Chisum, Toney (1885 - 1944) - Automobile Distributor

The building in the b/w newspaper clipping is the old Toney Chisum Automobile Building at 1019 S. Polk Street, just across from the old Bivins home/library. The color photo shows the same building today. Amarillo automobile distributor Toney Chisum had the building specifically designed and built in 1927 to serve as an automobile sales and service center. He moved in with his Hudson and Essex distributorship in December 1927.

Tony Chisum (22 Dec 1885 - 6 Oct 1944) was not born in Amarillo, but he moved here in 1916 to set up a Hudson automobile dealership, which was first located in a small building on Polk Street, just north of 6th Avenue. He then moved to a similar sized building in the 100 block of West 5th Ave., next to the Amarillo National Bank.

By 1920, Mr. Chisum was able to buy the corner at 5th & Tyler and renovated the building there to suit his specific needs. I am not sure which corner of 5th & Tyler he bought, but the only building left standing on a corner there is the 1-story white building in the photo below.

Toney Chisum was a smart businessman because he realized early on that wives had an important say in car buying decisions, so he catered to the needs of the lady of the house by setting up a ladies' sitting room in his dealership, designed to appeal to the tastes of women. One of the b/w photos below shows the lady's sitting room for his dealership in 1922.

Toney went out of his way to promote his automobiles. In October of 1920, Toney Chisum and a Dave Lewis arranged to race the Santa Fe passenger train "California Express" from Amarillo to Belin and Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was 396 miles away. Driving an Essex Touring Car, Toney and Dave beat the California Express to Albuquerque by exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes, even though the route taken by the car was eighteen miles longer and included mountain roads made difficult to negotiate by recent rains. The 10 Oct 1920 clipping posted below, from the Amarillo Daily News, gives more details of the race.

The b/w photo of the Toney Chisum building at 1019 S. Polk comes for a newspaper ad in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe. The b/w photo of the ladies' sitting room comes from the 2 September 1922 weekly trade magazine "Automobile Topics," published out of New York.

Link to photos of the former home of Toney Chisum

Clipped from an ad in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Old Toney Chisum Automobile Building at 1019 S. Polk

Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from 10 Oct 1920 Amarillo Daily News

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Harris Food Stores -- 1938

Harris Food Store at 701 East 10th Ave. in 1938

This building at 701 East 10th Ave. was once home to one of three Harris Food Stores in Amarillo in 1938

Harris Food Store at 606 N. Fillmore in 1938

This building at 606 N. Fillmore was once home to one of three Harris Food Stores in Amarillo in 1938

Harris Food Store at 710 West 16th Ave.

This building at 710 West 16th Ave. was once home to one of three Harris Food Stores in Amarillo in 1938

This building at 701 East 10th Ave. was once home to the one of three Harris Food Stores in Amarillo in 1938





Harris Food Stores ad from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe




Map of Potter County Ranches in 1938

Map clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Old Tascosa Map

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Badger, Harry C. - Businessman

 

Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Badger-Herring Sales & Drug Co. -- 810 S. Grant

Building at 810 S. Grant St. in 1938

 

Building at 810 S. Grant St. today

Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe.

Mantell, Alfred "Dutch" (25 Jul 1881 - 31 Jan 1941) -- Wrestler

Just looking at his picture, I would not have wanted to mess with Alfred "Dutch" Mantell (25 Jul 1881 - 31 Jan 1941).

Dutch Mantell, the original Dutch Mantell, was a rough-and-tough, down-and-dirty wrestler, who was considered a villain of the ring because he would do almost anything to win, including punching, kicking, and gouging. Dory Funk Sr. described him as "the type of wrestler who would storm into the ring smoking a cigar and as soon as the bell would ring, he would shove the cigar into the eye of his opponent."

Cal Farley, who was not only a minor league baseball player but also a wrestler, first met Dutch Mantell in El Paso in 1921, when Dutch climbed into the ring uninvited to challenge Mr. Farley after Cal had just beaten his opponent. In his autobiography, "Two Thousand Sons," Cal Farley described the two times he met Dutch Mantell in the ring as follows:

Both ended in ugly brawls, with a cracked skull for the Dutchman and enough free-flowing blood from the pair of us to establish the sport solidly in the city's favor. After the second meeting, we agreed it was better to be friends.

Another interesting thing about Dutch Mantell is that he was once one of silent film's "Keystone Cops."

In 1925 Dutch Mantell made Amarillo his home. He was a regular guest on Cal Farley's radio show, and he helped Mr. Farley with the Maverick Club and later with Boy's Ranch.

Dutch Mantell died of cancer in 1941. In his obituary, the Associated Press wrote the following:
"He was a pal of underprivileged kids everywhere and a favorite of fans who watched him maul opponents."

The ad below was printed in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe, in which Dutch Mantell congratulated the citizens of Amarillo on the city's Golden Anniversary.

The following are links to two histories of Dutch Mantell:

Texas State Historical Association's History of Dutch Mantell

"Bartee Haile: Villain in the ring was a friend to street urchins"

Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Undated photo of Dutch Mantell

 

Oliver-Eakle Addition - ad from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Ad from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe




1938 photos of places within the Oliver-Eakle Addition




This house at 2803 S. Polk Street was built in 1939. It is the same house that appears in the foreground of the second photo in the 1938 ad.

"San Francisco Chief" at Amarillo, Texas in about 1955.

Photo shows the "San Francisco Chief" at the Amarillo Depot in about 1955. Downloaded from "The Portal to Texas History"

Amarillo Hardware Co. at 600-612 S. Grant Street

Amarillo Hardware Co.



Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe. Shows the original location of the company at 403 S. Polk Street, where the company begin business in 1904.

H. B. Fain Chemical Company -- 207 S. Polk St.

The advertisement for the H. B. Fain Chemical Co. was printed in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe. The address for the company was given as 207 Polk St. The building is still standing today.

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Building at 207 S. Polk St. today

Sneed, John Beal -- "Not Guilty" verdict given on 3 Dec 1912

Clipped from 5 Dec 1912 edition of "The Crosbyton Review"

1928 Map of the Texas Panhandle

Price Memorial College, established in 1929

Below is an advertisement for Price Memorial College, printed in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe. There is also an undated photo of a wide view of the college and a 1929 photo of the dedication of the college.

Price Memorial College was built on part of forty acres of land in 1929. The address for the school was 1800 N. Spring St., which at the time was about three miles northeast of Amarillo. The school was originally named "St. George's College, but was change to Price Memorial College in 1930, at the request of Mrs. Katherine B. Price, a widow from Connecticut who provided the funds to build the school. The reason it was called Price Memorial College, instead of just Price College, was to honor the memory of Mrs. Price's late husband, from whose fortune the donated money came. The word "memorial" was dropped from the name of the school in 1938, when the Brothers of the Christian Schools took over management.

The support of Mrs. Price was so generous and so much appreciated that Pope Pius the XI conferred upon Mrs. Price in 1935 the title of Papal Countess, making Mrs. Price one of the few women to ever achieve a papal decoration and coat of arms.

In 1964, Price College was renamed Price Catholic High School to avoid the confusion caused by the name "college." In 1966, Price Catholic High School, an all male school, merged with St. Mary's Academy, an all female school, to form Alamo Catholic High School, a co-educational school for middle and high school students. St. Mary's Academy continued, but only for grades kindergarten through 6th. In 1990, Alamo Catholic High School was moved to 4110 S. Bonham Street because it had become too hard to maintain the old Price College buildings. In 2000, Alamo Catholic High School was completely renovated and renamed Holy Cross Catholic Academy.

The beautiful, old Price College building was torn down in 2011. I still do not understand why it could not have been saved.

Here are two links to the history of Price College. The second link talks about the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who took over the management of Price College in 1938.

Link to a history of Price Memorial College

Link to the history of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

Ad clipped from the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Dedication of Price Memorial College in 1929. Originally the college was to be called St. George's College.

Undated photo of Price Memorial College

501 S. Grant St. -- Once the warehouse of the Carlton-Florey Grocery

The building in this advertisement in the 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe was built at 501 S. Grant Street in 1925. The building is still standing today.

Sneed, Joseph Tyre, Jr. -- Once lived at 2123 S. Harrison St.

This magnificent house at 2123 South Harrison Street was once the home of cattle baron Joseph Tyre Sneed, Jr., who bought one third of the vast LX Ranch holdings when the ranch was liquidated in 1906. The two men who bought the other two thirds of the ranch were Robert Benjamin Masterson and Lee Bivins. I have heard the house is now, or soon will be, on the market.

The house was built in 1920 and has a pool and an apartment in the backyard. I have also been told this house will be on the home tour that will be given on September 7, between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The story of Joseph Sneed is interesting, but the story of his brother John Beal Sneed is even more interesting because it involves, at least, two murders, one of a man who supposedly had a romantic relationship with John's wife, and the other of the man's father, who was accused of helping his son run off with John's wife.

The father of the man who had the affair with John's wife was shot in the lobby of the Metropolitan Hotel in Forth Worth, Texas in January 1912, and nine months later the son was shot in front of the Polk Street Methodist Church here in Amarillo. John's wife was sent to a sanitarium in Fort Worth to be treated for "moral insanity," but after she was cured, she came back and lived a long life with her husband.

The first link is to the story of Joseph Sneed. The second link is to the Texas State Historical Association story of the murders involving John Sneed, which is referred to as the "Boyce-Sneed Feud." The third link is to the Wikipedia story of the feud.

1) Story of Joseph Tyre Sneed, Jr.
2) Story of John Beal Sneed and the Boyce-Sneed Feud
3) Wikipedia's version of the Boyce-Sneed Feud

The old Joseph Sneed Home at 2123 S. Harrison St.

The old Joseph Sneed Home at 2123 S. Harrison St.

The old Joseph Sneed Home at 2123 S. Harrison St.

The old Joseph Sneed Home at 2123 S. Harrison St.

Road Problem Between Amarillo and Canyon -- 26 Dec 1905

Clipped from the 26 Dec 1905 edition of "The Twice-a-Week Herald"

Cornelius, Mayvi Amarillo -- First child born in Amarillo

The house in the photo below was the Tuck Cornelius House. It located at 303 E. 4th Ave. (4th & Fillmore). It was originally built in Old Town Amarillo in 1887 at 309 Parker St., but was moved to 4th & Fillmore in 1889 by using logs. The house was still standing at 4th & Fillmore in 1938, but has since been demolished, leaving only a small group of trees to mark the spot. Before it was demolished, it was the oldest existing house in Amarillo.

The significance of the Tuck Cornelius House is that it was home of the first child to be born in Amarillo. The child was born on July 18, 1888 and was named Mayvi Amarillo Cornelius. She is pictured below with her pet antelope. There is also a photo of her and her husband in 1938. Tuck was Mayvi's father.

I have also posted a 14 Aug 1938 article about Mayvi Amarillo and her family.

Tuck Cornelius house was located at 303 E. 4th Ave (4th & Fillmore)

Photo shows the corner of 4th & Fillmore where the Tuck Cornelius house once stood.

Clipped from 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

Clipped from 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

 

Loomis, A. E. -- Candyman

Clipped from 14 Aug 1938 Amarillo Sunday News-Globe