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Original Plat Map of Memphis, Texas
atea
Finely executed map of Memphis, Texas on the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad line, signed by James. H. Parks.
The town is bisected diagonally along Front Street b the Fort Worth and Denver City Rail Road, and includes a Public Square and Jeff. Davis Park, a tribute to the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
James H. Parks (1849-1916) is named as Surveyor for the Donley Land District. Parks appears in the records of the General Land Office. Parks also created a Map of Silverton in Briscoe County, Texas in 1891. Parks seems to have become a US Deputy Surveyor thereafter and moved west, with his name associated with surveys in Nevada by the first decade of the 20th Century.
At the top, several early pencil notes include G???, Bayard Baptist, Henderson, Sholl, Brice and a note showing the city limits.
Memphis, Texas
Memphis is the county seat of Hall County, Texas.
Founded in 1889 by J. C. Montgomery, who was looking to create a town on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. The townsite had was previously owned by W. H. Robertson. Montgomery, Robertson, Reverend J. W. Brice (named on map) and T. J. Woods, Jr., of Dallas, created a townsite company and submitted a plate of the town in January 1890 (likely this map).
Early businesses in Memphis included the P. M. Kelly law office, a rooming house which would become the Memphis Hotel, general store, and a drugstore. The Memphis post office was established on September 12, 1890, with Robertson as postmaster.
In 1891, a railroad depot was built and Memphis became a shipping and trading center for local farms and ranches. Memphis became the County seat and a courthouse was built in 1892, followed shortly by wo saloons, a bank, blacksmith shops, and livery stables.
Rarity
The map is unrecorded and apparently previously unknown. We are unable to locate any other examples.
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