Who Lived At Pampa in 1902?
Eloise Lane PhotoEloise Lane
Thomas H. and Erna (Case) Lane and their two sons lived at 221 E. Atchison. Ray (Ransom Huntley) was 17 in September an~ Tommie (Thomas Vyr) was 14 in January. On April 22, 1902 Thomas H. Lane was promoted from section foreman to road master for the Southern Kansas Railway Company of Texas (Santa Fe). Samuel C. and Emily (Townsend) Case moved from their farm southwest of Pampa to a home on 60 acres where the Magnolia Camp on E. Kingsmill was located later. Hallie (Mrs. A. A. Tiemann) was 16 in November; Harland was nine in March and Alfred Townsend was four in December. Harland Loren Case, the first Anglo baby born at Pampa, was born on March 11, 1893 in the White Deer Lands' boarding house managed by his parents at that time. He was the contractor for the present Gray County courthouse constructed in 1929 and dedicated on April 19, 1930. Charles Thomas and Sophia McCarty lived in a small house near the pump house used by the railroad. Their son, Fred Thomas, born April 13, 1898, was the second Anglo baby born at Pampa. The younger children were Charles and Amanda (Bobbie). McCarty, who had installed Pampa’s first bathtub in the pump house, installed the first two telephones --- one in the pump house and the other in his home. He was Pampa's first justice of the peace. David "Dave" Sr~mervi1le, manager of the Matador Land and Cattle Company's lease of 345,000 acres of White Deer Lands from 1899 to 1902, had headquarters in the boarding house of White Deer Lands. Somerville, born about 1868 in Scotland, was educated to be a lawyer, but his law career ended when he visited the Matador ranch in 1890. Known as a "good man for the job," he is remembered by North, South and West Somerville streets in Pampa. George Tyng, manager of White Deer Lands from 1886 to 1903, likely moved from his room at the boarding house at (116 W, Atchison) to the company house (318 W. Atchison) when the Matadors came. Charles A. Tignor and William T. Wilks, employees of White Deer Lands, also lived in the company house. J. F. Johnson, who bought the first commercial lots in Pampa on May 24, 1902, constructed a store at 105 N. Cuyler. The Pampa post office was moved to the store and J. F. Johnson was appointed postmaster on September 18, 1902. Johnson, whose family had a lovely brick home at Canadian, declined to serve and Bruce Waterfield was appointed postmaster on November 22, 1902. J. Frank and Leona (Lewis) Meers, who lived in Pampa from 1901 to 1906, pro- bably had a home in the 101 block of N. Gillespie. Their son, Lewis Franklin, was born on October 27, 1902. J. L. Stroope owned some of the first residential lots sold and built a house that was sold to J. C. Rider in 1903. Sam Whatley, who had a livery stable at Groom, possibly was the Whatley who bought the lot next to the livery stable managed by George Thut. Possibly Eli and Georgia Vincent and Tom Crawford lived at 109 5. Cuyler. The children of Eli and Georgia Vincent were Scott, Lois and Thomas - Scott and Lois were old enough to go to school in 1903. Hal Townsend, brother of Emily Case, and his wife, Nancy Eads "Edith" Town- send, might have been living at Pampa before the end of 1902. Edith Townsend was the first teacher of the first school in 1903-04. The Townsend children were Hal, Adelbert, Emily Jean and Gladys ("Mary"). S. S. (Sam) Thomas and his brother, C. L. (Charles) Thomas drilled water wells in the area, and Sam's obituary states that he came to Pampa in 1902. Sam Thomas and his wife, Eula Duncan, were the grandparents of Steve Thomas who built the cross at Groom and the great grandparents of Zach Thomas, noted football player for the Miami Dolphins. The 1900 census for Gray County shows other persons who could have; been in Pampa in 1902, A. A. Holland and his wife Addie, who had a farm southwest of Pampa, bought the boarding house of White Deer Lands and opened the Holland Hotel. Bowen H. and Myrtle Holland also had a farm southwest of Pampa. Liwellyn Price and Ernest McCrea, farm laborers , had a house near the Hollands. Edward M. Walker, ranch laborer, and his wife, Minnie F. Walker, housekeeper, with their children, Mary and Helen, lived at the boarding house of White Deer Lands. Probably Edward worked for the Matadors and Minnie was the housekeeper for Dave Somervillle. Joseph Berry, section foreman, with wife, Estelle C. and daughter, Ida, had a house. John J. Raymond and Thomas J. Collins, railroad workers, were boarders of Joseph Berry. * * *

For a geography project in the fall of 1905, Freddie Hobart (son of P. D. Hobart) counted all of the people in Pampa --- his count was 52.