An independent history of Haslet, Tarrant County, Texas

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ExploreHaslet, Texas

People of Haslet

The rancher, the teachers, the fire chiefs, and the families whose names turn up in the town's records. Every detail here comes from a source you can open.

  1. A small one-story white church with a gabled porch on brick columns, a house far in the left background and a barn at right, on flat open ground.

    Cattleman, 1882 to 1938

    Charles L. Maloney

    A native of Ireland, Maloney came to the Blue Mound area in 1882 with his brother-in-law, H. C. Hurley of Fort Worth, and began raising shorthorn Durham cattle, one of the first herds in the county.

    When the Santa Fe asked for a right-of-way across his ranch, he at first refused, then relented after Mrs. Maloney said it would be nice to ride the train into Fort Worth. The city's history credits the town's name to that decision. He died in 1938 at age 96.

    The Portal's record for a 1923 photograph of the Baptist church identifies a house in the background as the four-room home of Charles and Susan Maloney.

    2 sources
    1. History of City City of Haslet
    2. [Haslet Baptist Church], 1923 Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries

  2. Railroad contractor

    Joel C. Harmmond

    The City of Haslet's history names Joel C. Harmmond as the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe's contractor and says he came from Haslett, Michigan. The Handbook of Texas says only that the town was named for the contractor's Michigan hometown.

    Unconfirmed. Other retellings spell his name "Hammond." We have not found a primary record that settles it.

    2 sources
    1. History of City City of Haslet
    2. Haslet, TX Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (Brian Hart)

  3. The first teachers

    Alice Curtis and Lizzie Curtis

    Before there was a schoolhouse, Miss Alice Curtis taught in the home of one of the local families. When the Blue Mound schoolhouse went up in 1879, Miss Lizzie Curtis was the first teacher in the new building.

    1 source
    1. History of City City of Haslet

  4. Fundraiser, 1879

    C. F. Mitchell

    In the election year of 1879, a committee including Mitchell collected about $150 in campaign donations from candidates and used it to build the community's first schoolhouse.

    1 source
    1. History of City City of Haslet
  5. A formal studio portrait of a mustached father and a mother seated among seven children, the girls in white dresses and hair bows.

    Farmers on Avondale-Haslet Road

    The Singleton family

    The Portal holds a family portrait of John B. and Victoria Singleton with seven of their eleven children, dated about 1909.

    A history of the Willow Springs Ranch subdivision says the Singletons bought land on Avondale-Haslet Road in 1912, and that in 1916 John Henry Singleton bought a Rumely OilPull tractor, believed to be the first tractor in northern Tarrant County. Singleton Drive in Willow Springs Ranch is named for the family.

    Henry Earl Singleton, who co-founded the conglomerate Teledyne, was born in 1916 and raised on a small ranch near Haslet.

    Unconfirmed. The sources name the father differently (John B. in the portrait record, John Henry in the subdivision history). They may be the same family; we have not confirmed it.

    3 sources
    1. [Family Portrait of John and Victoria Singleton with their Children] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
    2. Some History of Willow Springs Ranch and Willow Springs West, Haslet, Texas D.R. Moss Quality Custom Homes
    3. Henry Earl Singleton Wikipedia
  6. A yellowed newspaper page from The News-Tribune, July 30, 1976, headlined "Last Cotton Gin Moving From Haslet," by Mrs. H. W. Godbey.

    Correspondent, 1976

    Mrs. H. W. Godbey

    Writing for The News-Tribune on July 30, 1976, Mrs. Godbey remembered the Haslet of 1936, with its groceries, cafes, filling stations, two cotton gins, three churches, drug store, and high school, and reported that the last gin had been sold.

    1 source
    1. [The News-Tribune Newspaper Clipping from July 30, 1976] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
  7. An older man in a white shirt and patterned tie stands on a dirt roadside holding a hat, with a line of railroad boxcars passing behind him.

    Photographed about 1950

    Dr. J. H. Gammell

    The library's collection includes a photograph of Dr. J. H. Gammell standing by the road as a train passes on the tracks behind him.

    The Portal's record for a 1923 view of Main Street lists a "Doc and Ben Gammill General Store" among the buildings, and today Gammil Street runs past the Haslet Public Library.

    Unconfirmed. The name is spelled three ways across these records. We have not confirmed that they refer to the same family.

    3 sources
    1. [Photograph of Dr. J. H. Gammell] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
    2. [Haslet baby and street], 1923 Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
    3. OpenStreetMap: Haslet, Texas (relation 114799) and street data OpenStreetMap contributors

  8. November 1954

    Lallie Lewis

    At the 1954 meeting held to organize the Haslet Fire Department, Lallie Lewis is pictured serving coffee from a coffee maker.

    1 source
    1. [Photograph of Meeting to Organize Haslet Fire Department] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
  9. A smiling man in a firefighter's helmet and heavy coat stands beside a fire truck door lettered "Haslet Fire Dept."

    Fire chief for 20 years

    Jack Smith

    The library's photograph shows Jack Smith, chief of the Haslet Fire Department for twenty years, in front of one of the department's trucks.

    1 source
    1. [Photograph of Jack Smith in a Firefighter's Uniform] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries

  10. Fire chief, 1984

    Delton Sewell

    A February 1984 clipping honors Haslet's fire chief, Delton Sewell, after he was named Tarrant County Fire Chief of the Year.

    1 source
    1. [Newspaper Clipping of an Article About Delton Sewell] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries
  11. A soaked older man in a cap sits in the water tank of a dunking booth behind a chain-link screen, laughing.

    Mayor, 1996

    Blackie Frazier

    On Saturday, June 15, 1996, Mayor Blackie Frazier took a turn in the dunk tank at a Haslet Fire Department fundraiser. The note on the back of the photograph records the date.

    1 source
    1. [Photograph of Mayor Blackie Frazier in a Dunking Booth] Haslet Public Library, via The Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries