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"New
York Steam Laundry"
Medicine Mound old photo courtesy Teresa Byrd, restored
by John Bates |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Like the old saying goes: "If you find Medicine Mound - you
had to have been looking for it." It's not that it's difficult to find - since
it still appears on the state map - it's just that it is on a long extended spur
off of Highway 287. (FM 91 on the east and FM 1167) on the west. The mountains
that comprise the mounds are visible from Highway 287. There are actually four
elevations that rise 200-250 feet above the landscape. These are natural mounds
that were held sacred by the Comanches. |
Medicine
Mound. Click on photo for larger image.
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, July 2006 |
The older Medicine
Mound community that had been here prior to 1908 moved 2½ miles north to be alongside
the tracks of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway as it built through Hardeman
County.
Medicine Mound was once a vibrant town with a respectable population
of 500 served by 22 businesses. A devastating fire in the early 30s (arson) destroyed
most of the town. By the end of the Great Depression the population was 210 and
the town still had 6 buildings left.
Today there are three - about the
same number of historical markers. The Medicine Mound school merged with Quanah's
district in the mid-1950s - about the same time the post office closed. |
The
W.W. Cole Building, one of the two remaining building.
Photo courtesy Geri
Bates, 2006 |
| It
is to the staff of Texas Escapes. Three reasons that come to mind are: #1 It doesn't
mind being called a ghost town. It is what it is and it's certainly not pretentious
(if it ever was). It is proud of it's fascinating history - but while many former
towns are proud - Medicine Mound can boast having ... more
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| | Where
did all the people go?
Photo courtesy John Bates, 2006 |
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Subject:
Remembering Medicine Mound
I am now 62 years
old and have fond memories of this now, ghost town. I lived with my grandparents
in a very small house, there. Their driveway (dirt and gravel) ran beside the
Baptist church. My grandmother made us clean up, if the lights came on at the
church and off we would go to praise God ( and see our friends). My grandfather
worked at the only service station in town and drove the gas truck home at night.
I have fond memories of walking to see my grandfather at the station. He would
always buy my brother and I a 5 cent coke in a glass bottle and a 3 - 5 cent candy
bar. We loved to watch him fix flat tires in the back room. He would use a patch
on the inner tube and would light it to seal the patch to the tube. We sometime
got to go to what we called Punkin City to pick up gas for the station in the
gas truck with him. We loved this as we sometimes got to eat at a cafe, which
was a real treat.
My brother and I went to school in Medicine Mounds
until they closed it. Then, we rode the bus to Quanah
and back every day. The school at the Mounds had two teachers. Mrs Matthews taught
the younger kids and the principal taught the older group. I think we only had
six grades, I am not sure about that. I do remember the school as the most fun
place. There was a wooden floor gym and you would enter the bleacher area on one
floor and look down at the gym floor in like a basement area. I remember going
to the gym after hours to be with my uncle to watch him practice basketball with
his friends. While he was practicing, my brother and I loved to hang over the
balcony and drop to the floor below. We thought this was very daring.
When I was young I remember hearing the foxhunts at night from our yard. I think
my grandmother said they were at the King ranch. I also remember friends who told
me of finding arrowheads on the mounds. My grandmother would never let me go there.
The last time I went to the Mounds as we all called the town, everything
was all closed up. The school was still there looking very rundown. The station
brought back so many memories, it is hard not to cry, even as I write this. -
Nancy Sue Ashmore, October 16, 2006
Texas Escapes
400th Texas Ghost Town 12-1-06 | |
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