Sanderson, Texas

Sanderson, Texas

Helen F. Tiseth & Denise C. Tiseth

Robert Hines, Instructor
Spring 1999

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Sanderson, Population 940, Altitude 12,980 ft.

As we approach the new millennium, imagine a place that is lost in time, where everything seems to move at a slow pace. There are no traffic jams to contend with or, long lines in stores to frustrate you. Missing are the common necessities that you would see in the city; such as, pagers, cell phones, and car alarms. You ask yourself, could there really be a place like this in this day and age? Well there is, in a little town located in West Texas, halfway between San Antonio and El Paso. This quiet, old time town is Sanderson. Read on, as I take you back to its historical beginnings and compare it with our present day. You will find the town itself has changed very little; but, the people's attitudes towards each other have come a long way.

Sanderson, Texas was established in 1882, ordinally called Strobridge, named for a construction superintendent on the railroad. Although the real Founding Father of Sanderson was a soldier from Fort Concho named Charley Wilson. He was assigned to protect the railroad land surveyors. He watched them closely and began to speculate that the rail lines were going to be laid between San Antonio and El Paso would need a Depot and turnaround. In the first of his witty ideas, he figured that the flat one mile stretch, surrounded by the mountains, called Strobridge would be the spot. He obtained an immediate discharge form the Army and rode out to the Texas Land Office in Austin. He purchased a one-mile stretch of land and rode as fast as he could back to Stobridge. Upon his arrival the Southern Pacific Railroad was driving in its first spike. He waited patiently, when the railroad began to build its depot and Round house, Wilson proceeded to charge them for the use of his land; this angered the railroad officals very much. You see they had the right of way to the land to lay the tracks but, they were upset that this "Johnny come lately" beat them to the punch on buying land. This rivalry between Wilson and the railroad went on for years. Soon after the depot began to rise the town's name was changed to Sanderson. The name came from another Construction Engineer working for railroads at the time.

The handbook of Texas describes early Sanderson as frequented by gunmen, outlaws, rustlers, and border bandits; one of them being Pancho Villa. Villa and his Mexican bandits were greatly feared during the early 1900's, during this time cattle rustling was at its peak. This was due to the fighting between the Mexican states at Chihuahua and Coahulia just across the Rio Grande from Texas. Mexican generals didn't have money to buy beef, so the bandits would come across the border and steal cattle from the ranches of Sanderson. There were not enough Texas Rangers to protect the land, so the government provided the feed for the ranchers horses, if the ranchers would provide their own protection. This outfit became known as the "River Riders."

Once the workers ranching duties were over, they would take turns patrolling up and down the Rio Grande River. This was important, because ranching of sheep and cattle was the major income for the town. Ranchers hired many Mexican ranch hands that were fleeing the Bloody Mexican Civil War of the 1920's.

Sheep shearing on these ranches also provided extra jobs in Sanderson. There was one sheep shearing barn on Main Street in town, but technology of sheep shearing machines put them out of business around the 1950's.

Windmills now are far and in between most are seen on ranches. In the early days of Sanderson, there was only one windmill in town that provided water. It was owned by Wilson and he sold the water at .10 cents a barrel. Later, he built a contraption to bring water down to individual homes at a cost of .25 cents a barrel. In 1907, Ed McGinley drilled another well and installed the town's water works at a new site on the hill. He also installed the electrical generator and distribution lines. In Sanderson, settlers didn't feel that they had any hardships, because they didn't know what convienences they would have today. It was hard to imagine running water inside the house.

The Kerr mercantile store opened in 1892. An Irishman named Joe Kerr was the proprietor. In the early days they sold frijoles, potatoes, bacon, flour, and beef at .10 cents a pound. Brains and liver were given away. He not only provided the main food source in his town, but as the business grew he sold all items needed for homes and ranches. Not only was Kerr a prominent business man, he was also a successful rancher. He and the generations of Kerr family members operated this store until its closing in January 1999; this was due to the decline in population of the town. According to our interview with the Marquez family, they stated that the town's people now have to drive 54 miles to Fort Stockton once or twice a month to buy groceries. They use this trip to shop and treat themselves to dinner, so not all is lost.

Following the end of World War I, the problem of maintaining a training program for the Combat Provisional Air-Arm presented itself to the War Department. To keep the men trained, they patrolled the U.S.-Mexican borders. On November 8, 1919 the 90th Aero Squadron arrived in Sanderson. The Mexican Border patrol program was the training ground for numerous futures generals and leaders in the World War II. One famous story goes that Jimmy Doolittle took a dare to fly under the Famous Southern Pacific high bridge on the Pecos River, and never received any disciplinary action for doing so. The 90th Aero Squadron remained in Sanderson until 1921 when they returned to Kelly Field.

The aircraft from the 90th bombing Squadron was not the first aircraft to land in Sanderson. In 1911, the Wright-Biplane, piloted by Cal P. Rogers, landed in a field Northeast of the County Court Square. A company named 'Vin Fiz' was sponsoring the historical flight from New York to San Diego. Due to high west winds, the plane was grounded for two days. On it's first attempt to take off, the plane clipped a fence and remained grounded for another day for repairs.

One of the first schools in Sanderson during the 1890's, was a one-room adobe house located on the West End of town. The children used a slate to do their work, and used to spit to wipe it clean, and re-work a problem. The children were classified by reading ability. On breaks, the boys carried water to the classrooms in a bucket, and all the children drank from the same dipper.

Later in the early 1900's the Lamar Ward School was built for the Mexican children. You see, there was segregation in Sanderson. This was probably one of the biggest attitude adjustments this town needed to overcome. Anglo and Mexican children attended separate schools from grades 1-7; grades 8-12 were integrated.

It was not until the late 1940's that all grades were integrated, where all of the children were treated equally. According to Barbara Davis, (the Superintendent's secretary) there are approximately 222 children in all of Sanderson's schools. Many children traveled on a bus 100-miles a day to attend. The slate boards are no more; today they have computers and internet just like the big cities.

Segregation in the early days was not only in the schools, the whole town was divided. From Second Street to the west were the homes of the Anglos, and to the east were the Hispanics. Further east, near Sanderson Canyon was a place called "El Ranchito" where the poorer Hispanics lived.

The Prince's Theater in town was also segregated, because the Hispanics had to sit in the balconies. Sunday evenings there was a one time showing of a Mexican film, and that was the only time that Hispanics could sit below.

There are two cemeteries in the town, the "Cedar Grove" for the Anglos and the "Santa Rita" for the Hispanics. Today, there still stands a fence dividing the two.

In my opinion, I believe one of the biggest factors that brought this town together, was the "Great Flood of 1965." On the morning of June 11, 1965 the Sanderson Canyon over spilled its bank in a torrential down pour. It was 6 a.m. and most residents were still asleep, so the rising waters took them by sunrise. There were accounts of heroism as Anglos and Hispanics both working at trying to save residents.

Unfortunately, whole families were wiped out, and lives were changed forever. This town torn by years of segregation was brought together by tragedy, so that together they could rebuild the town they call home.

Common grave erected to hold the remains of people disinterred by the 1965 flood.

Flood Control Dam, built in the 1990's to protect the town.

There is so much history in the town of Sanderson; one could fill many pages of a book. Over the years the population has dwindled mainly due to the loss of jobs in ranching and the closing of the train depot in 1994. There are not luxuries of big cities like malls; but, Mrs. Mary Lou Robinson stated, "Honey around here we go shopping at the town dump. If it's rusted it's a treasure!" There are things we will come visit again for, like wanting to explore the caves where Indians once roamed, and going back to find more of our heritage in the Wolff Family. This town would be a great retirement place. For there is peace and quiet, and no locking of your doors when you leave home. Also, once you are 65, you pay no taxes!

Sanderson, come visit the best at the bottom of the bowl.

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