|
|
Eastland
Attractions
Ol'
Rip, The Horned Toad
Eastland is the home of Ol' Rip, The Horned Toad that had more than
his 15 minutes of fame. Rip is visible everyday in his sarcophagus
at the North side of the Courthouse. |
Post Office
Stamp Mural and "WPA" Painted mural. The Stamp Mural is composed
of exactly 11,217 stamps, so we're told. If you don't believe it,
you can count them yourself. Suzanne Scheuer, the muralist who painted
Indians and Buffalo, included a homage to Ol' Rip in the lower right-hand
corner of the painting.
Majestic Theater - Dating back to the 1920's, The Majestic
was one of six theaters in Eastland during the oil boom. Beautifully
restored, it demonstrates Eastland can preserve more than horned toads.
Just off the square at 108 N. Lamar. Featured in the September 1998
Texas Highways Magazine article on restored theaters around Texas.
A drive through downtown Eastland at night is made memorable by the
Majestic's lighted marquee. |
 |
Nearby in Cisco
you'll see the site of the 1929
Bank Robbery made famous in A. C. Greene's book, The Santa
Claus Bank Robbery. When the movie was made it was filmed on the
exact location. Cisco has many brick structures dating from that period
including the same bank.
For the morbidly curious or students of early 20th Century Texas History,
the utility pole that was used to lynch the Bank Robbery's Mastermind
(we use the term loosely) is in back of the Majestic Theater on the
corner of Mulberry Street.
See "…and
to think that it happened on Mulberry Street."
|
| The
Santa Claus Bank Robbery |
|
The former
Eastland County jail
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2002 |
Nearby
Destinations
Lake Leon - On the Leon River 10 miles south of Eastland
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/lakes/leon/lake_id.htm
|
Eastland
Tourist Information
Eastland
Chamber of Commerce - 254-629-2332
102 South Seaman Street (On the Square)
Chamber website: www.eastland.net/eastland/ |
|
|
Post Office in Eastland
1950 postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
|
|
Train
and depot in Eastland
Postcard ca.1915 courtesy rootsweb.com/
~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
|
|
Eastland
Depot
1913 Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com
/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
Eastland
History
"... In 1875
Jacamiah S. Daugherty and Charles U. Connellee purchased land on the
C. S. Betts survey and platted a townsite. County voters opted to
move the county seat from Merriman to the newly platted site, as it
was closer to the center of the county, and the new community was
named Eastland. Connellee, Daugherty, J. B. Ammerman, and others built
a stone courthouse, and the county commissioners court held its first
session in the town in September of 1875. By January of 1876 the population
was estimated at 250...." See Handbook of Texas Online
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/EE/hge2.html |
|
|
