Decatur the Evolution of a Dream and a Hard Fight

A half a century ago this spring (1907), upreared upon the spot where Wise County's superb temple of justice now stands, was a strange and weird and yet a beautiful sight. Piercing the blue sky was a tall, slender pole, from the top of which fluttered the stars and stripes, the emblem and the glory of the nation. Beneath it and around it was silence and solitude. The tall, waving, undipped and untrodden grass spread out in every direction, and gay flowers nodded and swayed in the breezes. Frightened to their coverts by so strange a sight, the timid deer and antelope peered forth furtively, and from their neighboring dens and seclusions the wolves wailed a melanchloy salutation. No human habitation was near to catch the whispings of the flag as these were borne out on the breezes, and no human being was present to explain the flag's mysterious presence. But that it was representative of an achievement and symbolical of the victory of a redoutable man, will be revealed in the following passages.

The incident is related to the efforts to locate the county seat, which followed as a necessary sequence to the organization of the county, and made mandatory by the Creating Act, the first three clauses of which, pertaining to the measures of organization, have been quoted. The remaining three clauses, outlining the methods to be followed in locating the county-seat, are here inserted, and read as follows:
"Section 4.-That so soon as the county shall have been organized as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Chief Justice and at least two of the County Commissioners, to select two or more places within five miles of the center of said county, to be run for the county-seat of the said county, having due reference to donations that may be offered.
"Section 5.-That it shall be the duty of the Chief Justice to order an election to be held, giving at least fifteen days' notice thereof, for the election of the seat of justice of said county, the name of which shall be Taylorsville.
" Section 6.-That a majority of the votes polled shall determine the location, and in the event that no place receives such a majority in the first election, the Chief Justice shall order a new election, putting in nomination the two places having received the highest number of votes in the first election, and the place which may receive the highest number of votes in the second election shall be the lawful county-seat of said county. And that this act shall take effect from and after its passage."

When the question came up for settlement, Colonel Bishop was the first in the field with a preconceived and finely wrought plan to have the eminence whereon Decatur now stands selected as the site for the county capital. But before entering upon a description of this spectacular incident in the early life of the county, certain preliminary remarks must be addressed to the elucidation of an important action taken by Bishop at a time prior to the occasion when the county seat question arose for settlement. Also it is deemed pertinent to enquire into the motives that animated Bishop in his dealing with the question.

Looking back over the incidents of this campaign, it stands out luminously clear that Bishop was prompted by an overpowering passion to have the county capital located on the hilltop, whereon the town of Decatur now stands. The idea of a beautiful town, built at this point, seems to have taken possession of his mind and become a besieging dream. That the idea or the dream had its birth long prior to the date when the county seat problem was definitely settled is indicated by the following circumstance.

The circumstance referred to is connected with the pre-emption claim which was laid over the soil of the present site of Decatur, by James Proctor, in 1854,. and the designs he had in view in making his location at this particular point. It is said that Colonel Bishop was behind Proctor as the advising factor in deciding him to locate where he did, and that Bishop explained to Proctor his preconceived plans for the selection of his (Proctor's) proposed pre-emption as the future site for the county seat town. Proctor's reward was to be an enhancement of the value of his property, as a result of the location of the town upon it, but, it was agreed that Proctor was to donate sixty acres to the county for the town site.

These preliminary steps were taken by the far-sighted and shrewd Bishop in 1854, three years prior to the contest which came up in 1857, and found Bishop many moves ahead of the other contestants in the race.

The race was started off by half-a-dozen candidate places, all strongly backed by zealous supporters, which is conclusive that no locality possessed sufficient natural attraction to win the general regard.

Some of these locations are described as follows: Ho well and Allen's Store vicinity, Isbell Springs, a locality about one and a half miles northwest of Decatur, in the neighborhood of Mrs. Henry Greathouse's farm; the Finley place, known now as the Jess Carpenter place, which lies east, on the outskirts of Decatur. The exact geographical center of the county was also put forward.

But the strongest opposition encountered by Bishop in his fight for the hill on which he had set his heart came from the Deep Creek settlement, whose people, reinforced by those of Halsell Valley and surrounding country, chose a location in Halsell Valley and prosecuted a vigorous and earnest campaign in its favor. This location lies a mile or so south of Decatur in the vicinity of the old Halsell farm.

The fight was now on and is described as being of a truly bitter and partisan nature, and clings in the minds of the pioneers as a stirring and dramatic occurrence, replete with animosity and antagonism, and all those violent passions which accrue to a contest wherein rugged, elemental men are placed in opposition to each other.
Chief among the backers of the Halsell Valley site were Sam Woody and Ben Crews, from the last of whom the contest was to derive a section of its historical name, the remainder springing from that of Colonel Bishop, eventuating in the contest be coming known as the "Bishop-Crews County Seat Contest/' its current designation in the minds of the pioneers.

Two opposing factions developed from this fight which made their influence felt in all the political battles of the remaining years of the pioneer period.
The contest now narrowed down to a struggle between the north and south parts of the county, with the Hopkins County delegation supporting Bishop on the one hand, and the citizens of Deep Creek and contiguous settlements supporting Halsell Valley on the other.

Finally the vote was cast, and so divided was it that the choice fell, by chance, and unexpectedly, to one of the weaker candidates, with Bishop's hill-top a close second. But fortunately for the latter and those who assisted him, certain irregularities were discovered in one of the voting boxes, resulting in its being thrown out, and leaving the choice to fall victoriously into the hands of Bishop, whereupon, to celebrate his achievement, he raised the stars and stripes to flutter gaily over the soil to which he had anchored his hopes and dedicated a long and hotly contested battle.

Numerous attempts followed to change the decision of the election, but Bishop and his friends, persistent and equal to all emergencies, weathered every adverse gale and kept the decision anchored to its first moorings.

BISHOP LAYS OUT THE TOWN OF TAYLORSVILLE.
The hill prominence having been definitely chosen as the place for the county seat, Mr. and Mrs. James Proctor followed by deeding sixty acres of their claim of 160 acres, to the county for the town site. The clause of the deed reciting the consideration reads as follows: "For value and for the consideration of having our land and property increased in value by having the county seat of Wise County located near our residence, have this day donated, released and conveyed unto Wm. S. Oates, Justice of Wise County, and his successors in office, for the sole use and benefit of the county of Wise/' etc. These original sixty acres, known as the Proctor addition, have their corners presently defined in Decatur, as follows: The S. E. corner at the home of D. W. Frazer; the S. W. corner at the residence of Mrs. R. M. Collins; the N. W. corner at the old Blythe place in Northwest Decatur, and the N. E. near J. H. Cates' place in Northeast De-catur. Lines properly connecting these corners would define the original Proctor donation.

Colonel Bishop now assumed active charge of the details of locating and laying out the town; which was to rest on the bald hill of the prairie. These labors were in conformance with the designs he had in view, designs which comprehended the evolution of the high prominence into a precise and consistently arranged plat of the town. No haphazard locations and settlements such as are common to new towns, were to be made, so long as Bishop's brain surged with dreams and ideas of a more highly perfected result. To his natural endowments of taste and orderly mind, Colonel Bishop brought to the task before him the garnered observations of broad travel and the experience of metropolitan life, which intangibles he worked into the ground plan of the county capital of Wise County.

The archstone of his idea was the limited level space which constitutes the crest of the hill in question, and which is now the public square at Decatur, which admits an uninterrupted and superb view of all the surrounding country. This he designed to form into a square, with the business houses facing from the four sides upon it, and with two main streets radiating from each of its four corners. Some day he hoped that a magnificent temple of justice would be raised in the center of his beloved square.

The details of the plan of laying out were made after the town of McKinney, in Collin County, which town Colonel Bishop had visited and whose plan he admired.
Now he was about to apply the practical touches to the consummation of the dream for which he had striven and fought all these years. He gained authority from his friend, Justice Oates, to lay out the town in accordance with his own plans, after which he repaired to his farm on Sweetwater and made a large supply of burr-oak stakes, nicely hewn and painted on one side. With the aid of these, the work of surveying was begun. The square was staked out precisely on top of the hill, and the streets and lots surveyed in conformance with it. All lines were deliberately and. carefully made, as is reflected in the present systematic arrangement of the town.
After the-streets and lots had been surveyed and plainly marked, the plat was turned over to the county authorities and Colonel Bishop, having realized his ambitions, stepped aside, his next move being to abandon hi" home on Sweetwater and locate in the new county capital.

PUBLIC SALE OF LOTS.
A public sale of lots was soon after held. The business lots around the square brought $100.00 each, with the following as some of the buyers: Howell and Allen, south corner lot of west side; Joe Henry Martin, central lot on southwest corner; Dean, south corner, south side; Thos. Stewart, central lot, west side; Colonel Bishop, west corner, north side; Colonel W. H. Hunt and Marshall Birdwell were also buyers.

The county next demanded a courthouse, and being without material to build one, the little building heretofore described as having been built by Henry Martin near Howell and Allen's store was bought, moved to Taylorsville and placed on the northeast corner of the public square. This was the first house to adorn the Decatur hill and was Wise County's first temple of justice.