Site of Old Livery Stable and Wagon Yard

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it the telling it deserves. Way back in 1897, a man named Francis M. Tallant planted his flag in Odessa and set up what would become the town's very first livery stable and wagon yard.

Now, that was no small thing out here on the West Texas plain. Cowboys and cowmen needed somewhere to stable their horses, and Tallant gave them exactly that. And once those horses were squared away, well, the cowmen had a habit of heading straight across to the ranch saloon located right there opposite the stable.

Convenient, you might say. The marker doesn't pass judgment, and neither will I. Tallant ran that operation until 1906, when he sold it to a fellow by the name of C.

A. Beardsley. Now Beardsley was a man who believed in advertising, and he let the world know he offered, quote, good rigs, dray line and prompt attention.

The livery stable kept saddle horses and animal-drawn vehicles ready for hire. The wagon yard offered shelter, real shelter, for travelers and their teams coming through hard country. It was a place that understood what people needed before they even asked.

Then the automobiles came. They changed life, as the marker puts it, plain and simple, no argument allowed. By 1915, a man named Joe W.

Rice had bought the stable and converted it into a garage. The building, a sandstone structure covered with stucco, still stands. Francis Tallant's little operation didn't disappear.

It just shifted with the times, one kind of horsepower making way for another.

What the marker says

Established 1897 as Odessa's first livery stable and wagon yard by Francis M. Tallant. Cowmen stabled their horses, then headed for ranch saloon located across from stable. Sold 1906 to C. A. Beardsley, who advertised "good rigs, dray line and prompt attention." Livery stable had saddle horses and animal-drawn vehicles for hire. Wagon yard offered shelter for travelers and their teams. Automobiles changed life. In 1915, Joe W. Rice bought stable and converted it into a garage sandstone structure (covered with stucco) still stands. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.