Pampa Laid Out in 1902
After Russell Benedict returned to
New York
from his visit to inspect
White
Deer
Lands
and adjacent territory in November, 1901, he worked out in his
New York
office a detailed plat of the townsite of
Pampa
. He sent the plat to George Tyng and requested Tyng to get James L. Gray of Panhandle to make a survey of the site.
Gray certified his survey in February, 1902, and it was filed and recorded in
Roberts
County
on April 14, 1902. (
Gray
County
was attached to
Roberts
County
on that date.)
The town was laid out parallel to the railroad; therefore streets run northwest-southeast and avenues run northeast-southwest. However, streets are known as north-south and avenues as east-west.
The original site of 38 blocks was bounded by
Atchison
on the south, Wynne on the east, Browning on the north and West on the west.
From
West Street
going east, streets are named:
Gray - for Peter W. Gray, prominent
Texas
legislator
Somerville
- for David Somerville, manager of the Matadors who were leasing from White Deer Lands
Frost - for an official in the
New York
law office attending to White Deer Lands
Russell - for Russell Benedict, assistant to Foster in
New York
office
Cuyler (main Street) - for Cornelius C. Cuyler, trustee for White Deer Lands
Ballard - for an official in the
New York
office
Gillespie - for an early cattleman (? J.L. Gillespie of
Carson
County
)
Houston
- for Sam Houston, Texas hero
Starkweather - for the superintendent of the Southern Kansas Railroad
Wynne - for J.S. Wynne, early pioneer who was a good friend of George Tyng
From the railroad going north, avenues are named:
Atchison
- for a founder of the
Atchison
,
Topeka
and Santa Fe Railway Company
Foster - for Frederic de Peyster Foster, trustee for White Deer Lands
Kingsmill - for Andrew Kingsmill,,
London
banker who represented the bond holders of White Deer Lands
Francis - for Francis Tyng, youngest of the three sons of George Tyng
Browning for J.N. Browning, District Judge
Street numbers begin at the intersection of
Cuyler Street
and
Foster Avenue
with even numbers on the right and uneven numbers on the left. (Cuyler and Foster were trustees for the British bond holders because, at that time, aliens could not own land in
Texas
).
The first sale of town lots in
Pampa
was to
Thomas Lane
by contract No.1 for two lots at a cost of $60 on May 24, 1902. Lane, who had previously built a house at this location, had asked to buy the land, but the company did not want to sell lots until it had decided to establish a town.
The second transaction involved the sale of 12 business lots on 25 foot frontage to the Johnson Mercantile Company of Canadian at $125.
In an envelope postmarked June 2, 1937, at
Victoria
,
Texas
, Dr. George McAlpine Tyng, middle son of George Tyng, sent a map to J.S. Wynne with this notation:
Mr. J.S. Wynne from Geo. McA. Tyng:
This map shows the first lots sold in
Pampa
, Tx. and the red ink writing is that of George Tyng, my father."
On May 21, 1970. Wynne's daughter, Beryl Wynne (Mrs. De Lea) Vicars, donated the map to the
White
Deer
Land
Museum
.
The map shows:
Block 3 - Lots 1, 2, 3, 4 - White Deer Lands
Block 5 - Lots 7, 8-Crawford
Block 6 - Lots 13, 14, 15, 16 - stable
03/20/00Lot 17 - Whatley
03/20/00Lots 23, 24 - Thomas Lane
Block 12 - Lot 1 and part of Lot 2 - Stroope
Lot 4 well
03/20/00Lots 11, 12 - Kingsmill
Block 13 - Lots 1, 2 - Stroope
03/20/00Lots 19, 20 - Meers
Block 15 - Lots 13 through 24 - Johnson Mercantile Company
Block 16 - Lots 20 through 24 - White Deer Lands
Block 22 - Reserved (for courthouse)
Block 29 - Reserved (for school)
Albert Square
(present location of
Pampa
's city hall and fire station) was named for Albert de Peyster Foster, brother of Frederic.
The intended use for the reserved spaces south of Block 3 and of
Albert Square
is not known.
