The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982 Page: 122
497 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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122 Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the emergence of Archer ("Archie") Parr as the Democratic boss of
Duval County after 1907 did the character of partisan strife change.
Democratic dominance replaced the longstanding stalemate, and con-
flicts over race and government policies came to the forefront.
Archie Parr was born on December 25, 186o, on Matagorda Island,
along the Texas Gulf coast. Because of the death of his father shortly
after his birth, Parr had to drop out of school and become a wage-
earner when he was only eleven years old to help support his mother
and sister. He worked as a ranch hand for the Coleman-Fulton Pasture
Company in San Patricio County and drove cattle along the Chisum
Trail to Kansas. By the time he arrived in Duval County in 1882, he
had seven years of experience as a cowboy. After a brief stint as fore-
man of a Duval ranch, Parr purchased his own tract of land and settled
in Benavides. In 1891, he married Elizabeth Allen, and they eventually
had six children, including George, the heir to the political empire
that Archie Parr would forge after 19oo.,
Despite his generally even temperament and friendly manner, occa-
sional outbursts of rage and arrogance became a Parr trademark.
These displays of temper startled friends and enemies alike and re-
vealed the intensity of a man who resorted to any means to gain and
hold political power. The types of abuses that Archie Parr engaged
in were no different from the practices of the other South Texas
power brokers, but the Duval Democrat exhibited no sense of re-
straint, whether he was rigging an election, gerrymandering a new
county, or stealing money from the county treasury. During the second
decade of the twentieth century, progressives across the state came to
regard Parr as the symbol of the worst qualities in Texas politics:
corruption, violence, and intransigent opposition to reform.
Archie Parr's notorious political career had its beginning in Bena-
vides. Located fifteen miles southwest of San Diego, along the railroad
connecting Corpus Christi and Laredo, the town emerged as the sec-
ond leading trading center for the ranchers and farmers of the county.
Unlike San Diego, its population consisted almost entirely of Mexican-
Americans. Parr adapted to this Hispanic community by learning
Austin American. [n.d.], 1917, Archer Parr Biographical File (Barker Texas History
Center, University of Texas Library, Austin); Webb, Carrol, and Branda (eds.), The Hand-
book of Texas, II, 341, III, 704; Lynch, The Duke of Duval, 11, 12. There are minor dis-
crepancies among the background materials on Archie Parr that cannot be conclusively
resolved. For example, one source claims that Archie Parr arrived in Duval County when
he was twenty-two years old. Accordingly, the year would be 1882. Another source sets the
arrival date in 1885.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982, periodical, 1981/1982; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101208/m1/156/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.