Fred Rider Cotten - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Handbook of Texas Online has a good biography: (visit link)

Fred Rider Cotten, businessman and local historian, the son of J.T. and Sarah Ida (Rider) Cotten, was born on June 21, 1894, in Weatherford, Texas. After graduating from Weatherford High School he attended the University of Texas, where he was managing editor of the Daily Texan. He graduated from UT and remained in Austin to study law, then took a job as a legal aid in the Department of Justice in Washington. Among his first assignments was an investigation of the German torpedoing of the British luxury liner Lusitania in 1915.

When his father died, Cotten abandoned his legal career and returned to Weatherford to assume the responsibilities of managing his father's undertaking business and furniture store. He rarely sent out bills, never imposed a carrying charge on his customers, and often accepted one-dollar payments from families who drove into town to update their accounts. He refused to sell furniture that he believed was cheaply made and would not last. For years he was the Democratic chairman of Precinct Four in Weatherford. He was city commissioner during the Great Depression and worked diligently to establish a local public works authority. His efforts enabled many persons to find employment during the 1930s and provided the city with newly paved streets. As a city official Cotten borrowed money to help provide facilities the town needed and secured the loans by his personal note. It reportedly took him twenty years to retire the debt he incurred during the depression years.

Cotten's interest in his native town extended to its history as well. Gradually his library grew to include a vast amount of literature on the history of Texas and on the growth of Weatherford and Parker County. In 1962 he was elected president of the Texas State Historical Association. At various other times he held the presidencies of the West Texas Historical Association, the Texas Funeral Directors' Association, the Texas Retail Furniture Dealers' Association, and the Texas Swine Breeders' Association. Cotten died on September 7, 1974, at Harris Hospital in Fort Worth and was buried in Weatherford. He was survived by his wife, Mary (Akard), a son, and a daughter.

Marker Number: 17010 Marker Text: (1894-1974) Fred Rider Cotten was born to James Taylor and Sarah Ida (Rider) Cotten in Weatherford. In 1917, he completed a law degree at the Univ. of Texas. After returning to his hometown with his wife, Mary Virginia (Akard), and two children, Cotten ran the family furniture store, his swine farm, a funeral home, and Oakland Cemetery. In the 1930s, Cotten oversaw Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects such as the building of a new city hall and a major street renovation. He was, at one time or another, president of the Texas Swine Breeders, Texas Retail Furniture Dealers, Texas Funeral Directors, West Texas Historical, and Texas State Historical Associations, as well as the first president of the Parker County Historical Commission. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011 Marker is Property of the State of Texas

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