A few days ago, I spoke on the House floor about Sanderson, Texas, during a “23 in 1” series. During series, I take viewers and listeners on a one minute journey through 23rd District of Texas. Tonight I want to highlight one of the really interesting towns in West Texas, as we continue our journey through the vast 23rd District of Texas, which encompasses nearly 24 percent of the land area of Texas, 800 miles from one point of the District to the other. I’d like to talk about the City of Sanderson, Texas. With a population of over 800 people, Sanderson is known as “The Cactus Capital of Texas.” Originally named Strawbridge or Strobridge, Sanderson was founded as a switching point for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1882, a roundhouse was built and the name of the town was changed to Sanderson, after Thomas P. Sanderson, who was the engineer in charge of construction. The following year, in 1883, a post office opened in Sanderson. In Texas lore there is a very famous person by the name of Roy Bean, who was known as The law West of the Pecos. Judge Roy Bean, wanting to capitalize on the new town with much promise, opened a saloon in Sanderson in the early 1880s; but he couldn’t compete with Charlie Wilson’s Cottage Bar Saloon. After Bean opened his saloon, Wilson – allegedly - spiked his whiskey with “coal oil” and Bean soon moved eastward to Vinegarroon and Langtry. Sanderson was dubbed as “Too Mean for Bean.” Those were the years of railroad workers and cowboys, which filled the area. At the turn of the century, in 1905, the once unruly Sanderson became the county seat of the newly created Terrell County. And it remains the county seat even to this day. Shortly after becoming the county seat, Sanderson started looking more and more like a town on the move. As time passed, Sanderson left behind its Wild West origins and became a relevant crossroad - the midpoint if you will - between San Antonio and El Paso. The courthouse was built in 1906 and near the courthouse some years later, in 1931, an art deco style high school was built. Sanderson’s population continued to grow to about 3,000 people during the first half of the 20th Century. Sheep and goats became main goods as part of the livestock industry. They still are the main commodities in the area. For example, in 1970, over one million pounds of wool and mohair were shipped out of Sanderson. In 1965, Sanderson was devastated by a flash flood. The usually dry Sanderson creek overflowed and claimed 24 lives. After the tragic event, 11 flood control dams were built around Sanderson by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make sure that that never happen again.. Sanderson was built around the railroad and its fate has largely been determined by the railroad. A series of decisions altered decisively Sanderson’s growth. During the 1970s, the new construction of Interstate 10, I-10, bypassed U.S. Highway 90 and bypassed Sanderson. It left Sanderson out of its path. In addition, Union Pacific moved its crews from Sanderson to Alpine. This had a detrimental effect on the community but today, Sanderson remains aa small but proud community that fights to maintain its rich history and traditions of railroads, cowboys and West Texas. Sanderson high school, known as the Sanderson eagles, they produce a large number of talented kids who go to universities from Rice to my own alma mater, Sul Ross State University. In fact, many of the kids I went to Sul Ross with were from Sanderson, Texas and many of their teachers have degrees in Sul Ross. In more recent times, Sanderson has put a number of people like my immediate predecessor in the Texas Legislature, Judge Dudley Harrison, who was from Sanderson or Chago Flores, who is the first Latino elected County Judge in the history of Terrell County and he’s serving even now. So if visiting the area, I want you to know you will have access to an extensive variety of memorabilia located at the Terrell County Memorial Museum and I want you to know that Sanderson is still the Cactus Capital of Texas and the East Gate to the Big Bend Wilderness Area. I invite you to stop by Sanderson if you are ever in the 23rd District of Texas.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:05:00 +0000
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