Information about Merkel from the MerkelTexas.com
website:
S. M. Merkel gave to us our beginning setting up home in the
small village. In 1882 the first post office was established as
well as the first church, a Methodist church organized by Rev. R.
F. Dunn. 1884 saw the first public school created as Merkel Common
School District Number 11, and in 1885 the first public school
building built on the corner of Runnels and North Second Street
with donations of lumber, hardware and labor. Merkel's beginning is
generally associated with the coming of the railroad which reached
Abilene in 1881 and moved to Merkel soon after.
The people came to the Merkel area, first drifting into the area
as hunters, then settling along the creeks and waterways. Some came
for land, some came for adventure, and some came for health
reasons. Most that came seeking homes and a better way of life
stayed to settle the little community grow. Churches, schools,
farms, ranches, and other business were a part of the little
village of Merkel, a shipping point on the Texas and Pacific
Railroad, more than twenty years before it became an incorporated
city on June 26, 1906.
1889 Western Normal and Commercial College were charted and G.
F. West bought the store from Mr. Kennan to begin West Hardware Co.
M. J. Cox edited March 20, 1890 the first issue of the Merkel Mail.
In addition, in 1890 the first lumber company opened by J. S.
Barnes, and C. M. Largent arrived to open a grocery store. With
cotton farming beginning, Mr. Blanchard built the first cotton gin
in 1893. John P. Hamm bought the first car in Merkel, a Pope Toledo
Steam Car.
Farmers and Merchants National Bank opened with T. J. Warren as
the president in 1904, and the first ice plant built by J. C. Hamm.
In addition, that year the Opera House built of native mountain
stone by O. C. Sheppard.
1905 was a busy year with the first brass band organized, with
instruments ordered from Sears Roebuck, Merkel Bottling Plant
operating and J. D. Berry opening a nursery. Clark and Simmons
opened the first steam laundry, and Berry and Craig operated the
first skating rink.
In 1915 the first light plant was built by Hoff and Harris, then
purchased by John and Frank Hamm who sold it to West Texas
Utilities that same year. T. G. Bragg from Hillsboro, in 1916,
bought interest in Woodruff Brothers Store, which later became
Bragg Department Store. Max Mellinger opened a dry goods store in
1920.
John Shannon builds the first swimming pool in a dirt tank in 1923.
He later built in 1928 a concrete swimming pool fed by the cold
well water which entertained many Merkelites.
The oil boom started in the area in 1926 with the Noodle Dome
Oil Field opening in the area.
1940, Taylor Electric Co-Operative was organized to provide
electricity to the outlying rural areas. Today Taylor Electric
Co-Op services part of 9 counties.
About 1926, Dr. Robert Grimes opened a hospital in Merkel and
was later joined by Dr. W. T. Sadler. Dr. Sadler later built a
29-bed hospital he operated until it closed in the 1960's, then
continued his, practice in the clinic area. Dr. Donald Warren, a
hometown boy, also practices until his death. Dr. Thuy Tran, M.D.
took over their practice's, In 1996, Merkel Medical Clinic,
sponsored by Abilene Regional Hospital and First Med sponsored by
Hendrick Medical Center opened in 1996 and operated by Physician
Assistants to assist with medical treatment.
Once known as a city with many cotton gins, Merkel now has only
one gin, the Farmers Co-Op Gin. The Co-Op was first formed in 1933
by a group of farmers who felt that all of their cotton seed plus a
fee of five-cents-a-pound was too high a price to pay for having
cotton ginned.
The Merkel Chamber of Commerce was organized November 15, 1955.
One of the first projects of the Chamber of Commerce was to sponsor
the celebration of Merkel's 75th year and it's 50th year as an
incorporated city highlighted by the production of the CAVALCADE OF
MERKEL by local talent. In 1981 the Chamber sponsored a
celebration--the centennial of the founding of Merkel and it's 75th
year as an incorporated city.
The early settlers of Merkel were men and women of Christian
character and felt the need of religious worship to enrich their
lives spiritually and to encourage them as they went about their
daily task. The churches have grown steadily through the years from
a meager beginning of seven members of the first church to a great
increase in August, 1915, when a two-week community-wide revival
was held in a tent. Three hundred twenty-five were converted.
The Methodist Church was organized in 1882 with seven members.
Next organized was Grace Presbyterian Church in 1886. First Baptist
Church was organized in 1885 with nine members. The first
congregation of the Church of Christ met in 1903. Calvary Baptist
was organized in 1931, the Assembly of God in 1945, and the
Catholic church was formed in 1919.
As settlers came into the country, schools, and churches were
organized. School teachers usually lived with one of the farm
families during the school year renting a room. School was
centrally located as students came from all directions, perhaps
walking as far as two miles one way. Most of the schools started as
one-teacher schools and as population increased, larger buildings
were built.
According to the late Mrs. H. C. Reid, author of "History of the
Merkel School", the first classes were held in a box car which also
served as a post office, a church, a telegraph stations, and a
railway station. Records in the county court house in Abilene, in
1896-97 school term Merkel had a September balance of $58.68,
received $49.68 on county school land note, $10.00 from Tent school
for seats, and enough from State Funds to make a total of
$1,394.68. Today the Merkel School ISD has a budget over $8 million
dollars. A new 500 student High School was completed with classes
starting the 96-97 school year. Junior High students moved to the
former high school building, built in the early 1980's, and the
elementary was divided with fourth and fifth grades becoming
Intermediate moving into the Junior High building. Merkel ISD also
completed a new multiple purpose track, baseball field, and
softball field during this rebuilding period.
Merkel ISD comprises a large area and has absorbed all or part
of the many early day schools through consolidation. Some of the
schools in this consolidation were Mulberry Canyon, Butman, White
Church, Nubia, IXL, Castle Peak, Blair, Mt. Pleasant, and Cross
Roads, Noodle-Horn, Union Ridge, Warren, Salt Branch, Stith,
Mulberry Flats and Tye.
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