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Safe Haven RV Park

Cisco Texas History:

http://www.ciscotx.com/beginnings.htm

http://www.aoghs.org/7-RangerTexas.pdf

  • 1878 or 1879 Rev. C. G. Stevens arrived and called the frontier
    settlement "Red Gap."
  • Late 1880 T & P completed railroad from Fort Worth to Cisco & six
    months later Texas Central completed railroad from Waco to Cisco.
  • May 21, 1881 Name changed to Cisco in honor of John A. Cisco, a
    New York financier  when the Central Texas Railway tracks crossed
    the tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railway.
  • 1881 First school of 100 students
  • 1881 R. G. Luse started Cisco's first newspaper, the "Cisco Round-
    Up"
  • Feb 1887 bank robbery of $10,000 never recovered
  • Apr 14, 1893 Tornado killed 30 and destroyed blew down 40 of 45
    businesses, city hall, every church and every school, and destroyed
    all but one of 500 homes.  Cisco did not recover until McCleskey
    discovered oil south of Ranger in 1917.
  • Apr 28, 1893 The National Weather Service was formed as a result
    of the Cisco tornado.
  • 1895 Frank Vernon, publisher of the Cisco newspaper donated
    personal book to start 1st library
  • 1897 Court Clerk Ernest Wood placed a horny toad in the
    cornerstone to Eastland's county courthouse as it was being laid. In
    1928, 31 years later, the old court house was demolished to replace
    it with a new court house.  Ol' Rip the horned toad was still alive.  
    Old Rip rests in a velvet and glass box in Eastland's courthouse.
  • 1909 Britton Training School established by O. C. Britton opened.  
    Closed during WWI
  • 1917 Ranger Oil Field discovery.  William B.  Ferguson  of
    Stephenville, TX has said, "It has been said that the Ranger oil field
    caused the Germans to sue for peace and end World War One."
  • 1919 Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel in Cisco TX - the Mobley
    Hotel
  • 1919-1921 Eastland County oil boom.  Cisco population rose to
    15,000.
  • 1923 Randolph College (4-yr BS school supported by First Christian
    Church replaced Britton Training School.  Closed in 1934.
  • 1925 Williamson Dam on Sandy Creek completed costing > $1.5
    million. Dam formatted Lake Cisco.  At its base the world's largest
    concrete swimming pool was constructed.  The pool closed in the
    1970's.
  • 1920's Cisco High School football team was called the "Big Dam
    Loboes"
  • 1925 The Palace Theatre at 105 W 8th St. in Cisco opened for
    silent movies.  The 300-seat theater closed in 1970.
  • Dec 23, 1927 The Great Santa Claus Bank Robbery.  The Texas
    Bankers Association had offered a $5,000 reward to anyone
    shooting a bank robber during the crime.  There were over 200
    bullet holes in the bank.
  • May 8, 1939 Cisco Junior College founded to replace Randolph
    College.
Dash Crofts
Conrad Hilton's First Hotel
The Mobley
Photograph taken April 2008  by Ruby Ellis
JBF Wright
Feb 21, 1877 - Oct 13, 1959
Credited with  "Precious Memories."
Buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Cisco,
Texas between Fern & Jasmine on
Ash Street
Photograph taken by Ruby Ellis, April 2008
Conrad Hilton Museum inside Conrad
Hilton's first hotel, The Mobley, located
at TX-183 & W 4th Street
Photograph taken by Ruby Ellis, April 2008
Conrad Hilton's First Hotel,
The Mobley
Photograph taken by Ruby Ellis, April 2008
Ol' Rip the Horned Toad
History

About the Cisco, Texas Area

Famous Sons and Daughters of Cisco and
Surrounding Area:

  • Gene Alden, born in Cisco, TX was the
    drummer in an instrumental quintet with a
    Latin dance style formed in 1957 called the
    "Champs" who recorded their one hit
    "Tequilla"  which went to number 1 1n 1958  
    and won a Grammy.  They also recorded
    "Train to Nowhere."  Flores and Alden left
    "Champs" in 1958 and were replaced Jimmy
    Seals of Sidney, TX and Dash Crofts of Cisco
    TX.  Burgess was later replaced by Glen
    Campbell in 1960.  The Champs disbanded in
    1964.
  • Dash Crofts (Darrell Crofts) Born
    08/14/1940 in Cisco, Texas.  Singer and
    songwriter with Seals and Crofts known for
    their "Summer Breeze" album charted as #7
    in 1972.
  • Clint Dolezel got a football scholarship out
    of high school to Cisco Junior College.
    Dolezel was at Cisco Junior College for 2
    years where he earned second-team All-
    Conference honors.  Dolezel played in the
    AFL with the Milwaukee Mustangs 1995-
    1996.  Dolezel is called the most productive
    6'5" 205 pound quarterback in the Dallas
    Desperados football history.  In 2006, Dolezel
    achieved 105 touchdown passes.
  • Edd Hayes, Sculptor, Born in Cisco, Texas in
    1945.  Hayes has 11 bronzes in The Pro
    Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of The
    American Cowboy in Colorado Springs,
    Colorado.  His work is in major museums in
    California, Colorado, South Dakota, Texas,
    and Russia.
  • Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Sr. 12/25/1887 -
    01/03/1979  Founder of the Hilton Hotel chain
    of over 2000 hotels around the world, bought
    his first motel, The Mobley, in Cisco.  Hilton is
    buried at Calvary Hill Cemetery in Dallas,
    Texas.
  • Albert Augustus Hutton, Aileen Martin is
    the former owner of Safe Haven RV Park.  
    Aileen Martin's father, A. A. Hutton loaned
    money to Conrad Hilton so he could buy the
    Mobley Hotel, the first of Conrad Hilton's hotel
    chain.   A. A. Hutton was in a partnership with
    Cowboy Evans of Fort Worth running the
    Cutton Oil Corporation located on 8th Street
    & Avenue D, Cisco, Texas.  In the famous
    Santa Clause Robbery, the bank robbers
    shot Sheriff Bedford.  Aileen's dad, A. A.
    Hutton picked up the sheriff's gun and shot at
    the bank robbers.  
  • Jack House
  • Bryant Houston
  • Cisco Kid (Duncan Renaldo)
  • Larry L. King
  • Larry McMurtry, Born 06/03/1936 in Wichita
    Falls, Texas currently lives in Archer City,
    Texas, 105 miles north of Cisco.  Since 1961,
    Novelist, and screenwriter of over 45 Books,
    Novels and films including:
  1. 1961 - Horseman, Pass By (film Hud)
  2. 1966 - The Last Picture Show
  3. 1975 - Terms of Endearment (won five
    academy awards)
  4. 1985 - Lonesome Dove (became
    popular TV mini-series.
  5. Golden Globe (co-winner for Best
    Screenplay with Diana Ossana)
  6. 2005 - Brokeback Mountain (Oscar
    Award for Best Adapted Screenplay by
    E. Annie Proulx)
  • Gary Morris
  • Henry Harold "Cotton" Pippen 04/02/1911
    - 02/15/1981 Was a 6'2" Major League
    Baseball pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals,
    Philadelphia Athletics, and Detroit Tigers.  
    Pippen was born in Cisco Texas.
  • Jean Porter
  • Roy Thackerson
  • James Stan Webb, Texas Radio Hall of
    Fame
  • John Braselton Fillmore Wright,
    02/21/1877 - around 1959 Is credited with
    "Precious Memories." (Records indicate the
    gospel hymn may have been around since
    1877.)   JBF Wright retired from being a
    custodian and nurseryman for Cisco Junior
    College in the early 1950's.  Wright wrote
    more than 500 songs.  His son, Everett
    Wright died from Diptheria 01/23/1922 and
    was burried in Hamlin, TX.  Wright wrote the
    song in 1923 which was published in 1925.  
    Wright is a member of the Church of God.
A. A. Hutton
Born around Feb 7, 1998
Picture taken around 1987