FIRST -- Telephone in Jeff Davis County, Fort Davis TX
N 30° 35.300 W 103° 53.576
13R E 606141 N 3384502
The first telephone in Jeff Davis County operated out of the Union Mercantile store in downtown Fort Davis
Waymark Code: WMTY4E
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/22/2017
Views: 4
A state historic marker fixed to the former union mercantile store, today the Jeff Davis County library, preserves the history of the store, which operated the first telephone in Jeff Davis County via barbed-wire telephone lines that ran to area ranches.
A pretty ingenious use of the local resources, since every ranch in the area would have an ample supply of barbed wire.
The marker reads as follows:
"UNION MERCANTILE
Founded 1873 by O. M. Keesey and Geo. Gaither in adobe building on this site. Later owned by W. Keesey, an Army baker, who sold clothing, groceries, cradles, guns, whiskey, coffins, tobacco, spittoons, wagonwheels, and harness, and did private banking. First telephone in county operated out of store via barbed wire line to ranches.
In 1906 he replaced the adobe with this stone structure that was bought by T. T. Kelly, 1964.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965"
We found a cached copy online of a history of the Jeff Davis County Library, the former Union Mercantile:
"A Brief History of the Jeff Davis County Library -
W. Keesey - Union Mercantile Building
This building affectionately known as the Union has been the heart of Fort Davis for well over 100 years. As the principal and at times only general mercantile establishment, it was the first stop for newcomers to the area, for ranch families on their infrequent trips to town and for townspeople. Although Fort Davis had newspapers at intervals over the years, they were really unnecessary. All news (and rumors) passed first through the Union. Many newcomers found employment here – both from Whittaker Keesey and the Union Trading Co., and many were loaned money.
Whittaker Keesey was born in Ohio in 1843, his father went to California as a teamster in 1851 and was never heard from again. This left the family of 5 or 6 children in extreme poverty so young “Whit” apprenticed himself to a baker. Later he served for 23 months during the Civil War and was discharged as a Sergeant from the 5th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. In February 1867 he was hired by Gen. J.S. Mason to care for Mason’s two small boys and three horses on their move from Ohio to San Antonio. He was then employed as a laborer by Col. Wesley Merritt for the reoccupation and rebuilding of Fort Davis. Quartermaster returns for the1870s list Whittaker Keesey as a Master Carpenter. He probably also served as a baker on the post. About 1870, his older brother Otis M. Keesey – called “Oat,” joined him in Fort Davis.
In October 1875, W. Keesey patented from the state of Texas the block extending from the Union on the east all the way to the courthouse on the west. However, actual occupation generally occurred two or three years before deeds were recorded in Austin. In October 1875, W. Keesey gave one acre on the northwest corner of this patent to the new county for a courthouse and jail. About 1878-1879, he donated land for the Fort Davis school (present site of the Fort Davis Junior and High Schools) – located just west of the courthouse. In 1884, he also gave part of this land for the Methodist Church site and in 1910 for the Fort Davis State Bank -“Oddfellows” building.
On December 21, 1876, W. Keesey formally granted his brother O.M. Keesey, who was the first County Judge of both “Old” Presidio County and later Jeff Davis County, permission to build a house and corral and to sell all kinds of general merchandise and liquor on the northeast corner of this block. It was in operation for ten years. This was only a legality as O.M. Keesey had opened his store and saloon in 1873.
By 1879, the store is referred to as Keesey Brothers in the “Old” Presidio County Commissioner’s Court minutes. The county, still without a courthouse or jail, regularly used the store (probably the basement) for detaining shackled prisoners and would continue to do so until mid-1880 when the first courthouse and dungeon jail were finished. By this time the store had become simply W. Keesey & Co.
During the late 1880s, the center of the town shifted from around the post to the new courthouse and Keesey’s store. W. Keesey’s establishment quickly became the largest general mercantile in the Trans Pecos and Keesey became a wealthy man. The time period at which the separate “Gentleman’s Bar” or saloon was built, is unknown. Otis Keesey certainly sold all kinds of liquor, but the high class Gentleman’s Bar, somewhat modeled on a gentleman’s club, was definitely Whittaker Keesey’s addition. It soon became a popular hangout for both the gentlemen of the area and the officers of the post. The bar closed down in June 1901.
One of the very first telephone exchanges took place in the store sometime between 1889 and 1892, while it was also serving as a U.S. Post Office. At that time, O.M. Keesey was Postmaster. The store served as a post office again for a period of four or five years beginning around 1913, and Alice Sproul was Postmaster. The door on the north side was the main entrance during this time.
W. Keesey also served as banker for the entire area and his store was the County Depository for Jeff Davis County until 1906. It has been said that at one time or another, nearly everyone in the county borrowed money from W. Keesey. Many accounts were still current at the time of this death in 1918.
On January 1, 1908 he sold the Fort Davis store to the Union Trading Co. for $17,000. Principal directors were H.A. King, Nick Mersfelder, J.W. Merrill, D. Noble, R.S. Sproul, E.P. Webster, and J.P. Weatherby. By December 1908, W.S. Miller, who had worked in W. Keesey’s Valentine store bought out the shares of one of the lesser stockholders and thereafter the Union literally belonged to J.P. Weatherby who handled the books (and was County Judge from 1895 until 1915), and W.S. Miller who handled the merchandise.
Like Keesey before them, the Union handled every kind of merchandise imaginable, if they did not have what was wanted, they would order it – groceries, house wares, clothing, guns and ammunition, hardware, lumber, windmills, wagons, coffins, you name it, everything but liquor. The Union Trading Co. never dealt in booze. Ladies clothing was ordered from Marshall Fields in Chicago and was the latest fashion.
One interesting feature was a long partition out from the south wall of the north wing. This partition had floor to ceiling shelves and was the shoe department. A tall sliding ladder mounted on tracks provided access to the higher shelves.
On Christmas mornings Weatherby and Miller would go down to the store and open up. All of the children of the town were then invited in the front door and given a small toy – little bisque dolls for the girls and a ball or top for the boys, and usually an orange which was a rare treat for most of them. As each child received his present, he or she was then ushered out the back door into the yard to play. After the last child had passed through the front, the back gate was opened and the youngsters turned loose. This prevented any child from sneaking around and going through the line twice.
The Union Trading Co. also extended credit to almost anyone. Bills usually went out only once a year in the fall, when ranchers had just sold their cattle. The Limpia Banking Co. was established in 1911 and operated out of the Union. A number of its stockholders were also stockholders in the Fort Davis State Bank, which had been organized the previous year. The Limpia Banking Co. served as the County Depository from 1917 until 1940.
The Union Trading Co. purchased two Studebaker trucks circa 1911 and thereafter Felipe Dominquez and the Union truck was a common site around town delivering groceries and other merchandise. After the arrival of telephones, it was common for the ladies in town to call in their orders early in the morning and they would be delivered in time to prepare dinner. The Union’s wagons and later truck, with Felipe as the driver also served as the town hearse until well into the 1940s. In 1913, the Union Trading Co. bought land from Daniel Murphy and built the Limpia Hotel.
W.S. Miller died in 1936, and J.P. Weatherby in 1940. The Union Trading Co. and hotel were sold in April 1940 to Ben Morris and Paul and Todd McWhorter for $18,000. Morris and McWhorter operated primarily a grocery store until July 1950 when they sold the store property to Tyrone Kelly and Sid Bouchette for the hardware / lumber business which they called the Union Mercantile.
Kelly bought out Bouchette in 1961 but the Union continued to be the heart of Fort Davis. People called on Kelly for any and every problem. Kelly sold the business to Bob Dillard and Bill Miller in 1983 and leased them the building. They remained in business until 1989. Kelly’s estate sold the building to Donald Judd in 1990. Jeff Davis County purchased the building from Judd’s estate in 1994.
In November 1999, after extensive renovations it became the Jeff Davis County Library."
FIRST - Classification Variable: Item or Event
Date of FIRST: 01/01/1889
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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