A Tale of Twin Towns
A few years back, we had the pleasure of visiting with Scott Black from California. He was researching the area known as Courtney Flats, home of his ancestry. We exchanged stories and photos of the area on both sides of the Red River. Since then Scott has developed a website sharing his research with others. Recently he sent the museum an essay commemorating the 150th anniversary of Courtney Flats, Oklahoma. Having read his essay of Courtney Flats, it was obvious that that these two little towns have similar but yet different stories of their past. It seems even in their earliest beginnings settlers in Scott's story could parallel, to some degree, the history of Illinois Bend, Texas. Using his essay, combining it with other writings, the following essay is an attempt to tell the story of the two little communities, joined together by their people, their challenges, theirs businesses and the river.
The Tale: Part I
Courtney Flats and Illinois Bend
There are many sites in the world that enjoy being “twin cities”. There's Minneapolis/Saint Paul, El Paso/Juarez, Ottawa/Gatineau (Canada) , Buda/Pest (Hungary), and Hong Kong/Luchu to name a few. Just outside Saint Jo lies our own “twins”, Illinois Bend/Courtney Flats. Illinois Bend is a small community located north of Saint Jo about two miles from the Red River. Just across the river is another small community known as Courtney Flats. History notes that these two little towns have similar but yet different stories of their past. It seems even in their earliest beginnings the settlers in Scott's Courtney's history could parallel, to some degree, the history of Illinois Bend, Texas. Using Scott's essay, combining it with other writings, the following essay is attempt to tell the story of the two little communities, joined together by their people, their challenges, theirs businesses and the river.
People from both sides of the river often worked together. They traded back and forth across the river via foot, horse back or ferry. Even today, there are families living on both sides of the river, such as Parker, Frazier, Grant, Dennis, Reed and Blankenship. Sometimes people from Courtney buried their loved ones in the Illinois Bend Cemetery providing the river was down and they could cross on the ferry. Supporting the story are the graves in the Illinois Bend Cemetery of Jemima Jane Stuckey wife of Rev. L.H. Stuckey, born June 1868, Died Nov 11 1894, (Indian Territory, Terrell, Tx) and Dr. George Thaddeus Cooper, Aug, 5,1858 – October 3, 1892. Dr. Cooper was a physician and owned the Courtney apothecary .
Records show that as early as early 186o's there were people living in the area on the south side of what is known as the Illinois Bend of the Red River. Stories say the first settlement was named by early families who settled in the area from Illinois. It was originally known as Wardville, honoring C.M. Ward who arrived here in 1862, At one time it was also known as Maxwell and Maxville. It has been written that “Fort Illinois Bend “was located one and a half miles southeast of the present site of Illinois Bend (Dowd Ranch). These early settlers frequently found themselves challenged by hostile Indians. Thus were often forced to “fort up” for protection.. Members of the Anderson, Hatfield, and Willett families were killed in a raid of a reported three hundred Comanche in 1863. Mrs. Willett was said to have escaped, wearing only her night gown, walked barefoot in the night to get help and warn the settlers in Head of Elm (15 plus miles). For a number of years Comanche and Kiowa continued to make raids along the Red River, stealing livestock, molesting and killing settlers. Montague County, like other counties on the frontier, formed local mounted militia to protect the settlers from the hostiles. Surviving on the frontier was challenging with finding/raising food , obtaining basic supplies (flour, seeds, ammunition ) with sources miles away, and protecting from wild animals,(Mountain Lions, Bears) severe weather, flooding river, and marauding Indians. Only the strongest and most determined were able to stay, many moved back east to more populated areas.
With the end of the Civil War there was an increase in settlers moving into the area. The little village of Illinois Bend grew. At first there was a general store and a blacksmith. The Valley Branch school was opened in 1877. With the successful production of cotton crops grown in the fertile river bottom, the town continued to grow. It was reported that three hundred people lived in the Illinois Bend area in 1885. Tenant farmers moved in to help farm the land. By the early 1900's there were three general stores, two grist mills, Dowd's cotton gin, a drug store, a post office( in Grigsby's general store) a barber shop, and Scott's coffin house. Coming up the hill on the road from the ferry was Masten's “Cottage Hotel” which catered to “drummers” traveling through the area. A new Illinois School house was built in 1893 with the help of the local masonic lodge. The upper floor was restricted for use by the lodge with the bottom floor serving as classrooms and church meetings. By 1918 there were three teachers and 125 students. The first post office started in 1875 or 1876 and was operated in the home of Miss Sally Snapp.
Valley Branch School, early school at Illinois Bend
The TALE: Part II
The Twin Towns: Illinois Bend and Courtney Flats
In 1870, Henry Courtney (born as Henry DeCourtney, 1826 in Morgan County, Virginia (WV) permanently settled on the Flat on the west side of the mouth of Mud Creek, on the north side of the Illinois Bend of the river. Surrounded by thick cross timbers, it was a flat stretch of prairie one mile wide and six miles long in the Chickasaw Nation. Courtney was the first to settle that far west in the Nation due to the deadly attacks by the Comanche. With the help of his sons and two older Negros, they built a log cabin near a spring and cleared a space for farming. The two older Negros had been slaves of the Chickasaw. The Cloud Ranch was located just east of Mud Creek. It was on the Cloud Ranch that early cattle drives crossed moving their herds by Fort Arbuckle and north. Originally owned by Ike Cloud, the ranch boasted 1500 acres of cultivated land, It was the first and largest cattle ranch in the Chickasaw Nation, His third wife, Harriet Dibbrell was part Indian. An encounter with her which involved saving her from drowning as she road her horse across the river in the early 70's resulted in a friendship by a ancestor of the Kaden Family of Gainesville. He wrote she had attended school in Boston, spoke French and drank cognac. Her home boasted a library, a piano and a guitar in which she enjoyed. He noted he was beginning to be extremely attracted to her until he discovered she had false teeth. Living on the frontier, Harriet Dibbrell Cloud was a lady way ahead of her time, who unfortunately died when only thirty-three years old. There is a street named Cloud in Gainesville as the family lived there for many years. Ike Cloud lived in the large white house a few blocks off the square known today as the Cloud/Stark home.
A wealthy Chickasaw mixed blood, cattle rancher, Mumtford Johnson, owned a large amount of the land west of the mouth of Mud Creek. It was Johnson who gave the first Chickasaw permit for a non-citizen to own land to Henry Courtney. He was a personal friend of Jesse Chisholm. As Postmaster, Mumtford ran military dispatches from Fort Arbuckle to the Confederate outpost at Illinois Bend, most likely following the Cloud Ranch Road. (south of Leon) The site of this Confederate outpost is unknown, but stories say it was on the south side of the river, near the mouth of Mud Creek. By the mid 1870's, the threat of Comanche raids subsided allowing opportunity for the rest of the Courtney Flats and Mud Creek Valley to open up for settlement. The area was claimed by citizen, “landlords”, all descendants of the Chickasaw Love Family. These “landlords” issued permits resulting in increased movement into the area; thus Courtney Flats , like Illinois Bend, soon became a thriving town. By 1874 there was a school, blacksmith, cotton gin, a livery stable, an apothecary, and a tin pin alley. William Watkins opened up a general merchandise store and added a post office in 1883. With his wife claiming Chickasaw heritage, he was able to buy up land from other “citizen farmers” along the Mud Creek Valley. It became an excellent area for outlaw hideouts, the most noted being the “Watson Gang”. During the mid-1880's the Watson Gang intimidated and robbed local citizens in the area and were well known for “shooting up the nearby towns”. They were involved in several fierce shootouts with two being with a posse of sixteen men including Deputy Sheriff Tucker's men from Spanish Fort, Indian Policemen Murray and the Montague County Sheriff.
Life began to calm down yielding greater activity on both sides of the river. The ferries allowed for many social and business opportunities among the two little towns . It was said that several hundred people came to watch the horse racing at ”Hurst Downs”, located in Mud Creek Valley. Friendly Comanche with their fast ponies came down from Fort Sill to enter. Certainly folks rode across the ferries from Spanish Fort, Bulcher and Illinois Bend to watch, bet or race in this popular event. Trading back and forth across the river was common practice.
THE TALE: Final
Twin Towns: Illinois Bend and Courtney Flats
At the turn of the century and the soon adoption of Oklahoma statehood, privatization of land through Chickasaw and Choctaw allotments brought the death of the little town of Courtney. Much of the land was allotted to the Chickasaw Rubottom Family with many of the businesses relocating to the newly formed town of Rubottom, located on the east side of Mud Creek. The coming of the automobile resulted in the public becoming more mobile. The ferries disappeared in the area as the Courtney- Airline Toll Bridge, a wooded bridge, was built in 1927 between Illinois Bend and Courtney. It burned in 1933. But soon rural life began to change as people moved away, businesses closed in Rubottom as well. The Courtney, Belleville and Rubottom schools merged to become the Courtney Consolidated school in 1928. This school closed in 1955.
The little town of Illinois Bend also gradually began to change. The land began to become ranch land rather than cotton fields. With World War II, many moved away to work in defense plants or join the service. Most never returned to their rural life and the little village began to fade away. Businesses gradually began to close. The school closed in 1943, merged with Caps Corner, then both joining the Saint Jo school. Even though electricity finally came to “The Bend” in 1945 the last store, run by Otto “Shine” Davenport, closed in 1965.
Some of the descendants of the early families still live and work in the Illinois Bend/ Courtney Flats area. They carry with them the legacy of those who overcame the challenges of the frontier and embraced the vision of a better life on the fertile land of both sides of the Illinois Bend of the Red River. With the building of the Toavayas Bridge (New Bridge, Indian Bridge )in 1995, those still living in the area have again bonded, doing business with each other, going to church, buying goods, attending social events. The Spanish Fort Coon Hunter's Association has re-organized with hunters from both sides of the river. Those living along the river now come together and share stories like the great semi-pro baseball games in which Courtney, Rubottom, Illinois Bend and Caps Corner were involved. Shine Davenport was famous on both sides of the river as an outstanding pitcher in his youth. Norene Dowd's father, Artie Williams, rode his horse across the frozen river in 1905 to get the doctor for his sick son. Bonnie and Clyde were said to have been seen crossing into Texas from Courtney Flats , going south toward Saint Jo. Pretty Boy Floyd was described as to being a polite fellow when he stopped by a home outside of Illinois Bend asking for water.
So as one drives down to the mighty, ever changing Red River, crossing the bridge between Courtney Flats and Illinois Bend; they should be reminded of the colorful and dramatic history of these twin towns. But …. look around and you will notice , there is new life , descendants of old families are coming back and new families are coming to live in the beautiful Red River Valley.
NOTE: Thanks to Scott Black for all his research on Courtney Flats.