Continuation of; THE PROMISED LAND - A HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY, TEXAS by James C. White (22) Brownwoods First Realtor BROWNWOODS first realtor, and probably the most successful realtor, as well, was Major John Y. Rankin. He built a great many houses here in the pioneer period, and his name marks the first subdivision of Brownwood that includes practically all of the present business section of the city. Major Rankin moved here from Comanche, where he had spent about a year, in 1869 or 1870, and remained until his death February 20, 1924. He was associated with other great town builders in .a great many of the enterprises of the early days, and continued actively his chosen role of promoter and builder until the turn of the century. Major Rankin was born in Lexington, Kentucky, November 3, 1833. His family moved to Missouri in 1840, and he was educated in Kemper Institute, at Booneville, Missouri. At the age of twenty he went to San Augustine, in East Texas, and for a time studied law in the office of United States Senator J. Pinkney Henderson, after which he served as a Lieutenant in a company of Texas Rangers. Later he went into the commission business with the Houston & Texas Central railroad, then a pioneer enterprise, building from Houston northward. When the war of the Confederacy began Major Rankin organized a company at Navasota, and reported for duty to Colonel J. S. Ford, Old Rip, as this fighter was known to his friends. After a short time he transferred to the Texas cavalry, and saw active duty with this unit until he was dismounted at Arkansas Post, January 11, 1863, and sent to Camp Chase prison for six months. He was exchanged at City Point in June, 1863, and his command was assigned to duty in the famous Pat Cleburne division, in the Army of Tennessee, under Generals Bragg, Houston and Joseph E. Johnson. He was promoted to the rank of major at Dalton, Georgia, for gallantry on the field and for heroic and signal service, and was assigned to duty on the staff of General Deshier, who fell at Franklin, Tennessee, when General Pat Cleburne was killed. Major Rankin was captured a second time at Palmetto, Georgia, but was on the staff of General Cheatham at the final surrender of the army of General Joseph E. Johnson at Durham Station, N. C. He became one of the organizers of Camp Stonewall Jackson, United Confederate Veterans. After the war was over Major Rankin came back to Texas, and moved to Comanche, from which point he came to Brownwood. He was married to Miss Sarah Shedd of Harrodsburg, Ky., in 1868. Although he was a lawyer by profession, most of Major Rankins activity was in real estate and building. Shortly after he moved to Brownwood he began building houses, and selling them as fast as they were built. In 1873 he persuaded Greenleaf Fisk to sell him a part of his holdings, securing title to an acreage adjoining what was then the major business district surrounding the court house. The acreage was subdivided into 200 foot blocks, and sold at prices ranging from $200 to $600 per block. This is known as Rankins Addition, and comprises the heart of todays business area. The necessity for building straight and wide streets to carry traffic of the future was not realized by Major Rankin and other early-day builders, who laid out blocks and streets along what were then the roads and trails leading through the frontier community. Hence it is an unusual fact that the only streets in all Brownwood that run East and West or north and south are the Broadways surrounding the courthouse and all other streets are narrow, according to present day standards. Very few lots or blocks have square corners. Of the many amusing stories told about real estate trades of the early days, and comparable with Brooke Smiths favorite yarn about slipping in an extra 640 acres when he was making out the deed to a tract which he had sold to an East Texan, is the tale about Major Rankin taking his wifes acknowledgement to a deed. The Major was a notary public, and there were not many of them here. In fact, he was the only notary available in Brownwood for a time. Accordingly, he solemnly acknowledged the oath of Mrs. Rankin, who had just signed a deed, in which she certified that she had been examined separately and apart from• her husband. And the deed apparently stood the tests of the years. When he first came• to Brownwood Major Rankin was in charge, for a time, of most matters pertaining to the government, including the Ranger service. He took charge of property captured from the Comanche in the battle at Santa Anna mountain and forwarded it to the proper department at Austin. He served in various official capacities here, including county surveyor, county judge, county clerk, city recorder, and others. * * * THE TOWN THAT NEVER WAS While Major Rankin was helping build here a town that has grown steadily. through the years, other persons with purely commercial views uncolored by any ethical considerations contributed to the history of the county one of the greatest real estate hoaxes of that day in Texas. The story of Empire City, the town that never was, is almost unbelievable, and yet it is written in the records of the county, to show that Barnum was right when he made his famous remark about suckers. There evidently were many suckers in• the late seventies and eighties. Professor Havins made an exhaustive inquiry about Empire City, and found that the Great Western Land and Immigration Company was chartered by the Secretary of State in 1875. The charter mentions A. B. Hay of Austin as president of the company and H. M. Murchy of Austin as secretary. This company purchased three hundred acres of the Alford survey ten miles south of Brownwood, for fifty cents per acre. This tract they cut up into town lots 23x100 feet in size. A thorough going advertising campaign was inaugurated in the northern states and the scheme worked wonderfully. Pictures of a thriving city with substantial buildings were shown on cards and roadsides. Crowded streets which were not even considered in mapping the lots were shown filled with people from ranch and farm. Bales of cotton and bags of wool were shown piled high on the wharves, while longhorn steers walked placidly down the gang planks of steamboats tied up to their wharves on Pecan Bayou. That the land was valueless save for grazing purposes, and that the possibility of a steamboat ever ascending Pecan Bayou was beyond question did not deter the promoters from perpetrating their fraud. Agents armed with the advertising matter were sent north and sold great numbers of the lots. The purchaser bought a lot for the consideration of one dollar and the notary and recording fees, and it was right here that the promoters made their money. The notary located in Brownwood (he was not Major Rankin) charged two dollars and fifty cents for writing the deed and also collected two dollars for the recording of the instrument. He in turn paid the county clerk one dollar for recording the deed and kept the extra dollar. Thus the promoters made four dollars and fifty cents on each lot. The tract contained nearly five thousand lots, hence it is easy to figure the profits made on the scheme. Ample evidence that many lots were sold was available here. Even today the county clerk occasionally receives an inquiry from one of the purchasers of Empire City property, wanting to know the status of the deal. It was a great scheme, while it lasted.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 04:45:02 +0000
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