White hunters cleared the land of buffalo and wild horses in the 1870s, while Colonel Ranald S. MacKenzie'sqv Fourth United States Cavalry subdued the Comanches in 1874 and 1875. MacKenzie's base of operations against the Indians was located at Anderson's Fort, also called Soldiers Mound, an army supply camp located near the site of present-day Spur.
Until the first years of the twentieth century, settlers shunned the area because of its remoteness and slight rainfall. Instead of farms, huge cattle ranches (the Spur, Pitchfork, and Matador), took up most of the land. The Spur Ranch was started, for example, in 1878, with 1,900 head of cattle that Jim Hull drove from Refugio County. In 1880 only three homes, a schoolhouse, and twenty-eight people were in the county; most of the residents were apparently ranchhands.
The owners of the Spur, however, attempted to encourage settlement; in 1884, for example, S.W. Lomax, manager of the ranch, conducted an agricultural experiment on company lands. Cheap land-sold at two dollars an acre-inspired settlers like A. J. Hagins, who moved by covered wagon to Dickens County in 1889. Hagins joined other settlers such as W. L. (Bud) Browning, J. L. Gates, the Wilmores, and the Crawfords, and established a farm near old Fort Griffin. Hagins housed his wife and six children in a one-room dugout.qv Wood and water were readily available, and the pioneers grew corn. In 1890 the census counted 295 residents in the county.
Dickens was subsequently chosen as the county seat, and by 1893 the town had a courthouse, a hotel, two stores, and a wagon-yard. By 1900, 197 farms and ranches had been established in the county, and the population had increased to 1,151.
The Stamford and Northwestern Railway initiated service in 1909, thus ending the county's isolation and encouraging marketing; that same year, Oran McClure began publishing the Texas Spur in Dickens for county-wide subscribers. By 1910 there were 349 farms and ranches in Dickens County, and the population had increased to 3,092.
**Why Did the Railway System Stop?
| A.J. Hagins Full Name: A. J. Hagins |
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| Biographical Notes and Resourcestop | ||
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| Committee Informationtop | ||
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| 33rd R.S. - 1913 Constitutional Amendments Game and Fisheries Irrigation Military Affairs Public Debt Public Lands and Land Office Stock and Stock Raising |
Wagon Yard
The original structure of the Wagon Yard building was constructed in 1906 and was utilized as a wagon yard where horse-drawn wagons and townspeople would gather for the days' activities around the Granbury square. Through the years the building was used among other things as a feed store, a restaurant and a photography studio.
In the 1950's a wing was added to the original structure, which expanded the size to nearly 9,000 square feet. In 1977, Ray King secured the building to house his antiques and collectibles he had transported from Aplington, Iowa. Since that time, the business has developed from an antique store to a conglomeration of merchandise to meet the needs of businesses and individuals throughout the country.
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