One of the bigger cities on our journey north on US 287 is Wichita Falls. It's the county seat of Wichita County. Located near the Oklahoma border, it's known as the Gateway to Texas.
I read a rumor that the land upon which the town of Wichita Falls was established was won in a poker game by John Scott in 1837. Years later, his heirs found the deed in his papers and promptly followed up. They had the town platted along the Wichita River.
In 1876, the platted town included a small waterfall that was eventually washed away by the river. These fake falls were installed later. I had to get the photo off the internet because the falls had been turned off for repair.
The original settlers built their homes and then moved on. The Barwise family from Dallas are considered the first permanent settlers coming in 1878 to check things out and returning to stay. The town didn't really get started until the Fort Worth & Denver Railway came to town. As the tracks were being laid through Decatur and Bowie, the team realized they were off course from having the line go through Wichita Falls. JH Barwise donated the land and in 1882, the the first train came through town. This was the Union Depot which was torn down in 1968 when passenger traffic really slowed down.
This is the Wichita Falls Depot built in 1909 for the Kemp and Kell Railroad. Now it's the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum. It was founded in 1980 and is only open on Saturdays. Bummer because they have cool trains that you can go into as well as the building.
Downtown Wichita Falls. No cool postcard mural but they have this instead. The town was incorporated in 1889 and became the county seat for Wichita County. The railroad companies just kept coming! There were five more railroads that came through town making Wichita Falls a transportation hub for North Texas and Oklahoma.
The Wichita Theater was originally an opera house that was built in 1908. In 1934 it was renovated to become a movie theater which closed in 1980. Now it's a live performance theater.
J.A. Kemp was one of the town's most prominent promoters. He arrived in Wichita Falls in 1882 and opened a dry goods store. Then in 1892, he erected this building near the railroad tracks. JA Kemp Wholesale Grocery was housed here until about 1927 when it closed. The Industrial Supply Company occupied this building during the oil boom of the 1930s and continued to provide petroleum products for the next 34 years.
This is the United States Post Office and Courthouse in Wichita Falls. It was built in the 1930s. Today, the Post Office occupies the first floor and the upper floors house luxury apartments.
As I mentioned, Wichita Falls is the county seat of Wichita County. This was the second county courthouse (the first being a log cabin of sorts) built in 1886. Wichita Falls outgrew this courthouse by 1916 and it was demolished to make way for the new one.
The third county courthouse was built in 1916. It looks really cool.
Then this happened. It's the same courthouse but it got a tragic makeover in the 1960s.
This is the Frank Kell house. Remember J.A. Kemp who owned the wholesale grocery? Frank Kell was his brother-in-law and another prominent businessman in the early days of Wichita Falls. The house was built in 1909 and remained in the family for the next 70 years. Now it's a museum but it's currently closed for renovations.
This is the Newby-McMahon building aka The World's Littlest Skyscraper. In 1912, oil was discovered around Wichita Falls and the town grew in importance. Deals were made on the street because they lacked office space. A guy named J.D. McMahon decided to add a "skyscraper" to the existing Newby building. He got $200,000 from investors (about $3.7M today) and built this. He was sued and won because of one little typo in the contract. It said the building would be 480" not 480'. Inches, not feet. Originally, there weren't even stairs! You had to use a ladder to climb to the upper floors. Meanwhile, JD took his money and left. I don't think it's anything now but it was a small shop for a while but the space inside is unusable for offices. A staircase was added and it takes up room. Now it's a historical monument.
I'm a fan of Bonnie and Clyde lore. I know they were bad people, killers even but I still find it fascinating. This is Riverside Grocery and Market. The lower floor was a grocery store and the upper floor had room to let. It's a rumor that Bonnie and Clyde hid out here
It's a pretty remote location now but I imagine back then, it was a great place to lay low. They didn't ever have to seen anyone, just go up those side stairs, maybe park in back. I would love to have gone in there but it doesn't appear to be a going concern. I read that it was a barbeque place now and you can see the sign but I don't think it was there anymore.
Wichita Falls was a bit of a surprise. I enjoyed our time there. We stopped at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art on the campus of Midwestern State University. We drove around downtown and checked out all the cool buildings. They had one other museum downtown, a history museum, but it wasn't open until Thursday.
There are 102K people that live in this city. It's the 43rd largest city in Texas. The biggest employer is Sheppard Air Force Base followed by the Wichita Falls ISD. Other big employers include Midwestern State University and Walmart.
They've got all the big restaurant chains and fast food places along with your mid-level hotel chains. I actually liked Wichita Falls more than I thought I would. But don't take my word for it. Check it out!
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