.9 On Dec ember 8 ,
1901, the city hall, a small wooden structure t hat had b een
rented for this purpose, c au ght fire and was burned down
destroying all of the cityts records, stationery, books , and
:fumi ture.
7
8
9
Record of Elect1ons, Greer County, Oklahoma, 1899.
Ibid., 1900.
H. T. Lawrence, Re~ort 2.f Public Utilities and Municipal
Activities, 1939, angum, Oklahoma, p. 20.
38
On December 17, 1901, the Board o.f Trustees met t the
office of M. L. Eahumn and reorganized the city government.
Jas. A. McKibbins was elected president of the Bo rd oC
Trustees.l.O
On January 4, 1902, the Board of Trustees met nd gr~ted
to the Mangum Ice and Light Company the right to manufacture
and sell electrical curren t to the city of Mangum.ll This
action later caused much controversy and a bitter fight ensued
between the citizens of Mangum and the electrical company.
A proclamation issued October 2, 1906, by Frank Frantz,
territorial governor of Oklahoma, made Mangum s. city of the
first class.
Eight business men were selected by popular vote to
constitute a city council, but this form of government was
far from satisfactory because the men comprising the Board
of Trustees were either profess iona l or bus iness men. The se
men were too busy with their own affairs during the working
hours to manage the city's affairs. As a result they h ad to
meet at night and spend from two to seven hours in an effort
to outline sound fiscal policies for the city government.
As they had no leader to intelligently present mu.tters to
them, the financial status of the city was usually in an
10 City Council Minute Record, City of Mangum, 1900-1902,
Book I, p. 30.
11
12
unsound condition.
39
In ].913, under this alderman1c form or city goverment,
the retiring mayor turned ove r the city's a~fa irs to his suo­cessor
with the words: "I hereby turn over to you a busted
government. 0 13 The s ink i n g ~_~.~-d showed a de~ic1t or about
$ 45,000 and the l aw regarding the rund h ad not b e en complied
with by the city officials.
BecaUse the city officials and the citizens of the city
had become dissatisfied with the way in which the gov ernment
f'unctioned, application for a new charter wa.s made. The
charter was adopted and became effective November 10, 1914 . 14
The new charter provided for a city mana.ger to supervis e
the affairs of the city. Thus Mangum came to be the :first
town in Ok1ahoma to adopt the city manager type of government;15
since the adoption of the city manager plan of government, the
light rates have been lowered and the water system has b een
placed on a paying b asis. The water system had been a big
liability under the old :form of government. Taxes h av e been
reduced from twenty-seven m111s to seven mills, and there
has usually been a surplus of nearly a quarter million dollars
in cash on deposit in local banks.16
12 Dr. FO~~er Border, Mangum, Oklahoma , Reminis c ence,
June 4, 1941.
13 City ~0UU1Ci1 Minute Record, City of Mangum, 1912-1914,
Book II, p. 46.
14
Charte,!:. City 2! Mangum, Article VII, 1914.
15 Oklahoma MuniCipal Review, June, 1939, Vol. XIII, No.6,
p. 83. -
16 illE..
40
Since 1914 the record of the governm.ent of Mgum has
been largely the record of one man. At t hat time Dr. Fowler
Border was elected mayor of Mangum and has served oontinuously
sinoe that time, exoept for two terms when he withdrew i n
favor of his life-long friend, Ralph E. Helper, now deoeased.
As evidenoe of the important part Dr. Border has played
in the city government since 1914, it is difficult to check
into the development of any Mangum civic i mprovemen t without
running squarely into the activities of Dr. Border. Over
the years, the names "Mangum!! and "Border" have become almost
synonymous.17
The first large municipal achievement of Mangum was the
acquisition of a publioly owned and operated light and power
sY8tem. In 1915, led by Dr. Border, a fight waged over the
issuance of bonds to build a plant to compete with the exist­ing
private utility company, ended Victoriously for the City,
and the plant was established. A8 a result ot the contro­versy
between Dr. Border and the utility company, Border
was sued by the company for libel, a oharge which he
defeated.
A $75,000 bond issue was voted with which to build the
municipal light plant and it was pa1d out in 1925.18
1'1
18
~., p. 84.
Council Journal, 1924-1926, City of Mrungum, Book VII,
p. 18.
It h a s been the policy of the city g ove r nmen t, s 1no e the
establisbIDent of the city mana ger form, to meet Ilbond
maturities with cash in hand.
41
In 1925, Mangum voted b onds to ac quir e the local gas
distribution system. As a result the citizens h ave, s ince
this purchase, paid, a t one window in the city h a ll, their
water, light, and ga s bills. Gas, since the purchase o f the
distribution system, has been bought from the Consolidated
Gal! Company.
Not only are its bonded debts in good conditions , but
the cityls entire financial structure appe ars sound . There
has not been an ad valorem tax levy for governmenta l opera tion
since 19:d8. Assessed valuation of the city (les s homesteads )
was, in 1940, $1,392,656. The sinking fund l evy for that
year was 24.43 mills.19
Municipal utilities, since their establishment, h ave
produced the vast bulk of funds u sed to opera te the gen e r a l
gov ernment of the city and to financ e the continuous insta l­lment
of improvements. Gross income since e s t a blis hmen t of
the light department has averaged around $ 50,000. Profits
above operating expenses from wholesa le gas purc h a s es and
payments on gas bonds h av e been from $8,000 to $ 14,000.20
19
20
Financial Report, City of Mangum, 1940.
Oklahoma Municipal Review, Vol. XIII, June, 1940, ,No.6,
p. 8X.
42
Water s a l e s have had an average gr oss income of $18,, 500 per
yea:I.'. PractiCtl l ly all water revenues a bove oper a t ing expens e!!
are turned to extension and ~prov ement of the wat er syst em.
In 1928 , a . 35, 000 wa t er softening plant was built and
.angum became one of the few municipalities i n the ent l~ e
United ~tate s wh i ch sof t ened its entire water suppl y. Lat e l y,
however, loc ation of new wat er wells supplying ample qu anti­ties
of soft water h a s made use of the softening p l ant unnec e s -
s ary.
Over a period of years, there h as been a sh a r p scaling
down of municipal electric char ges in Mangum. In 1933, t h e
city !s revenue from the electric plant was .036 per kilowatt
hour. In 1938 it was .027, a reduction of 25 per c ent. 2l
'.i.;he Mangum r 'ire Department was organized with B ix
volunteers and one paid man. ~ . s. Gentry wa s chief and
J. W. Cruse, the one paid man, r eceived $50 per month. 22
Their e ~uipment was a hos e r eel drawn by h and . In l ater
years, Cruse became Fire Ch ief , and s erved i n that c apacity
until 1928. He is n9w retired on p ens ion.
At the retirement of Chief Cruse, Gene Sands , who joined
the department as a volunteer during the e arly es t ablishment,
took over the duties of Fi r e Chi ef , a po sition which he holds
to date (194l). Assistant chief F. D. Dodson, who j oined the
21
22
Ibid., p. 99.
Oit, Counc i l Minute Record, City of Mangum, 1904-1906,
Boo III, p. 182.
department a s a volunteer, is still with t h e force·.
In the h i stor y of Mangum, there h a ve been only t 0 major
fires. A cotton oil mill bur ned with a loss of about 150,000.
In 1929, three downtown business bullding s burned wi th a l os s
of about $90,000. 23 Until 1929 , M gum wa s clas s ified by ~he
insurance companies as being of the e i ghth cla ss . I n that
year it was reduced to seventh cla s s.
23
Oklahoma. Municipal R,eview, June, 1939, Vol. XIII, No.6,
p. 100.
44
CHAPrER IV
CHURCHES t SCHOOlS , FRATERNAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
The people who came to Mangum came from s ettled oom­munities
where churches and. s ohools were a part of the
culture of the people. The Mangum r esidents were too tew'
and too poor to establish regular ohurohes with a full t i me
pastor, but they were anxious to have religious worship.
There are no available written reoords of the tirs t
ohurch services of Mangum, but there are the oral traditions
of the servioes held in the dugouts and floorlesB shaoks
Where the people Bat on such chairs, benohes , and boards as
were obtainable, with the remainder s tanding or seated on
the floor to listen to the ~ing of t he "pure gospel"
from the lips of an itinerant minister who had oome into
th~ community.l
Sunday school s were organized and met in the af t er noon
with t he young people at a l l denominations participating.
To miss Sunday s chool was to mis s one of the mos t i mportant
social f unctions of the oommunity.
Revivals usually were held when the orops were laid by
and before the time to do the fall work. Regardles s ot heat,
the people came by the wagon loa ds , bringi ng the entire family
from grandmother to the infant in arms.
y ~ Mangum's first revival meeting wa s conduct ed in the f all
ot 1886 by "old Brother" Smedley. In the fall of that year
1 J. P . Lassiter Mangum, Oklahoma, Reminisoence, June 4, 1941
45
he came trom North Oarolina, travel ing the greater parto!
the distance on foot. He was a Primitive Baptist preaoher. 2
"Brother" Smedley arri.ved in Mangum in October, 1886.
He visited among the settlers in orde r to obtain thei r per-
I
mission to hold a revival meeting. He encountered no oppos i- v
tion. Instead, the pioneers were glad to a s s ist in every
way posslb~e. They cleared a small area on Whioh to stretoh
an old tent in the northwest part of Mangum on South Oklahoma
Avenue and Tyle r Street in the oenter of the lot.
Upon the second night after "Brother" Smed~ey' s arrival,
the meeting began. The oongregation oonsis ted of about t wenty
or ~ ,enty-five people the first night. Most of the oongre-gatio~
consisted of town residents.
3
Seats were provided by blooks sawed from eot tonwood log,s
and boa rds plaoed aoross from one b l ook to the o t her . LIght
was supplied by two Old-tashione1i:-brass greas e lamps and
homemade candles made from beef tallow.
Atter three or tour nights, the oongregation had grown
considerab1p with a tew cowboys attending . They behaved
decently though several of them wore their six-guns. "Old
Brother" SlIled l ey never failed to wear his old cap and ball
pi·stol. The meeting lasted ten nigh ts. Only one conversion
4
was obtained at the Eeeting.
2
3
b1r.anlLWi""c!1re.r lwmi.,I;Fipilli ps Coll eo t ion , Greer Count y ,
Oklahoma Unive r s i t y Libra r y .
~.
4 !E.!.!!.
46
The Firs t Baptist Church of Mangum Was f ounded follow­ing
the close of "Brother" Smedley' s revival with a membership
of eight. Organization had been previous l y s ought , but their
membership being l ess than was required by the convent1on,
they had to wait. Reverend Medlin of Dot, (later n~ed Blair,
in Jackson County), was the leading pioneer i n this organiza­tion.
The first services were held in the s chool building .
Charter members were: Mr. and Mrs . Reynolds . Mr. and Mrs .
W. S. Pierson, Mrs. Hattie Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Talley.
Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. C. S. Talley, and J. R. Anders on. 5
By 1887 there was a sufficient number of people in Mangum
belonging to the Methodist Churoh to justify the employment
of a minister. The servioes of a oircuit preaoher were engaged.
Reverand J. L. Hosmer, whose headquarters were Vernon, Texas,
was the first minister. This type of service was oontinued
until the membership was large enough t o justify the employ ­ment
of a regular preacher a nd t he buildin~ of a ohuroh hous~ . 6
The cooperation between the dIfferent ohuroh es dur ing
the early days of Mangum was most interesting . For instanoe ,
an old wooden building was us ed jointly by f our d i ffer ent
denominatmn.s. The Methodists used the building on the
first Sunday of the month, the Baptists held services the
second Sunday, the Christians the third Sunday, and the
5
~ Mangum Daily ~J October 13, 1937.
6
-Ibid.
47
Presbyterians hel d t heir servioes on the fourth Sunday . This
method of holding church was carried on until eaoh of t he
v
different churohes e rected its own ohur ch building and began l-to
hold ,~ic es eaoh Sunday .7
During the year of 1887, there came to Mangum a vener a ble
and soholarly man, Profes sor John R. Ni gh , then e i ght y- four
years of age. It was the purpose of th i s man t o establish
in Mangum a subsoription school.
By t he fall of 1887, Professor Nigh secured enough
students to merit the opening of a s chool. The sohool was
looated on the southwest corner of Mangum and wa s housed
in a small dugout. The sc:mol was opened with t h irteen pupils
8
enrolled and was conduoted for three months dur ing the year.
After several years, Mrs. Lula Crouch Johnson was suo-cessful
in getting seven of the firs t students of Mangum' s
first sohool to return to Mangum to oel e br ate t he golden
Anniversary of the class of 1887. Those attending t he oel­ebration
were: Mrs. Lula Crouoh Johnson of Mangum, John R.
Crouoh of Altus, La Fletoher of Weatherford , Smith lar son
of Borger, Texas , Mrs. Coanthe Pi er s on Culli ns of Mangum.
Mrs. Nona Byers Baumgardner of Mangum, and Louis Orabtree
of Mangum. The other members of the class were either dead
9 or indisposed.
7
Wiokersham, ~. ill.
8 1ll!. Mangum Daily Star, Ootober 13, 1937.
9 Ibid.
48
The first free and public sohool of Mangum. was estab­lished-
September 1, 1888, with R. C. am er, S . C. Vanles,
and Syles Wills acting as the Board of Trus tees. 10 A small
wood~n building was oonstructed in the nor t hwest oorner ot
Mangum to house the first sohool. The s ohool was begun with
the sum of t wo hundred sixty-three dollars and twelve oents
to pay the expense of operating the school for its first
year. The following order was issued creating the. sohool:
Be it known that on this first day of June, 1888,
we, R. C. Warner, S. C. Vanles, and Syles Wills,
Trustees of sohool district No. 1 have establis hed
sohool No. 1 1n said district located at Mangum and
have Bet aside for the use of t he same for ·the
soholastio year beginning July 1, 1888, out of the
Public Free School FUnd, the sum of $263.12. 11
One pioneer of Mangum remarked that the greater part
of one' s time in Mangum was spent in social aotivities - and
that business, espeoially in the early days, was a side
line.12 Even though the people of Mangum travel ed either
on horseback, in buggies, or in wagons and seemed to have
few organized forms of amusements., the pioneer s ooial lite
was deoidedly an interesting type. This was espeoially true
for the men.
10
County SUperintendent's Report, Greer COlmty , Texas, 18S8.
11
~.
12 W. S. Bradshaw, Mangum, Oklahoma, Remini s oenoe,
February 14, 1940.
Hunt ing. roundups, huge picnics and bar becues f s i nging
schools, play parties , literary s ooieties , f ish fries , box
suppers and d.anoes were f aotors in the social life of t he
Mangum citizens.
49
In the early days of Mangum, nowboys rould ride dO\fn
the main s treet staging an informal week end party of their
OVID. Whooping, yelling , and shooting ou t l ights were f avo r­ite
dtl.vers ions .
Group s ingi ng was a popular divers i on for t he l ess rowdy
oitizens. especially for Sunday afternoons and week ends .
lJangum frequently had s inging s chools where classes were organ­ized
and singing conventions held at r egular intervals. Visit ­ing
classes wer e otten ent ertained free of oha r ge.
During the past fifty-three years, fraternal organizations
have played an important part in t he so cia l and oivio lif e
of Mangum. The f irst fraternal organi zation to be stabllshed
in Mangum , the Masonic lodge , was organized i n 1889 . Since
that date, practically all the ma jor fra t er nal organi zations
have forme d branohes in the city of Mangum. Most of the
organizations are still active.
In t he horse and buggy days, ~lodge ni ght~ was a r ed
letter date in the calendar of the average citizen. Lodge
members often traveled forty mi l es in order to be a ble to
or 13
v attend lodge neet ings.
13
Elme r V. Jessee, Mangum , Oklahoma , Reminis c ence,
Ootober 6, 1940.
The advent o~ the automobile and t h e competit i on of ot her
attraotions in more r ecent yea r s has de creased l odge aot­ivities
by reducing t hei7 membershi p .
50
Neverthe l ess, the l odges of Mangum ha ve thr ived unde r
the most adverse conditions, supplying a genuine need r~
fellowshiP. ,servioe, and achie vement wi t hin t he order.
The Mangum Masonic lodge was organized July 9 , 1889,
just four years after t he founding of Man gum. This fi rst
lodge was organized under the jurisdiction of the g r and
lodge of Texas, and had a member s hip of eighteen charte r
members. During the t ime that the lodge was under the
jurisdiction 01: the State of Te xa s it was known as lodge
11
No. 685.
The f~rst candidat es to be initiated into membership
of the lodge wer e : S. H. Tittle, M. L. VanLe er, and A. J.
15
Laughlin, all of whom were initia t ed t he s ame night.
With t he historic Supreme Court decis ion a nd th e chang­ing
of the status of the region in which Mangum was loca t ed,
an application for a new charte r was made . Att e r t h i s request
was granted, the lodge became known as the Mangum Lodge
16
No. 29.
Lodge headquarters were loc ated in a t wo-story frame
14
Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 E. T. CurtiSS , Phi lips Collection, Greer County, Oklahoma
Univers ~ty Library.
51
building in the two hundred block of North Pennsylvania
/
Avenue. The lodge room occupied t he seoond floor of the
building, while various business f irms r ented t he f irst
story. This was the first building in which regular Masonio
l;dge meetings were held.17
Another one of t he oldes t fraterna l organi zations i n
Mangum is t he Odd FelloVi lodge whioh was organized Ootober
20, 1898, by J. M. Hicks, representative of the grand lodge.
When the lodge was granted a oha rter it was des ignated as
18
the Mangum lodge No. 96.
The Mangum Odd Fellow lodge firs t held its me tinge in
a two-story building located in the two hundred blook of
South Pennsylvania Avenue. The s econd story of the building
was used for lodge meetings while the :firs t story was occupied
at various times by feed stores and seoondhand stores . 19
Still holding a predominate part in the hearts of Mangum's
pioneer men and women is the fond memory of t he early day
social life created by the Owl Club. It was the first of the
social organizations in the then small, but thriving town of
Mangum. This social group will forever be remembered by
those who so proudly claimed membership.
17
A. L. Freeman, Mangum, Oklahoma, Remini s c ence, June 3, 1940.
~Mangum Daill~, Ootober 13,1937.
19
Curtiss, .£2.. £li.
52
Those young dashing IE n and their wives who f'orme d t he
Owl Club were the life of' the town during the first years
of the twentieth oentury. They entertained at card parties,
danoes. and dinner parties. The club was founded in the
early part of 1900 wi th a 20 ~mbersh i p or t wenty-four.
Meetings were held each Saturday night in the various homes
of the members. When a club hostess entertained at dinner
she used unsparing effort to excel all others with the affair.
Eaoh hostess served elaborately and gave beautiful and expen­sive
gitts to the winners of the various games. Sterling
silver pieces of a "violet" pattern were later selected to
21 be presented as high score awards. Bi-annual parties
were always looked :forward to with muoh eagerness. For
these occasions the club secured Eaton's Hall, a building
located on the southeast oorner of the s quare . They went
to extreme limits in securing proper decorations, r etresh-ments,
and entertainments. A dance program was usually a
high light of the evening. Favorite dances were: Little
Brown Jug, the waltz, the polka. and the schottisohe.
An April-Fool party was another occasion of great
-entertaimnent for the members of the OWl Club. At this
time some of Mangum's most prominent business men would oas t
20
21
Mrs. Mark Paoe, Mangum, Oklahoma Reminisoence, May 24.
1941.
Ibid.
aside all semblance of d i gnity by giving some i mpromptu aot
suoh as s inging a solo, reading poetry, or doing a danae. 22
53
Not all of the sooial organiza t i ons ot Mangum bave had
as their sole aim entertainment. The Culture Club, organized
in 1901, had as -i -ts purpose intellectual development. This
was the aity's f'irst study olub and it played an important
part in the literary field of the city. Shakespeare 's plays
provided a f'avorite study tor the members, but the Bay ~
Magazine oourse was later selected for study. 23
Since the fall of 1901, when organization of the club
was perfeo~ed, Mangum has ranked the Aftermath Club as an
outstanding organization. Charter members of the olub num­bered
eighteen. With Mrs. Nay Neel as pres ident they formu­lated
and enjoyed a full program of activity during the early
days of Mangum. 24
The organization meeting was held in the home of Mrs .
R. H. Sultan. There were eight young women who met and
disoussed plans for the club. It was decided to allow each
one present the privilege of selecting a friend to invite as
a regular member. This was done, but it was soon deoided
that the olub would not be complete without two otherf'riends
of the ladies. In accordance with this plan, the membership
22 Mrs. H. E. Oakes, Mangum, Oklahoma Reminis cence, June 3,
1941.
23
~Mangum Star, December 10,1901.
24 The Mangum ~, October 13, 193~.
was increased to eighteen. 25
Originally the club was _organized as a fancy work olub,
but later the members beoame more interested--in games than
fancy work and so it was ohanged to an organization for
entertaiD.lOOnt.
Organization and federation of Arts and Crafts Club was
perfected in the fall of 1901 with a membership of twenty
young women. The original purpose of organization was the
study of domestio soiences. Membership of the olub r emained
stationary. being limited to twenty member s .
The club's program featured ourrent event disou ssions,
with whioh members responded to roll call. EmphasiS was
placed on t he s't;udy of sooial and economic ques tions, sinoe
members took aotive interest in oity, state, and national
governmental problems .
The Arts and Crafts Club acoepted the responsibi lity
of making for Mangum its quota of bedside bags for Red Cross
distribution at Christmas time to ex- s ervice men who were
26 confined to hospitals.
The improvements brought about in the Mangum eduoational
facilities were remarkable. In 1901,the Mangum Public Sohool
had seven teaohers, a new stone building , and a library. 27
25
Ibid.
26 Mrs. C. P . Hamilton, Mangum, Oklahoma, Reminsoence,
May 10, 1941.
27
County Superintendent's Report. Greer County, Texas, 1901.
Mangum was also tryi ng to secure the location or the South-western
State Normal School. By 1901 fifty per c ent of the
boys and girls in the town were enrolled in school for a
short term.
55
A summer normal school was held in Mangum in 1901, and
eleven teachers took examination for certifica t e e. Horace
Simpson, who taught mathematics in the fir s t summer normal
term, prepared an examination so difficult tha t the exam in-ing
board, consisting of A. Putman and M. McKenzie, euggested
that he e l iminate three or his problems . At the end of the
summer normal school, a program with the present ation of
medals and prizes was held. 28
During the year of 1901, the territorial government of
Oklahoma began an investigation for the purpose of finding
a suitable place for the location of a normal school for the
southwestern portion of Oklahoma Territory. The citizens
of Mangum at once began to aspire ror the des igna tion of the
site or the school to be Mangum.
J. Frank Mathews of Mangum was elected a memb er of the
House or the Territorial Legisla ture in 1901. Early in the
session he introduced a bill ror the e s t ablishment of a
normal school for the people of s outhwestern Oklahoma
Territory. He spec i fied in the bill tha t it should be 10-
cated 29 ~ Mangum or Granite .
28
29
The Mangum Daily ~, October 13, 1937.
House Journa.l, Oklahoma Territory, 1901, p. 62.
Later 1n the year a oommittee appoi nted by the territoria l
Governor, Jenkins, select ed Granite as the site f or the
normal sohool instead of Mangum. There was muoh b1tterness
among a major portion of the Mangum residents as a result
of the failure in having Mangum designated as the site of
the normal sohool.
The aotion of the Jenkins oommittee was described in
the Mangum Star as follows:
The normal school question has at last been deoided.
We met the ene.my and we are his tn. The r ated question
was settled Tuesday. The oo~ttee decided in favor of
Granite. We don't know by What sort of course of reaSon­ing
they arrived at such a conclusion, but presume it
was sufficient and satisfactory to them. There is a
suspioion that Dennis Flynn meddled with affairs and 30
used his influence with the oommittee against Mangum.
The normal sohool for the southwestern part of the
Oklahoma Territory was in the end located at Weathe rford.
Nevertheless, the oitizens of Mangum refused to be
satis fied without a college located in their town, s o t hey
soon took steps for the founding of a college .
Sinoe more of tbe .population of Mangum in the early days
belonged to the Baptist Church than to any other single
churoh, t hey deoided to establish a Baptist oollege for the
education of their young people. The college was founded in
1910 and olasses were conduoted in the chuteh building.
30
~ Mangum ~, September 19, 1901.
Due to the small enrollment t he college was dis oontinued in
31
1912.
Finally in 1937, a junior oollege was established in oon­neotion
with the public high sohool o~ Man~. By 1939, this
college showed an enrollment of 207 students. 52 When the
junior oollege was founded, ten teaohers were s eleoted for
the faoulty. Miss Mary Hall was appointed Dean or the Mangum
Junior College.
Since the establishment of the first sohools in Ma.ngum,
the school system has grown to an astonishing degree. The
school district continued to grow and oonsolidate with other
school distriots so that by 1939 it comprised forty-four
square miles of territory and had four sebool busses oonneot­ing
adjacent territories and bringing rural stUdents to the
city sohool system.
The physical properties of the school, by 1939, con­sisted
of six buildings valued at $400,000. During the s ame
year a new junior high school building valued at $ 60,000 was
compl.eted.
Forty teachers comprised the faoulty of the Mangum
Publio Schools. 33
31
32
Curtiss, 2R. oit.
School SUperintendent's Report, District No.1, Mangum,
Oklahoma, 1939.
33 iliA.
58
CONCLUSI ON
Ldke !nos t Okl ahoma municipali t ies , the Man gum of today
is a f ar c rY f rom t he dusty t ownsite laid out upon the pr airie
fifty- eight years ago. I t is a modern city in every sense of
the word. A leader in good government , it is a model which
h as been tbe pattern of doz en s of its sist er cities .
Peop l ed by men and women of old American s tock , soundly
cons erva tiv e and thrifty, Mangum today f aithfully r eflects
their phi l osoph y . Buil ding booms , land booms , oil booms , good
times and h a rd t imes, have l eft t heir marks in other part s
of the country, but not in Mangum. No skel eton buildings are
monuments to a period of ov er-enthusiasm; no v a c ant s t reet
exten s ions Inock the mis t aken confidenc e of c ity f a t hers of
other d a ys . No bond i ssue s f or i mp r ov ement s tha t wi l l never
b e n eeded hang heavy over t he t axpayer . Mangum is built to
house fi ve thousand peop le , i t s busin ess is geared to the
n atur a l trade of the surrounding t erri tory--no more , no l ess .
For the earl y development of Mangum much credit mus t be
given to H. C . Sweet f or his c ontinuous effort in a t temp t ing
to bring se ttle r s to t he t ownsite tha t he founded . In addit ion
to h i s work Dr . Border has made valuable c ontributions to t he
town .
I n add~tion to the work done by Mangum ' s civic leaders ,
c hurc hes , SCho o l s , and soc ial organizations h ave p l ayed an
i mportant Part in the dev elopment of the town .
BI B L I 0 G RAP H Y
PRI MARY SOURCES
GOVERNMENT DOCU ENTS :
House Documents :
Executive Document , No . 2841 , 51 Cong., 2
sess ., XII , 1890 .
ReRorts , No . 1905 , 54 Cong ., 1 sess .,
XXVIII, 189 6 .
Federal Court Document:
Supreme Court Report er, XVI , 1896 .
St ate Document :
House J ourna l , Ok l ahoma Territory, 1901 .
MANUSCRIPT MATERI ALS :
Charter , City of Mangum, 1 9 1 4 .
r§ t y Council Minu t e Records , City of Mangum,
0 0 - 1902, Book I.
Ci ty Council Minute Records , Ci ty of Mangum,
1 904- 1906 , Book I II .
i ity Council Minute Records , Ci t y of Man gum,
9 1 2 - 1 9 14, Book VII .
Ci t { Counc il Journa l , City of Mangum, Book VII ,
192 -1926 .
County Superint enden t' s Rep ort , Greer Coun t y ,
1 890 , Texas .
County Superintendent ' s Report , Greer County,
1 900 , Oklahoma .
Curtis s , E. T., Phi lliEs Collec tion , Greer County,
Oklahoma Un iversi t y Li r a ry, 1939 .
Financ i a l Report , City of Mangum, 1940 .
59
anu s cript Materi a l s (c ontinued ) :
Index t o Record of Deeds , Greer County, Texas
1882- 1886, Book I .
Minutes of County Commissioner s , Gr eer County,
Ok l ahoma , 1898- 1900.
Record of Deeds , Greer County, Texas , 1880- 1884,
Book I .
Re c ord of De eds , Greer County, Texas , 1884- 1892,
B00k 11-.-
Record of Elections , Greer County , Oklahoma , 1900 .
sur v eior ' s Field Not es , Greer County , Texas ,
1 890- 888, Book I.
Sc h oo l SUEerint endent l s Report , District No . 1 ,
Mangum, 0 l ahoma , 1939 .
60
Wickersham, Fran k , Phillips Coll ection, Greer County,
Ok l ahoma Unive r si t y Library, 1939 .
REMI NI SCENCES :
Boyd, G. W., Mangum, Oklahoma, Nov ember 12 , 1940 .
Border , Dr . Fowler, Mangum, Oklahoma , June 4 , 1941 .
Bradshaw, w. S . , Mangum, Oklahoma, February 14, 1941 .
Crouc h , John R. Jr ., Altus , Oklahoma , November 2 , 1940 .
DaVis , B. E ., Mangum, Oklahoma , J anuary 10 , 1940 .
Do~l e , J. D., Mangum, Ok l ahoma , Dec ember 23 , 1940 .
Freeman, A. L., Man gum, Oklahoma , June 3 , 1941.
Hamilton, Mr s . C. P., Mangum, Okl ahoma , June 3 , 1941 .
Je ssee , El mer V., Man gum, Ok l ahoma , October 6 , 1940 .
Johns on, Mrs . L . A., Mangum, Ok l ahoma , October 14, 1941.
Lassi t e r , J . P., Mangum, Ok l ahomn, June 4 , 1941 .
Logan, J. W., Mangum, Ok l ahoma , October 24 , 1940 .
Reminiscences (c ontinued) :
Nobles , L . S ., Mangum, Oklahoma , June 4 , 1941 .
Oakes , Mrs . H. E., angum, klahoma , June 3 , 1941 .
Pac e , Mrs . Mark, Mangum, Ok l ahoma , May 24 , 1941 .
Pac e , Mar k , Mangum, Ok l ahoma , May 24 , 1941.
61
Wi l son , rs . A. ., Mangum, Oklahoma , October 16, 1940 .
SECONDARY SOURCES
PAMPHLETS :
Lawr enc e , H. T., Report of Public Utilities and
Muni c i pal Ac t ivities , Pamphl e t , 1939 , (n . p . '), .
Ok l ahoma Munic ipa l Review, Norman , Vol . XIII , No . 6,
1939 .
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS : (used but not c ited )
Byrum, M. J., Pioneers of t h e Empi re of Old Greer
Count y , Phamp h l e t , I93~( n . p . ) .
Gordon , Seth K. and Richa rds , W. B., Oklahoma Red
Book, 2 v Ol s ., Ok l ahoma City, 1 91 2 .
Dal e , E. E., Re adings in Oklahoma History, Row ,
Peterson Company , Evanston, Ill inois , 1930 .
Foreman, Carolyn Thomas , Oklahoma Imprints , University
of Oklahoma Press , Norma n , 1936 .
Stewart , Dora Ann , The Gov ernment and Development
of Ok l ahoma Terri tory, Ok l ahoma Uni vers1 ty
Dissert a t ion , 1930 .
Swishe r , J ohn M., The Title of Greer Oounty,
Austin , Texas , -r870 . --
Thobur n , J oseph B., and Wright , Muriel H.,
A His t ory of the State and Its People ,
I, I I , New YorK; 1929 . --- ---
NEWSPAPERS :
The Altus News , Al t us , Oklahoma , Se pt ember 30 , 1900 .
The Man~ Sta r , Mangum, Oklahoma , February 17, 1889 .
62
Newspapers (continued) :
The Mangum s t ar, Mangum, Oklahoma , February 24, 1889 .
The Mangum Sta r , Mangum, Oklahoma , February 11, 1900.
The Mangum St a r , Mangum, Oklahoma, February 18 , 1900.
The Mangum St ar, Mangum, Oklahoma , February 28, 1900 .
The Mangum Star , Mangum, Ok l ahoma , March 21 , 1900 .
The Mangum St a r , Mangum, Oklahoma , April 4 , 1900 .
The Mangum St a r , Mangum , Oklahoma , April 18 , 1900 .
The Mangum St a r , Mangum, Okl ahoma , Sept ember 3 , 1900 .
The Mangum St ar, Mangum, Oklahoma , Sept ember 19 , 1901.
The Mangum Star, Mangum, Okl ahoma , June 10, 1 901 .
The Mangum ~, Mangum, Ok l ahoma , Augu s t 14, 1904.
The Mangum St a r , Mangum, Ok l ahoma , Dec ember 10, 1904 .
The Mangum Dail~ Sta r , Mangum, Oklahoma , Oc tober 13 ,
1937.
Typist:
Dor ri s Moo re