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Small Texas towns are the focus again today and this one is Herford Texas on a circa 1910 C. U. Williams postcard #7774. First I want to repeat what I have said before about this publisher. C. U. Williams postcards are not common, the views shown on them are limited to this publisher in all of the examples I have seen and the subject matter is carefully chosen. These post cards are easy to recognize by the hand written titles and also contain a number which will help you keep track of his postcards that you have.
Herford Texas is located in the panhandle of Texas near the New Mexico border and is the county seat and largest town in Deaf Smith County. Originally named Blue Water in the late 1890s for the color of Tierra Blanca Creek, the name had to be changed when the post office discovered a town by that name already existed in Texas. The locals decided on the name Herford because that was the breed of cattle stocked on the local ranches. When the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway completed the railroad track from Amarillo to Farwell which passed through Herford in 1899, county residents decided to move the county seat from La Plata to Herford. They even moved the courthouse by wagon to the new location and by 1900 the population was 532. By 1902, there were five churches and Herford College opened that year. By 1904, the town had hundreds of windmills and had acquired the nickname of "The Windmill City". The city incorporated in February 1903 and reincorporated in 1906 after the first incorporation vote was annuled.
The period from 1906 through 1910 saw many changes as the town experienced dramatic growth and by 1910 the population reached 1,750. During this time, the town suffered two major fires so a fire department was established. Also, electric power and telephone service began, a new railroad depot was built, a library was established, a new courthouse was completed and the first irrigation well tapped into the Ogallala Aquifer which increased farming activities for many years to come. The original courthouse was remodeled into St. Anthony's Church and was moved again later.
The town survived the dust bowl, had a prisoner of war camp for Italian soldiers during World War II and continued to grow with a population of 2,500 in 1940, 5,200 in 1950, peaked at almost 16,000 in 1980 and had 14,597 according to the 2000 census. In the late 1940s, local dentist Dr. F. M. Butler claimed the unusual low cavity rate in the town was due to natural fluoride in the local water and this was eventually verified by the Texas Department of Health making the town famous as the "Town without a toothache".
The circa 1910 C. U. Williams postcard below is a testament to the growth spurt from 1906 to 1910 mentioned above since it shows lots of ditch diggers laying the water main just in front of the buildings on the left. The only sign readable is "Dr. Bisco, Dentist" on the building in the left foreground. This postcard is available in my Texas listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Interesting history awaits you.
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