County of Building: Gray County
Location of Building: 116 S. Cuyler St., Pampa
Built: 1916
Historic Marker Erected by: State Historical Survey Committee
Date Marker Erected: 1970
Marker Text:
WHITE DEER LAND BUILDING
Erected in 1916
Houses property records of the White Deer Land Company (1886-1957), one of the strongest commercial influences in settlement of the Texas Panhandle.
Organized from wreckage of the bankrupt Francklyn Land and Cattle Company - whose chief stockholder was Lord Rosebery, Prime Minister of England - the White Deer Company developed during widespread British speculation in Texas cattle and ranching, 1870s-80s.
At its beginning, the London-financed and Wall-Street-Based Trust owned land equal in area to the state of Rhode Island. These 631,000 acres lay in Gray, Roberts, Carson, and Hutchinson Counties.
The Company (Managed by George Tyng, T.D. Hobart, C.P. Buckler, and M.K. Brown) surveyed the land, laid out farms and ranches, sank wells, built hundreds of miles of wire fence, and aided civic projects. During the disastrous drouth [sic] of 1910, it made available to local farmers $100,000 in loans to buy wheat seed.
Upon discovery of oil on White Deep land in 1921, the firm made vast gains by retaining half of the mineral rights on remaining land sold. It was liquidated in 1957. This building has also housed a Masonic Lodge, Post Office, medical and dental offices, and has accommodated religious services.
(1970)
Today:
"In Pampa, the White Deer Land Museum is located in the two-story 1916 building that was the last headquarters of the White Deer Land Co. (1886-1957), organized after English bondholders foreclosed on the Francklyn Land and Cattle Co., formed in 1882 with some 631,000 acres in what became Gray, Roberts, Carson and Hutchinson Counties. The company was a strong influence in settlement of the area, under managers George Tyng, T. D. Hobart, C. P. Buckler, and M. K. Brown.
"The museum, organized in 1970, offers a glimpse into the region’s past through numerous exhibits located in dozens of rooms oif the 1916 building. The adjacent Holland Wing at 112 S. Cuyler was remodeled in 1995., and in the annex at 124 S. Cuyler (acquired in 1988 and remodeled in 2007), the Red River War receives special attention, with displays feature Native American groups and military battles in the area as well as one of the largest collections of Red River War artifacts on display in the Texas Panhandle." ~ Texas Plains Trail