Carol C Taylor Blog

Built in 1910, the Greenville Post Office was constructed at a site on Lee Street, that was chosen for its proximity to the railroad depot.

Remember when you went to the post office, not only to collect your mail, but also to visit with friends and learn what was going on in town. Post offices have always fascinated me. Some such as the one in Farmersville have impressive murals done during the Depression by WPA artists. Many were grand buildings known as Federal Buildings, if the military recruiters or IRS had offices there. Others were still a little corner of the local store.

The post office and the role of the Post Master General have been important fixtures in U. S. history since Benjamin Franklin was appointed Post Master in 1775. Andrew Jackson was the first president to add the position to his cabinet. With the creation of the US Postal Service (USPS) in 1971, the Postmaster General became CEO of USPS, and officially left the presidential cabinet.

The Post Master General was usually the only cabinet member the average person could name in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Here in North Texas mail was expensive and difficult to receive. Before the Civil War, mail carriers on horseback left Clarksville, the largest town around, on Monday. He dropped off any mail for Hunt County residents at a local store in Greenville before making his way to Dallas. There he picked up a new (actually at least one month old) batch of mail and returned to Clarksville. Along the way, he again stopped in Greenville.

But post offices and banks were often targets of outlaws or even white-collar crime. They were repositories of money orders, a form of monetary transfer used for many years before credit or debit cards were even imagined. With no ID required, a person could steal money orders, go ten miles down the road, cash them and seldom get caught.

Such was the case of a post master/store keeper in Paynetown in the late 1880s. When his allotment of money orders arrived from Washington, he set a few aside for himself. After a while, the postal officials were suspicious, traced records as only Feds can do, and sent the gentleman up to Leavenworth for an extended stay in the federal penitentiary.

When the classical Beaux Arts Post Office was built on Oswin King’s lot on Lee Street, the site was chosen for its proximity to the railroad depot. Every time a delivery of money orders arrived, an armed guard escorted the goods and the post office employee back to the safe at the post office. As far as I know, there were no armed robberies or misappropriation of federal funds dealing with money orders in Greenville.

My paternal grandfather was a rural mail carrier from 1920 until retirement in 1953. I was visiting my grandparents about 1981 and wishing I knew more about my maternal grandmother. My granddad suggested we drive up to Dundee, a tiny village in Wichita County. He assured me that the postmaster or postmistress knew every thing that went on in town. I was skeptical, to say the least. But the postmistress in Dundee grew up with my grandmother, remembered her well, and knew all the family. She graciously shared my family history with my granddad and me for two hours. Then she called a friend to meet us at the cemetery to show me where my great-grandmother was buried. How could I not love post office employees?

Uptown Forum/Perkins Building as it looks today.

Close your eyes and pretend to enter an early Greenville store. There are few if any women around. Outside men sit on benches, gossip, whittle scraps of wood, and ever so often take a snort of whisky as they spit tobacco juice on the wooden sidewalk. Ladies seldom entered these stores that sold liquor alongside groceries and other necessities. Instead, husbands, sons, and maids did the shopping, all on credit.

In 1891 William M. McBride (? -1926) opened what was known as a cash store on Lee Street across from the courthouse (where Landon’s is today.) Seven years later Sam Blackburn Perkins (1872-1948) opened a similar store in Kaufman. Both men individually conceived the idea of selling dry goods for cash at prices that were lower than credit sale but high enough to assure large volume sales.

Four years later S. B. Perkins opened a second cash store here in Greenville in the old Van Ronkel Store on the northeast corner of Lee Street and St. John Street. Sam Perkins was an entrepreneur extraordinaire. A common dry goods store was definitely not in his plans.

By 1919 Perkins Cash Store became known as Perkins Bros. Sam’s younger brother Joe was a partner for a while. At that time the store moved to a new building just east of the older one; one owned by S. B. Brooks and Dave Ablowich. The new building encompassed three previous stores in an L-shaped structure that fronted on both Lee and St. John Streets.
Early on Sunday morning, June 15, 1924 fire broke out in the rear of Perkins Bros. It quickly spread throughout the block. Nothing in Perkins was saved. But, S. B. was not discouraged. He bought the shell and rebuilt a splendid department store with a hotel and print shop adjacent on St. John Street. The interior of the store was routinely remodeled to maintain an up-to-date atmosphere of sophistication. As clientele grew, Perkins Bros. became known for quality merchandise and exclusive lines of clothing, cosmetics, luggage, toys, and home décor. It was the first retail store in town to have air-conditioning and an elevator.

Sam Perkins died in December 1948. Perkins Bros. continued to operate as part of the estate until the 1950s when the youngest child Harry bought and managed all East Texas Perkins Bros. Department stores. Harry was born in Greenville and always had a soft spot in his heart for this store.
However, with the arrival of interstate highways and convenient shopping malls in Dallas, much of the sales at the Greenville store dropped. With a sad heart, Harry sold the store to Herbert and Dortha McGaughey in 1978.

Mr. and Mrs. McGaughey were fascinated with the concept of multiple shops, known as “boutiques” operating in a common location. Joe Rutherford helped the couple make their dream come true with the opening of Uptown Forum. It was a huge success. After almost twenty years, the McGaugheys sold Uptown Forum to Janeen Cunningham who owned Calico Cat with Dortha for years. Janeen has done a remarkable job with the store, the concept of individually owned stores in one location. The façade has not changed since it was rebuilt after the fire in 1925. But the vibrant interior remains the same.

Last year, Greenville native Gail Sprinkle returned home, and bought the building from Janeen. Next Thursday, September 29, Gail and the Chamber of Commerce will hold a Ribbon Cutting. But just think, how many ribbon cuttings will celebrate such a long history of continued retail business in one location with only four owners? Quite a feat!

Etta Booth Mayo was a distinguished musician, supporter of arts, and dared to challenge political and social ideas of the early 20th century.
Photo from findagrave.com

I have laughed all week as I prepared this article; however, I don’t know that it was funny to readers a century ago. More than likely, numerous eyebrows were raised. But I hope you enjoy.

Just before the start of the 1916 school year in Commerce, Mrs. “Etta” Booth-Mayo chaperoned nine Boys Scouts and two of her children on a hike that ended up in Dallas. What began as a walk to Greenville to visit the Hunt County Fair, became so much fun Mrs. Mayo and her group decided to just hike over to Dallas. Remember, this was before any Interstate highway. The route they took went through Josephine, Lavon and Wiley and across numerous streams and creeks before arriving in downtown Dallas.

Each person came equipped with blankets and cooking utensils. They cooked and slept outdoors “wherever meal time or night overtook them.” No clue to where they found food was noted. But the nine boy scouts proudly wore their Scout uniforms, as did Mrs. Mayo’s two daughters, ages 11 and 14. The girls donned trousers and shirts, just like the boys. And was there ever such uproar when they arrived.

After attending the Fair here in Greenville, the group took a close to nature walk. From all reports the trek was most fun until they encountered a probation officer who objected to fourteen-year-old Aileen Mayo appearing in a Boy Scout uniform. At the time there was a state law against girls being on public streets wearing male attire.

According to the article in the Commerce Journal, the “provincial” officer and his female assistant did not seem to know there was a difference between a woman masquerading as a man in men’s clothing, and a woman appearing in a regulation uniform under the supervision of a responsible party of authority. Miss Aileen was indignant that young women in Dallas did not wear trousers. After all, she had recently returned from Girls Honor Guard in Washington, D. C. where such attire was normal.

Mrs. Etta Booth-Mayo happened to be the wife of Professor W. Leonidas Mayo, president of Mayo College in Commerce. Mrs. Mayo was a feminist who believed in woman’s suffrage and advanced ideas in dress. She stated, “that men and women should be on an absolutely equal basis. Intellect, capacity for work and play and the right to do as one pleases is a thing absolutely without sex. It used to be that man’s ideal of a woman was a languishing coquette with an 18-inch waist. They have been brought to admit the fact of waists and it won’t be long until they have to confess that women have legs and shoulders.”

How Professor Mayo reacted was not mentioned.

Members of any Shawnee Indian tribe were very hard working. Both genders shared responsibilities equally.
Photo from smore.com

The earliest known occupants of Hunt County were followers of Chief Black Cat who settled in a thicket about nine miles northeast of Greenville. The Indians were identified as Shawnees, although they were more likely what historian Carl Anderson dubbed as “immigrant tribes.”

With the arrival in North America of Eurocentric explorers, European diseases to which the aboriginals had no natural defenses soon decimated Native American populations. Small pox, measles, and similar illnesses reduced the size of tribes to a larger extent than any rifle or sword. As the size of each group diminished, they joined similar linguistic groups and pressed westward in search of a place to call home.

Hunt County was prize land for the immigrant tribes with its fertile soil, available water from clear streams and springs, and adequate timber for fuel. No one knows when these tribes arrived but Black Cat attended a council of tribal leaders and whites at Fort Bird in Tarrant County in 1843. The meeting called by President Sam Houston met beside the Trinity River and produced a treaty ratified by the Republic of Texas Senate. The following year another council treaty signed by twelve tribes, including representatives from Southern Comanche and Lipan Apache took place at Torrey Brothers Trading Post at the Falls of the Brazos. On both occasions Black Cat was the sole Shawnee to attach his mark to the treaties. Along the way Black Cat and Sam Houston developed a strong friendship based on respect.

Black Cat spoke of peace with whites at the first council. “The red man cannot whip the white; we tried it when our race was large, and could not do it. We had better live in peace. We are too small, my red brothers; and it is for that, and the love I bear for your women and children I advise you to make peace. The whites are a great people, covering the earth I know not how far: therefore again I tell you to make peace. The white path now is everywhere.”

Shawnee tribesmen made homes from materials available near the villages.
Photo by Stepheng3 (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons

Black Cat returned to Hunt County where his people farmed, hunted on the tall grass prairies full of wild game, and even traded with other Native Americans and whites. However, not long after statehood in 1846, Black Cat took his people to Indian Territory for peace and protection.

The tribe was never larger than 150 families. They could not gain clear titles to the land. They were not involved in the Cherokee War led by Chief Bowls. A thicket that early settlers named in honor of the chief surrounded their village. After the tribe moved to the Territory, Black Cat Thicket became a hideout for outlaws. During the Civil War deserters from both sides hid out to avoid conscription. Later such Reconstruction outlaws as Bob Lee, Ben Bickerstaff, Lige Guest and others used it to evade Union occupiers.

Shawnee men hunted and farmed wherever they found peaceful surroundings.
Photo from gettyimages.com

After Reconstruction, farmers cleared the brush from all the thickets. From the late 1870s until World War II bountiful cotton crops grew in that area. Drive Highway 34 from Wolfe City to Greenville today and see how the land became a thicket once more. With no farming or grazing the land is returning to its early stages. Even the land doesn’t remain the same.

Newspaper Clipping covering the burial of the unknown boy. Submitted by Never Forgotten on Facebook page I Was Raised in Greenville, Texas.

Tragedy struck in Greenville late in July 1935. At the height of the Great Depression, it was common for young people to leave home to find work. Often there were too many children for the parents to feed. Older ones left home with no skills, no money, and frequently no identification.

Such was the case on a Cotton Belt freight train that pulled out of the Greenville yards one hot Saturday morning. A young man was on top of the car, helping a young woman to the top when the train passed under a Katy overpass. A passerby reported the lad was on his feet with his back to the bridge when he was knocked off. Cotton Belt employees were unaware of the accident until police met the young woman in Fort Worth. They hoped she knew him, but not so. She met him in Greenville, thought his name was Walker, and that he was from Arkansas.

The witness notified Greenville police who called for Neer-Lybrand Funeral Home ambulance to transport the unconscious boy to the hospital ward at the county jail in the courthouse. Doctors said the young man suffered from a severe brain concussion and loss of blood coming from his ears. The wound was located at the base of his skull. Although he never regained consciousness, he screamed and tore at his clothes almost constantly.

Authorities described him as a young, white male with short, dark hair, fair skin tanned by the sun and roughly dressed. He was reported to be five foot, ten inches, with blue eyes. He had scars on his left arm, right leg, and marks on his back. Radio stations in the Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana areas ran notices in hopes that someone would recognize the description. There was no identification on him, no one recognized him or reported him missing.

By Monday he was transferred to a private convalescent home and cared for by the Hunt County Chapter of the American Red Cross. After his death on July 31, the body was embalmed and remained at the funeral home for several days. Photographs of the young man were circulated in newspapers in the four-state area.

No one stepped forward to claim the body.

Tombstone for the Unknown Boy donated by Leer-Lybrand Funeral Home in Greenville, Texas. Photo by Marc & Donna on Facebook page I Was Raised in Greenville, Texas.

The body was laid to rest in East Mount Cemetery. The county bore the funeral expenses. Some local young men volunteered as pallbearers. His grave is just a few yards north of old west gate to East Mount. Neer-Lybrand donated a headstone and a curb around the grave. Today there is a large cedar tree covering the grave and headstone. Both are in need of tender, loving care.

This is one of the most graphic events I have come across in my research of the 1930s. Most, such as this, are incredibly sad, as are any from desperate times in our past.

Brigadier General Thomas N. Waul modeled his Confederate uniform shortly before his retirement from law practice in Galveston in 1893. He and his family moved to Cherry Hill, east of Greenville where he began a new career in his successful orchards at age ninety.

Cherry Hill was the last home of Brigadier General Thomas Neville Waul and his wife Mary America Simmons. The farm was located seven miles east of Greenville, producing a wide variety of delicious fruits in a region not known as an orchard.

General Waul was born in January 1813 in Sumter District of South Carolina and studied law in Vicksburg. In 1837 he married Mary America Simmons in Mississippi. He continued to practice law there until 1850 when the couple moved to Gonzales County, Texas. Since Gonzales County was near the Texas frontier at that time, Waul saw the need for frontier defense.

Sometime within the next decade Thomas and Mary America Waul moved to Galveston where he became a noted and respected maritime attorney. They became members of the most prominent groups of Galveston society. When the Civil War began, Waul became supportive of defense along the Texas frontier, but was not able to convince other Confederates of the need.

In the spring of 1862 Thomas N. Waul organized and funded a Legion, a military unit composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery components. Known as Waul’s Legion, the 2,000 member unit trained at Brenham before moving east to cross the Mississippi River. Waul was determined to defend his beloved Vicksburg. The task of commanding such a military group was very difficult. Waul and all of his men, except for one cavalry company out on patrol, surrendered on July 4, 1863.

Later that summer, Waul and his men were pardoned. They reorganized that fall in Houston where they served under General E. Kirby Smith in the Red River Campaign. Waul led his men in battle at Mansfield, Louisiana and Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas.

Thomas N. Waul again surrendered in May 1865. He applied for amnesty that he received on December 6, 1865. At that time he signed the Oath of Allegiance to the United States in front of A. J. Hamilton, Provisional Governor of Texas.

Waul returned to his law practice then. He continued to practice in Galveston until retirement in 1893 at the age of eighty. At that time, he, his wife, her brother and two more relatives arrived in Greenville to try farming; not just any kind, but growing fruits. Hence, the name Cherry Hill. General Waul built a lovely home with wide porches looking out over his fruit trees. He had a small office built in the yard where he greeted neighbors, old friends, and new acquaintances.

Brigadier General Thomas N. Waul, C. S. A., died on the 28th of July 1903.
His funeral was held in the District Court room of the Hunt County Courthouse, the largest meeting place in the county. The body was taken down Lee Street to the Katy Depot for the last trip to Fort Worth. Waul and his wife, who died a year later, are buried at Oakwood Cemetery there.

In 1936 the State of Texas decided to honor Confederate Generals from Texas with large granite stone and bronze markers. The one for General Waul is now located at the site of Cherry Hill.