For those of you new to Bonham or maybe just forgot a little of its history, let me quickly refresh your memory with a short version of how we got to 2008 from 1837, or in other words, “factors contributing to development of the present Bonham economy.”
Bonham was settled in 1837 during the days of the Republic of Texas by a group of ten families lead by pioneer Bailey Inglish, who declared the banks of the Bois D’Arc a perfect spot for their new home. Later the town was named Bonham after James Butler Bonham, legendary hero of the Alamo. It had been a cosmopolitan north Texas location for population, business, and commerce throughout the Nineteenth Century, with large Victorian mansions, educational institutions, banks, and churches, all flowing out from a stately County Courthouse. Just south of downtown were the rail yards, steam engines, freight cars, and passenger trains.
To the south of downtown were the Cotton Mill, Powder Creek, tank town with the oil distribution facilities and the trucking industry all located around the rail yard center. Surrounding the town were many farms and ranches where agriculture and livestock were the mainstay and to this day, Fannin County produces over $67 million per year in agricultural products.
In 1885, the population of Bonham was 2,300 and continued to grow and prosper even through WWI and WWII, having a population of 7,043 in 1950, with over 20 manufacturing plants in the City. The population finally topped at 7,798 in 1970 before a gradual decline began to hit the area.
In 1990, the U.S. Census showed Bonham had lost population for the third straight decade. This period of gradual decay was tied to agricultural decline, business stagnation, increasing poverty, and out-migration.
As one resident wrote, “Pot-holed streets, broken curbs, and rusty signs merely hinted at the patched up water mains and broken and clogged sewer pipes buried out of sight. Time, like the clocks on the Courthouse, appeared to have stood still.” Then in 1991, the community began changing. In less than five years, it boasted of a dynamic economic resurgence about to overshadow the glory days of Bonham back at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
The new community leadership realized that even though Bonham was declining in population, it still had some real assets that needed to be capitalized on. That included cheap land, almost a debt free city and county government, low taxes, an abundant source of treated water for industrial and municipal use, strong banks, a huge available source of competitive labor, and probably most importantly, a well capitalized and funded Industrial Foundation.
To build on these strengths, the Industrial Foundation sought out industrial and manufacturing executives with growth on their minds and courted them with free land, tax abatements tied to job creation, extension of off-site utilities, and on-site services at no capital cost. Incentives were increased by creative developmental and working capital financing through local banks, the Small Business Administration, a few State and Federal grants, and access to the Texas Capital Fund for loans and direct provision of infrastructure.
So what became of all this dynamic new thinking in the early 1990s? Tune in next week for the dramatic conclusion of the Bonham years - 1991 to 2008.
Quote for the week: “A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.” Georges Bernanos.
Please submit your questions or ideas in writing to Mike Walthall, Planning and Development Director, City of Bonham, 301 E. Fifth, Bonham, Texas 75418, or to mike@bonhamline.com