Corner of Texas Hwy 71 and Texas
Hwy 111
MIDFIELD, TEXAS
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If anyone has an old picture or
story about the store, or Midfield in general, let us know and we’ll add it to
this page …
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The following account was taken verbatim from an old book I have, Historic Matagorda County, published in 1986. Some of the story is written in the present tense, so when it refers to current stuff, you need to remember when it was written. Hopefully, we can add to it over time. This old town has a lot of history! The author of this article was Violet M. Brhlik and Bill’s Steak House was still around when she wrote it … MIDFIELD, TEXAS: Midfield was so named because it was in the midst of open fields
practically equal distance from Ganado to the west, El Campo to the north,
Bay City to the east, and Palacios to the south. The townsite
was laid out and subdivided by Curley C. Duson, Sr., of El Campo in 1903.
Duson was one of the promoters of the Southern Pacific Railway from Wharton
to Palacios; the train made its first run July 1, 1903. For many years the
postal department called the town “Midfields”, but they were finally
persuaded to drop the plural and call it “Midfield” to agree with the
original name and the name used by the railroad company. The main public road
from Bay City to Palacios was through Midfield and was an all
dirt road for many years. The first hotel was built
and owned by Duson and opened for business in 1903. It was managed by Ben
Kuykendall and his sister, “Miss Emma”, both old-time residents of the Tres Palacios community. Other hotels were operated by
Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Keller, Mrs. Lizzie Reeves, Mr. and Mrs. Nutt, and later
by Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Skinner. The Keller Hotel was torn down and the material
used to build the residence where Mr. and Mrs. Keller lived on State Highway
111 in Midfield. The first general
merchandise store was opened in 1903 by Bard and Shannon of Ganado. Living
quarters were above the store which was in a two-story building situated on
the west side of Juanita Avenue, the main street. They also built a large hay
barn, as buying and shipping prairie hay was a profitable industry. Nolan Keller and his son
N.F. (Pete) Keller built a store, which opened for business in 1904, and had
living quarters above the store. N.F. Keller was the first postmaster and the
post office was in his store. The post office was a welcome service, since,
prior to that time, mail had been taken by horse and buggy from El Campo to
the Hawley post office where residents from this area received their mail.
Other postmasters serving Midfield were: Ernest Anderson; Elva Wyona (Dee) Cornelius, postmaster in charge; Alice
Keller; Nancy E. Cornelius; Mattie N. Hurta, who
retired in 1983; and the present postmaster, Collene
Vavra. About 1904 Grant Lumber
Company opened a lumber yard. There was a two-story W.O.W. building on the
west side of Juanita Avenue. Among the first homes built were ones for D.E.
Mead, manager for Grant Lumber Company, and J.L. Blair, a carpenter. Both of
these homes have been remodeled and are still in Midfield – one a rent house
owned by Mrs. Fred Cornelius and the other owned by Martha Richardson. Malcolm Owen, born in 1904
to Mr. and Mrs. George W. Owen, was the first child born in Midfield. Duson
gave the Owen family a lot on which to build a home. The school term of 1908-09
was in a one-room building in the country about one and one-half miles east
of Midfield. The first school in the town of Midfield was during the term of
1909-10. Both terms were taught by Knox M. Aikin.
The seats were homemade, and the students sat two at each desk. A nice two-room schoolhouse
was erected in 1911, and the teachers that year were Rosina
Montier and Bertha Harris, both of Bay City. The
building was later enlarged to four classrooms with an auditorium on the second
floor. This school building was destroyed by fire in 1929, and another
building was erected in 1930. It is no longer used. Two brick buildings were
erected on the east side of Juanita Avenue in 1911. One was a store building
operated as a general merchandise by Coffee and Son. Later the store and
building were purchased by F. Cornelius, Sr., who continued the operation
under the management of Fred Cornelius and Nina Hoffhines.
Other persons who operated a store in this building were Mr. and Mrs. Harvey
Clapp, R.E. Coffin, and H.T. Anderson. The building has since been torn down. The other brick building
housed the Midfield State Bank which operated from 1911 to 1915 with W.B. Gaumer, president; J.R. Green, vice-president; and B.W. Trull, cashier. From 1915 until 1948, B.W. Trull maintained his office in this building and a feed
and hardware store in an adjoining building. He also had a service station
which was hand-operated. Trull hired a crew which
cut and baled prairie hay, shipping many carloads by rail each year. James S.
Williams was foreman for hay making and later was manager of rice farming and
the Farmers Canal Company irrigation system. Beginning in 1918, Violet M. Brhlik was secretary and bookkeeper for B.W. Trull. E.C. Hoffhines and C.W.
Nester were managers of the feed and hardware store at different times. This
brick building housed the post office until recently when a new post office
building was erected, and the old building torn down. There was another grocery
store operated by Frank Dunn, and a blacksmith shop operated by B. Lemcke. William Mullens
operated a garage and filling station. F.J. Trojcak
and J.W. Bures had a grocery store on Juanita
Avenue, but later built and operated a grocery store and filling station at
the junction of State Highways 71 and 111, which is now Bill’s Grocery. Trojcak also bought cotton. Mr. and Mrs. William Malcik owned and operated a store on this site for
several years before it was acquired by W.E. Richardson. There were four Fortenberry brothers – James, Forest, Idle, and Henry –
and their sister Annie (Mrs. Guy) Brinkley, who lived in Midfield. Jim Fortenberry had mules and fresnos
with which he built roads and did other dirt-moving work in early years. He
also had a crew which cut and baled prairie hay, shipping it to market by
rail. Jim also engaged in cattle raising. Fred and Dee Cornelius were truly a ranching couple, devoted to that industry. In
addition to being a rancher’s wife, Dee spent much time working in
organizations for the improvement and preservation of health and family life,
and in community development. Stock pens for use in
loading cattle in railroad cars were serviced by a side track in the
southwest area of the Midfield townsite. In 1917 J.B. Bures and his wife, Theresa, with her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Paul Brhlik and family, Frank, Emelie, and Augusta, moved to Midfield from Colorado
County. A few years later, B.W. Trull and J.B. Bures sold farms to a number of families in this area and
dry crop farming became a more active industry. This provided a need for
another industry. Koerth Gin Company built and
operated a cotton gin with M.A. Hanys as first
manager. There was a Methodist
congregation which had services in the Hawley Church, previously called
Deming’s Bridge Church. Mr. and Mrs. W.K. Keller and George Duffy were
members of the Hawley Methodist Church who transferred to the Midfield
Methodist Church. They with other residents in the Midfield area organized
and had services in the dining room of the hotel owned by Mr. and Mrs. W.K.
Keller. These members donated $200 and had ice cream suppers when Burton D. Hurd brought train loads of home seekers to Midfield.
They had other fundraising events, amassing over $1,200, so the church
building and furnishings were completed in 1907. F. Cornelius, Sr., donated a
bell for the church. The first minister to serve
was the Reverend N.W. Carter who came from Palacios and preached once each
month. Students from the Baptist College in Palacios held services once each
month. A parsonage was built in Midfield for the minister and his family. He
drove to Markham and Francitas for services, until
a parsonage was furnished in Markham. The church building is still in use as
a community church with services now being held by a minister of the Czech
Brethren Church. Nolan Keller was the first
county commissioner west of the Colorado River. Several commissioners have
served Precinct #4, living in Markham and Blessing. Sam Hale was commissioner
of Precinct #4; he and his family lived in Midfield. A.W. Hurta
presently is commissioner for Precinct #4, and he and his wife, Mattie N. “Totsy,” live in Midfield. There were many young men
from the Midfield community in service during both World Wars, also in the
Korean and Vietnam Wars. They served our country well; some were prisoner of
war, wounded, or killed in action. Electric service was
brought to Midfield about 1926, and natural gas in
1930. Each home had its own water well, some were
equipped with a windmill or an electric motor and tank until 1982, when a
public water system was installed. In the early 1950’s, some
oil wells were drilled in the town of Midfield which showed production but
all have since ceased producing. A great improvement came
for the area when State Highways 71 and 111 were built, both of which are
adjacent to or in the Midfield townsite. More
recently the streets and roads in the Midfield area have been improved and
hard surfaced under the capable management of commissioner A.W. Hurta. In 1979 W.E. “Bill” Richardson
built and began operating Bill’s Steak House, which is one of the favorite
restaurants for miles around. In addition to the post
office building, Midfield has a new community center building and a new fire
house. A washateria is under construction. A grant
has been approved for a sewer line and distribution system. Several new
residences have been built in Midfield and many mobile homes moved into town.
A number of the residences are descendants of the early citizens of Midfield
who have remained or returned to make their homes here. There were many families
not mentioned in this story who contributed to the day-to-day events in
Midfield and the surrounding area, some of whom have family histories in the
family history section of this book. Many were teachers, school trustees,
ministers, church workers, or were in other occupations which contributed to
the livelihood and improvement of the community. Some, but not all, of these
families are listed below: Anderson, Armstrong, Barnett, Buchanan, Brown, Brdecko, Barclay, Beyer, Bohuslav,
Bosak, Benold, Bullard, Carrio, Caspar, Calloway, Cox,
Curry, Cessor, Deffenbaugh,
Darnell, Dabelgott, Dornak,
Dees, Evans, Flournoy, Fabrygel,
Fink, Fagen, Garner, Garnett, Gunter, Graham, Goodenough, Gainer, Green, Hammond, Herman, Hackworth,
Hickey, Haver, Harbison, Hagler, Ilbery, Jordan, Jaksch, Jones, Kopecky, Krebs, Kretschmar, Krueger, Knebel,
Krenek, Kana, Kuhn, Lund, Malcik, McSparren, Melbourn, Magee,
Morris, Merta, Midgett, Mellen, Martin, Macha,
Mitchell, Nygard, Nemec,
Norris, Neuman, O’Neal, Price, Patillo,
Potts, Peteet, Peters, Prunty,
Roden, Roberts, Rooth,
Raleigh, Rickaway, Sedlacek,
Speeds, Schley, Simpson, Stewart, Shindler, Smith, Schoelman, Singleton, Spires, Schroeder, Stephens, Talafus, Tobola, Troutman, Vacek, Woodson, Wilson, Wratislaw,
Wolf, Warn, Wilkerson, Wheeler, Yates, and Zapalac. The early history of Midfield
was recorded in a newspaper story written by Mrs. W.K. (Alice Jordan) Keller
in 1947, and saved by Grace Hale. Mrs. Keller was a native of the area and
had personal knowledge of the facts in her story. Mrs. A.W. Hurta also furnished information she obtained from
conversations with Mrs. Keller, R.E. Coffin, and J.E. Fitzgerald. This story
is compiled from the above sources and the personal knowledge of Violet M. Brhlik. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Historic Matagorda County (3 vols., Houston: Armstrong, 1986). |
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