From Matagorda County History & Genealogy page
continued from last week’s edition of the Bay City Sentinel
Markham Community
For many years this bank was a part of the community until it closed in 1923.
Lawlessness occurred and the citizens depended on the Bay City sheriff since there was no law enforcement within Markham.
Those caught were placed in the stationary boxcar until the sheriff arrived. Jim Moody, leader of the Blackjack Gang and member of the Dalton Gang, was captured at the Markham Train Depot after being suspected of murdering Dallas deputy sheriff Addison Pate in 1903.
In June 1915, in the Matagorda County Tribune, W.A. Lewis stabbed Albert Mehrens at a dance held in a warehouse at Northern Headquarters and Lewis turned himself in.
While business was booming, many residents decided to establish a place of worship.
The First Baptist Church and the Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church were established in 1903 with the Markham Methodist Church being established in 1904.
The First Baptist Church built a structure on the corner of Canal and Avenue J in 1903, and they shared the church with the Methodists since they did not have a building.
The Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church congregants, the first Black church, erected their building in 1909.
In 1924, William A. Wells (1860-1941) built the Methodist Church. In 1966, the St. Robert’s Catholic Church was erected on a 4-acre tract donated by Mary Cornelius and W.D. Cornelius.
As the town grew, educating children became a priority.
Professor Murray of the Markham School told in the October 1904 Matagorda County Tribune that they approved the contract with T.S. Sanford and H.J. Falke of $4,290.
This school taught elementary to high school age white children.
The school mascot was the mustang with the school colors being blue and gold.
In 1925, Markham ISD held a bond election.
In 1930, Robert Black (1901-1997) became the English teacher at Markham, in which he organized the department to meet the state requirements, and taught over 30 years.
When Black was not teaching he was preaching at the First Baptist Church in Markham.
This school district was composed of students from Clemville, Buckeye, Northern Headquarters Ranch, and some from Danevang.
Clemville and Buckeye consolidated with Markham by 1935.
By 1935, the old structure was replaced by a brick structure and the wooden building was auctioned off. Markham Independent School District lasted from 1905 to 1948 until it consolidated with Blessing, El Maton, and Midfield to form Tidehaven ISD in 1949, because of the Gilmer-Aikens Act.
This consolidation led to the colors changing to red and blue, and the mascot changing to the Tigers. Students that lived in the original Markham school district still attended the Markham school through eighth grade.
Once they reached high school, students were sent to Blessing until a new high school was constructed.
In the era of segregation, Black children attended school on Avenue D and Tenth Street.
After receiving elementary education, the students went to El Maton to the Jefferson School or to Bay City at Booker T. Washington School.
It would not be until 1965 when Tidehaven ISD integrated.
Markham needed housing to meet the influx of businesses and for laborers. Joe Whiddon constructed the first house and the McElraths erected the first brick home.
In the northeast section of Markham, the canal company built many homes that were painted red for the Black laborers.
This section of town was known as “Red Town”.
The railroad set aside land for a cemetery for the Black section hands.
In the 1960s, many different entities in Markham were established.
The Markham Municipal Utility district was established in 1963 with the Markham Gas Company being established in 1967.
With both entities, residents could have water, sewer, and gas to pay for the services.
The Markham Volunteer Fire Department was established in 1967.
The fire department holds annual fundraisers to fund their department and provide scholarships to graduating seniors. Markham holds Markham Day every year in the spring.
Women fought and sought the right to vote since the women’s convention in Seneca Falls in 1848.
In Texas, women gained the right to vote in the Texas primary in 1918.
This led to many women in Matagorda County to register to vote in July 1918.
In both the Daily Tribune and Matagorda County Tribune, the newspapers listed the women who registered to vote and where they were from.
There were over 100 women that registered to vote from Markham.
In the May 1919 edition of the Matagorda County Tribune, women from the Markham Suffrage Society signed a petition asking men to vote for equal suffrage.
Many people contributed to the development of Markham.
Furber was active in the community through his business endeavors and helping to raise funds to erect the Methodist Church building.
Caroline Fisher was active in the Methodist Church and entertained many guests that stayed at the Fisher Hotel.
Nellie Gullett Jesse was the first telephone operator in Markham and worked as a salesperson in A.B. Turner Drug Store.
With their efforts and determination, the town developed with many different businesses for shopping and to conduct agricultural related business.
Without the railroad and the Moore-Cortes Canal Company buying many acres of land from Abel Pierce, Markham would not be where it is today.
By the 1970s, the rail line in Markham closed due to less usage and the construction of the South Texas Nuclear Plant.
Despite the loss of the railway, Markham continues to be a small unincorporated community with strong agricultural roots. W.C. Moore, Henry Cortes, W.A. Furber, Caroline Fisher, and others contributed to the development of Markham.
The irrigation canal companies contributed to establishing rice farming in Markham and Matagorda County.
Commercial rice production moved into southeast Texas in the late 1880s.
The first rice cultivation in Texas was similar to the labor-intensive traditional rice production throughout the world.
The rice seed was primarily obtained from Honduras and the Carolinas.
Rice seed from Japan was first imported into Texas in 1903. With the rice came Japanese rice farmers as advisors to Texas farmers. Seito Saibara (1861-1939) and his colony of Japanese farmers began production in Webster in Harris County.
The Saibara family is credited with the establishment of the Gulf Coast rice industry.
Their family imported and introduced shinriki seed to Texas.
The rice industry and Matagorda County began in 1900, with an experimental crop financed by a few local citizens.
This crop was immensely successful, and from that time forward the rice farming and processing industry expanded rapidly.
Many miles of canals were constructed, huge pumping plants were installed on the Colorado River; and thousands of acres from year-to-year succeeded the original experimental patch of 1900.
The first man to break ground for planting rice and Matagorda County was A. P. Borden of Pierce in Wharton County, who began working his plows three miles from Bay City in November, 1899.
The Matagorda County Rice & Irrigation Company began work the following month.
The acreage of both aggregated 600 acres in 1900. The rice industry in Matagorda County continued to prosper and by 1917 was one of the principal rice milling centers in Texas. Bay City's two mills cleaned approximately 200,000 bags of rough rice in 1916.
The value of this product-in-the-rough was estimated at$602,957.15.
The mills in Bay City employed some 65 persons in 1916.
The payrolls distributed to these employees totaled $25,000. The approximate capitalization of the mills amounted to $150,000. Much of the success was attributed to the 11 large irrigating plants operating in 1916 capable of irrigating 286,000 acres of land along 235 miles of canals.
to be continued in the next week’s edition of the Bay City Sentinel