DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm proud to pass it along. George Alonzo Soule. Now that is a name that belongs on a Texas road, and friend, this man put in his time on plenty of them.
Before he ever set foot in Wichita Falls, Soule already knew the freight and stage business from the inside out. He had owned a freight and stage line over in Jacksboro and Fort Griffin, so when the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad came through Wichita Falls, he read the moment right. In 1883 he packed up his wife Lilla and the family and came to town.
He opened a stage line and livery stable right at this very site, sitting close to the business section, and he got to work. Passengers and freight headed out to Oklahoma. Hauls running as far west as Quanah and Benjamin.
Long dusty miles, all of them. Now here is where the story picks up a little texture. Occasionally, out on those runs, Soule was robbed by highwaymen.
The marker doesn't linger on the particulars, and maybe that's wise. Some roads hand you trouble and you just keep movin. Soule kept movin.
As railway transportation increased, the stage line's days were numbered, and Soule knew it. He closed the stageline and turned his full attention to livery barns, running them here in Wichita Falls, and also in Harold, and in Vernon, all the way until 1912. George Alonzo Soule, born in 1840, died in 1913.
One year after he finally put down the reins. The road had been long, and it sounds like he rode every mile of it.
What the marker says
Before coming to Wichita Falls George Alonzo Soule (1840-1913) owned a freight and stage line in Jacksboro and Fort Griffin. After the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad came through here, Soule brought his wife Lilla and Family in 1883. He opened a stage line and livery stable at this site near the business section. He hauled freight and passengers to Oklahoma and as far west as Quanah and Benjamin. Occasionally he was robbed by highwaymen. After railway transportation increased, Soule closed the stageline and ran livery barns here, in Harold, and in Vernon until 1912. (1979)