Texas Livery Stable

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's what Duane's got for you on the Texas Livery Stable of Delta County. Pull over if you need to. This one's worth a listen.

Now, before the automobile swallowed everything whole, there was a place at the center of every Texas town that wasn't the bank, wasn't the saloon, wasn't even the courthouse. It was the livery stable. And if you want to understand what a town was, you have to understand what that building did.

A good livery stable might cover a whole block. Frame building, maybe brick if the town had ambitions. Stalls running down the sides.

A harness room. An office up front smelling of leather and sawdust. Pasture nearby for the overflow.

And out front, lined up like they were posing for a portrait, the finest rigs in the county. Top buggies with storm curtains. Plush-lined hacks.

Studebaker dray wagons. All of it polished to a shine by boys who came around after school, painted carriages, groomed horses, and rode them back to the barn when the work was done. And who came through that door?

Everybody. Doctors who needed a horse for a house call at midnight. Travelers stepping off the train, or folks rushing down to meet one.

Lawyers in town for court. Drummers, that's salesmen, making their local rounds with sample cases and a cheerful word. Land seekers with big dreams and not much else.

Hunters. Fishermen. Young men with somewhere particular to be on a Saturday evening, if you take my meaning.

Ladies out visiting. Businessmen who boarded their teams there week after week. When somebody died, the livery stable provided the hearse and the funeral carriages.

When there was no occasion at all, men gathered there anyway, trading talk, meeting visitors, picking up the news of the day. It was the town's club, the marker calls it plainly. And that's exactly what it was.

Now, tramps cleaned the stables and slept in the hay. The manager doctored animals when they needed it, and sometimes, the same man who handed you a buggy in the morning was the undertaker by afternoon. Life had a certain range back then.

Rent ran three to five dollars a day. Right here on this courthouse site, until 1912, stood the Blackwell Livery Stable. And to the east of it, from 1880 to 1914, the Nidever Livery Stable kept the city fire engine team at its front.

When an alarm came in, that team was harnessed and that fire wagon was rolling in minutes. The town's safety, hanging on horses and the people who kept them ready. The livery stable was a centuries-old institution by the time Texas got around to it.

And then, somewhere around 1915, it vanished. The marker says it plainly, and I think the plainness is the point: no true successor replaced it. Not one.

Whatever came after moved faster, sure. But it didn't gather people the same way. It didn't smell the same, didn't sound the same, didn't serve doctors and drummers and courting young men and undertakers all under one roof.

Something that old, gone that fast. Delta County remembers.

What the marker says

Had animal-drawn vehicles and saddle horses for hire. Served doctors on calls; people arriving on or meeting trains; lawyers attending court;"drummers" (salesmen) on local rounds; land seekers; hunters and fishermen; young men courting; ladies out visiting. Usually housed in a good frame or brick building; stalls, harness rooms, office might cover a block. Pasture was nearby. Boarded teams of businessmen and townspeople. Provided hearses, funeral carriages. Stable was town's "club" -- for men trading, meeting visitors, getting news. After school, used boys for deliveries; they took along horses to ride back to barn. They painted, polished carriages; groomed, fed horses. Tramps cleaned stables, slept in hay. Manager often "doctored" animals, sometimes was an undertaker. Fine saddle horses and rigs stood out front, for show -- top buggies, with storm curtains; plush-lined hacks; Studebaker dray wagons. Rent: $3 to $5 a day. On this courthouse site (until 1912) was Blackwell Livery Stable. To the east (1880 - 1914) Nidever Livery Stable kept city fire engine team at its front. In minutes after an alarm, had fire wagon on its way. A centuries-old institution, the livery stable vanished about 1915. No true successor replaced it. (1966)