Wichita County Historical Commission

08/26/2026

A Wichita Falls Summer Memory
The corner of Weeks Park Lane and Southwest Parkway was the home of Kiddyland, later called Fun Land. The amusement park included a boat ride, a miniature train, and a merry-go-round. If you were in grade school in the 60s and 70s on into the 90s, you wanted to go to Kiddyland.
The true draw to all the kids was the rides. Called the “old 369,” the Cannon Ball miniature train followed a mile-long track around the park. Helicopters would “fly” up and down, circling around a tall spire. Kids could drive a kid-sized tractor, pump a hand-car on the railway, and drive a “sports car.”
Kiddyland drew school children from Wichita Falls along with North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Besides offering amusement rides, the park provided concessions and a covered area for parties. Many a school child spent a few hours at Kiddyland followed by a sandwich under the picnic shelter, celebrating the beginning of summer vacation

08/21/2026

See our latest Marker Minute.

Join the Wichita County Historical Commission for Marker Minutes. H...

08/20/2026

There are so many stories like this one that have gone untold. Beginning October 1, 2026, the Undertold Marker cycle of the Texas Historical Commission opens. By completing this simple application, your topic could potentially receive a FREE Texas Historical Commission marker. Contact your local County Historical Commission for more information.

08/20/2026

We need more citizen historians in Wichita County. Are you interested in learning more about the roots of where you live? Contact the Wichita County Historical Commission. We need your help!

08/19/2026

Disco comes from the French word “discothèque,” the upscale European dance clubs that appeared in the late 60s. The clubs played jazz and r & b music, eventually birthing a style of music known for its beat, orchestrations, and electric instrumentation. Some describe the music and club style as a response to the disillusionment of the 60s. The discos of New York City welcomed a diverse population, accepting of all populations. The music itself presented themes of escapism, love, and resilience.
The music of the 60s gave way to the sounds of Donna Summer, KC and the Sunshine Band, the Village People, ABBA, Chic, and Earth, Wind and Fire. DJs did more than spin records for the dancers. Using reel-to-reel tapes, DJs produced extended versions of songs, adding beats, new sections, and new sounds.
The dancing of the 60s required a lot of room for everyone to “groove” to their own sound. Disco brought back “touch” dancing and styles with names such as "Bump", "Penguin", "Boogaloo", "Watergate", the “Hustle,” and "Robot".
The disco club arrived in North Texas in the 70s. A list of the clubs in Wichita Falls providing the dance beat, flashing disco ball, and lighted dance floor (just like Saturday Night Fever) included Mad Hatter, Dance Factory, Seymour Highway Electric Company, Vampp’s, Stardust Club, Graham Central Station, Earthquake Ethel’s, and Maze Disco. In 1978, Windmill Gardens, a club for the younger set, opened on Call Field and advertised their DJ Bumpin’ Butch.
By 1980, the disco cowboy appeared in the form of “Urban Cowboy.” The Mad Hatter, which became Earthquake Ethel’s, reemerged as Rodeo West, where local cowboys could scoot their boots.
And then, disco was gone. In 1979, Comiskey Park in Chicago held a “disco demolition,” destroying thousands of disco albums.
What are your memories of Wichita Falls’ discos? Did you wear your best disco outfit to Graham Central Station or dance on the lighted floor of the Seymour Highway Electric Company?

08/17/2026

Check out our newest Marker Minute.

08/12/2026

As early as 1907, the citizens of Wichita Falls could have their tea “iced” thanks to the Wichita Ice Company. P. Miricle managed the concern, which, besides providing ice for the family ice box, also sold coal for heating!
1912 proved to be a growing year for the ice business in Wichita Falls. Both People’s Ice Company and Wichita Ice Company expanded their cold storage and ice-making capacity. In the late 1910s, Wichita Ice became a distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, Pablo, “a hoppy drink,” and Graino, made by the Grain Juice Company of Dallas.
People’s Ice Company built a new plant at 5th and Indiana in 1920. The former ice company building stands today as the home of Backdoor Theater. Wichita Falls Ice expanded in 1923, buying Burkburnett Ice Company.
In the mid-30s, Southwestern Ice Manufacturing met in the Marchman Hotel. The local area ice companies present included the Henrietta Ice Company, the Independent Ice Company of Iowa Park, the Electra Ice Company, and four companies of Wichita Falls (People’s Ice/Wichita Falls Ice/New Age Ice/People’s of Wichita Falls).
How did the average family cool their food? The family might have an “ice box,” an insulated box with a compartment that held a block of ice. Periodically, the ice man came. If you were a Wichita Ice customer, the delivery man arrived in a red, white, and blue wagon. The family would usually buy a “coupon book,” paying in advance for ice delivery and saving money over paying at each delivery.

08/10/2026

What is your local legend? Nominate your story now!

The next Legends & Lore grant round opens Monday, Aug. 24!

Every community has stories to share. Our Legends & Lore marker program helps bring them to life. Commemorate your local folklore with a grant funded Pomeroy Marker.

Legends & Lore markers highlight the folkways, traditions, songs, and storytelling that shape a community’s identity. From larger-than-life legends to tales passed down for generations, they celebrate the stories that make each place unique.

Go to our website to review guidelines, check eligibility, and apply online: https://www.wgpfoundation.org/history/legends-lore/

Legends & Lore marker grant applications are due Monday, Oct. 12.

Why apply? Here are just a few reasons:

✅ Marker, pole, and shipping fully funded
✅ Highlight local folktales, folklife, and legends
✅ Spark curiosity, attract visitors, and generate media attention

Applications are currently accepted from the following states: Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Don’t see your state listed? If you know of a qualified folklore related organization in a state not yet participating, let us know.

Located in Connecticut? Join us for a webinar with the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Sign up here: https://www.connecticutmuseum.org/event/tellingctstories/

08/05/2026

Six thousand spectators lined the shore to watch outboard boats race laps around a one-mile course.
No, we’re not on Lake Travis, Lake Texoma, or even Lake Arrowhead. We are on Lake Wichita.
Boats of one type or another have been racing on Lake Wichita since as early as 1912. Reports of a race described a rollicking competition with the finish called a tie between Matt Arnold and Curtis Combs. Dean Howard, another person in the race, lost despite leading the entire race. Howard probably would have won, had he not lost an oar.
The Traction Company, founded by Frank Kell and J. A. Kemp in 1909, ran a streetcar track to Lake Wichita.
Residents rode the streetcar to the Lake Wichita “resort” to view row boat races with a prize to the winner of $10!
By 1924, the boat races included one and two-cylinder motors, single oar, and “tub” races. One event also included a Texas Oklahoma Bathing Girl r***e. After a pause of a few years, outboard motor racing returned in 1929-30 with boats piloted by W. T. Waggoner, Jr. and Ralph Harvey, Jr.
Twenty-three years later, in 1952, racing returned to Lake Wichita and continued during the 50s. Races, sanctioned by the National Outboard Association, sometimes had more than 100 boats entered. The Wichita Falls Boating Club sponsored races at Lake Wichita and Lake Kickapoo. Racing boats soon included outboards, runabouts, and hydro-plane. Over 6000 spectators attended a regatta with boating entrants from Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Currently, the Wichita Falls Sailing Club holds sailboat races on Lake Arrowhead.

08/03/2026

Walter Cline stands as one of the true characters of the Oil Boom Era. He made and lost fortunes and built an iconic house in Country Club Estates addition. Yes, he should have a Texas Historical Commission marker.

WALTER DEARING CLINE, who went from mule skinner to being awarded medals by kings, was born in a dirt floor shack built by his father on March 26, 1883 in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. His father, a carpenter and builder, was constructing a sawmill in the area. The family moved to Jackson, Louisiana in 1892-3. Cline attended Millwood Institute, a school for girls that allowed boys until age 14. He later attended Centenary College, working his way through with carpentry and kitchen skills learned from his parents. He left Centenary College before graduation to help educate his two younger brothers.
Cline worked manual labor on the rice canals near Crowley, Louisiana. Later, he was placed in charge of carpentry, building flumes and bridges. When oil was found near Jennings, Louisiana, Cline took a job in the oil field making $1.75 a day, an increase over his previous canal job of $1.50 a day.
Cline went from roustabout laying pipelines to pulling sucker rods and later pumping wells. He then worked as a roughneck on a drilling rig. Rotary drilling was new, and Cline learned many rough lessons, running the rotary through floor boards and crown blocks. At this time, oil was selling for 5 cents a barrel.
After working in the Evangeline, Batson, and Sour Lake fields, Cline moved to Humble, where he worked as derrick man, pumper, and night driller for several years. He then went out on his own, first drilling wells near Laredo.
A true “wildcatter”, Cline followed the oil strikes across Texas and New Mexico. In 1913, he and his family moved to Wichita Falls and then to Burkburnett, where Cline was involved in the oil activity west of Burkburnett. Cline, with investors including John G. Hardin, Joe Staley, Bob Moore, and Will Daniel, drilled the Fowler discovery well just north of Burkburnett, ushering in the area boom of 1918. When he retired, Cline had drilled wells for major and independent operators for over 40 years. He also served as the first president of the Texas-Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.
During his residence in Burkburnett, Cline was elected mayor, served on the school board and as bank director, and donated land for a high school.
Cline moved back to Wichita Falls in 1917; a group approached Cline to serve as mayor. He inherited a city wholly unprepared for the massive population growth due to the oil boom. During Cline’s term, the city acquired a municipal water system and a new city charter. During the battle over the bond election to provide water and sewer systems to the city, Cline and a partner, Clint Wood, offered to “buy” every piece of land in the city.
Cline continued his civic work in Wichita Falls. He helped reorganize the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce and helped organize the West Texas Chamber of Commerce. During World War I, he commanded the city’s war emergency drives and Liberty Loan campaign. He founded the first Community Chest in the south. He was a field director of the American Red Cross during the 1918 flu epidemic.
During the Depression, Cline led distribution of relief funds through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. He was one of the directors of the Texas National Recovery Administration and Regional Director of the Federal Housing Administration. It was during this time that Cline coordinated the Wichita Falls Golden Jubilee Celebration, held in September 1932. Cline later helped organize and provided preliminary management for the Texas Centennial Celebration in Dallas.
Cline was active in the Wichita Falls Rotary Club. He later became a Director of Rotary International and coordinated a convention held in Belgium in 1927. Cline was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Leopold II by the King of Belgium. Cline and his wife were presented to King George V in London. Upon his retirement from business, Cline was made an honorary life member of the Wichita Falls Rotary.
Cline joined the Masonic Lodge in 1908 in Galveston. He secured a charter for a Shrine temple in Wichita Falls in 1921. He held many offices in Masonry, including receiving the Imperial Potentate of the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in 1939. During the following year, Cline traveled throughout the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada, speaking to local temples.
Walter Cline married Ella Pipes Cline on August 22nd, 1910, and together they had five children. He died at age 77 on June 23, 1960, and is buried in Crestview Memorial Park in Wichita Falls, Texas.