Thurber Historical Association Records
1888-1992
Accession Number: 93-40
Collection Number: AR399
Prepared by Sandi Ramos
August 1997
CITATION: Thurber Historical Association Records, AR399, Box number, Folder number, Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.
The Thurber Historical Association traces its origins to the loosely organized, informal reunions of Thurber residents and their descendants in the late 1920’s. The Thurber Historical Association was officially incorporated on February 27, 1969. The majority of its members continue to be descendants of the coal miners who worked the Thurber mines from the late 1880’s until the mid-1920’s.
The agenda of the Thurber Historical Association has grown to include much more than reunions, which it still holds on an annual basis. The Thurber Historical Association actively endeavors to restore, preserve, and promote the history of Thurber, Texas, and the role the history of this once prosperous Texas boomtown plays in the overall history of the United States. Two of its most active members are Ruby Schmidt, historian and genealogist and the source of these records, and Dr. Leo Bielinski, who has spent many hours writing and preserving local history.
Once a major bituminous coal producing town in Texas, Thurber grew to be a thriving boomtown between 1918-1921. The largely migratory population of this town has been estimated at 10,000 at the height of Thurber’s coal production in 1920-21. Coal was first discovered in Thurber, Texas, by William Whipple Johnson in the mid-1800’s. Johnson experienced many labor difficulties with the widely diverse ethnic groups that worked the mines and the ever present unions attempting to organize them, and it was only after the mining operation was sold to the Texas & Pacific Coal Company in 1888, with the anti-union stance of its president Robert Dickey Hunter, that Thurber would reach its prominence as a bituminous coal producer. The boomtown of Thurber would be a wholly owned company town until the union finally organized the miners in 1903 after lengthy negotiations with W. K. Gordon, Sr., who was the manager of the operation in Thurber for the Texas & Pacific Coal Company at that time.
The history of Thurber, Texas, is more than a look at the tumultuous coal market of the early twentieth century, it is also a case study in the labor practices of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company and the practices of the labor unions that struggled for power in this small central Texas town. The growth of Thurber, and its lightening quick demise after the discovery of oil in nearby Ranger, Texas, have left a rich legacy of Texas history whose preservation and promotion is the primary focus of the Thurber Historical Association.
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Arranged alphabetically and thereunder chronologically. Material includes some administrative records; biographical information; correspondence and documentation relating to the efforts of the Thurber Historical Association to preserve and promote the history of Thurber, Texas; photocopies of photographs depicting Thurber, Texas, around the turn of the twentieth century; and written memoirs of residents of Thurber, Texas, at the height of its mining operations.
Arranged alphabetically and thereunder chronologically. Material includes articles and newspaper clippings relating to Thurber, Texas; a partial 1910 census; maps depicting Thurber, Texas; minutes of a meeting of the stockholders of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company; and numerous artifacts from Thurber, Texas, at the time of its prominence.
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The Thurber Historical Association Records are contained in two document boxes and one oversize folder. There are two series consisting of twenty-eight folders.
Series I consists of a few administrative records of the Thurber Historical Association and brief biographies of Ruby Schmidt and Leo Bielinski. This series also includes correspondence written and received by Ruby Schmidt, which reflects the efforts of the Thurber Historical Association to chronicle and publicize the history of Thurber, Texas, and photocopies of photographs depicting Thurber, Texas, at the height of its prosperity. Personal memoirs make up two folders in this series and provide a unique look into Thurber life at the turn of the twentieth century.
Series II consists of articles and newspaper clippings relating to the unique history of Thurber, Texas, as well as numerous artifacts collected by the Thurber Historical Association from the days of Thurber’s prominence as a coal mining operation. A partial copy of the 1910 census is included which lists the citizens of Thurber, Texas, at that time. This series also includes the minutes of a meeting of the stockholders of the Texas & Pacific Coal Company dated 1888. The minutes reflect the economic and labor related issues the stockholders faced.
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The materials included in the Thurber Historical Association Records were in the possession of Ruby Schmidt until they were officially deeded to The University of Texas at Arlington. The Thurber Historical Association Records were transferred to The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections Division on August 2, 1993. The donation was negotiated by Jane Boley, Special Collections archivist, and accessioned by Sandi Ramos. The collection was acknowledged by Dr. Gerald D. Saxon.
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Permission to publish, copy, reprint, digitize, orally record for transmission over public or private airways, or use in any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures, must be obtained in writing from the Special Collections Division of The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.
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Researchers should be aware of the extensive amount of material pertaining to the history of Thurber and the oil industry in Texas available in the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University. The Nita Haley Memorial Library in Midland, Texas, is also a point of interest to the researcher interested in the history of Thurber, Texas. There are also a number of photographs of Thurber, Texas, at the Tarleton State University Library as well as related collections in the Special Collections Division here at The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, in particular the W. K. Gordon, Sr. Papers, AR401.
One of the most interesting aspects of Thurber history is its quick demise brought on by the discovery of oil in nearby Ranger, Texas. The role the discovery of oil at the McCleskey farm in Ranger on October 17, 1921, had in the sudden death of what was then the thriving boomtown of Thurber should not be overlooked.
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Box 1
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 2
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
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