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Newspaper
Amarillo Daily News
Location
Amarillo, Texas, United States of America
Date
Jun 25, 1941
Page
3
McLean opens the Panhandle gala with a two day Rodeo and Pioneer Round-Up drawing thousands. Parade at 10 A M leads into a schedule of reunions, rodeo events, old time dances, contests with prizes, and street entertainment across Wednesday and Thursday.
The article documents McLean's first settlers led by C A Watkins and his wife who moved from Illinois to Whitefish in 1895. It notes Watkins early work as a livery stable operator, carpenter, and butcher, plus his role in founding Watkins School which fed students into McLean High School. Other settlers include Geo W Sitter of a famed meritorious livestock ranch who died in 1941 and Tom McCarty who helped lay out McLean in 1902 and later drilled wells for gas and oil firms.
Two large aluminum windmills donated by Amarillo Hardware Company join the aluminum and tin foil drive for the PreVentorium. Displayed at 6511 Polk Street, these salesman samples were intended for automotive advertising and are the Panhandle’s only aluminum mills. Stored for years, the pair marks the heaviest single contribution to the drive.
The town of McLean began as a buffalo wallow in Rowe Ranch, grew after the Rock Island Railroad arrived, and was named for Ed R McLean. Founded 1902 by Tom McCarty Jim Christel and Charlie McMurtry, it organized in 1909 with C S Rice as first mayor. By 1902 population reached 740 and later the town built a water light ice plant and sold it to Southwestern Public Service Co to erase debt, while watermelons became a noted local export.
The town of McLean began with a six room frame school in 1906 later replaced by a three story brick building in 1911. A new modern high school was erected to serve McLean and nearby rural students, under Superintendent C. A. Cryer, reflecting rapid population growth and community development.
Community groups plan the 1941 McLean Fiesta with committees for parade rodeo pioneer old time dance and special entertainment. Assistants include Wilson Boyd Emory Crockett and Tom Boyd and a long list of volunteers managing finance advertising and various events.
Enthusiasm for rodeos began in McLean in 1935 when Lee Harlan and Boyd Reeves hosted free weekend performances. The annual celebration and rodeo started in 1938 with 4,000 attendees, growing to a larger event by 1939 featuring a free barbecue for 8,000. The 1940 plans were postponed due to Mayor Vester Smith's illness, but the year’s celebration is planned earlier and promoted as the largest yet with booster trips and extensive advertising.
The McLean school system marked nine years of work with election for future service. During this period improvements included an illuminated football stadium and the start of a high school band and drum and bugle corps. Schools earned honors in scholarship and athletics.
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