CHRISTINE, TEXAS

PALO ALTO COLLEGE

Shannon Vega	Fall, 2005
U.S. History 1302	R. Hines, Instructor

More Histories of Small Towns in South Texas

Church ORIGINS and FOUNDING FATHERS

Christine, Texas is located about 10 miles south of Jourdanton on Farm Road 140. With a population of only 436, Christine was founded in October of 1909. The founder was a Missouri medicine man by the name of Dr. C. F. Simmons.(Texas Handbook Online) Dr. Simmons bougth this 95,000 acre tract of land from D&A Oppenheimer of San Antonio. The original names of the towns were New Artesia and New Pleasanton, but when he found out those names were taken he changed them to Christine and Imogene after his two daughters.(Atascosa County Centennial) Imogene was taken out of the railroad's path and never flourished. Christine, on the other hand, boomed into a city.

Being known as a flamboyant "doctor", Simmons advertised his two towns all over the United States in a published booklet.(Atascosa County History p19) He held a land auction with about 5,000 people present at Brown Lake that began on October 14,1909 and lasted for more than two weeks. The buyers paid $90 for a package consisting of a lot in Christine, a lot in Imogene, and a farm tract. The buyers had no way of knowing if they were buying 10 acres or 640 acres until they drew their numbers out of a suitcase. After the sale, some 6,500 acres were left over and Alonzo M. Peeler Sr. bought them. Dr. Simmons also built the Artesian Belt Railroad and with it came the life of Christine.(Atascosa County History p19)

ECONOMY

The first business was built by a Frank Haeker. He opened Haeker & Son, a furniture, hardware, and funeral supply store. The first cafe was operated out of a tent by a Mrs. George O'Neal. By 1910 there were two department stores, two lumber yards, and many other businesses. The first post office opened on Feburary 11,1910 and today is is still open and operated by a Joseph A. Wassenenich. None of the original businesses survived.

Christine's lettuce crops were in great demand for many years. Bees were shipped from as far as South Dakota because the area was known for its natural honey-producing. Twenty acres of land was bought for the purpose of propagating the silkworm industry. All these farming techniques were given up due to major drought. Ranching was the most important industry, but that too was replaced by farming. In 1920 Christine was labeled number one in cattle shipment on the country but that too ended due to the loss of the railroad. Baptist Church

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT STORIES

The first supply of water had to be delivered from Poteet by railroad. The town also had a public bathing house that was also used as the town's water well. All the wells that Christine ever built were unsuccessful. Today the town gets its water from a water tank located in the center of town.

A strange story I came across in the Atascosa County History is that Christine was used by the U.S. Army for training puposes. In 1927 the Calvary and Infantry actually fought a "sham" battle. In 1941 some 10,000 soldiers were in Christine and the town became a sort of "tent city". Many soldiers were roaming around town and pretty soon beer joints started to spring up. A street curfew was even enforced at one time. The amount of money at that time was so large that the town had to have armed guards posted throughout town.

Cementery Monument

HISTORICAL LANDMARKS:

My interviewee, Ruby Howard, noted that the Baptist Church to her was historically significant. Christine added their Baptist and Methodist churches in 1911. St. Ignatius is a small chapel for the Catholics and in recent news, according to KSAT's website, was destroyed by fire in May of this year. The very first residence was built at the corner of Avenue N and Sixth Street. The first school was also built in 1911. Abandoned House

CONNECTIONS TO COURSE THEMES:

One connection was with the technological change in 1909 with the railroad. When Simmons built the railroad to include Christine that started the growth of the town. It was even used to transport the newcomers and prospective buyers into the town.

Capitalism existed with the farming. When the drought occurred, Christine lost its main source of income.

With my visit there I clearly saw issues with race. Christine today is in my own opinion very much segregated. The whites had the nicer homes that were located off the main road and in the center of town known as the "public square". The Hispanics or Mexicans were located in the outskirts of this little town in the more run down looking homes. To me there was a clear separation of these two races. Even though the whites seemed the more prominent, they are actually considered the minority in Christine. The Hispanic race is more than 74 percent of the population, and the the whites only make up 24 percent according to the website of Christine Details. Fire Truck

CONCLUSION

This town is so small that passing by on your way to Corpus Christi maybe you just might miss it. The size of the town is a sort of a comfort to the residents here. We here in big San Antonio might look at it in a negative. There's nothing to do, nothing to enjoy, its so far away from the nesessities, so far away from any sort of "fun". The people that reside there look at it as a advantage. Being so far from highly populated areas keeps crime, high taxes and corruption away. The things that we endure as a big city, these people don't want any part. This town is a closely knit family in a way. Everyone knows everyone and everything that goes on. I want to thank the town of Christine and Ruby Howard for this opportunity to enlighten the world about this town.

Interview of Ruby Howard on Christine, Texas- Sept. 6th 2005
SV=Shannon Vega
RH=Ruby Howard
SV- What is your full name?
RH- Ruby Mac Howard.
SV- How old are you?
RH- I’m 75 years old.
SV- How long have you resided here in Christine?
RH- Since I was eight years old, that’ll make it 67 years.
SV-Do you know how many people live here?
RH- About 436 I believe.
SV- Do you know who started the town and when abouts?
RH- I believe it was a Dr. Simmons and it was somewhere around 1909.
SV- Do you know his reasons for starting Christine?
RH- The way I understand it, he had about 75,000 acres of land, called ranch-land that he wanted to sell. He sold it as farm lots. He was the person that laid out the town and plotted it.
SV- Was Christine his only town?
RH- The other town called Imogene was about 67 miles north of here but it didn’t make it.
SV- What is Christine’s economy based on?
RH- Like any other general suburb I guess. We don’t have any general resources here so everybody has to go out. There is a coal mine plant south of us where some people from here work.
SV- Any other businesses?
RH- We have one gas station off the main highway and the Post Office too. We have to go to Jourdanton for all of our needs.
SV- Are there any landmarks here?
RH- The Baptist Church could be considered a landmark.
SV Have ya’ll kept up with the technology change?
RH- Oh yeah, we have electricity, telephone, water, cable television, computers. I have a computer and go on the internet sometimes. We have been trying to get computers in the city office for community use.
SV- Where do you get your utilities?
RH- The water comes from these water tanks right here in the city. Our electricity comes from different companies surrounding us.
SV-Do you have a library here?
RH- No, but we’ve been trying to get one here, but that’s been hard to do.
SV-Do you have a school here?
RH- No. The kids get bused to Jourdanton to go to school. We had a school here but it closed.
SV-What types of religions are present here?
RH- Baptist, Methodist and Catholic.
SV-Can you tell me about the races here?
RH- It’s mostly Hispanic.
SV-What do you do for recreation out here?
RH- Some of us get together and play cards or dominoes. The Baptist church has a music group. We have a 4th of July celebration and a Christmas parade. The church has picnics throughout the year. We also do cattle-roping, big dinners and auctions.
SV-What type of law enforcement do you have?
RH-We have the county constable that does his rounds through here. We are pretty closely watched by state and county.
SV- Why do you stay out here being so far from everything?
RH- I stay out here because I like it.
SV- Do you see yourself staying here?
RH- Oh, I’ll be here until I’m carried off.
SV- Are your sons planning to stay here too?
RH- As far as I know. My youngest son works in the city office.
SV- Is there anything else you would like to add? Anything that you want the internet world to know about Christine?
RH- I don’t know how most people feel, but I feel safer being in a small town where everyone knows me. If a strange person is at my doorstep or a strange car is passing by everyone knows. You don’t get that from a big city. I just feel safer, which to me means a lot more. For many years I had to drive out of here to go to work. I’d leave before daylight, but I knew I was being watched over by the law. It has come real close to home on how closely we are watched. One time, I was stranded out on the highway before daylight and when a Deputy came by and noticed it was me he didn’t leave until he knew I was OK. That made me feel real good and that’s why I feel safer out here. If I lived out in big city, I would never feel safe, because I wouldn’t have that. Everyone knows you here. We are like one big family. We are like a grapevine; we all take care of each other. Neighbors should take care of one another. In the big city nobody wants to get involved and that’s sad.
Shannon- I’m going to go ahead and close this up and I thank you very much for everything.
Ruby- Well. I hope I helped you and you are welcome.
WEBSITES
Christine, Texas
Charles Franklin Simmons
Imogene, Texas
Christine Details
Christine Community Profile
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

*Atascosa County Centennial. Atascosa County Centennial 1856-1956. Atascosa County: 1956.

The government of Atascosa County to commemorate their centennial in 1956 created this book. It explains how Christine launched into a booming town. It explains the advertising of the land that created the town. It was helpful by the way it explained how people back then lured these people into this new town. It also contained excellent pictures of Christine in the early 1900’s.
*Atascosa History Committee. Atascosa County History. Pleasanton: Taylor Publishing Company, 1984.

This book was compiled by a group of people from all over Atascosa County. These people were chosen to be on the Committee and create this book about the history of Atascosa. It was very helpful because it went into great detail about every aspect of Christine. It explained how it came to be, the churches and schools that existed there. It gives great information about the towns streets, the towns’ people, their homes and businesses.
*Blevins, Don. Texas Towns from Abner to Zipperlandville. Lanham: Republic of Texas Press, 2003.

This book was helpful with the information on location only.
*Christine Community Profile.s.v. “CHRSTINE, TEXAS,” http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/geninfo.php?locindex=261545.

This website gave very good statistical numbers on various aspect of community life. I used this to become familiar of the types of stats are available that explain census numbers and demographics.
*Christine Texas Detailed Profile.s.v. “Christine, Texas,” http://www.city-data.com/city/Christine-Texas.html

This website gave very thorough statistical data on the population. It gave data on income, race, gender, marital status, employment, education, and weather data.
*Davis, Joe Tom. Historic Towns of Texas Volume II. Austin: Eakin Press, 1996.

This book described only three towns in detail and it did not include my town of Christine.
*Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “CHRISTINE, TX,” http://www.tshu.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/hlc31.html

This website is available through the University of Texas and it gave a brief description of the founder of the town and it gave a lot of dates of when things occurred.
*Howard, Ruby Mac. Personal Interview. 6 Sept. 2005.

My interview with Mrs. Howard was helpful and extremely appreciated. She gave very precise facts on the founder Simmons and how he platted the town. She also gave me an insight on life in Christine then and now.

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