The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 45
582 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Electra, A Texas Oil Town
and town site promoter. Involved in the deal were about fifty
buildings including residences, a blacksmith shop, and business
houses, ranging in value from $300 to $3,000. Waggoner re-
served a large livery stable and the block of land on which it
stood. A limited number of other pieces of property owned by
individuals, under early deeds, were also reserved. Williams
re-platted the town, subdividing it into 2,150 lots. Then fol-
lowed a town-lot sales campaign which reached nation-wide
proportions.
The same year that Waggoner sold the Electra town site to
the Fort Worth man, he sold 91,000 acres of his ranch land
lying between Electra and Red River to Reese S. Allen of
Beaumont. This land was subdivided into tracts of 160 acres
each for sale to farmers. (Deeds, oil leases, and other legal
papers affecting title on permanent records designate this as
the Waggoner Colony Survey.) The sales campaign carried on
under the name of the Electra Land and Colonization Company
led to establishment of northern headquarters in Chicago and
St. Louis and the bringing of excursion trains regularly from
the North and East to accommodate home-seekers, many of
whom not only bought raw land in the Waggoner Colony but
bought town site lots in Electra. The town site opening set for
October 23, 24, and 25, 1907, was nationally advertised. The
proposition, a town lot for $50 with the added incentive of the
improvements on some of the lots, proved so popular that by
opening day the promoters found they had "over sold." The
problem was quickly remedied by extending the proposed busi-
ness district. Residence lots were 50x120 feet, twelve lots to the
block. Business lots were 25x120, four lots to the block. Adding
several blocks to the business district by splitting the fifty-foot
lots into twenty-five-foot lots was a simple matter; and enough
lots were found for all of the cash customers as well as to enable
Williams to donate a block of land for a future park, a lot each
to the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic denomina-
tions for church purposes, and a lot for the schoolhouse.
A large revival tent was rented for use as headquarters for
the town site opening celebration. Services of the Iredell, Texas,
Cornet Band were secured for entertainment. A free fair and
livestock show with a generous list of prizes offered on farm
products, horses, mules, ladies' and gents' saddle horses and
"rigs" including horse, buggy, and fancy harness, attracted hun-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/61/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.