Editor’s note: Take a look back in The Dallas Morning News Archives and the Early Garland Collection.
The status of having a post office in your community not only gives the residents a sense of connection to the outside world but also a real marker on the map.
That’s why tension grew as the North Texas communities of Duck Creek and Embree fought over where the newly built post office would be located in the 1880s.
As the quarrel escalated to the courts, Congressman Joseph Abbott settled the differences by creating the town of Garland between the two communities and relocated the post office there. What started as a disagreement between two localities ended up being the catalyst for the creation of a fast-growing city that is part of three different counties.
A fire destroys Duck Creek, giving Embree the upper hand
According to the City of Garland website, the Old Duck Creek Post Office was established on Nov. 12, 1877, near present-day Avenue B. Just across the Santa Fe Rail line laid the community of Embree. The city’s history also stated that the railroad companies would include the price of a train ticket in any surrounding land purchases.
In the two communities, Duck Creek and Embree, the railroad developers fostered fierce competition by investing in each community. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad built a station in Duck Creek. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail constructed a station in Embree.
On Jan. 8, 1887, The News published that every business on the west side of Duck Creek had been consumed by fire.
Due to the fire in January, the post office was moved toward Embree. The News reported on Feb. 12, 1887: “The Santa Fe was the first railroad on the ground and called their station Embree and the post office recently changed from Duck Creek to that name.”
Two communities and one post office
“A Fresh Outbreak of Hostility” was reported by The News on Aug. 24, 1887. The community of Embree was going to hold an election to become incorporated and start building all the trappings of a town. But at midnight the night before the election, Judge Piner placed an injunction on the election. The grounds for the injunction was because Embree was charged with “attempting to scoop in a slice of Duck Creek in order to acquire the population” needed for incorporation. This was the second attempt within a month that Embree had tried to incorporate by using Duck Creek’s population.
On Aug. 25, 1887, The News reported on the attitude of the visitors to Dallas in an article “Duck Creek and Embree — Warlike Map of Embree as Drawn by the Other Side.” “Several prominent citizens of Duck Creek and Embree were in the city yesterday, and the fact was noticeable, if not quite significant they did not talk as they passed by, though they had a smile for every outsider.” The article goes on to say that Embree has drawn up a petition and a map that stretches its boundaries in such a way that zigzags to include enough inhabitants to be considered for incorporation.
Embree retaliated with an injunction of its own, reports The News on Aug. 28, 1887. The injunction was to stop Duck Creek from holding its own election on Sept. 17 to become incorporated first.
The Embreeans and the Duck Creekeans battle it out in court
After months of escalating battles between the two communities, The News reported on Nov. 19, 1887 that prominent citizens from each community were called to the District Court. “The Embreeans arrived by the Santa Fe, the Duck Creekeans by the Missouri Pacific.” Reporters from each community’s newspaper, Duck Creek News and the Embree Enterprise, along with Dallas News, were present at court.
By Dec. 14, 1887, The News reported “official communication from the Post Office Department received this evening brings the information that the post office has been ordered to be removed to within eighty rods of each depot and name changed to Garland. This will no doubt settle existing troubles.” The town was named for Augustus H. Garland, the attorney general for President Grover Cleveland.
The Great Garland Fire
From 1888 to 1890, the newly established town of Garland reached a population of 478 people, built a high school called Garland College, multiple businesses and four churches.
On Apr. 23, 1891, The News reported that after an election Garland became incorporated. The paper on May 5, 1891, reported that the first mayor of Garland, M. Davis Williams, and the town marshal, Tobe Ethridge, were elected. The town’s population had reached around 700 residents.
By 1899, Garland had built a town square and had an estimated 30 businesses, including a Citizen Bank built in 1895, multiple lodges, and a newspaper called The Garland Daily News. But on a fateful Thanksgiving night, Nov. 30, a big fire burned down most of Garland, The News wrote on Dec. 1, 1899, . The assistant county attorney at the time, Marion Shaw, drove to Dallas to report what he saw to a News reporter.
“It was the biggest fire I ever saw in a town of that size. Twenty-five or thirty buildings, all business houses, were destroyed. I believe that the fire destroyed every business house in town. The fire started about 7:10 p.m. in the office of the Garland News. It is supposed to have caught from a cigar stump.”
Out of the ashes and into a new century Garland rebuilds
In the early 1900s, Garland started rebuilding after the fire of 1899, designing the historic square with bricks and a new well for fire prevention. On Mar. 4, 1900, tucked away in the Industrial Texas section of The News, it was mentioned that Garland had erected five new houses and two brick business buildings. By the end of 1900, the population of Garland was 819 residents.
As town development was underway, The News reported on Feb. 27, 1901, a new industrial building was being built, the oil cotton mill. With a new industry and good cotton stock, The News reported on June 16, 1901, a special tax was passed to improve Garland schools.
On Jan. 23, 1902, Garland experienced another fire that destroyed the merchandise store of M.B. Williams and the J.M. Taylor & Son hardware store. Luckily, the fire was contained and did not spread to the rest of the town.
The city of Garland’s start as a neutral location between two warring communities has grown to be an important part of Dallas County’s history, Garlandites were even known to have contributed to the Apollo 11 moon landing.
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