John Watson: Historic Hubbard, home of baseball great Tris Speaker

Traveling down Texas 171 from Hillsboro to Mexia you can see this is all farming country, with field after field of corn, maize and cotton. You pass through several little farm communities, including Bynum, Malone and Hubbard.

But wait, Hubbard is different from the other farm communities; the downtown business district is larger, and there are many large old Victorian style homes.

The old high school, built in 1914 and closed in 1978, has since been converted to house the Hubbard Museum, Library and Community Center.

The museum contains artifacts from before the time the town became known as Hubbard. John McLain built the first store in the area around 1860 and the settlement was known as McLainsboro or “Slap Out.”

How did the town get the name “Slap Out?”

In the mid-19th century merchandise was brought in by wagon, and deliveries weren’t very regular. The store would often run out of some items. When someone came in and asked for an item that was out of stock, the store clerk would raise his knee and slap the side of his leg as he said; “We’re slap out of that.”

There is an 1860’s era back bar in the museum from one of the three pre-Hubbard Saloons.

The town was formally organized in 1881 when the St. Louis and Southwestern (Cotton Belt) railroad established a depot there. The town was named for Texas Governor Richard B. Hubbard.

While drilling for water in 1895 drilling crews discovered hot mineral water. This discovery led to the construction of a health resort and bath house. Hubbard became the destination of travelers from all across the country, who partook of what they thought were the therapeutic powers of the mineral water. Hubbard was in the league with Mineral Wells and Glen Rose and Hot Springs, Ark.

The mineral water attracted many physicians to Hubbard, and they built many of the fine, old Victorian homes you see in Hubbard today. The bath house burned just before the Depression and, with the onset of the Depression, was never rebuilt. The city maintains one hot mineral well.

According to Enid Waldrop, the museum curator, during the 1920s the population of Hubbard was 2,200, and the population is now 1,500.

One of the early residents of Hubbard you sports fans may remember was Tristram E. “Tris” Speaker. He was born April 4, 1888, to Archie and Nancy Poer Speaker. He grew up and went through school in Hubbard. His interest was baseball, and he played only one year of college baseball for the Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute in 1905.

Speaker’s baseball prowess attracted the attention of Doak Roberts, who in 1906 was the owner of the Cleburne Railroaders of the Texas League. Doak got Speaker to play for the Railroaders that year, and he ended up batting .318.

Speaker went on to play for the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians, among others, later managing the Indians.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, elected its first inductees in 1936. Speaker was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1937. The Hall of Fame opened to the public in 1939. Speaker was the first Texan elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Speaker died of a heart attack at his lodge on Lake Whitney in 1958 at the age of 70. He is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Hubbard.

One of the rooms at the museum is designated the “Tris Speaker Hubbard Sports Hall of Fame.” Speaker’s niece, Tris Speaker Scott, now 90, still lives in Hubbard and has donated many of his things to the museum.

Also on display at the museum are the barber chairs, shoeshine stand and customer chairs from the Bond’s Barber Shop. At one time seven barbers worked at the shop.

A Waco newspaper on display tells about a tornado that destroyed much of downtown Hubbard in 1973. Many of the destroyed buildings were never rebuilt.

Enid Waldrop told about a gentleman who came to the nearby settlement of Pin Oak in the 1860s, and hearing there was a need for a teacher, agreed to teach the children for $5 each per year, plus room and board, and he also preached on Sundays.

East of town on Texas 31, midway between Hubbard and Dawson, is an old live oak tree next to a wrought-iron enclosure containing a large cemetery marker. The marker is inscribed: “Sacred to the memory of our beloved dead killed by Indians, October AD 1838.”

The marker lists the names of the ones killed and the three survivors. Some surveyors were working in the area, and the Indians asked them to leave, but they chose not to leave. The Indians came back later and attacked the group, leaving them all for dead, but three did survive.

There is a lot of history in and around Hubbard if you care to visit the museum and check it out. The museum is open Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

While in Hubbard stop at the Country Kitchen. They serve great old fashioned hamburgers and fries for just $1.99.

John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.