Smith County, Texas
IN AREA OPENED 1839 TO WHITE SETTLERS BY REPUBLIC OF TEXAS VICTORIES OVER CHEROKEE INDIANS WHOSE TRAILS LED THE WAY TO GOOD SPRINGS, FINE FARMLANDS, USEFUL SALINES. THE FIRST LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS NAMED THE TOWN (FOUNDED 1846) FOR PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER, WHO SIGNED THE RESOLUTION ANNEXING TEXAS TO THE UNITED STATES.
ORIGINALLY A FARM MARKET, TYLER IN EARLY YEARS HAD FEW MEN OF WEALTH, BUT BY 1860 WAS KNOWN FOR GOOD SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND CULTURED CITIZENS. SEVERAL MEN HERE RAISED AND COMMANDED TROOPS IN CIVIL WAR. AFTER MID-1863 THIS WAS TRANSPORTATION HEADQUARTERS FOR TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF THE CONFEDERACY. IT HAD AN ORDNANCE FACTORY AND WAS SITE OF CAMP FORD -- THE LARGEST P.O.W. POST WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
IN 1870'S IMPORTANT AS SITE OF RAILROAD SHOPS AND ROUNDHOUSE. DEVELOPED INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTURING, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PACKING, SHIPPING, EXPANDING ECONOMY.
FURNISHED TEXAS WITH STATESMEN, INCLUDING GOVERNOR RICHARD B. HUBBARD (IN OFFICE 1876-1879), O.M. ROBERTS (1879-1883) AND JAMES STEPHEN HOGG (1891-1895).
UPON DISCOVERY OF NEARBY EAST TEXAS OIL FIELD IN 1931, BECAME INVESTMENT, BANKING, SERVICING CENTER.
HOME OF TYLER JUNIOR COLLEGE, ANNUAL ROSE FESTIVAL. (1968)
SCHOOL OFFICIALS ACQUIRED TWO ACRES HERE IN 1907 FROM HORACE CHILTON AND IN 1908 BUILT AN 8-ROOM WHITE STONE SCHOOLHOUSE. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WAS NAMED FOR FRANKLIN N. GARY, AN EARLY SETTLER OF THIS AREA NOTED FOR HIS SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. REPLACED IN 1924 WITH A NEW STRUCTURE, ADDITIONAL FACILITES HAVE BEEN ADDED OVER THE YEARS TO ACCOMMODATE INCREASED ENROLLMENT. MANY IN THE GENERATIONS OF TYLER STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED THIS SCHOOL BECAME LEADERS IN THE COMMUNITY. THE SCHOOL CONTINUES TO SERVE THE PUBLIC. (1995)
A NATIVE OF NORTH CAROLINA, ARCHIBALD MICHAEL MURPHEY (1836-1886) MARRIED ELIZABETH FINDLEY IN RUSK, TEXAS, IN 1853. BY 1868 THEY HAD MOVED TO TYLER. MURPHEY OPENED HIS JEWELRY BUSINESS ON NORTH BROADWAY IN JANUARY OF THAT YEAR. A WATCHMAKER AS EARLY AS 1851, POSSIBLY AS AN APPRENTICE TO HIS FATHER, WHO WAS A NATIVE OF IRELAND.
MURPHEY'S SONS, ARCH (1866-1888), ORVILLE (b. 1868), AND PINKNEY H. (1870-1925), SUCCEEDED THEIR FATHER AS JEWELERS AND CONTINUED TO OPERATE HIS BUSINESS. A YOUNGER SON, GEORGE REAVES MURPHY (1874-1939), HAD TAKEN OVER THE JEWELRY STORE BY THE EARLY YEARS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. HE MOVED THE BUSINESS TO THIS SITE IN 1919.
MURPHY THE JEWELER HAS OPERATED AS A FAMILY BUSINESS THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY. THE STORE HAS ALWAYS OFFERED SELECTIONS OF AMERICAN AND SWISS WATCHES, CLOCKS, AND DIAMONDS. ADVERTISEMENTS FROM THE EARLY YEARS ALSO BOASTED SELECTIONS OF STERLING SILVER FLATWARE, AS WELL AS A FULL LINE OF PIANOS AND ORGANS.
AS ONE OF THE OLDEST RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS IN EAST TEXAS, MURPHEY THE JEWELER HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN TYLER'S COMMERCIAL HISTORY. (1985)
TO PROVIDE FOR SHIPMENT OF LOCALLY-GROWN FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND COTTON TO DISTANT MARKERS, A GROUP OF TYLER CITIZENS PROPOSED A RAILROAD TO CONNECT THE TOWN WITH MAJOR RAIL LINES NEARBY. THE PROMOTERS INCLUDED R.B. HUBBARD, LATER GOVERNOR OF TEXAS, JAMES P. DOUGLAS, ONETIME STATE SENATOR, W. S. HERNDON, A.M. FERGUSON, AND J. H. BROWN. IN 1871 THE STATE LEGISLATURE ACCEPTED THEIR PROPOSAL AND CHARTERED THE TYLER TAP RAILROAD TO JOIN WITH THE TEXAS AND PACIFIC RAILROAD OR THE INTERNATIONAL AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD WITHIN 40 MILES OF TYLER. LOCAL ORGANIZERS DECIDED TO LINK WITH THE TEXAS AND PACIFIC AT BIG SANDY. ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION WAS DELAYED UNTIL 1875, WITH THE FIRST TRAIN RUNNING OCT. 1, 1877. FUNDS FOR THE TAP LINE WERE TO BE SECURED BY SALE OF STOCK, BUT WHEN PRIVATE FINANCING FAILED TO RAISE ENOUGH MONEY, THE LEGISLATURE AGREED TO AWARD STATE LAND FOR EACH MILE OF TRACK COMPLETED.
ALTHOUGH ORGANIZED AND PROMOTED BY LOCAL CITIZENS, THE TYLER TAP LINE SOON ATTRACTED OTHER INVESTORS. IN 1879, UNDER A NEW CHARTER, IT WAS RENAMED THE TEXAS AND ST. LOUIS RAILWAY, WITH HEADQUARTERS IN TYLER. IT WAS REORGANIZED AGAIN IN 1891 AS THE ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY, COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE COTTON BELT, WITH GENERAL OFFICES STILL LOCATED HERE. (1975)
THE WOMAN'S BUILDING ASSOCIATION, A BRANCH OF THE TYLER WOMAN'S FORUM, WAS CHARTERED IN 1928 TO DIRECT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS FACILITY. WHEN COMPLETED IN 1932, IT PROVIDED MEETING ROOMS, AN AUDITORIUM, AND A LIBRARY FOR THE WOMAN'S FORUM AND OTHER CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS IN TYLER. REFLECTIVE OF THE FEDERAL STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE THE BUILDING FEATURES MULTILIGHT WINDOWS, TWO STORY DORIC COLUMNS, AND AN ELLIPTICAL ARCH OF CAST STONE OVER THE MAIN ENTRY.
GEORGE H. YARBROUGH (1826-99) CAME TO TYLER FROM ALABAMA IN 1854, AND ENTERED INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH COL. ALFRED FERGUSON IN A GENERAL MERCHANTILE ENTERPRISE. ABOUT 1859, YARBROUGH BUILT THIS HAND-MADE BRICK STRUCTURE, THE FIRST 3-STORY EDIFICE IN TYLER.
IN 1862, YARBROUGH, W. S. N. BISCOE, AND J. C. SHORT STARTED THE TYLER ORDNANCE WORKS, WHICH WAS SOLD THE NEXT YEAR TO THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. THIS BUILDING WAS LEASED BY THE CONFEDERACY FOR USE AS A CARTRIDGE FACTORY.
IN THE EARLY 1950'S, THE UPPER STORY WAS REMOVED, AND IN 1965 THE PRESENT FACADE ADDED. (1974)
(This building was destroyed several years ago.)
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