O. P. Pyle

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, not every man who picks up a pen picks up a cause along with it. But Owen Pinkney Pyle, he was that kind of man.

Born in Arkansas in 1867, Pyle made his way to Mineola, Texas, and took up the work of publisher and editor of the Mineola Courier right around the turn of the century. And here's where it gets interesting. He didn't just print the news.

He used that press like a lever, workin on behalf of the farmer at a time when farmers needed somebody in their corner. He was instrumental, the marker says, in establishing the Texas Farm Union. And then, as if that wasn't enough, he helped bring the National Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union into existence.

That's a mouthful of a name for an organization, but the work behind it was real. Pyle served as the first president of that national union, and to keep the members connected and informed, he published a weekly newspaper for the organization called the National Co-Operator. A man runnin two papers and leadin a national movement.

You start to get a picture of somebody who did not sit still for long. Right here in Wood County, Pyle built his home on this very site, in 1903 and 1904. But he wasn't the type to stay put.

He later settled in Belton, where he kept right on at it, a prominent journalist and a leader in the state's Progressive movement, all the way until his death in 1919. A man from Arkansas who made Texas agriculture his cause, his platform, and his life's work. That's O.

P. Pyle.

What the marker says

Arkansas native Owen Pinkney Pyle (1867-1919) was publisher and editor of the Mineola "Courier" at the turn of the century. An advocate of the farmer, he was instrumental in establishing the Texas Farm Union and the National Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union. He served as the first president of the latter and also published the "National Co-Operator", the organization's weekly newspaper. Pyle built his home at this site in 1903-04, but later settled in Belton, where he continued to be a prominent journalist and leader of the state's Progressive movement. (1982)