DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the one doing the talking here — I'm just the voice it rides in on. Now settle in, because this is the kind of story Texas grew up on. A man arrives with almost nothing, and by the time he's done, there's a whole town wearing his name.
Let's go back to 1859. Stephen Bethel Strawn comes rolling into Palo Pinto County — born way back in Giles County, Tennessee — and he arrives among the first settlers in the entire region. First settlers.
That means the land is raw, the roads are suggestions, and your nearest neighbor might as well be on the moon. And Stephen Bethel Strawn looks at all of that and apparently thinks, yes, this'll do fine. He marries Jane Allen on July 18, 1860 — so he barely gets his boots unpacked before he's starting a family — and then, well, the Civil War comes calling.
Strawn serves in Company B, State Troops, protecting the frontier. That's the job: hold the line out here on the edge of everything while the rest of the country tears itself apart. He does it.
And when it's over, he comes home to Palo Pinto County and he builds. Literally builds — puts up this very house in the mid-1870s. But a house wasn't the ceiling of Stephen Bethel Strawn's ambitions, not by a long measure.
See, he's a landowner, a rancher, a banker, and he's got his fingers in the local coal mining activities too. The man had range, in every sense of the word. And then comes 1880, which is where the story really kicks into gear.
Strawn founds a city — founds it — and the reason is pure Texas shrewdness: he wants to encourage the Texas and Pacific Railway Company to build through the area. So he doesn't wait for the railroad to come to him. He plants a city in its path.
That city? Strawn, Texas. Still there.
Still got his name on it. That's not luck. That's a man who showed up in 1859 with the frontier stretching out in every direction, and just kept building until the world caught up.
What the marker says
Born in Giles county, Tennessee. Came to Palo Pinto County, 1859, among first settlers in region. Married Jane Allen, July 18, 1860. Served in Co. B, State Troops, during Civil War, protecting frontier. Built this house in mid-1870s. Founded city of Strawn, 1880, to encourage Texas & Pacific Railway company to build through area. He was landowner, rancher, and banker, with interests in local coal mining activities. (1973)