RALLS, TEXAS
Stake your Claim in Ralls
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EVENT CALENDAR
Ralls Centennial 2011 Online brochure
Vote for Ralls pool Pepsi Refresh Grant
refresheverything.com
Check out these local businesses online click on underlined name: Juan Calderon online or onsite computer repair
Rayen Issbella Photography Studio The Name Dropper www.rallsnamedropper.com
Come visit new owner Patty Author
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Visit the Crosby County Museum for a colorful display of Conquistador, Early Settler, Pioneer and American Indian History.
John Robinson Ralls, eldest son of John Robinson and Fanny
Minnie Ralls, was born November 13, 1862, on a plantation in Monroe County
Georgia. Five more children were born to the couple during and after the
civil war. In the decade following death of his father in 1880. John R.
Ralls helped his mother operate a 1000 acre Georgia plantation. Educated
at home, his formal schooling consisted of but a few months attendance at
Atlanta College. His dream of settling in frontier country was realized when in
1890 he moved to Bowie, Texas where he spent a year clerking a store. Then
with the assistance of Wade Atkins, a Bowie banker, John R. opened a store in
Belcherville. Shortly thereafter as the Indian Territory opened up.
The Santa Fe extended its line form Canyon to Plainview in
1907 and in 1910 continued it on into Lubbock. In the meantime a railroad
and county seat fight developed in Crosby County. The town of Crosbyton had been
established in 1908 by C. B. Livestock Co. in hopes of promoting an eastward
extension of Santa Fe lines from Lubbock and developing their town as the county
seat.
In order to finance the building of a new town , John Ralls divided his ranch into 160 acre farms which were sold to settlers coming from as far off as Iowa, and Minnesota. John Ralls and his brother, Percy built businesses and house and laid out the town site designating certain lots for municipal and religious purposes. He gave 12 acres of land and was instrumental in building on it the first school building. Later he built one of the finest early opera houses west of Fort Worth were Lawrence Whelk once played. His honesty, optimism and generosity earned for him the high regard and respect of his friends and townspeople. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and was 32nd Degree Mason. John Ralls was married in 1906 to Dollie M. Martin of Henrietta. They were divorced in 1920. After suffering from a stroke, John Robinson Ralls died October 19, 1921 in his beloved town of Ralls. The Ralls family continues to own land and have been active residents carrying on the John R. Ralls legacy. |
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Send mail to
rhett@cityofralls.org with
questions or comments about this web site.
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John R. Ralls
had a dream when he stepped upon the plains of Texas and saw the beautiful
sweeping lands. His dream was to build a town and have families farm,
ranch and prosper. He founded the town of Ralls in 1911. As the
railroad came, bringing in businessmen and freight the town began to thrive.
The City of Ralls was incorporated in December of 1921 with 113 votes being cast
(111 ayes and 2 nays). The first Mayor, John Haney took office January 6,
1922. 
Ralls
moved his business to Terrell and in 1894 to Ryan, Oklahoma. The store
flourished at the new location. In 1906 , after trading the store for
10,000 acre West Texas ranch, Ralls moved to Crosby County. He stocked the
ranch with cattle and built a home on the south edge of the place near the town
site of Emma. With a keen concern for the development and promotion of the
area, John R. went to Chicago to acquaint W. D. Story, chief engineer of Santa
Fe Railroad with the potentials of the Texas plains building lines. 
As
Santa Fe did not immediately build this line, C. B. Livestock Co. undertook to
construct their own branch to Crosbyton, by passing the Crosby County seat in
Emma. The right of way went through Ralls ranch and in a n effort to help
the residents of "doomed" Emma, Ralls decided to start a new town, which he
named Ralls. He laid out the town site of Ralls; however the
railroad company refused to put a depot in Ralls. They created another town site
one mile west of Ralls called Cedric. At an election in the fall of 1911
the county seat was moved from Emma to Crosbyton and many Emma residents moved
to Ralls. (Legend has it that the courthouse was suppose to go to Ralls
and that Crosbyton stole the courthouse from Emma at gun point, burned the
courthouse and hauled away the courthouse records in a covered wagon. Thus
creating a strong rival between Ralls and Crosbyton to this very day. Ralls City
Square still sets vacant as granted in a deed to the city, to only be used for
municipal use.)
Since the train stopped in Cedric, wagons had to haul freight to Ralls.
In 1915 Santa Fe bought the Crosbyton rail lines and moved the depot to Ralls.
Today the depot is a community center at Lions Park.
