San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1885-11-12
MARTINDALR.
A Thrifty Little Village In the Midst OF
Prosperous Agricultural
Community.

iAbt ifiuhf our Juiiio't h"hk '"s"'s
holiday, concluded TO visit the adjaeen
town Of Martindale. ''down tho river.
Although residing In San Marcos from earl,
boyhood we, strarge to say, had mover beel
in this neighborhood, though often hearing
Il referred TO as situated In q hne farming
country whose trade made considerable
cradle item In tho business OF San Marcos
Martindaie IL seven or eight miles nearl,
duo east from San Marcos, It Is about thre'
miles over tho Hays county limo In Cald
we'll county and twelyer or thirteen mile
from Lockhart the county seat. Tho bust
moss OF Martindale ~ as follows;
General Merchandise -Martindale a. Petty
A. d. Chenoweth 4 Son, DIR. ]. B. Pore b.
Saml McCulloch and Messrs. Hill a Hill,
recently removed from Staples Store
Charlie Cocreham has good stock OF staple
and fancy groceries and DR.. Porch carries
considerable stock Of drugs. MIR. ID. H.
Bagley runs meat market and Jim Carson
''carves" with his wonted skill. Mrs Cool
keeps tho hostelry Of tho little town where
the weary traveller can find resfreshmeni
and rcpose. Mr.. Jno. Kinnobrue has the
wood. working shop aud was making desks
for the school, and good ones too. Under
q spreading elm tree tho village smithy
stands, but wo regret that II was standing
idle when we appeared as We expected TO see
our friend Mr.. Tom Devinney who is ono Of
the best blacksmiths In the State no had
gone TO Lockhart, We believe, that day.
We also found Mr.. yanlandingham, tho
blind man, ready for business In his new
location. SO much for commercial interests.
AIartindale has largo and commodious
meeting house, and good school building
with Masonic Hall above. We made o
visit to the school which is under charge Of
Miss Maud Word, who, We believe, was o
student at Coronal Institute. We found
class of the larger pupils at the boar deep
in the mysteries of compound numbers and
vulgar fractions out Of which they were
successfully unanswered by "the little
school-ma'am." The majority Of the pupils
were very young but there were a few
young ladies in attendance. We were in.
formed that Miss. Word is giving great sat
istaction to the patrons Of the school.
There are religious services held at Mar
,indale by the following denominations
Missionary Baptists, Christian. Primitive
Baptists, and Methodists. Rev. ]. S. Gillctt
breaches for the Methodists, and Rev. ]. ).
williamson for the Christians. We under
stand these services are held monthly.
We have neglected to mention the gin of
Stone & Ellison, which is turnining out
from ten to twelve bales per day and has
ginned over 900 bales this season. AT the
gin we met Mr.. j. w. Horton, no is jovial
gentlemen with pleasant twinkle In his
gray eye and Is a staunch friend Of the
FREE PRESS; he had ten bales of cotton to
dispose of at the gin that day. We. also
found our wideawake German friend Mr..
Chas. Wetzel buying the staple at that point:
he wore smile yard wide.
We had the pleasure of meeting the patrl.
arch of the village Mr.. W. H, Jennings, sen.
Mr.. Jennings is the Oldest surviving settler
of the vicinity having lived there 30 years
he is hale and hearty for q man of his age
and will remain for some time to come "the
oldest inhabitant" We would have liked
to have talked with him more about ."old
times" but had not the time to do SO. We
were shown the first house erected In tho
village, forty years ago it was the dwell-
ing of Geo. Martindale, its founder, whose
Sons are influential citizens of the neigh
borhood their mother. is also resident of
the town. The house is q hewed log struc-'I
ture built in the old style with gallery in
front and hall through tho middle, and was
o good sample of the better class of pioneer
mansions "back in tho Fortress" indeed, few
could efford so pretentious an establishment.
It is tho wish of Mrs. Martindale that the
old house shall remain untouched, though
her sons would have removed 1t had she
been willing.
Martindale IL within stones throw of
the San Marcos river, the surrounding
country is thickly settled by industrious
who rarely fail to make good crops,
both of corn and cotton.-NThe soil is of
lighter cha ter than in the vicinity OF San
Marcos, being somewhat sandyand Therefore
easier worked, though we doubt if 1t will
stand drought as well.
On our way out we stopped to chat awhile
with Hon I. b. Standifer, who lives about
two or three miles this side Of Martindale.
We found him good talker. Mr.. Standi-
fer has very positive views In regard to To-
cal option and temperance reform, he would
abolish all restrictions on whiskey and may
be truly said to be free whiskey man. He
gave graphic description of the good old
times when whiskey was 'fo-pence" pint
and attributed nearly all evils of modern
times to depr ession caused by the tax on
the liquor traffic We accepted an invita-
ton to dinner and did ample justice to
the same, We found the good lady of the
house recovering from an attack of the dem
que. Mr.. Standifer has one of the finest
farms in that section which he will sell at
800 an acre. He has lived on the place for
eighteen years.
About three miles this side Of Mnrtindale
Mr. Spring is building substantial frame
dwelling; some distance further on, on the
other side of the road, is an old well care
essly covered with few rotten rails which
will probably be the cause some frightful
accident unless filed up or covered.
We got home about shutdown well pleas
ID with our trip and with the people We
lad met and promising ourself anotner Vis-
I at an early day.
POSTSCRIPT.
II is rather odd. but we believe the above
imperfect sketch is the first in the way of q
Kr:te-up of Martindale which has appeared,
It least in any of the Hays county papers.
L would hardly be fair not to add few
points rs to the history of the town, which
We have derived from well posted parties.
Fac place is located on what is known as the
Vim. Petty survey, consisting oftwo leagues.
. rarf of This tract was purchased by John