Site of Old Pease City

Duane's take

Here's the tale as the official marker tells it, friend, and it's a good one. Back in 1880, out in the wide-open stretch of what would one day become Foard County, a man named Benjamin E. Lower and a couple by the name of John Wesley and his wife rode into country so sparsely settled it barely had a horizon, let alone a town.

They were the first settlers, and they got to work. Lower stepped into the role of first postmaster that same year, 1880, and Mrs. Wesley followed him into that position in 1882, becoming the second.

Now that's a town with a short list of firsts, but every name on it earned its place. The settlement they planted took its name from two things that mattered in that part of Texas: the Pease River rolling through the land, and E. M.

Pease, who served as Governor of Texas during 1853 to 1857 and again from 1867 to 1869. After the Wesleys and Lower came the family of W. T.

Dunn, the second wave of settlers putting down roots in ground that didn't ask easy questions but gave hard answers. And at the heart of it all sat a stone post office and trading post. One stone building, out there in the open, but don't underestimate it.

That post office served three thousand five hundred square miles of country. Three thousand five hundred square miles of ranchers, drifters, families, and dreamers, all depending on mail that came in by stage or on horseback. Now, Pease City kept that light burning until 1885, when the post office was abolished.

Margaret had become the seat of Hardeman County, and that changed the calculus. Then in 1891, both the site of Old Pease City and Margaret were folded into the newly formed Foard County. One stone building, one postmaster, one settler's wife, and three thousand five hundred square miles of sky.

That's not a footnote, friend. That's a foundation.

What the marker says

Founded in 1880 by Benjamin E. Lower, John Wesley and wife, first settlers. Lower became the first postmaster, 1880; Mrs. Wesley was second, 1882. Place was named for Pease River and E. M. Pease, Texas Governor (1853-57 and 1867-69). Second group of settlers was family of W. T. Dunn. Stone post office-trading post served 3,500 square miles of sparsely settled country. Mail delivery was by stage or horse. The post office was abolished 1885 when Margaret became seat of Hardeman County. In 1891 site of Old Pease City and Margaret became part of Foard County. (1968)