Texas, Randall County, Canyon
![]()
Organized Dec. 21, 1890, with seven charter members: Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Conner, a Mr. and Mrs. Ingram, Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Pirtle, Mrs. F.M. Pope. First pastor was The Rev. Whatley. Congregation built Canyon's first church edifice, 1899. Present structure, begun in 1929, was finished after national Depression of the 1930s.
First Baptist Church organized and built Latin-American mission; initiated Bible Chair at West Texas State University; erected activity building, High Plains Assembly Grounds. Many W.T.S.U. faculty members have been active leaders in this church.
(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Organized Dec. 21, 1890, with seven charter members: Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Conner, a Mr. and Mrs. Ingram, Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Pirtle, Mrs. F.M. Pope. First pastor was The Rev. Whatley. Congregation built Canyon's first church edifice, 1899. Present structure, begun in 1929, was finished after national Depression of the 1930s.First Baptist Church organized and built Latin-American mission; initiated Bible Chair at West Texas State University; erected activity building, High Plains Assembly Grounds. Many W.T.S.U. faculty members have been active leaders in this church.
(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Formed from Young and Bexar
Major Pierson B. Reading discovered gold on this bar behind this monument in July, 1848. After crossing the Trinity Divide from the North Fork of Cottonwood Creek. His party of three whites, close friend Delaware Indian scout Tom Hill, and sixty three Valley Wintu Indians is said to have taken out $80,000 in six weeks before abandoning the claim to a band of Oregonians who objected to his use of Indian labor.
To those who offered their lives
In 1900, two years after the Santa Fe Railway extended its tracks from Amarillo to Canyon City, rancher and banker L.T. Lester established the Stockman's National bank; it became First National Bank of Canyon City in 1904. Lester commissioned St. Louis architect R.G. Kirsch, designer of the Randall County courthouse, to design this showplace bank building. It was completed in 1909 and provided space for the bank as well as other commercial enterprises. The bank moved out in 1951, and over the years other businesses occupied the space. The Neoclassical structure remains a commercial landmark. It features Doric columns and pilasters, a dentil course, and stone coping and window surrounds.
J. Frank Smith constructed this commercial building in 1906, the year Canyon was incorporated as a town. Elected to the first city board of alderman, Smith operated a land company on the second floor. The ground floor was initially occupied by the Canyon Mercantile and Hardware Store. S.B. McClure opened the Palace Hotel at this location in 1912. A cafe, first operated by P.D. Casey, later shared the first floor. Despite several changes in ownership, the Palace Hotel remained in operation until 1960.
First city newspaper, the “Echo,” was printed 1889. The “Stayer” (1896), later renamed “Randall County News,” was predecessor of the “News.”
Constructed in 1926 for Canyon's growing Presbyterian congregation, this church building is a fine example of classical revival architecture. After serving the Presbyterians for 48 years, it was purchased by the First United Pentecostal Church in 1974. Prominent features of the sanctuary include a two-story portico with giant order Ionic columns, three entry doors capped with pedimented architraves, and arched elongated stained glass windows.
Travis Shaw (1875-1946) was a local banker and civic leader who later served as secretary and business manager of West Texas State Normal College. He commissioned the Dallas firm of Lang and Witchell to design a one-story Craftsman style brick residence, and Canyon contractors Gillcoat & Skinner built it in 1908-09. C.O. Keiser (1868-1928), land developer, newspaper owner, banker and entrepreneur, bought the house in 1911 and enlarged it, adding a second story with additional Craftsman details by master carpenter Norris Root of the local firm of Root and Wragge. The house features gallery porches, a pyramidal roof, low-pitched cross gables and exposed rafter tails.
Charles Richard Burrow moved to Canyon city in 1899 to work for Eagle Hardware, and by 1919 he was able to buy the business and rename it Burrow Lumber Company. Burrow remained an active business and civic leader until his death in 1959. He served as mayor of Canyon, city commissioner and president of the Lumbermen's Association of Texas. His philanthropic endeavors allowed many students at West Texas Normal College (later West Texas A&M University) to complete their education. Burrow married Bula Wright in 1903, and in 1911 architect O.G. Roquemore designed for them this two-story cross gabled craftsman style bungalow featuring dormer windows, brackets, exposed rafter ends and brick porch columns.
During the 1700s and early 1800s, Comanche Indian buffalo hunters used trails that passed near here. In 1907 the Santa Fe Railroad established Clovis to serve as the eastern terminal of the Belen Cutoff, which would connect with the transcontinental line at Belen. Formerly the domain of ranchers, the railroad opened the area to farmers.
In the bend of Rich Gulch near its junction with Ash Hollow five miners worked the winter of 1849-50, with the use of a log hollowed out to make a rocker. The rich pocket yielded five pounds of gold per day. The gulches in this district proved to great account. News of the strikes led to the rush in 1850 that brought a thousand goldminers to the Trinity River country. Miners founded the town of Weaverville by July, 1850
Blackwater Draw consists of several important archaeological sites that have yielded much information about the big-game hunting way of life. Some of the animals that were hunted, like the mammoth, are long extinct. Eastern New Mexico University's Blackwater Draw Museum contains artifacts of the Paleo-Indian cultures that existed here as early as 10,000 B.C.
