DE LEON HANDBOOK
Gin Information from Sanborn’s Insurance maps.
Joe Sykes Cotton Gin was fueled by wood. It had 4 Murry gins and no electric lights (1905). It was located north of the tracks about where the VV Bell home was built.
R.P. Hendrix Gin was located at LaSalle and Mosley. It had 4 Murry gins (1911). The gin was almost adjacent to the Wayside Inn near Gonzales and Austin.
Bagwell Bros. was located about 1.3 miles northwest of the depot probably at the compress. It had 4 Munger Gins (1911).
B.F. Cox & Co had 6 Munger Gins (1911). Planters Gin Co. bought out Cox but he continued to manage the gin for Planters. Its location is not certain. The gin burned about 1927 and was rebuilt. At its peak it processed as many as 2,300 bales a year. By 1929 it was processing around 1,000 annually. It appears that this was the last gin operating in De Leon and if that is true it wold be the Rucker gin on Bivar. FP 40th Anniversary edition.
De Leon Compress & Warehouse Co. Cotton from points all along the Texas Central MKT Railroad was shipped to De Leon to be pressed. The average run for a season was said to be 25,000 bales with the best season prior to 1929 at 32,000. S.G. Underwood operated the compress for several years. Headquarters were in Dallas. The local manager was Hoyt Via in 1929. FP 29 AE
Cotton
KING COTTON
From the time of its first settlement in 1854 until the coming of the railroad to De Leon in 1881, ranching was the primary agricultural occupation of Comanche County. From 1881 until 1914, cotton dominated the area’s economy, as farmers from the old southern states especially Mississippi, emigrated to the area. The boll weevil forced farmers to diversify into peanuts and watermelons in the early part of the twentieth century but cotton lingered as an important crop until World War II.
De Leon had four operating gins when cotton was king. Calvin L. Rucker, B.F. Cox, E.D. Davis, the Bagwell Bros. Joe C. Sykes, H.M. Weatherford and the Fort Worth Cotton Oil Mill were all gin operators at various times.
A cotton compress was constructed in De Leon in 1911. It was located between Reynosa and LaSalle east of Cato Street. It featured a brick mechanical building and a very large shed. At different times the Peach and Melon Festival was held at the compress but no photos of the building have been located.
From a picture postcard mailed in De Leon on Nov. 26, 1910 showing one of the gins and adjacent cotton yard. The two smokestacks on the right are part of the then new electric plant and ice house. This gin was located on La Salle and Austin and was also operated by C.L. Rucker.
Left: This gin (photo ca: 1909) was apparently the primary gin in the city. It was located immediately west of the “S” curve and is usually referred to as C.L. Rucker’s Gin although at various times it operated under the names of other owners. Rucker built a gin west of De Leon, thereby pinning his name to the Rucker community.
B.F. Cox is believed to have been a subsequent operator of this gin. He ultimately sold his gin to Planters Gin Co. of Fort Worth.
With their crop ginned and baled, cotton farmers were probably heading to one of De Leon’s cotton yards where the bales would be sold to the buyers.
One of De Leon’s cotton yards ca 1910. It is believed that this yard was located directly across Texas Ave. from the present depot (at the time the depot was in the middle of the street). A second yard was located adjacent to Rucker’s Gin a block or so east of this yard. There are at least 16 men standing and sitting on the cotton bales. Photo provided for De Leon Centennial book by Mary Alice Crittenden.
(L-R) J.S. Nance, Steve Nance, Edd Lightfoot, Earl Lightfoot in a cotton picking contest. Photo M/M Sidney Sides for the De Leon Centennial book.
Farmers brought their cotton to town and after receiving payment, paid their outstanding bills, and then stocked up on supplies and new clothes. Notice the depot is in the middle of Texas Avenue. On the left a druggist sign is plainly visible but immediately to its right is a much smaller sign under a tin awning. The one under the awing is T.P. Weaver and Son’s Druggist which opened in 1902. The larger drug sign belonged to L.L. Thomas. This photo is believed to have been taken in 1908 as you can see the shadow of the metal water tank on the ground. The tank was built in 1908.
Cotton being loaded onto the train from the cotton platform shown above. Notice that the freight cars belong to the International & Great Northern, however in the photo above, both the Texas Central and I&GN have cars along side the cotton platform.
A ca 1910 picnic with most of the town celebrating the completion of the shipment of the area’s cotton. Photo provided for De Leon Centennial book by Grady Nance.
(L-R) Hoeing cotton.
The boll weevil arrived in Comanche County in 1904/
Some Comanche County cotton production numbers.
1910 27,276 bales
1911 38,276 bales
1912 34,399 bales
Page last updated Dec. 28, 2007