DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, there's a park in Mitchell County that carries the name of a Quaker farmer and dairyman — but this land had stories long before he ever broke ground on it. That's the thing about Ruddick Park.
The history here runs deep, and it doesn't start gentle. Way back in 1840, Colonel John Henry Moore rode into this country with ninety Indian fighters and wiped out a Comanche village on the Colorado nearby. Ninety men.
One village. That's where this land's story opens. And the creek that runs through the park — it was named for Chief Lone Wolf of the Kiowa Indians, who camped along those very banks.
So even the water here carries a name that remembers who came before. By 1880, Company B of the Frontier Battalion was ordered out here under Captain Sam McMurry to combat Indian attacks. The Frontier Battalion.
That's not a peacetime detail — that's a hard assignment on unsettled ground. Then came 1881, and with it the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and suddenly immigrants began to flood the area. Among them: a Quaker from Oregon by the name of W.
P. Ruddick — born 1851 — and his wife Sarah, née Hutchens. Now, they didn't ride into Mitchell County and find a house waiting on them.
They moved into a half-dugout. Half dug into the earth, half standing above it, and all of it home until lumber could be shipped in from Fort Worth. That is not a soft beginning.
But Ruddick was not a soft man — he was just a quiet one. As a Quaker, he went about his work with a kind of steady purpose. He became one of the first in Mitchell County to raise cotton.
He planted an orchard. He operated a dairy, and not just any dairy — he transported the first registered Jersey and Hereford cattle into the county. First ones.
He drilled water wells, too, for his neighbors as well as himself, and he ranched across this same ground where soldiers had camped and chiefs had rested and battles had been fought. W. P.
Ruddick died in 1914. And in 1929, his heirs gave twenty acres of this land to the city — in memory of William Penn Ruddick, farmer and dairyman, and Mrs. Ruddick.
Soon after that donation came in, an amphitheater and a stage were built on the grounds. The park has grown since then — it now contains a hundred and thirty-eight acres. A hundred and thirty-eight acres sitting on top of a Comanche campsite, a Kiowa creek bank, a Frontier Battalion post, and a half-dugout where a Quaker and his wife waited on lumber from Fort Worth.
Some places earn their names. This one did.
What the marker says
Given to city 1929 in memory of pioneer William Penn Ruddick, farmer and dairyman, and Mrs. Ruddick. History was made here even before Ruddick arrived, however. In 1840 Colonel John Henry Moore and 90 Indian fighters wiped out a Comanche village on the Colorado nearby. The creek that runs through the park was named for Chief Lone Wolf of the Kiowa Indians, who camped along the creek banks. In 1880 Co. B of the Frontier Battalion, under Captain Sam McMurry, was ordered here to combat Indian attacks. With the coming of the Texas & Pacific Railroad in 1881, immigrants began to flood the area. W.P. Ruddick (1851-1914) and his wife Sarah (Hutchens) moved from Oregon and set up housekeeping in a half-dugout until lumber could be shipped from Fort Worth. Ruddick, a Quaker, was one of the first in Mitchell County to raise cotton. He also planted an orchard and operated a dairy, for which he transported the first registered Jersey and Hereford cattle into the county. He ranched and drilled water wells for his neighbors as well as himself. Soon after the donation of the original 20-acre park by Ruddick's heirs, an amphitheater and stage were built here. The park now contains 138 acres. (1970)