WESTMINSTER
Westminster Remains Village,
Missed by Railroads, Highways
VAN
ALSTYNE, Texas, Sept. 22- Known years ago as a school town, Westminster, eight
miles southeast of here, today is an inland village that was missed by the
railroads and main highways.
Mail
service was established there in 1898. E. S. Williams and J. M. St. John were
pioneer merchants. Early settlers included William L. Martin, J. P. Coffey, D.
H. Roland, W. J. Ingram and D. R. Clark. Mr. Clark now lives south of
Westminster.
The
town was called Seven Points when J. M. Harder built and taught a private school
in 1887. He sold the frame building to I. P. Rosser. In 1890 the Protestant
Methodist Church bought the building for $450 and changed the name to
Westminster College, after which the town adopted its name. The school offered
two years of college work. C. O. Stubbs was first president.
In 1902
the Baptist Church bought the building and the Methodist College was moved to
Tehuacana, where it is still called Westminster College. The Baptist Association
would not accept the old building, so plans were made for a new one for an
academy. The cornerstone was laid in 1907 and a fifty-room building was
completed fourteen months later. The top floor had twenty-five rooms that were
used as a girls' dormitory. The building is of concrete and cost $75,000,
besides donations of rock, sand and labor.
Charles
Thompson, now living at Rush, was first president for this school. The
institution closed its doors during the 1914-15 term. Through the efforts of the
Rev. George Airhart, now of McKinney, and others, the building became the
property of Collin County Baptists and is now used as a church.
In 1914
the Graybill and Westminster school districts were consolidated and a new public
school building erected.
The
Methodist Church came into being in Westminster with consolidation of Blackman's
Chapel Church at Sedalia and the Graybill church.
J. L.
Chapman, now of Farmersville, helped to organize a bank in 1910, capitalized at
$10,000, with the late John Stewart as president. Will McDougal, vice-president,
is still a resident of Westminster. J. T. Hartness, also living there now, was
president for a period.
The
Rev. J. H. David was the first man to borrow from the bank and Mrs. W. C.
Brinlee, now living in Van Alstyne, was the first person to make
WESTMINSTER
ENTERPRISE.
Possess Real
Artesian Well-Two New Stores.
J. W.
Atterberry and wife of Westminster are in McKinney today, attending the picnic.
Mr. Atterberry is a prominent real estate dealer of northwest Collin, who is a
decided success. He has great confidence in Westminster for which thriving
little school town and surrounding section he always has a good word to say. In
reply to a reporter's query as to the town's progress, he said that Westminster
was the possessor of a real artesian well. Water was recently obtained at the
depth of 703 feet. It flows over the top. In fact it flows strongly enough to
rise through a pipe twenty foot above the surfaced and discharge into an
elevated tank. The water possesses mineral attributes of a health-giving nature
and is expected to prove of excellent quality for general utility purposes. Mr.
Atterberry also informed us that two new store buildings are under construction
in his town. One of W. F. Ashmore's and the other belonging to John Taylor.
Mute Reminder Of
Early Days In Westminster
By Noble Wright
North
Texas Baptist Academy is no more. Today the building that housed it stands a
mute reminder of this once busy school. It is an outstanding landmark at
Westminster in northeast Collin County.
At this
place, in the year 1888, Rev. J. M. Harder founded a school known as Seven
Points College. Five years later it was sold to J. P. Rosser, then to the
Methodist Protestant Church. The Westminster Baptist Church bought the school in
1902 and deeded it to the Collin County Baptist Association. Under the auspices
of the Baptist it operated until 1917. The school operated under local support
for its last school year of 1917-18.
Today
the building is used for the Baptist Church congregation. Mr. M. L. McGee,
teacher of the men's Bible class at the Baptist Church knows much of the history
of the school.
Mrs. W.
A. McDougal, who lives near the school, has four children who attended the
school. Two daughters are: Beulah, now Mrs. C. M. Vardaman, of Tyler; and
Beatrice, now Mrs. J. R. Goddard, of Corpus Christi. Two sons are: Aaron
McDougal, now of Kingsville, and employed by Humble Oil Co.; and Roscoe
McDougal, Tulsa, Okla., employed by Carter Oil Co.
A
literary magazine called "The Sketch Book" was printed in the Academy's own
printing shop. Mrs. McDougal has several issues of this magazine which was
published monthly during the school year.
Local
merchants supported the magazine liberally with their advertisements. Some of
these advertisers have since gone to their reward. In the year 1911 the First
State Bank of Westminster (no longer in operation) advertised as having a
capital of $10,000. Listed as president was J. S. Stewart and J. M. Kirby was
listed as another official. Clarence Stewart of McKinney is the son of the J. S.
Stewart mentioned. C. W. Geer advertised as tailor in the same year and today he
is Westminster's druggist. W. A. Pace, who lives now in McKinney, was
Westminsters' druggist in 1911 according to the same copy of the "Sketch Book."
Other
notices were printed for the late G. W. Howell, barber, and the late J. M. St.
John, groceryman. Geo. A. Taylor was listed as dealing in real estate.
In the
Academy's catalogue for the season of 1910-11 there was a total of 120 students
on the roll.
Clarence Stewart and Mrs. Lee Eubanks, both of McKinney, were once students of
this school.
Mr. A.
M. Turner, operator of a Cities Service Station at Anna, was a graduate of the
class of 1907. Following his graduation he helped in the razing of a the wooden
building and the construction of the permanent type of structure that stands
today on the old Academy grounds.
When
Harder was head of the school that was the forerunner of the Academy, there was
a seven point star in the east end of the two-story wooden structure that housed
his college. At that time the community was known as Seven Points and it was not
until the Baptists took charge of the school in 1907 that the settlement's name
was changed to Westminster.
HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
Daily Courier Gazette, October
1, 1949 Centennial Edition
by Betty Jean Giles
Westminster was
originally known as Seven Points. What is now "The Square" of Westminster
was then a field in cultivation. Some of the older residents here remember
picking cotton there.
At the turn of
the century Seven Points was a thriving community with an increasing
population. Already a free school had been established under the direction
of J. M. Harder. People were building where once there were fields of cotton
and grain. Businesses were established: grocery stores, a blacksmith shop,
tailor shop, bank, garage, filling station, barber shop, drug store, and a
gin. The first store was owned and operated by Mr. Hullinger in 1902. The
first banker was J. M. Kerby and the first gin in Westminster was built by
W. A. McDougal in 1908. The first gasoline sold in Westminster was brought
in barrels on a wagon drawn by four horses.
By 1902 there
was a post office and Lillian King was post mistress. It was about this time
that the name was changed to Westminster. It got its name from Westminster
Abbey in England.
All this time
there had been a school in Westminster. For about two years a private school
was carried on under I. P. Rosser. There was a Protestant Methodist school
from 1900 to 1903, then it was sold to Baptists. Westminster Academy was
built in 1907 and carried on until 1914. The school was moved and the
building is now the Baptist Church.
In 1914 Gray
Bill and Westminster schools consolidated. Now in Westminster there is an
affiliated high school and three churches: Baptist, Methodist and Church of
Christ.
All through the
years Westminster was just an average little town. Then along came the war
in 1941. Men and boys were called into service; people moved out and took
jobs in defense plants. The town was just a skeleton of what it had been but
the people who remained kept things going.
Now the war is
over; people are moving back and the town is growing once more. Westminster
is looking forward to many prosperous years to come.
Westminster Baptist College
Communities
Index
- Recommended citation:
"Westminster- Collin County
Communities," Collin County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage by
Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13 13:37:28 US/Central 2004 ].
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