Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad

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The Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad Company was a railroad in operation in North Texas from 1921 to 1954. It was incorporated in 1920 by several investors, most prominently Frank Kell and his brother-in-law, Joseph A. Kemp, both of Wichita Falls, Texas. [1] [2]

North Texas Geographic region

North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the northern portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex generally consider North Texas to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, west of Paris, and north of Waco. A more precise term for this region would be the northern part of the central portion of Texas. It does not include the Panhandle of Texas, which expands further north than the region previously described, nor does it include most of the region near the northern border of Texas.

Frank Kell Businessman from Wichita Falls, Texas

Franklin Marian "Frank" Kell, along with his brother-in-law Joseph A. Kemp, was one of the two principal entrepreneurs in the early development of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Joseph A. Kemp American businessman from Wichita Falls, Texas

Joseph Alexander Kemp, sometimes known as Jodie Kemp, was an entrepreneur and investor who along with his brother-in-law Frank Kell is considered one of the modern founders of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Contents

Overview

The company constructed a 38 mi (61 km) extension from the existing Wichita Falls and Southern Railway at Newcastle to Jimkurn, since a ghost town in Stephens County, Texas. The Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad became operational on July 21, 1921, when it also began leasing the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway. In 1921, the since defunct Wichita Falls, Ranger and Fort Worth Railroad, which tied Wichita Falls to Ranger in Eastland County and Fort Worth in Tarrant County, was opened to Jimkurn. The three combined lines stretched from Wichita Falls to Dublin located in Erath County in Central Texas. [1]

Newcastle, Texas City in Texas, United States

Newcastle is a city in Young County, Texas, United States. Following the beginning of coal mining in 1908, the town was established and named for the English coal town, Newcastle upon Tyne. Coal mining had ended by 1942. The population was 585 at the 2010 census.

Ghost town City depopulated of inhabitants and that stays practically intact

A ghost town is an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one that contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear disasters. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighbourhoods that are still populated, but significantly less so than in past years; for example, those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction.

Stephens County, Texas County in the United States

Stephens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 9,630. Its county seat is Breckenridge. The county was created in 1858 and organized in 1876. It was originally named Buchanan County, after U.S. President James Buchanan, but was renamed in 1861 for Alexander H. Stephens, the vice president of the Confederate States of America.

Company history

In August 1927, the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad acquired the stock of the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway and the Wichita Falls, Ranger and Fort Worth Railroad, both of which had been leased by the parent company. The railroad acquired rights to use the track of the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railroad system from Wichita Falls to Waurika in Jefferson County in southern Oklahoma. The total route was hence expanded to tie Dublin to Waurika. After Kemp's death in 1930, Kell became the company president, assisted by his son, Joseph Archibald Kell (1895-1939), [3] and Joe J. Perkins as the vice president, based at company headquarters in Wichita Falls. [1]

Waurika, Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, United States

Waurika is the county seat of Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,064 at the 2010 census, a 4.36 percent decrease from 2,158 at the 2000 census.

Jefferson County, Oklahoma County in the United States

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 6,472. Its county seat is Waurika. The county was created at statehood and named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson.

Oklahoma State of the United States of America

Oklahoma is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, Texas on the south and west, New Mexico on the west, and Colorado on the northwest. It is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the fifty United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people". It is also known informally by its nickname, "The Sooner State", in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on land before the official opening date of lands in the western Oklahoma Territory or before the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which dramatically increased European-American settlement in the eastern Indian Territory. Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged into the State of Oklahoma when it became the 46th state to enter the union on November 16, 1907. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.

In 1929, the company owned 11 locomotives, with five passenger cars, 147 freight cars, and 15 company cars. It was rated a Class II entity by the Texas Railroad Commission, which no longer regulates railroads, but instead the state's energy industries. Earnings in 1929 exceeded $1 million, mostly from freight revenue. On December 31, 1940, the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad and its leased companies were merged. At its peak, the Wichita Falls and Southern had about 400 employees. However, the deaths of Joe Kell in 1939 and Frank Kell in 1941, coupled with strikes, floods, and wage issues, had by 1948 hampered the financial condition of the railroad. In 1952, under the management of one of Kell's sons-in-law, Orville Bullington, the company was unaffiliated. That year, the railroad had earned about $530,000 in revenue. In 1954, it was abandoned. [1]

Meanwhile, some 40 mi (64 km) of the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad between Graham in Young County and a point south of Breckenridge in Stephens County was acquired and operated by the since defunct Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad until 1969, when this line, too, was disestablished.

Graham, Texas City in Texas, United States

Graham is a city in north central Texas. It is the county seat of Young County, and as of the 2010 Census had a population of 8,903.

Young County, Texas County in the United States

Young County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 18,550. Its county seat is Graham. The county was created in 1856 and organized in 1874. It is named for William Cocke Young, an early Texas settler and soldier.

Breckenridge, Texas City in Texas, United States

Breckenridge is a city in Stephens County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,780 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stephens County. The mayor is Bob Sims.

Kemp's earlier Wichita Falls Railway, established in 1895, had provided service for the 18 mi (29 km) between Wichita Falls and Henrietta in Clay County, Texas. This line was purchased in 1911 by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and ultimately abandoned as unprofitable in 1970. [4]

The Wichita Falls Railway is a defunct railroad that extended for eighteen miles from Wichita Falls to Henrietta in Clay County in North Texas, where it joined the larger Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, often called the "Katy". The railway was built between 1894 and 1895 by the entrepreneur Joseph A. Kemp.

Henrietta, Texas City in Texas, United States

Henrietta is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,141 at the 2010 census, a decline of 123 from the 2000 tabulation of 3,264.

Clay County, Texas County in the United States

Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,752. The county seat is Henrietta. The county was founded in 1857 and later organized in 1860. It is named in honor of Henry Clay, famous American statesman, Kentucky Senator and United States Secretary of State.

Related Research Articles

Ranger, Texas City in Texas, United States

Ranger is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,468 at the 2010 census. Ranger College, a community college, is the second-largest employer in the community.

Wichita Falls, Texas City in Texas, United States

Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 104,553, making it the 38th-most populous city in Texas. In addition, its central business district is 5 miles (8 km) from Sheppard Air Force Base, which is home to the Air Force's largest technical training wing and the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program, the world's only multinationally staffed and managed flying training program chartered to produce combat pilots for both USAF and NATO.

Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad former American Class I railroad

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway is a former Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1989, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of Union Pacific Railroad.

St. Louis–San Francisco Railway defunct American Class I railway

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, also known as the Frisco, was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central U.S. from 1876 to April 17, 1980. At the end of 1970 it operated 4,547 miles (7,318 km) of road on 6,574 miles (10,580 km) of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway or the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad; that year it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. It was purchased and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980. Despite its name, it never came close to San Francisco.

Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway

The Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway is a shortline railroad subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation that operates two disconnected lines in Oklahoma and Texas, mostly owned by the state of Oklahoma. The line for which it is named extends from Wichita Falls, Texas to Altus, Oklahoma, through Wichita, Tillman, and Jackson Counties. It was completed by the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway and Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway of Texas in 1910, and became part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MKT) system in 1911. The line was cut back from Forgan, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, to Altus in 1973, and operations were transferred to the WTJR in January 1991. The other line, from Waurika to Walters, is a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad branch, leased to the Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, an MKT subsidiary, after the Rock Island's abandonment in 1980, and transferred to the WTJR in 1991.

Fort Worth and Denver Railway

The Fort Worth and Denver Railway, nicknamed "the Denver Road," was a Class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region.

Article X of the Texas Constitution of 1876 covers railroad companies and the creation of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The federal government later created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads, and eight of the nine sections of Article X were repealed in 1969 as "deadwood".

Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr., was an oilman and natural gas entrepreneur from Midland, Texas, who was the only Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives in the regular 1965 legislative session. Cahoon served two terms in the legislature from 1965 to 1969.

Lake Wichita

Lake Wichita was a large man-made lake of 2,200-acre (890 ha) acres located some three miles southwest of Wichita Falls, Texas. Its creation was primarily the work of the business entrepreneur Joseph A. Kemp, who with his brother-in-law Frank Kell, is considered one of the principal founders of Wichita Falls in the early 20th century. In 1995, the dam and spillway were rebuilt lowering conservation elevation to 976', decreasing surface acreage to 1224 acres at full pool, and leaving average depth of four feet.

The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway was among several short-line railroads which in the first half of the 20th century extended like the spokes of a wheel from the hub city of Wichita Falls, Texas. Its principal owners were the entrepreneurs Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell.

The Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas was a 56-mile length of railroad track extending from the Oklahoma state line in eastern Hemphill County, Texas, to Pampa, the county seat of Gray County, located northeast of Amarillo. Chartered in 1927, the COW-T was an extension of another entity, the Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad Company, which operated from Clinton, Oklahoma, west to the Hemphill County line near Canadian, Texas. With an initial investment of $100,000, the COW-T business office was located at Wichita Falls, Texas.

The San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad was a South Texas railroad company in the first half of the 20th century that linked San Antonio with Corpus Christi, Texas. Chartered in 1909 as the Crystal City and Uvalde Railroad, it was renamed in 1912. Because of its unusual abbreviation, the SAU&G, the railroad was for years thereafter popularly called "The Sausage".

The Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad was a regional carrier from 1906 to 1946, which at its peak strength joined Joplin in southwestern, Missouri with Helena in Phillips County in eastern Arkansas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "H. Allen Anderson, "Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad"". tshaonline.org. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  2. ↑ The Texas State Historical Association bases its article primarily on Louise Kelly, Wichita County Beginnings (Burnet, Texas: Eakin Press, 1982).
  3. ↑ "Frank Kell (1859-1941)". findagrave.com. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Wichita Falls Railway". tshaonline.org. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
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