White Deer Land Building

White Deer Land Building. Erected in 1916. Houses property records of the White Deer Land Company (1886-1957), one of the strongest commercial influences in settlement of the Texas Panhandle., Organized from wreckage of the bankrupt Francklyn Land and Cattle Company, whose chief stockholder was Lord Rosebery, Prime Minister of England, the White Deer Company developed during widespread British speculation in Texas cattle and ranching, 1870s-80s., At its beginning, the London-financed and Wall-Street-based trust owned land equal in area to the state of Rhode Island. These 631,000 acres lay in Gray, Roberts, Carson, and Hutchinson Counties., The company (managed by George Tyng, T.D. Hobart, C.P. Buckler, and M.K. Brown) surveyed the land, laid out farms and ranches, sank wells, built hundreds of miles of wire fence, and aided civic projects. During the disastrous drouth of 1910, it made available to local farmers $100,000 in loans to by wheat seed., Upon the discovery of oil on White Deer land in 1921, the firm made vast gains by retaining half of the mineral rights on remaining land sold. It was liquidated in 1957. This building has also housed a Masonic Lodge, post office, medical and dental offices, and has accommodated religious services.