Simmons-Once known as Simmons City

by George Carmack

The Texas Handbook, authority on all things Texan, could not have been more matter of fact in the paragraph inset in the photo above.

But back of that short paragraph lies another fascinating Texas story.

A story of a once lively town with several hundred people, stores, a bank, post office, school and even a two-story hotel -- now a ghost town.

What's left of the old town founded 67 years ago [114 years as of this writing in 2021] is the church built in 1908 -- and crumbling walls of the hotel. 

Bonnie and I learned about Simmons, Texas from Mr. and Mrs. Harold D. House of Three Rivers. The Houses own the "Mother-Lode Ranch" that lies within 60,000 acres Simmons developed. Both are interested in history and have some fine material on Simmons development.

Both Houses' families moved to Simmons when they were young in the 1920s. The town was still active then. Mrs. House was our guide on this visit. She also asked 84-year-old A.T. Secrest to go with us. He moved his family to Simmons in 1918.

From Secrest and the Houses we learned Dr. Simmons lived at Excelsior Springs, Missouri before coming to Texas. Simmons grandfather developed a patent medicine, "Dr. Simmons' Liver Regulator". It made the family millionaires.

At some point, Grandson Dr. Charles Simmons decided to buy a ranch in Texas for his son, Harry. Harry's age is not known but reportedy, he was "a grown man." [A Beeville Picayune account reported his age as 29, and married with two children.]

Rattlesnake Bite

Simmons' son was on the ranch in 1905 and bitten by a rattlesnake. The bite was so high on his thigh that a tourniquet was not possible. There are several versions of how Harry was bitten. 

"I once had an old Mexican working for me who crossed the Border years before," Secrest ventured. "He told me he was working beside Simmons when he was bitten.

"He said a group was clearing out 'senderos' (trails) when they heard a big rattlesnake rattle. He said Simmons had never seen a rattlesnake and sprang forward to take a look. The old man said that Simmons even stooped down like he was going to pick up the snake.

"Then the snake struck him." 

Old-Timer Graves Peeler says he was told years ago Simmons was sitting with a group of cowboys around a campfire when the rattlesnake struck. The ride to save him must have been one of the most dramatic in Texas history.

House reports he was put in a hack behind the best horses available and a mad dash started for Beeville, 40 miles away, but the nearest place with a doctor.

Men on horseback rode with the hack to speed the trip.

"I once talked with a man who saw the hack and riders here in the Three Rivers area," House continued. "This was only a fraction of the way--yet young Simmons was already badly swollen and could not talk.

The trip was futile and young Simmons died."

See "Incredible Trade Center Plan Develops" below. (From 1981 LOCHC People's History. Carmacks' article returns here.)  

 Incredible Trade Center Plan:

[After the death of his son:] Dr. Simmons then decided to sell the ranch and his promotion had the touch of genius. 

The Houses report he divided the 60,000-acre ranch into 4,200 farms and set up the town of Simmons with 4,210 lots.

Everybody got a town lot thrown in if he bought a farm. But the big "pull" was this -- All purchasers bought an "application" for a small down payment and monthly payments. But the buyer did not know what size farm he would get.

Simmons divided the land into 2,529 farms of five acres, 935 of 10 acres, 175 of 40 acres, 81 of 80 acres -- and finally five big farms of 640 acres. 

When all applications were sold, there would be a drawing -- with the size of the farm depending on the slip drawn. Every buyer, of course hoped he would get one of those 640-acre farms -- or at least 80 acres.

With the death of his son, Harry. Simmons lost interest in the ranch. He attempted to sell. An interesting event, told in The History of the People of Live Oak County, Texas below the present article, turned Simmons from immediate sale to a grand scheme. He would turn the ranchland into a trade center surrounded by small farms and ranches. Photos above show the all faiths church building he built and the Texas Historical Marker about the community placed in front of it shortly after the marker was erected some 60+ years later.

Simmons, a once robust community, is still active in this iconic church building with its small congregation and use as a community center. (Photos Richard "Hud" Hudson collection. Bonnie Carmack photos did not appear in the paper and are not now available.)

Adapted from The History of the People of Live Oak County, Texas, published by The Live Oak County History Book Committee, 1982, pp. 17-23. (This entire passage below lends some lively tales of the early development of Simmons and its originator, Dr. Charles F. Simmons. However, because of its length is immediately condensed in this version but will be lengthened to include the whole story as time permits.)

According to Dr. Simmons account, the community began as the Simmons Ranch over time as he purchased 60,000 acres at $2.00 an acre. The ranch home site was developed about 1900 ...

Incredible Trade Center Plan Develops:

Rumors about how Simmons hit upon the disposition scheme are interesting tales ... but there is no way to substantiate them. It is possible  that he adapted the government's lottery plan for the sale of Indian lands, as registration was in progress for those lotteries at that time.

One yarn is that a young man appeared at the Simmons Ranch in a rig rented from a Beeville livery stable and, after too brief an inspection to warrant a purchase, offered Simmons a cashier's check for $50,000 as a down payment on the ranch.

Curious as to how the fellow throught he could turn a profit on the land at the price he was offering to pay, Simmons asked what he had planned to pay for the ranch. The man outlined a raffle he had in mind. Simmons infuriated at his audacity, chased the young man off with his handy sleeve derringers, and t was reported that the retreat was so hasty that one of the horses died of exhaustion upon reaching the livery stable.

But, so the anecdote continues, Simmons and his family sat up all night figuring out the detais for such a drawing, and the next morning Simmons delivered two morrall bags of letters to the Oakville Post office, putting the plan in action.

See "Incredible Trade Center Plan" above.