Moore, Texas

The History Of Moore, Texas

Anthony Bollman	U.S. History 1302, Spring, 2006
Kimberly Crouch	R. Hines, Instructor

Moore is a small town located in Frio County, Texas. The town has a total population of 644 residents as of the census in 2000. according to the census of 2000, the percentage of people living in Moore are, White 41.46 percent, Hispanics 46.27 percent, African American 0.47 percent, Native American 1.40 percent, Pacific Islander 0.31 percent, and 10.09 percent from other races. As far as income in Moore, the median income for a household was $39,063. Males had a median income of $24,531 versus $28,281 for females. In Moore, 15.4 percent of the population and 9.9 percent of families are below the poverty line. (Wikipeda.com)

Here is an aerial photo of Moore, as you can see Interstate 35 runs right through the center of the town.

ORIGINS: The story of how “Moore” got its name is somewhat of a mystery. There are a couple of different stories that the residents of Moore have passed down until the present time. One version of the story is that the name “Moore” refers to a Texan by the name of R.L. "Mustang" Moore. He lived at the head of a small creek or a hollow. Mustang Moore and James Winters were ambushed and killed by Comanche Indians. This story is corroborated by Mrs. W. A. Roberts who wrote the History of Frio County, which was published in 1936. A resident of “Moore,” Mrs. Lula Harrison, who was born in 1881, said that a horse was probably the cause of the two men's deaths. Since she was born in 1881, and after Moore and Winters died, she said she received her information from Mr. Winters' descendents, of whom she is one. According to Mrs. Harrison, Indians stole Winters' horse. Winters and Moore then attempted to try and get the horse back, ignoring advice of others. The Indians then surrounded the two and killed them. Winters and Moore were killed October 19, 1861. One account states that Moore was buried near his cabin by two oak trees. Winters was buried in Brumet cemetery, which is near Moore. Another story speaks of the death of Winters, which was written in an article, The San Antonio Harald, on November 2, 1861. In this article there is no mention of “Mustang” in Moore. Yet another story told by Jake Griffin of Devine, who died at the age of 90, states that Moore was a bachelor who lived in a cabin a mile or two west of Moore on a draw which is now called Moore Hollow Creek. Moore Hollow Creek sign

Moore was said to be found on his front step with an arrow through his chest. According to the story the Indians that killed him were chased to an area near Pleasanton where 13 of the Indians were killed. (Sketch, pg1)

FOUNDING FATHERS AND MOTHERS: Obets Home August Obets came to the United States from Germany with his parents, two brothers, and two sisters in 1854, at which time he was five years old. The family settled on the Sabine River and later moved to San Antonio. From San Antonio the family moved to the San Miguel Creek between Devine and Bigfoot. He married Miss Louisa Rihn of Castroville September 16, 1870. Louisa was born in 1855 and died in 1933. Obets settled on a track of land that later became the town of Moore. As a young man Obets worked with Captain Willia 'Big Foot' Wallace protecting his horses from outlaws, Indians, and thieves who raided the settlements. He later helped build the first railroad through Southwest Texas and was engaged in stock raising and farming during the remainder of his life. August Obets died at his home in Moore on Tuesday, November 13, 1934 at the age of 80. He was then buried at the Catholic cemetery in Moore. His home was torn down when the Interstate highway 35 right of way was purchased. As you can see in the photos below, the birth and death date are different that what is given above, but this is the grave site of the same man. (Sketch pg85)

Grave Marker of August Obets, Moore Catholic Cemetery

Another early resident of Moore was Francisco Musquiz. Francisco is the grandfather of Richard Musquiz, one of the gentlemen that I interviewed. Musquiz came to the United States in September, 1906 with the railroad company. He lived at D’Hanis, Texas on the Frank Wolff ranch. Later he moved to the Redus ranch on the Hondo near Moore, Texas, and farmed until 1912 when he began his business. This same year, after failing to make a cotton crop, on account of the boll weevil, he bought an express wagon and a mare and peddled sweet potatoes, vegetables, groceries, and even shoes from ranch to ranch. Moore was the center of the area, that he covered, the family at the Lo Gloria ranch were his best customers. He would buy one farmer’s surplus, such as black-eyed peas, and sell to another farmer. He once bought a bag of peanuts from one farmer, and since no one wanted peanuts, his wife ground them on the metate, and his family had ground peanuts all winter long. After doing this for a number of years he opened a store in 1918. Musquiz continued, however, to make his weekly trips to surrounding farms. In 1924 he built two small houses; one was his meat market and the other his brother’s barber shop. In 1925 he moved his store to a new location, and he and his family operated a very successful store and market until his death. In fact the store stayed in the family all the way to Richard’s son at which point the family decided to sell it. If Francisco had lived another 15 months, he would have been one hundred years old. (Sketch pg83)

There were a lot of people that settled in Moore in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Visit this link for a list of the early settlers and families that lived in Moore.

ECONOMY:Moore did actually have a national bank at one point in time. Moore National Bank was established in 1902. The president of the bank was H. E. Johnson. Mrs. Claudia Oliver has a bill that was issued by the Moore National bank. On the face of this bill are the names of L. D. Johnson, cashier, and R. L. Connelly, president. The date that bill was issued is June 18, 1907, which is printed directly on it. Both of the employees printed on the bill served until the bank was merged with the bank at Pearsall, Texas in 1933. J. Otis Jones , a resident of Moore, was employed to liquidate the assets of the bank. It took him several years but, he reported that every stockholder was paid in full. (Sketch pg11)

The Moore National Bank is a residence now, below are pictures of how it looks today.

Most of the people that live in Moore work somewhere else to gain income. A good portion of the residents ranch or farm part time. Most raise cattle. Some of the residents that do farm have to deal with some un invited guests--no not people-- feral hogs. The feral hog population in the area has exploded, and all they do is destroy property and crops. Many of the farmers allow unrestricted hunting and trapping, but this barely makes a dent in the population of an animal that can reproduce every three months three weeks and three days. (Interview)

As far as stores go, there is only one in Moore, and it is a Diamond Shamrock. It’s more of a gas station than a grocery store, but it’s the only one in town.(Interview)

Moore does also have a Volunteer Fire Department. The fire department brings in some revenue from charges that are a yearly fee for fire services in the area. They also get money from fires in places where the yearly fee has not been paid; these charges are considerably more than the fees to encourage residents to pay the fee to begin with.(Interview)

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT STORIES:In early 1900s, the weekly newspaper, The Moore Model, was established. Some give 1904 as the year of it’s beginning period. From Mrs. Ben Young’s “Historical Memoirs of Moore” published in the Pearsall Leader of Pearsall in February, 1969, it is ascertained that H. E. Johnson owned the paper. Dan Huffer was the first editor, but soon quit to begin work for the Devine News. Ben Young, who was working on Mr. Johnson’s ranch, became the new editor. The Moore Model was published through 1912 by setting typed by hand on old-fashioned George Washington printing press. In an issue published in 1910, H.E. Johnson, who had the agency in at Moore in Pearsall, had a half page advertisement of Cadillac’s. His was the first car owned by a Moore resident. In 1916, the subscription to the paper was a buck a year. (Sketch pg11)

HISTORICAL LANDMARKS: The original post office was established as Moore’s Station on June 8, 1882. (Sketch pg.17)

Before this time the mail was delivered by riders from Benton City to Frio town. The postal department changed the name Moore’s Station to Moore Station, November 1892. Then on October 13, 1897 the name was changed to Moore. (Texas Handbook) List of Postmasters for Moore starting in 1882 and ending in 1962.(Sketch pg.17) Left Side Entry, Moore Memorial Cemetery

Left Side Entry, Moore Memorial Cemetery

Right Side Entry, Moore Memorial Cemetery

Moore has two cemeteries, both of which date back to the early 1890’s. The first of which is the Moore Memorial Cemetery, which is pictured above. According to one of the residents of Moore, William “Tun” Winters gave four acres of land for the Moore Cemetery, but in volume X, page 173 of the deed records this tract of land is approximately five acres, and was deeded to Moses Veith. The deed for the cemetery is dated August 25, 1896. Many pioneers, veterans from Indian fights, Civil War, World Wars I & II, and also the Vietnam War are buried here. A historical marker was dedicated on July 26, 1970. Mrs. Lula Harrison, a resident of Moore and descendent of the man who, in the story told by the resident, donated the land, unveiled the marker.(Sketch pg.124)

Historical Marker, Moore Memorial Cemetery

Land for a Mexican cemetery was given by Ben Duncan in the year 1902. This cemetery later was named the Catholic Cemetery but most of the older graves are that of Hispanics. Some were buried here before the land was given. The oldest legible grave stone is that of Christine Tehas, born in 1819 and died in 1894.

This cemetery was also given a historical marker which is pictured below. (Sketch pg.124)

As for a school system, Moore had three school buildings. The first school building was constructed some time in 1881 or 1882. A J.A.B. Harkness was paid $100 for building it. In an odd twist, a big cotton crop was produced in 1903, and many Mexican cotton pickers were brought in. it was believed that they brought yellow fever, there were 11 or 12 deaths. Because of this the school was closed and not opened until the fall of 1904. In the year 1916 there were five graduates from the Moore school. (Sketch pg.37)

UNUSUAL EVENTS:Some of the old settlers told a story that has been passed down, that there was once a shoot out in Moore. John Tomerlin and Jim Speed shot it out in the streets of Moore in true pioneer fashion of the old west. Tomerlin walked away, and Speed was given a funeral as the story goes. From what I could find no one can remember what they were fighting about, just that they fought. (Sketch pg.126) Rail Road Crossing F.M.462

Another more comical story that was found on the Texas Handbook web page, and found in other parts of my research starts with a man who was, as the story is told, was a Yankee, got on a train in West Texas and traveled for days across the state. After several days, the conductor came through the coach and called out “Moore, Texas.” The Yankee cried, “that’s too damn much Texas for me”. He got off the train and hanged himself. (Texas Handbook)

CONNECTIONS TO COURSE THEMES: You can see a connection to the course themes of this class in the race of this town. While Moore as the rest of the country has evolved from the time of slavery and segregation, at one time Moore did have separate schools for the white and Mexican children. There is no mention of a black school in my research but in later records after the schools were combined they do list blacks in attendance, but the numbers are very few. Though no definite dates could be found, the Mexican school was first housed in the Jesus Rodriquez Dance Hall somewhere between 1913 and 1915. The Mexican School was eventually joined with the main school in the 1930’s.

Another connection to our course themes are the war veterans. A lot of the residents of Moore served in the Civil War, World Wars I & II, and Vietnam. The cemeteries both have people that served and died in these wars buried in them

FUTURE PROSPECTS:Moore itself has a good number of younger residents, but when these people graduate most do not stay in Moore. Out of the people that move to Moore every year, a large part of them are retirees or older. So the future of the town is kind of unknown, some think it will continue to grow gradually, but the growth of permanent residents will remain to be older people. (Interview)

Photographs of Moore, Texas

Moore,Texas

Interview with Jim Prue and Richard Muzquiz

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Historical Sketch of Moore, Texas; Historical Committee: Mr. J. Otis Jones, Mrs. Ora C. Littleton, Mrs. T.E. Terry, and Mrs. J. E. Fargason - This book was extremely helpful to my research; it was written by the residents of Moore and covers everything from the start of the town until 1971. The bulk of my information was gathered from this and the next two sources.

The Texas Handbook Online – This site was very helpful with names and dates, but the dates in this site did seem to conflict with dates in other parts of my research.

Interview with Jim Prue and Richard Muzquiz – Jim and Richard were extremely helpful in my research. They were both very knowledgeable and eager to help. They made parts of this project enjoyable.

www.wikipeda.org – This site is a free online source, and has helpful information on just about anything you can think of. It was very good for making informative links for this research.

www.city-data.com - This site was ok. It gave good stats on the town of Moore, but that was about it.

Contact Info.

Anthony Bollman - abollman@mail.accd.edu

Return to Small Town Research Projects Index