History of Taylor, Texas1876-Present

Railroad I & GN DepotInternational & Great Northern

June 26, 1876International & Great Northern Railway Taylor Station- named for a railroad officialLater called Taylorsville and finally Taylor

City Hall & Fire Station1800-1905

City Hall in early 1900’s

City Hall until 1980’s

Taylor Station on one of the major cattle trails

Colonization of farmers and businessmen

Rich pastureland began to produce an abundance of cotton.

First cotton gin was built in 1877

Main St (between the years of 1880- 1883)

A “bloody” place with shoot-outs and lawlessness

As more and more people arrived, churches and private schools were established and businesses flourished. A fire in February, 1879, destroyed most of the frame buildings and they were replaced with brick structures.

Foot of Main St. in the 1880’s

In 1889, Dr. A.V. Doak Streetcar system from the I&GN depot on

Main Street to Seventh Street West to the pavilion on Sloan Street and

south to Second Street, then east back to the depot.

The dirt streets were often too muddy for any other method of transportation. Two Spanish mules drew each car and two boards were placed between the tracks for the mules to walk on.

1882-1883 Utilities & Water Supply

1890 Doak Pavilion

Main St. in 1895(Looking North from 2nd St.)

1900 Saloons & Taverns

1905-1935 City Hall

1905 Social Life & Customs (at Struve’s)

Bird’s Eye View of Main St. 1910

2nd and Main St. (year unknown)

West 2nd St.

COTTON- mainstay of Taylor’s economy since the early 1800’s. Rich soil and the skilled farmersWilliamson county- a leading cotton producer. At one time, the world’s largest inland producer of cotton

1910-1919 Taylor school in the Distance (approximately 1913)

1914 Murphy Hotel

1916 Taylor Fire Dept.(Asst. Chief B J Korman , right)

1917 Sports and Recreation

1919 Ed Konarik’s Blacksmith Shop

Ford Cars & Fordson TractorsTalbot St. in 1920

Taylor Fair Parade

1926 4th of July(Parks)

1926 50th Anniversary Parade

1926 50th Anniversary Parade

4th of July Celebration in 1926

Main St. in 1925(Looking North from 2nd St.)

1935-1983 City Hall

Food – Production & Sales

Daliet Drug Store

Grocery Store

Metropolitan Cafe

Post Office

Banks-Taylor National Bank

Floeckinger’s Sanitarium

The Daily Democrat& Weekly Texan (post card)

Main St. in 1956(200 Blk)

Taylor High School until 1969

Carlow Motel on Hwy 79 Carlow Motel on Hwy 79

Downtown Main St.

Homes in Taylor

STATELY MANSIONS Large old homes with two and three

stories reflect a time of affluence in a young Taylor.

Residential Section(T.W. Marse home, later…Goldstein Home)

Residence on Lexington St.(G.C. King Residence)

Residence on Lake Dr.Booth-Clark House (built circa. 1879)

Davis St. in 1921(721 Davis-Residence)

Residence of J.C. Elliott(310 Elliott St.)

Residence on Fowzer St.(McConnell – Maxwell House – 1909)

Thompson Residence(W. 6th and Davis St.)

The Moody Museum Boyhood home of Texas’s youngest

governor, Dan Moody. In 1926, at the age of 33, he became

the youngest governor to hold this office in the history of Texas

Famous for trying Ku Klux Klansmen in Williamson County

Famous Taylor Citizens (1888-1923) Elmer “Pet” Brown won the world’s middleweight crown in

wrestling in 1914.

(1893-1966) Dan Moody, an attorney and son of Taylor’s first mayor, was the first prosecuting attorney in the US to win a legal battle against the Ku Klux Klan. At age 33, he became the youngest governor of Texas.

(1870-1932) Bill Pickett was a black cowboy who initiated the practice of “bulldogging” or steer wrestling and in 1971 was posthumously inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. He controlled the steer by sinking his teeth into the animal’s upper lip as he twisted the neck and brought him down. Pickett died in 1932 after traveling all over the world performing his unusual stunt. There is a bronze statute of Bill Pickett at the Fort Worth Rodeo Grounds.

 

Dr. Dickey

Taylor’s Outstanding Citizen in 1952 Taylor’s first black doctor

Pet Brown World Champion Wrestler