Earle C. Driskell

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Earle Claud Driskell came into this world in Indiana in 1883, and by the time he was five years old, his family had already packed up and pointed themselves toward Texas; arriving in 1888. He came of age, trained as a lawyer, and then in 1907 he made a turn that would define him: he joined the staff of the Fort Worth Star and took up the pen as his weapon of choice.

Now, a lot of folks in that era were writing about politics and society pages and who won what at the county fair. Driskell had his eye on the roads. The roads, of all things.

The rutted, muddy, bone-rattling roads of Tarrant County. He became a tireless advocate for a county bond program (the kind of thing that makes most people's eyes glaze right over) and he hammered that drum through his editorials until people started to listen. And they did listen.

In 1911, a major road bond package was passed, and what happened in Tarrant County set an example that rippled out to other state and local highway programs across Texas. That's no small thing. That's the kind of work that outlasts a man.

And it did outlast him; because the following year, Earle C. Driskell died of smallpox at his home in Fort Worth. He was building something, word by word and mile by mile, and then just like that, he was gone.

The roads he fought for kept going. He didn't.

What the marker says

Born in Indiana in 1883, Earle Claud Driskelll came to Texas with his parents in 1888. Educated as a lawyer, he started his journalism career in 1907 when he joined the staff of the Fort Worth "Star". He soon gained recognition for his work as an advocate of a county bond program to improve the quality of local roads and highways. Largely through his editorial efforts, a major road bond package was passed in 1911 that set an example for other state and local highway programs. Driskell died of smallpox at his Fort Worth home the following year. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.