DUANE
Duane's take
Now, this one comes straight off the official historical marker — let me tell it the way it deserves to be told. Picture twenty-one men from Wills Point, Texas, filing into a law office on May 6th, 1901. The law office of W.B.
Wynne, to be precise. Twenty-one men with a plan and, apparently, a fondness for both fishing and formality. What they were there to do was organize the Fin and Feather Hunting and Fishing Club — and they had their eye on a spot called Thorn Lake.
Now, Thorn Lake didn't just appear out of nowhere. The Texas and Pacific Railroad Company had built it to provide water for their steam engines. A working lake with a practical purpose.
But those twenty-one men looked at that water and thought — ideal. Just ideal. And in June of that same year, Mr. and Mrs.
H.F. Goodnight deeded six acres surrounding the lake to the cause. The new park was named after the couple.
Just like that, Thorn Lake had a new chapter written around it. The charter members had ambitions. They planned to improve the lake, stock it with fish, and provide boats for members and other visitors.
A place worth comin' to. And it didn't take long to prove they were right. By August of 1901 — the ink barely dry on those founding papers — a reunion meeting of old settlers and Confederate veterans was held right there at the club.
That reunion took root. In later years it grew to include the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias, the Women's Temperance Union, the Farmers Union, and other organizations. It became an annual event, punctuated — and I do like that word for it — punctuated by festivities.
Speeches and music, dancing and baseball games. Church groups came. Organizations of every stripe used the place.
And visitors to the lake included, as the marker notes with just the right touch of charm, noted area citizens and individuals who used the setting for marriage proposals. Well. Hard to argue with that real estate.
The club kept growin'. More property purchased in 1914, and again in 1920. Then came 1934, and the club reorganized.
These things happen — clubs breathe, they shift, they find new footing. And this one kept going. Then, in 1994, came maybe the most consequential moment since those twenty-one men walked into W.B.
Wynne's office. The Fin and Feather Club purchased the lake itself — from the Union Pacific Railroad Company — for thirty thousand dollars. The railroad had built it.
Now the club owned it. Today, the Fin and Feather Club still cares for the lake and the establishment. More than a hundred years of history, festivity, and community, held together by the same simple idea those founding members had on a May morning in 1901.
Some places just work. And some clubs, it turns out, are built to last.
What the marker says
On May 6, 1901, 21 Wills Point men met in the law office of W.B. Wynne to organize the Fin & Feather Hunting and Fishing Club to be located at Thorn Lake. The Texas & Pacific Railroad Company built Thorn Lake to provide water for their steam engines. In June, Mr. and Mrs. H.F. Goodnight deeded six acres surrounding the lake; the new park was named after the couple. The charter members of the club felt the location would make an ideal meeting place, and plans were made to improve the lake, stock it with fish and provide boats for members and other visitors. In August, 1901, a reunion meeting of old settlers and Confederate veterans was held at the club; the reunion, which in later years included the Woodmen of the World, Knights of Pythias, Women’s Temperance Union, Farmers Union and other organizations, became an annual event punctuated by festivities including speeches, music, dancing and baseball games. Church groups and other organizations also used the facility. Visitors to the lake also included noted area citizens and individuals who used the setting for marriage proposals. The club purchased additional property in 1914 and in 1920. In 1934, the club reorganized. In 1994, the Fin & Feather Club purchased the lake from the Union Pacific Railroad Company for $30,000. Today, the Fin & Feather Club continues to care for the lake and establishment. For more than 100 years, the club has provided and maintained this place of history, festivity and community.