Dublin TX Historical Museum

06/25/2026

Sent in by an anonymous reader, the Dublin Bottling Works in Dublin, Texas, circa 1900. Note the ice delivery wagon. Man, I'd love to have an ice-cold Dr. Pepper right now. One of the real ones, naturally, not one with corn syrup.

06/25/2026

The C. H. Strong Poultry House and livery known as the Deaton old stable on Grafton Street were destroyed by fire on October 30, 1909.

05/06/2026

Dublin Rotarian Ben Pate, who also serves as president of the Dublin Historical Society, presented the program this week on the 100-year history of the local brick streets. He also invited the public to attend a celebration of the brick streets at the historical museum at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9. Two of the men represented in the old picture ( see photo in comments) were named Bradberry and Leatherwood and their heirs will be honored at Saturday’s celebration. The original brick streets were financed by a $40,000 bond election in 1925. A million bricks, weighing nine pounds each and filling 120 train cars, were purchased.

05/06/2026

Looking forward to making the Central Inn Golf Central once again!!

05/02/2026

04/27/2026

In 1900 there was a population boom in Dublin and the surrounding area. There was also a boom in Purvis where housing was scarce. It was during this time that Mattie Stephen built a 22 room hotel. It housed travelers and permanent occupants. Mattie Stephen owned and operated it for many years. (History of Erath County p-15, Homer Stephen)

The Stephen Hotel was one of the largest in this area. Community gatherings took place in the lobby. Mattie Case Stephen operated it until it burned in August, 1914. (Images of America, Erath County by Sherly Reed Rascher)

The Dublin Progress reported that the two-story hotel was destroyed by fire between two and three o’clock on Saturday morning August 30, 1914. The estimated loss was $4000, including the house and effects on which insurance was but $1500. “Mrs. Stephens was away at the time on a visit of a week or ten days with her son at Galveston. She left her other three boys in charge of the property, only one of whom, Henry, twenty years of age, was at home when the fire occurred. The origin of the fire was not known. It caught, however, in the upper story of the building and young Mr. Stephens was awakened by the dense smoke entering his room.” (Dublin Progress, September 4, 1914)

Rooming houses were prominent during that time. In Dublin we had the Wiley Cottage, and the Lancaster House later called the Harbin House. On summer afternoons people would sit out on the large porches to pass the time. The Hotel Dublin also served as a hotel and rooming house for individuals.

People would come to Dublin during the harvest or to shop for a few days. Some people would stay in the wagon yards or if they had money they would stay in a hotel for the night.

The Stephen Hotel was built and operated by Mattie Stephen. The 22 room building served the Purvis community until it burned August 30, 1914. Jim and Leathia Whisenant are standing center in the photo. In a suit and standing to the right of the front door is J.J. Knox. (Images of America, Erath County by Sheryl Reed Rascher) Photo from the Ralph and Dossie Rogers Collection

04/12/2026

On May 12, 2026 it will be one hundred years since Dublin paved its streets with brick. In this article I want to share the process they went through preparing for and getting the streets paved with the red Thurber brick.

It started in 1919 when Mayor Sheehan visited several cities to ask how paving would be possible for a town like Dublin. He had taken a trip to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Cisco. After talking with commissioners in those cities, he announced that “We should be making plans for this to take place.” (Dublin Progress May 16, 1919)

“The mayor has an opinion from the attorney general to the effect that upon the vote of the people, the city council may adopt an ordinance ordering the paving of any street or alley and when this is done the cost may be legally placed against the property owners on a basis of one-third to be paid by the city and two-thirds by the property owners whose property abuts on the street or alley to be paved.” “It is stated there will be no trouble encountered in securing the necessary number of signers.” (Dublin Progress, June 27, 1919)

An election was scheduled for October 6, 1925 asking for citizens to approve a bond for the City of Dublin for the amount of $40,000 to pay for the materials and labor needed for the paving downtown. (Dublin Progress, September 4, 1925)

The bond proposed a property tax of 25 cents per $100 that would pay the city’s part of the cost. They planned to pave with vitrified Thurber brick which had been found to be most satisfactory, more economical, to last longer and may be kept in repair for less money than other materials used for paving. (Dublin Progress, September 4, 1925)

Only 9000 of the nine pound brick was shipped on each a rail car. 120 cars with 81,000 pound capacity each were needed. It totaled 1,080,000 brick for the project. In addition to the vast amount of brick needed, ten car loads of asphalt, four or five car loads of gravel and twenty car loads of sand were needed, not to mention the vast amount of labor needed. (Dublin Progress, February 5, 1926)

This first phase of paving took place from the Magnolia filling station at the corner of Live Oak and Patrick, down Patrick Street to the red light. Work continued from the train tracks on Blackjack to park street. On Elm Street it

went from the train tracks to Park Street. Also Grafton Street from the Katy train station to Live Oak Street. (Dublin Progress, September 4, 1925)

For weeks the crews had been putting down curbing and preparing the streets. It was on May 12, 1926 late in the afternoon that the city council gathered to have a ground breaking ceremony to officially start the paving with brick. The people had seen what the curbing would look like. But after the councilmen and Mayor E.C. Fewell put down their brick in the ceremony, the real brick layers quickly moved in and started the brick laying process. The crews quickly worked toward the corner of Patrick and Blackjack. It was hoped that the new brick streets would bring new life and encouragement to businesses downtown. (Dublin Progress, May 14, 1926)

It was during the paving process that the Frisco asked the Jake Hamon Railroad to stop using the Frisco freight station for freight business and build their own building.

J.W. Mitchell arrived on March, 24 to agree to start building their own depot and to agree to pay their part of the costs of laying brick on the downtown streets. General Manager of the Frisco and attorney Odell arrived the same day to talk with the Dublin council and confirm their willingness to pay their part of the expense of brick paving. For the Jake Hamon line the materials for the new depot arrived on five cars and work began shortly thereafter. The building size was eighteen by forty-two feet. That railroad depot is now part of the Erath County tax office on Grafton Street. (March 26, 1926)

By August, work had continued in each direction until the paving was done in the downtown section.

Everyone was so pleased with the paving downtown, a number asked for a second bond to pave other streets including residential neighborhoods. That election took place on October 5, 1926. The next section was to pave Patrick street from Live Oak to Clinton Street where it stopped at the gas station. That gas station is where the Dairy Queen is located now. Some additional paving was done downtown, One part of Blackjack Street was extended to the Jake Hamon Railroad crossing close to Highland Ave. East Elm street was later paved along with North Grafton.

The Historical Society is planning to have a celebration on May 9th at the museum for the 100th anniversary of the downtown brick. More details to come.

The city mayor and councilmen held brick during the groundbreaking for paving of downtown. It took place on May 12, 1926 at the corner of Live Oak and Patrick Street.

04/01/2026

It has been 100 years since the original gas lines were laid in Dublin.

It was a big step forward when the new pipes arrived in Dublin in the spring of 1926. Having natural gas as a way to heat their homes was something everyone looked forward to. It was a clean way to warm their homes without the soot and smoke that coal and wood produced. The new gas lines had been laid in the alley way west of Patrick to start the process. Now the crews were laying the pipe in the alley ways on the east side of Patrick. It was estimated that all the pipes for downtown would be laid in the next two weeks.

The main gas pipe would be laid to De Leon, then on to Stephenville, Dublin, and Comanche. The supply of natural gas from the Sip Springs source was said to be almost inexhaustible. For the streets, the curbs and guttering between Blackjack Street and Live Oak had been completed and was ready for the paving brick. (Dublin Progress, April 16, 1926, June 11, 1926)

The contractor for the laying of pipe was Phllips and Fulerton out of Breckenridge. They said the final investment would be as high as $300,000 for connecting all the homes and businesses with gas in Dublin, Stephenville and Comanche. Every home business and manufacturing plant would have gas heat.

“The work of laying the gas mains is being rushed; a crew of more than half a hundred men have been busy this week in the residence sections excavating for the mains and house connections. The C.O. Moore interests plan to have the gas lines laid and the house connections made before winter weather comes and are rushing the work along as fast as possible." (Dublin Progress June 18, 1926)

This was one of the largest jobs ever let in this part of the state. “Tom E. Patton, engineer for C.O.Moore was in Dublin Monday and advised that operations are going straight ahead. Since then Mr. Patton has signed up the acceptance of the franchise granted by the city and placed in the hands of Mayor E.C. Fewell, a certified check for $1000 was a forfeit and evidence of good faith. In addition to that, several cars of gas pipe have been in transit from a point in Pennsylvania, have been routed out from a side track in St. Louis and reached Dublin and is now being unloaded at this point. That the citizenship is now assured of the certainty of gas for domestic and industrial purposes is one of the biggest new items this paper has been able to print in a long time, unless that of last week in assurance that the paving impediments had been removed

should be counted greater. “ “He asserts that laying of mains in Dublin will proceed without delay and those across streets where the paving is to be put down are to be put in previous to the city paving.” (Dublin Progress April 9, 1926)

In August citizens were ready for this new development. “There was a big celebration in Dublin.” The headline read:"Gas will be turned on tonight.” “After church tonight the fire whistle will blow, a big gas flare will be lighted on the streets and a public celebration and demonstration will be held.” (Dublin Progress, August 27, 1926)

As they were completing the pipe work, the price of the Dublin project had risen to over $75,000. When completed, they had laid 141 miles of pipe. Gas reached the city 4 days before the time promised. (Dublin Progress, September 3, 1926)

The city fathers gathered to celebrate the laying of gas pipes in town. The photograph took place on Blackjack Street just west of Patrick. Left to right in the picture are: Tom Patton, engineer, D.W. Sheehan, Fire Chief W.P. Hallmark, Alderman C.S. Bowden, Alderman F.L. Jackson, Mayor E.C. Fewell, Alderman W.P. Warren, Alderman E.H. Blain, Alderman C.E. Leatherwood, City Secretary D.N. Kiker, Alderman J.P. Barber, Dr. Frank Bryan and J.S. Daley. Photo courtesy of the Ralph Rogers Collection.

03/13/2026

The first automobiles didn’t arrive in Texas until 1899, so in 1891 local people came to Dublin on horseback or by horse drawn wagon. This 1891 Sanborn map shows water wells that were dug in the streets. The wells were indicated on the map by blue circles. Since there were water wells, there was a good chance we had water troughs for the horses to drink from. If the town didn’t have running water yet, the wells may have been for people too.

A well was in front of the Traweek Hotel shown in the bottom left of the picture. It was located at the corner of Elm Street and Patrick where the Dublin Bottling Works is located now.

Alfred Ignatious Traweek built the building between June and August of 1881. It was called City Hotel. He also had a dry goods store with groceries on the west side of south Patrick Street close to the train station. A seamstress worked on the first floor of the hotel building. In 1881 through 1884 he had a business that sold coffins and caskets. (Dublin Gazette 1882 and 1884)

There was an office, kitchen and dining room on the first floor of the hotel. They added bed rooms on the second floor in November of 1888.

When Sam and Ella Prim came to Dublin, they spent their first nights there. Weeks after this map was created, the hotel burned sometime between April and July 1891. After it burned, Sam Prim leased the building. He cleaned out the burned debris and renovated it into what was later known as The Dublin Bottling Works. He purchased the building in 1902. (The Road To Dr Pepper, Texas, Karen Wright)

Dublin had a population of 2500 people. Our volunteer fire department was organized and had a fire wagon with 100 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose. The blue color of the Traweek Hotel indicates it was built of stone. A room in the back of the building was built with brick, indicated by the red color.

03/03/2026

Patrick Street in Dublin, Texas in 1911

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