Dallas Morning News 
Feb. 20, 1896
Page: 3

H. and T. C. Railroad

THE CORNER OF FREESTONE

...
Wortham-The Houston and Texas Central railroad touches the extreme north-
western corner of Freestone, having some two miles of track in the county. In 
this corner is situated the pretty little town of Wortham, alias Longbottom, 
alias Tehuacana Station.  Do not suppose, however, that Wortham's record is bad
on account of its having two aliases.  It will probably compare favorably in 
the matter of morals with the average Texas town of 400 or 500 inhabitants.  
Wortham came by its aliases in this way:
  "The Houston and Texas Central railroad," says Mr. J. C. Lee, one of 
Wortham's first citizens, "reached this point in September, 1871.  The depot 
then established was named Tehuacana Station, on account of Tehuacana Hills, 
just over in Limestone county five miles southwest and in plain view of this
place.  The name, however, caused confusion as Tehuacana was already a village
of considerable note being the site of the Trinity university of the Cumberland
Presbyterian church of Texas, and also being a postoffice.  It soon became
apparent that the naming of this place Tehuacana Station was a serious mistake,
and in a year or so the name was changed to Longbottom.  It was so named in
honor of Mr. R. B. Longbottom, a pioneer citizen who came from Alabama to this
part of Texas some time in the forties.  Mr. Longbottom owned a league of land
here and made liberal donations in order to get a depot established here. He 
died some ten or twelve years ago.
  The name of the town was again chaged a little later on, to what it is now is,
Wortham, in honor of Col. L. R. Wortham, deceased, who opened the first business
house here, moving his store from the village of Bonner, eight miles east of 
this place.
  "While Col. Wortham ran the first busines house in this town, he was not the
first man to sell goods here. Capt. White (whose initials I have forgotten),
opened a small stock of groceries, etc. in a tent and I bought the first bill 
of goods from him ever sold here.  Soon afterward a man named Swing erected a
little shed and opened a small stock of canned goods, tobacco, candles, etc. in
it.  Then came Col. Wortham from Bonner, formerly known as Woodland, where the
Cumberland Presbyterians, in years past, had quite a large college."
  Among other early business men at Wortham were J. M. Byers and P. L. Stubbs,
grocers; and T. A. Bounds, dry goods.  At present the business of Wortham 
embraces three general stores, two dry goods and clothing houses, four 
groceries, two hardware and implement housues, a furniture and undertaking 
establishment, two drug stores, a hotel, a restaurant, a lumber yard, two 
cotton yards, two livery stables, a barbershop, a photograph gallery, a meat
market and three blacksmith shops.  There are also three cotton gins in and near
the town with an average capacity of from 25 to 30 bales a day each.  A corn 
mill is run in connection with each gin. Wortham has no bank, but needs one 
very much in order to facilitate the buying of cotton, cotton seed, cattle, etc.
Several of the stores here do from $25,000 to $40,000 worth of business 
annually. There is a nice iron-clad, fireproof depot building at Wortham which
is 25 feet wide by 100 feet long.  Some eight or ten new residences have been
built in the town during the last year.
  Shipments-- Last season nearly 6000 bales of cotton, 187 cars of cotton seed 
and 122 cars of cattle were shipped from Wortham.  The present season, up to 
date, only 3000 bales of cotton have been shipped and 103 cars of cotton seed.
The yearly average of cotton shipments amounts to about 4000 bales.  From five
to ten miles east of Wortham there are some extensive cedar brakes, from which 
a great deal of railroad piling, posts, telegraph and telephone poles are cut
and shipped from here.  From 30 to 50 cars of cedar timber for various purposes
are shipped here annually, a considerable portion going direct to Germany.
  Journalistic -- The first newspaper published at Wortham was the Democrat, 
established in 1890 by Martin Dies, now county judge of Wood county, Texas. 
After running the paper two years Mr. Dies sold it to Lee Satterwhite, who 
published it aout a year and half and sold it to a joint stock company, 
who changed the name to the Freestone Vindicator, running it as a populist paper
up to January 1895, then leaving the plant to Mr. Abner Eubanks who now runs 
the paper as a free silver democratic journal, retaining the name of Vindicator,
but beginning with a new volume number.  By Mr. Eubank's chronology the 
Vindicator is at the beginning of its second volume, and is a six-column weekly
folio.  The Christian Advance, of which Mr. J. E. Bounds was editor was moved
from Corsicana to Wortham in the spring of 1893, but its publication was 
discontinued in December 1894.
  Educational, social and religious -- Wortham has a fine, large, two-story 
public school building, where some 150 pupils are being educated.  Prof. Monroe,
with two good assistancts, is in charge.  A public term of eight months a year
is taught and a subscription term of two months.  There is also a colored free
school of 30 or 40 pupils.
  The religious denominations hving organizations here are the Cumberland 
Presbyterian, Christian, Presbyterian, Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Methodist,
and Methodist Protestant.  The secret orders having lodges here are the Masons,
Knights of Honor and Good Templars.
  General notes-- Wortham is 189 miles north of Houston, 76 miles south of 
Dallas, and 20 miles west of Fairfield, the county seat of Freestone county. 
The town is upon a sandy location of good natural drainage, with an abundant
supply of fine freestone water, insuring good health.  It was the purpose of
The News correspondent prepare an extended article upon Freestone County and
he requested the tax assessor at Fairfield to give him certain important data 
for that purpose.  The assessor declining to do so, The News is not able give
an accurate write-up of the county, much as it would like to do so.