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History in
a Pecan Shell
Red Gap
was the city's original name. The Reverend C. G. Stevens arrived in
the late 1870s, established a post office and church and named the
town.
In 1881 when the Houston and Texas Central Railway came into the area.
they crossed the Texas and Pacific Railroad tracks near Red Gap and
locals moved to the crossing. In 1884 this new community applied for
a post office in the name of one of the railroad financiers, John
A. Cisco, of New York.
Cisco became known as the "Gate City of the West" from the
immigrant brochures issued by the T & P.
By 1892 Cisco was a thriving town with two newspapers, but the following
year it was hit by a devastating tornado, taking the lives of twenty-eight
people and destroying much of the town.
The Eastland County
oil boom of 1919-21, was played-out more in Ranger,
but Cisco's population increased as well. Population estimates during
the boom were as high as 15,000.
In 1927 the famed "Santa
Claus Bank Robbery" occurred two days before Christmas. The First
National Bank was robbed and two girls kidnapped. One robber died
of wounds, one served time and one was executed. Marshall Ratliff,
the mastermind, was lynched by a mob in downtown Eastland
after killing a popular jailer during a failed escape attempt. A book
by A.C. Greene gives a detailed and entertaining account of the robbery
and the fiasco was made into at least one movie. |
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"Main Street
Looking North, Cisco, Texas"
1920 Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
Cisco,
Texas
Landmarks / Attractions
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| Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
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Cisco's wide
brick streets, sturdy architecture, compact downtown and small population
make an excellent movie set.
Travelers on I-20 should consider taking a short break and driving
through the brick streets of downtown Cisco to get a feel of a 1930s
town that has remained.
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Hilton Museum
Former Mobley Hotel c.1916
TE Photo, 2004 |
Hilton
Museum - 309 Conrad Hilton Ave. (Hwy. 6)
The Mobley Hotel, Conrad Hilton's first venture into the hotel
business in 1919 is now in use as the chamber of commerce and community
center. Historical museum and 2 restored hotel rooms.
254-442-2537
Lela Latch Lloyd Museum -
In former City Hall building
116 W.7th St.
254-442-2537 |
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The Cisco Masonic Lodge
TE Photo 2004 |
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Coca
Cola "Ghost Sign" in Downtown Cisco
Photo
courtesy Morgan Palmer 2005 |
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Cisco
in the morning
TE Photo, 2004 |
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The sign of the
old Palace Theatre
TE Photo, 2004 |
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Inside a Cisco
Feed Store
TE Photo 2004 |
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Rexall Drugs
TE Photos 2004 |
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A
downtown drug store signage with the reflection of the traffic signal
of Cisco's main intersection
TE Photo 2004 |
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Men's Store
Antiques neon sign
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, February 2010
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The Laguna Hotel
(across
the street from the Mobley was undergoing window replacement in 2004
TE Photo, 2004 |
The Laguna Hotel
in its heyday
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
The Laguna Hotel
in the 1940s
Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
More Rooms
with a Past |
Abandoned Gas
Station in Cisco
Jimmy
Dobson Photo, September 2017 |
Another Abandoned
Gas Station
Jimmy
Dobson Photo, September 2017 |
"Tourist
Park, Cisco, Texas"
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/ |
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Cisco
Recreation:
Lake Cisco
Fishing & boating.
Off Texas 6, 4 miles North of Cisco
817-442-2111
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The
Night the Posse Chased Santa by Maggie Van Ostrand
December 23 will mark the 79th anniversary of the bloody melodrama
which was about to take place in the town of Cisco in West Central
Texas, on the day before Christmas Eve 1927. I know about it because
of an article written at the time by the great Texas columnist,
Boyce House. He should know. He was there...
Santa
Robber by Mike Cox
Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” stands as an enduring classic,
but truth being stranger than fiction, Texas can claim one of the
nation’s more bizarre real-life holiday tales – a story of a Santa
Claus gone bad...
The
Day Eastland Texas Hanged Santa Claus by John Troesser
The
Great Airship Mystery by C. F. Eckhardt
Patrick C. Byrnes, a telegraph repairman for the T&P railroad, not
only saw the mysterious object up close, he got to talk to the presumptive
captain of the flight crew. According to Byrnes the craft was about
200 feet long by 50 feet wide. It had ‘snail-shell-like’ appendages
at the nose and tail. Inside them were ‘powerful gasoline engines’
which apparently operated large fan-like propellors to move the
craft. Two more of the devices were attached to the side of the
ship and were used for steering... more
Cisco
Twister by Mike Cox
In Cisco’s Oakwood Cemetery, five graves bear the same last name
and the same date of death – April 28, 1893. That was the day a
killer tornado struck the then prosperous Eastland County railroad
town...
Police
chief held captive History Cartoon by Roger T. Moore
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Subject:
The Dam, and Cisco's zoo
For some reason, I was using Google Earth to look for Lake Cisco,
having in my mind memories of times many years ago. The late 1920's
and early 1930's to be exact. I remembered that dam -- reputed to
be the largest hollow-core dam in the country at the time. And that
tremendously large swimming area. There was a very tall slide on
the east side of the area, probably fifty feet in height. But you
didn't slide down it by yourself, there were small cars which fitted
into the slide and you sat in the cars. I remember that there was
a warning written on the side of the slide: "Look out for the cars."
However, my spelling wasn't that good at the time -- I was six --
and I thought it said, Look out for the bears!!!" I didn't do much
swimming -- I was too busy watching for those carnivorous monsters.
But the crowning event of the day was a visit to the zoo. My Aunt
Fannie Bess was escorting her daughter and us three nephews through
the zoo when a very unhappy monkey escaped from its cage and began
making threatening advances toward us. Aunt F.B. was kept quite
busy trying to hide us all behind her and ward off the monkey with
an umbrella at the same time.
I know that the answer to the question by that person about whether
the zoo was destroyed by the 1920 tornado is a definite "No".
Now I have a question. I could not make out the dam's location using
Google Earth. It appears that the road which once went across the
dam now passes to the east of the former swimming area/zoo. Is that
correct? Just a bit of curiosity in an old coot who is beginning
to live in his memories. - Charles Porter, May 29, 2007
Crosses
N of I - 20
I pass through [Cisco], and have done so for sixty plus years. I
love the friendly people there. Everything concerning Cisco / Eastland
is of interest to me. I do have one question:
What is the story on the beautiful white crosses on the hill, north
of I -20? Is there a public road leading to them? My preacher asked
me, but I did not have an answer. They are beautiful though. If
anyone can tell me, please contact me - ibbilly@bluebonnet.net.
- Billy Floyd, Mt.Pleasant, Texas, August 06, 2006
Subject:
Looking for Information
I don't know if you can help me or not. I am looking for information
for a story I am writing. I am looking for info on an abandoned
zoo outside of Cisco, Texas. It was close to Lake Cisco and the
original dam & swimming pool. I have seen the rock work that was
said to be part of the original zoo. My grandmother said that all
the animals ran away. Do you have any information? Could this have
been an operating zoo before the tornado that hit Cisco in 1920?
Sincerely, Holly Huestis Johnson, March 18, 2006
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Eastland
County 1882 map showing Cisco
From Texas state map #2134
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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