In the way of an introduction to the following article, which is largely based upon the economic status of Cisco, Texas, in the period from 1887 to 1890, the reader must first be aware of the national economic status of the United States for its first 100 years. You may know that at the end of the American Revolution, the infant United States had incurred a debt of $75 million. This was the reason that land was advertised for sale in Europe for the opening of the NW Ordinance in the year 1787—the same year that US Constitution was written. A five state area was later carved out of this same territory— Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Other economic crises or panics occurred in 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893. After the Civil War from 1864 to 1894 there was a great period of growth and development, accompanied by many inventions. Again, land was sold, this time with the Homestead Act of the 1860s, and settlement of the West was made possible by four Transcontinental Railroads. Those rails crossed to form the town of Cisco in 1881.
Cisco had drawn settlers from diverse backgrounds. In 1884 a train load of German settlers arrived in Cisco. Others came from many Southern states with ancestors who originated in many European countries. Some could trace their lineage back to Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred. The town had developed substantially in only six years. In 1887 one of the first sites for the United States Geological Survey in Texas was camping and had erected a derrick three miles from Cisco on the Carbon road. They were removing to their next site near Putnam and then headed toward Brownwood (Dallas Morning News, September 8, 1887; give credit to J. C. Mc-Daniel for his research) A week later, the DMN reported that the Texas Central was getting out some of the finest building stone within three miles of Cisco, for the Union Depot at Houston. (credit given to J. C. McDaniel for research) By January 23, 1888, Cisco had led the state in the shipment of pecans for the year (credit given to J. C. McDaniel). On February 9, 1888 the largest skeleton ever heard of in those parts had been discovered 20 miles SE of Cisco (credit to J. C. McDaniel). Oil had been discovered near Brownwood in 1888 and shortly after that near Comanche. The Dallas Morning News reported on March 25, 1888, that Cisco was becoming an Oil Shipping Center (credit to J. C. McDaniel’s research).
Does history repeat itself? Maybe so. According to the Dallas Morning News, June 25, 1888, A Violent Wind Storm Did Considerable Damage to Cisco, Texas. “A hard rain, accompanied by severe wind storm, blew up this afternoon at 8:00 and lasted about three-fourths of an hour. Several houses were blown down— the skating rink, John J. Patterson and Co.’s warehouse, Capt. Whiteside’s stable and Perry Pascall’s stable. A vacant tenant house in the south part of the city was lifted off its foundation breaking he chimney to pieces. Fences, signs and goods boxes were blown down and lifted into the streets and trees torn up by the roots. The derrick of the artesian well was also blown down. Nobody was hurt.”
