Quantcast
Channel: The Historical Marker Database - New Entries
Viewing all 103834 articles
Browse latest View live

Colonel C. C. Slaughter

$
0
0
Texas, Hale County, Plainview
First native-born cattle king of Texas. Eldest of several rancher brothers. At age 12 "made a hand" on East Texas ranch of father, Rev. Geo. W. Slaughter. By 17 made his own trades in lumber, wheat, cattle.

In 1856 moved his cattle to Palo Pinto County, on his first West Texas ranch. During the Civil War, he supplied beef to Confederacy. Also served in frontier regiment, to prevent Indian attacks. After the war he led cattlemen in aiding economy of bankrupt Texas by securing cattle markets. A fat steer bought for $6-8 in Texas by middleman was sold for $30-40 at shipping point. In 1867 he sold 300 head at record $35 and led the way to rancher marketing. Kept his love for trailing, even after he became millionaire.

He also pioneered improvement of Texas Longhorns by use of champion Shorthorn and Hereford bulls. In Eastern speeches, he advocated beef on daily diet. To curb rustlers and establish efficient roundups, he helped organize first cattle raisers association.

His 89,000-acre "Running Water" spread in Hale and Lamb counties was part of 1,000,000 acres ranched. He was a banker, active churchman, philanthropist. His descendants have erected a memorial center bearing his name on the campus of Wayland College here.

(Animals) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

General Ranald Slidell MacKenzie

$
0
0
Texas, Hale County, Plainview
Stretching onward toward the sunset, o'er prairie, hill and vale, far beyond the double mountains winds the Old MacKenzie Trail.

Ah, what thoughts and border memories does that dreaming trail suggest; thoughts of travelers gone forever to the twilight realms of rest.

Where are now the scouts and soldiers, and those wagon trains of care, those grim men and haggard women and the echoes whisper - - where?

Ah, what tales of joy and sorrows could that silent trail relate; tales of loss, and wrecked ambitions, tales of hope, of love, and hate:

Tales of hunger, thirst, and anguish tales of skulking Indian braves, tales of fear, and death, and danger, tales of lonely prairie graves.

Where are now that trail's processions, winding westward sure and slow; Lost: ah, yes; destroyed progress, gone to realms of long ago.

Nevermore shall bold MacKenzie, with his brave and dauntless band, guide the restless, roving settlers through the Texas borderland.

Yes, that soldier's work is over, and the dim trail rests at last, but his name and trail still lead us through the borders of the past.

The MacKenzie Trail first crossed by General Ranald Slidell MacKenzie, 4th United States Cavalry, in 1871 in quest of warring bands of Indians.

(Native Americans • Roads & Vehicles • Animals) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Show Barn

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
Although ranching produced just a fraction of the Johnson’s income, it constituted a major portion of the President’s public identity. The Johnsons maintained two herds of cattle on the LBJ Ranch—one of them a commercial herd sold for beef, the other a herd of about 500 registered Herefords, sold for breeding purposes. The registered Herefords on the ranch today are descendants of the animals owned by President Johnson.

The show barn was the center of the ranching operation, where equipment was stored and the ranch’s five or six employees reported to work. Here ranch hands prepared cattle for showing, both to prospective buyers and at shows throughout Texas. Herdsmen trained and fitted the show cattle. Each animal represented a considerable investment; at that time a prize-winning bull was worth between $500 and $1500.

(Lower Left Photo Caption)
Grooming tools, harnesses, and other supplies were kept in a show box, like this replica, for easy transport to local fairs and cattle shows.

(Upper Center Image Caption)
LBJ’s Herefords frequently won awards, such as this champion prize presented at the 1963 Kendall County Fair.

(Right Photo Caption)
Before he purchased the ranch in 1951, most Americans saw Lyndon Johnson as a small-town Southern senator. But with the ranch came the image of a Texas rancher and businessman—an impression more acceptable to the national electorate.

(Agriculture) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Working Corrals

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
This, said Lyndon Johnson, was “where the cattle go out and the money comes in.” In the working pens, ranch hands tended to the herds—branding, castrating, doctoring, and, most importantly, loading cattle out for shipment after a sale. The ramp in front of you is a “loading chute” for loading cattle into trucks.

The majority of the cattle shipped off the ranch were from the Johnson’s beef herd—some of which he would simply purchase, clean up, and resell at a profit. Though LBJ was proudest of his registered Herefords (sold for breeding), much of his ranching revenue came from the sale of unregistered beef cattle.


President Johnson always kept a close eye on his ranch operations. The image of him handling steers or working a bull is appealing, but most of the physical labor on the ranch was done by a handful of ranch hands—many of them long-time employees, such as Dale Malechek, ranch foreman.

(Agriculture) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Bringing Washington Home

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
Imagine a plane roaring onto a newly constructed 3,000 foot grass airstrip. It’s 1953, and Senator Lyndon Johnson has arrived at the LBJ Ranch. Initially built to improve access to the Ranch during floods, the small airstrip soon proves inadequate for Johnson’s rising political aspirations. Within eight years it is lengthened to 6,300 feet to accommodate the increasing number and size of aircraft.

Throughout Johnson’s political career the Ranch was a magnet for politicians, businessmen, and entertainers. Inviting these decision makers and prominent guests to the Ranch fulfilled Lyndon Johnson’s desire to talk Washington politics in a Hill Country setting. The airstrip served as the connection between the two worlds.

The airport stays busy, disgorging cabinet members with important difficult decisions, budget estimates, and crises.
Lady Bird Johnson

(Politics • Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The LBJ Ranch: A Living Legend

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall


It was important that the Ranch continue to thrive as a working ranch, not become a sterile relic of the past.
Lady Bird Johnson, 1998

The LBJ Ranch was suddenly thrust upon the world stage when Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Relatively unknown to the nation before November 1963, the Johnson family’s Hill Country retreat became the second most significant location in the country after the White House.

President Lyndon Johnson introduced the world to Texas as he used the property for cabinet meetings, conferences, and diplomatic functions. Visitors to the ranch left with a new understanding of the president. The LBJ Ranch, like the man, became larger than life—a place of myth and legend.

In December 1972 the Johnsons deeded their home to the National Park Service. The former president encouraged the NPS to use the ranch as a classroom for teaching about U.S. history and agriculture. Today, visitors continue to come from around the world to have their own LBJ Ranch experience.

(Agriculture • Politics) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

LBJ – The Image

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
From his childhood and throughout his political career, Lyndon Johnson drew from his western heritage. The grandson of a Chisholm Trail cattle drover never forgot that “can do” spirit of the cowboy way. The LBJ Ranch was the best place for national and world leaders, celebrities, and respected journalists to encounter the real LBJ—a progressive Westerner in a big hat, with big dreams and big goals, under a big sky.

(Lower Left Photos Caption)
Lyndon Johnson grew up hearing stories of cattle drives from his grandfather, Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr.

(Right Photo Caption)
Lyndon Johnson showing one of his prized Hereford bulls to guests including New York Times journalist James “Scotty” Reston (center), January 1964.

(Agriculture • Politics) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

"Steps of the Sisters"

$
0
0
Maryland, Carroll County, Taneytown

School Sisters of Notre Dame

[Names of Sisters]

Dedication June 3, 2012

(Churches, Etc. • Education • Charity & Public Work) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.


Lamar School

$
0
0
Texas, Hale County, Plainview
The first Plainview schoolhouse was built in 1887, the year the town was founded. Located northwest of this site, it was a half-dugout sod building similar to many of the pioneer homes of the area. Built by local men under the supervision of Judge J. M. Carter and Col. R. P. Smyth, the structure also served as a community center and was used for the organization of at least two local churches.

In 1889 the Plainview Masonic Lodge constructed a two-story frame building west of this site. The second floor was used for lodge meetings and the ground floor was occupied by the school, which became known as The Llano Estacado Institute for Male and Female in 1893. The building served as the schoolhouse until it burned in 1902.

Shortly after the organization of the Plainview Independent School District in 1902, the elementary school was renamed in honor of the noted Texas leader Mirabeau B. Lamar. A two-story schoolhouse at this site was moved in 1910 when the original section of the present building was constructed.

Later used as a vocational training center, Lamar School reflects the pioneer educational, social, and religious growth of the community.

(Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Green Machinery Co., Inc.

$
0
0
Texas, Hale County, Plainview
Founded by George Emmett Green (1875-1960), whose work revolutionized Texas agriculture. Mechanically-gifted, Green mastered water well development, worked as pattern maker and draftsman in pump factories, and operated a plant of his own in his native Missouri before moving here in 1909 with his wife Salome (Rich) and their children. In 1911 he dug Hale County's test irrigation well on the J.H. Slaton farm, reaching a commercial yield of 1400 gallons of water per minute. This won him fame, as irrigation had long been considered the missing ingredient in South Plains agriculture -- the key factor that would enable this fertile area to produce foodstuffs and fibers to supply millions of consumers.

Once deep water was found, Green tackled related problems and invented (1915) the hollow-shaft, right-angle gear drive for irrigation pumps, which made it possible to use automotive-type engines for irrigation power.

With a goal of commercial pumps at moderate prices, Green established this factory in 1911, and reduced irrigation well installation costs to a figure that farmers could afford. His descendants still own and operate the business.

(Agriculture • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Tribute to Montgomery's "Foot Soldiers"

$
0
0
Alabama, Montgomery County, Montgomery

The ten bronze roundels displayed on this wall are a tribute to the "foot soldiers" who toiled for 382 days during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 and 1956. The roundels depict individuals who were involved in, and events that occurred during, this important "Struggle for Justice."

The artwork by Winfred A. Hawkins is funded by the generous support of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama.

(Railroads & Streetcars • Civil Rights • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 13 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Rosa Louise Parks

$
0
0
Alabama, Montgomery County, Montgomery

Mother of the modern day civil rights movement

(Railroads & Streetcars • Civil Rights • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mason-Lovell Ranch

$
0
0
Wyoming, Big Horn County, near Lovell
Side A
One of the largest cattle operations in the Wyoming Territory, the Mason-Lovell Ranch moved its headquarters here in 1883. At its peak the ranch grazed cattle from Thermopolis, Wyoming to the Crow Reservation in Montana.

❶ The South (or Orchard) Cabin made a comfortable residence for married couples employed by the ranch. Surrounded by apple trees, the cozy single-room cabin was made of hewn logs with whitewashed interior walls.
Site of Horse Barn and Corrals These log structures were built facing south to protect the animals from the fierce wind. The roof was made of slabs of hay.
❸ The oldest structure on the ranch, the Blacksmith Shop later became a granary, then a chicken house, and finally a garage.
❹ Ranch hands lived a chilly existence in the stark Bunkhouse sleeping in double bunks above a dirt floor. Henry Clay Lovell shared the same building but enjoyed greater luxury with a brass bed and cushioned rocking chair.
Site of icehouse Ice was cut from the river in the winter, then stored here to be used for refrigeration during the summer months.
❻ The North Cabin was built before the main house and was used mostly for storage.
Site of Lovell House Built between 1895 and 1900, the Lovell House was elegantly furnished and lit by carbide lamps, a fact that may have led to the fire which destroyed it in the 1930s.

Side B
"Do you smoke and do you wear suspenders?"
This was part of your interview when applying for a job with the Mason-Lovell Ranch. If you answered yes to the first and no to the second, Lovell would not hire you. He believed you would send most of your time rolling cigarettes and the rest of it pulling up you pants. Lucky applicants were given a horse and a lot of hard work. The massive roundups lasted weeks, and took up to 10 days to move herds the 90 miles to Billings, Montana. In the 1880s, Anthony L. Mason and Henry Clay Lovell owned one of the largest ranches in the Wyoming Territory. Their ranch supported as many as 25,000 cattle. The harsh winter of 1886-87 decimated the herd as the era of huge cattle roundups on the open range was drawing to an end.

(Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Birth of Montgomery Bus Boycott

$
0
0
Alabama, Montgomery County, Montgomery

Side 1
On Dec. 1, 1955, at Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) in a basement room in Councill Hall, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was planned and publicized after the arrest that day of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus.

Following Parks' arrest, Alabama State College took action. Jo Ann Robinson, a faculty member, authored the text of a flyer calling for blacks to boycott segregated city buses and, joined by others, responded to Parks' arrest by mimeographing thousand of flyers here calling for a one-day boycott of the buses to start the following Monday, Dec. 5. Assisted by members of the Women's Political Council (WPC), they distributed them throughout the city's black community in hopes of ending segregation on city buses.
(Continued on other side)

Side 2
(Continued from other side)

Robinson was perhaps the person most instrumental in planning and publicizing the 1955 Boycott, proposing the idea to the WPC more than a year before it was implemented. She was assisted by WPC members who included Thelma Glass, Irene West, Mary Fair Burks & others; and advised by activist E.D. Nixon & attorney Fred Gray (ASU alumnus '51) who was also eager to challenge the segregated bus law. Because of the spark that was lit here, news of the planned protest received widespread publicity & on Dec. 5, the Boycott was successful with over 90% of the city's black citizens staying off the buses. The city's black leaders extended the Boycott into a long-term campaign that lasted from Dec. 5, 1955 to Dec. 20, 1956, with widespread black support. It was successful when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Browder v. Gayle, which struck down the laws regarding segregated seating on public buses. This was the seminal birth of the modern American Civil Rights Movement.

(Education • Railroads & Streetcars • Civil Rights • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Aviation: Key to the Texas White House

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
In 1951, Senator Lyndon Johnson purchased 240 acres from his Aunt Frank Martin. Beginning with this core property, he set out to establish a home base where he could continue his work away from Washington.

To improve access to the ranch, a 3000 foot grass landing strip was added in 1953. By the time Lyndon Johnson became president a series of improvements had resulted in a 6300 foot asphalt airstrip that was suitable for a variety of aircraft. The fast and efficient JetStar allowed Johnson to take his official duties home with him on a scale not seen before.

President Johnson’s Texas White House had become a reality through the assistance of aviation.

Major, I don’t know if you will appreciate this or not, but I’ve decided you are a can-do man .... I told [Secretary of Defense Robert] McNamara that I wanted you to be my pilot, and the JetStar ... to be reserved for my exclusive use.
Lyndon Johnson speaking to Major James Cross, 1961

(Bottom Center Photo Caption)
President Johnson greets Vice President Hubert Humphrey as he arrives at the LBJ Ranch.

(Bottom Right Photo Caption)
President Johnson and his beagles, Him and Her, en route to the ranch from Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.

(Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Jet Age Arrives!

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
In October 1961 the United States Air Force replaced twin engine, propeller driven aircraft with the four engine Lockheed JetStar for executive transport.

Lyndon Johnson was the first Vice President to have an aircraft assigned to him. His choice was the Lockheed JetStar C-140B (VC).

As President he continued to use the JetStar for travel to and from his ranch. He jokingly referred to the plane as Air Force One Half, although it did bear the call sign Air Force One.

(Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Communicating with the World

$
0
0
Texas, Gillespie County, near Stonewall
The LBJ Ranch had but a single telephone line when Lyndon Johnson purchased the property in 1951. By the time he became vice president in 1960 the array of technology had grown to 15 local and long-distance phone lines as well as a fifty-foot-tall antenna to supply reception for three televisions—one for each network.

Despite these upgrades, Johnson’s rise to the presidency in November 1963 demanded a modern system allowing secure communications throughout the United States and the world. Within four weeks the LBJ Ranch had enough equipment for a small city: microwave towers providing 120 channels to Austin, underground phone cables, 72 telephones, two-way radios, teleprinters, and cryptographic machines. The green buildings in front of you housed a fifty-thousand-kilowatt emergency generator and switchboard.

(Bottom Left Photos Caption)
Lyndon Johnson could spend 18 hours a day on the phone: (clockwise from top right) White House Oval Office; reconstructed birthplace; Texas White House living room.

(Upper Right Photo Caption)
Working the switchboard, 1965.

(Right Photo Caption)
The TV antenna as it stood behind the ranch house in 1965. Lady Bird Johnson remembered it as “the bane of my life—aesthetically.”

(Communications) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Original Dayton-Kane Highway

$
0
0
Wyoming, Big Horn County, near Lovell
For many years, the northern most road over Wyoming's Big Horn mountains was commonly referred to as the Dayton-Kane Road. It connected those two towns on opposite sides of the mountain, the latter now just a memory beneath the waters of Big Horn Lake.
First access up the east side of the Big Horns were trails used to haul mining equipment from the railhead at Gillette to the Fortunatus gold mine, near Bald Mountain in the 1890s. The route was eventually abandoned because of its steep grades and sharp curves.
In 1912, construction began along an improved route on the Dayton side. About that same time, settlers in the Big Horn Basin carved out the beginnings of the first road on the west side to get salt to summer pastures, hence the road was known as the "Salt" road. The original was described as a wagon track of "extreme steepness and sharp turns."
In 1922, preliminary plans were made to build 148 miles of road from Sheridan to Greybull vial Bald Mountain, then to Lovell and Greybull.
Construction began on the east side and progressed westerly from Dayton, and 4.6 miles was completed in November 1924. A series of construction projects ensued until the road was mostly completed in the mid-1930s with a width from 10 to 24 feet, depending on topography.
Much of the road was privately financed. Funding and labor came variously from the timber industry, popular subscription and finally the Bureau of Public Roads and the Wyoming Highway Department. It was taken onto the state highway system in 1931 and eventually was asphalt paved by about 1939. For the next 25 years, only maintenance and occasional widening were accomplished on the road until reconstruction began in earnest in 1964.

(Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Reconstruction - Finally!

$
0
0
Wyoming, Big Horn County, near Lovell
Reconstruction of 52 miles of US 14A between Big Horn Lake and Burgess Junction, began with a bridge and causeway at the lake in the mid-60s. The mountain project was described as "one of the most difficult" in the Department's history.
Then, construction costs were more than $2.4 million, which was very expensive compared with $33,000 spent in the 1920s and '30s, but by today's standards was a real bargain. There were 11 prime contractors and 18 contracts involved in the process.
Construction on the east end began in 1967 and the entire road was completed in 1983. The process involved serval unique road-building techniques. Surveyors and engineers became rock climbers, rock-bolting techniques stabilized vertical walls and reinforced earth walls made the road stable on steep side slopes.
Each of five reinforced walls is a mass of earth fill, in which metal strips anchor the outer retaining wall. The retaining wall is made of interlocking metal panels in horizontal layers. They were but one of many innovations utilized in construction of this road.
Construction crews rock-bolted vertical faces to stabilize them, and where rock was too fractured for bolting to be effective, surfaces were secured with metal netting bolted to the rock.
When completed, the road was hailed as an engineering and construction masterpiece for its placement in steep alpine terrain. Literally hundreds of people are responsible for its design, engineering, construction and support programs. Most notable supporters were Governors Cliff Hansen, Stan Hathaway, Ed Herscher and many workers employed during their terms. In addition local personalities, supporters, contractors and suppliers played a vital role in completion of the highway.
Throughout the entire construction process, funding was and continues to be, a significant factor. In varying quantities, funds to build this 52 miles of road were provided from federal, state and local sources.

(Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

$
0
0
Alabama, Montgomery County, Montgomery

Side 1
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Louis McCauley Parks was arrested on this site for refusing the order of city bus driver J. F. Blake to vacate her seat under the segregation laws of the Jim Crow era. She was taken to police headquarters at City Hall for booking, then to the municipal jail on Ripley Street. Civil rights leader E. D. Nixon, accompanied by attorney Clifford Durr, soon arrived to post her bail. Parks's arrest galvanized black leaders to organize a boycott of the bus system for Dec. 5, the date she was to appear in Municipal Court. Her conviction and the success of the one-day bus protest inspired the creation of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to continue what came to be known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
(Continued on other side)

Side 2
(Continued from other side)
The 382-day boycott was the first sustained mass demonstration against segregation in the U.S. and launched the 20th-century civil rights movement. It also thrust Martin Luther King Jr., the elected leader of the MIA, into national prominence. The boycott ended after a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Parks's attorney, Fred D. Gray, ultimately led the federal courts to declare segregated bus seating unconstitutional. Mrs. Parks went on to become a national heroine, but in the aftermath of the boycott she and her husband were denied employment in Montgomery. They moved to Detroit, where she lived out her life. She died October 24, 2005, universally honored for her courage and activism.

(Railroads & Streetcars • Civil Rights • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Viewing all 103834 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images