Best
The Best town site was platted by a land development company from Ozona and the town is believed to have been named after Tom Best, an English stockholder of the Orient Railroad. The streets were created by scraping and forming blocks for building. An area in the center of each block was reserved for one well in case the field moved to the east as well as various other purposes such as the local jail or calaboose. A switching station was established in 1924 and there was a population of 3500 by 1925.
In the 1920s, Best, Texas was an unincorporated town in southwestern Reagan County 10 miles west of Big Lake, the county seat. The land is often described as desolate and poor. Carl Cromwell was one of the early drillers in the area. He spent many months in the area on land that belonged to The University of Texas at Austin and his first well opened the very productive Reagan County oil field. When the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway was established, towns such as Best, Santa Rita, and Texon sprang up along the tracks on County Road 22. When the town was laid out, a plot in the center of each block was reserved for an oil well in case the field moved to the east. At the time, Best was the business center of the oil field and was the site of most of the supply houses, two large hotels, Harrison’s Restaurant, a number of stores, service stations, two “picture shows” the town jail, and residences. In 1945, there were only 300 residents. In the late 1950s, the National Supply Company still operated an oilfield supply store in town. In 1990, the population was twenty-five and by 2000 there were only two people left in the city limits of Best
The weathered old calaboose is one of two only remaining buildings in Best and it is located on the south side of the tracks and the east side of the unmarked road that crosses the tracks. The year that this structure was built is not known but it was probably there as early as 1924 when the railroad made its appearance. At the time of my visit, there was a sign on the highway that marked its location. This structure was in an open area heavily vegetated with greasewood, mesquite, and various plants with thorns.
Robert J. Kenney and Margaret Kenney lived moved to Best in 1925 and opened a service station. They discuss their memories of Best in “The Story of Best” (pages 214-215) in The Reagan County Story: A History of Reagan County, Texas edited by J. L. (Mike) Werst, Jr. and published by Pioneer Book Publishers in Seagraves, Texas in 1974. In their description of the local vegetation, they state, “All things were said to stick, sting or stink.” They state that the jail was a small concrete building behind a small office and it was “some ten or twelve feet square.” The door (which is missing today) had iron bars and there was “nothing but bars (windows and door) to keep out the heat or cold.” It must have been a pretty hot place to wake up after a night on the town in the summer. “Cries of “water” and “please bring me some water” made Margaret “feel so sorry for the poor fellows she often carried over a picture of ice water.”
The calaboose was measured with a tape and found to be 12 feet across the front and 15 feet on each side. There are three windows and each is 13 inches by 14 inches in size (180 square feet). The opening for the door is 38 inches by 86 inches and the height of the structure is 90 inches. The walls are six inches thick. It is made of concrete using the poured in place method. The aggregate used was small gravels with very little cement as a binding agent. The interior and exterior surfaces are covered with cement but in those areas where this surface has eroded the aggregate is slowly deteriorating. The window on the north side is no longer present and there is a large hole in the wall.
A remnant of electric power consists of a connection over the front door. There are no Sanborn maps available for Best at this time. The town was portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel The Big Fist. This structure conforms to the Floor Plan 1a (see Floor Plans). The owner of this building was not identified during this study. The calaboose is considered a feature of the town that has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41RG76.
The above information was compiled from the county history by the Kenneys, discussions with residents of the county, and the Handbook of Texas.
Stiles
This small wooden calaboose is located in Big Lake, Texas on the grounds of the Reagan County Park at 1205 Montana Street along with a replica of the Santa Rita #1 well. Stiles, Texas was founded in 1894 and was the only town in the area when Reagan County was established in 1903. It was made the county seat and had a wooden courthouse that cost less than $500 to build. William Martin of Comanche, Texas was awarded the contract to build a new two-story stone courthouse in Stiles using stone quarried one-half mile away. On October 25, 1911 it was moved into. After the county seat was established in Big Lake, the courthouse was used as a community center and a school. The stone courthouse was burned by arsonists in the 1990s and the ruins of this imposing structure is the sole building of that period in the former city limits of Stiles. Because it is not structurally sound, it is protected by a fence and locked gate. This courthouse was designated as a Historic Texas Landmark in 1969 (Marker Number 5122). In 1910, the route of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad bypassed Stiles. Big Lake was established in 1911 and it became the new county seat in 1925 due to the proximity of the railroad and the oil boom near town.
The wooden calaboose in Big Lake was moved from Stiles and placed in the park for preservation by the county. This calaboose was the first county jail and that dates the time of its construction at 1903. At the time, L. M. Rankin was the Sheriff. Since a jail was part of the stone courthouse, it is likely that the wooden calaboose was no longer used after 1911. The wooden calaboose probably had a dirt floor and no electricity or plumbing. Today, it rests on a rock pad behind a chain link fence. At the time of our visit, the gate was locked so a tape was placed on the fence and the size was estimated at 10 feet across the front and 9 feet on the sides (90 square feet). There are two small windows on the sides that are secured by three round metal bars placed vertically and horizontally.
There is no window on the back. The door was created by fastening boards vertically over a second set of horizontal boards. There is a small window in the door that contains three vertically placed flat bars apparently made of strap iron riveted to three similar horizontal bars. The hinges and lock are made of massive steel. The walls were constructed by placing boards in a flat position and stacked to the roof with interlocking corners.
Jails with similar construction commonly used 2 x 4 inch boards but some were made with 2 x 6 inch boards. The tin roof and boards supporting it are replacements. There were no Sanborn maps for Stiles at the time of this study. This structure conforms to the Floor Plan 1a (see Floor Plans). It has been recorded at TARL as historic site 41RG368.
Stiles calaboose before it was moved to Big Lake
(date of photo unknown)
Arlys Askew is a resident of Tahoka, Texas in Lynn County. After reading my article on Texas calabooses in Texas Co-op Power magazine, he sent me a note about the Stiles calaboose. According to him, the late Gordon Stone of Stanton, Texas told him that the last man to be jailed at Stiles had to wait for a man to go to Stanton to buy an axe because a mesquite had grown up and blocked the door since the last time the jail was used.
