Detroit is on the old route of The Missouri Pacific / Texas Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 82, two miles from the Lamar county line in western Red River County. The old railroad tracks were removed in the early 1990's. Detroit was developed around the proposed route of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1873. When the railroad was completed in 1876 the post office at nearby Starkesville was moved to the new town, which was named Bennett. On May 3, 1887 J. M. Stephens, the local railway agent, renamed the town Detroit for his former home in Michigan. Because of its location on the railroad the town soon became an important trading center and shipping point for area farmers. By 1884 the population had reached 200, and local institutions included two steam mills, two cotton gins, a church, and a district school. By 1890 the population had reached 750, and the town had a weekly newspaper, the New Era, published by S. B. Norwood. Two years later two hotels and a bank were in operation, and the population of Detroit was estimated at 900. By 1910 it had reached 1,500. During the years following 1910 the population of Detroit declined steadily, reaching a low of 425 by 1960. Then the town began to grow again, with populations of 726 and 805 reported in 1970 and 1980, respectively. In 1990 Detroit had 706 residents. The population was 776 in 2000.
Detroit is home to a Masonic Lodge, as well as a very active Lion's Club which was responsible for the renovation of the 100 year old tabernacle which is located on East Garner Street next door to the City Hall. In the earlier days the tabernacle was the meeting place for revival meetings in the summer and is presently used for that as well as other community activities. Being located approximately half way between Clarksville and Paris, Detroit is a convenient location for a family in which one parent works in Paris and the other one works in Clarksville. Detroit is proud of its independent school district. Its elementary campus on the south side of town consists of grades Kindergarten through grade five as well as classes for Head-Start for children age three and four. The High School and Junior High campus is located on the north side of town on FM 410.
Vice President john Nance Garner was
born just outside of Detroit, Texas, and lived in Detroit from 1889 - 1992 in a
house owned by his parents. Below is more information of John Nance Garner.
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Detroit, Texas
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First
Christian Church of Detroit Historical Marker Writing:
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John Nance
Garner Home Historical Marker Writing: (1868-1967) As a young lawyer lived, 1889-92, in this house owned by his parents. He rose from Uvalde County Judge (1893-96), to Texas Legislature (1898-1902), to U. S. Congress (1904-32), with a term as Speaker, House of Representatives), to Vice President of the United States, 1933-41. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971
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JOHN NANCE GARNER(1868-1967).
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John Nance (Cactus Jack) Garner, the
thirty-second vice president of the United States, the first of thirteen
children of John Nance and Sarah (Guest) Garner, was born on November 22, 1868,
in a log cabin near Detroit, Texas. He went to school at Bogata and Blossom
Prairie. At eighteen he went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee,
where he stayed only one semester, possibly because of ill health. He returned
to Clarksville, Texas, read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1890. After an
unsuccessful run for the office of city attorney he moved to Uvalde, where he
began law practice.
In Uvalde Garner joined the law firm of Clark and Fuller and was appointed to
fill a vacancy as county judge. When he ran for the regular term in 1893 his
opponent was Mariette (Ettie) Rheiner, whom he married on November 25, 1895. He
served as county judge from 1893 to 1896. A son, Tully, was born to the Garners
on September 24, 1896.
Broadening his political horizon, Garner was elected in 1898 to the state
legislature, where he served until 1902. While in the legislature he had the
opportunity to establish a new Fifteenth Congressional District and at
thirty-four was elected its representative. He entered the Fifty-eighth Congress
as a Democrat on November 9, 1903, and served continuously for fifteen terms,
until March 4, 1933.
Garner's early career in the legislature was without distinction, for he spent
most of his time listening and examining the legislative process. Indeed, it was
January 5, 1905, before he uttered a word in the House, and eight years before
he made his first speech. His main efforts appear to have been devoted to
obtaining a federal building for Eagle Pass and a new post office in his
district. During his early years in Congress he adhered to his number-one rule
for success: get elected, stay there, and gain influence through seniority. By
1909 Garner had become party whip. During World War Iqv he was recognized as a
leader and became the liaison between President Woodrow Wilson and the House of
Representatives.
After the war Garner pursued his policy of saying little while acquiring friends
in both houses. As a result he served as minority floor leader in the
Seventy-first Congress, and when the Democrats organized the House in 1931 he
became speaker. With his prominence as speaker and with William Randolph
Hearst's backing, Garner became a serious candidate for president in the spring
of 1932. Although he did not pursue his campaign vigorously, as convention time
approached he acquired the ninety Texas and California votes, which a candidate
had to have to be nominated. When he gave his votes to Franklin D. Roosevelt on
the fourth ballot, Roosevelt became indebted to Garner and to the state of
Texas. As a result Garner was offered the vice-presidential nomination, which he
reluctantly accepted. On November 8, 1932, he was simultaneously elected to the
vice presidency and reelected to Congress. He resigned from Congress on March 4,
1933.
Next to the president Garner was the single most important man in the New Deal.
When he became vice president he had thirty years' experience in the House,
including two as speaker. Now his ability to make friends and his political
knowledge combined to give him respect and great persuasive powers. Moreover, he
was talented in other areas tangential to politics, such as whiskey drinking and
poker playing.
Because of Garner's knowledge of the legislative process the president made him
his liaison with Congress. This decision proved to be a wise move, for Garner
had his own congressional machine. Moreover, nineteen members of the Senate had
served with him in the House, and he was a personal friend of virtually every
legislator. Garner also had tremendous influence with the Texas congressional
delegation and especially with Samuel T. (Sam) Rayburn. This was invaluable, for
from 1933 to 1938 no fewer than eight Texans held regular committee
chairmanships, and two chaired special committees. Also, Rayburn became House
majority leader in 1937. The Texas delegation probably had no peer in
congressional history. With this force behind him Garner was ready to add a new
dimension to the office of vice president.
He was influential in undercover work. Because he knew the strengths and
weaknesses of both houses he was able to push bills through or bury them. He
was, as one writer stated, "a mole rather than an eagle." A master at
circulating on the Senate floor or buttonholing a friend, he was the "wise old
man of Congress." On most evenings after a legislative session Garner would hold
court over bourbon and branch water and counsel reluctant congressmen in his
"Board of Education," or, as some called it, his "Dog House." He was in his
element here, and most of his contemporaries agreed that his persuasive tactics
made him the most powerful vice president in history. In the course of the
"Hundred Days," the special session of the legislature called by Roosevelt to
inaugurate New Deal programs, Garner was extremely effective in helping to push
through the legislation that characterized this phase of the Roosevelt program.
Although Garner was not always in accord with administration programs,
especially deficit spending, he continued to support the New Deal until the
spring of 1937. One of his methods was to make certain that the right men were
appointed to conference committees in order to assure that New Deal legislation
would pass. He was, moreover, especially good at gaveling bills through the
Senate. His activity was thus of paramount importance to the administration.
Garner's relationship with Rayburn was especially fruitful. On their shared
rides to the Capitol they often discussed and settled issues of decisive
importance to the administration. Although they disagreed on some issues, they
remained fast friends who were at the apex of the New Deal power pyramid.
It was inevitable that Garner would split with the president, for his view of
the Democratic party differed considerably from Roosevelt's. As an old-line
Democrat with Progressive Era background, Garner distrusted Wall Street, and so
he championed New Deal legislation aimed at correcting the putative excesses of
the financial markets. But as the New Deal drifted toward welfare-state
concepts, he demurred. From the beginning of his association with Roosevelt he
had never tried to conceal his philosophy. In the spring of 1934 he had warned
the president to slow down. By 1935 he began to refer to some programs as "plain
damn foolishness." The sit-down strikes that closed 1936 marked a breaking point
in the Garner-Roosevelt relationship. Garner thought the strikers had violated
property rights, and he became furious because he thought that Roosevelt gave
tacit support to the unions. Early in January 1937 Garner had an angry
discussion with the president over this issue. Their disagreement emphasized the
differences between them. Afterward, Garner believed that Roosevelt preferred
the suggestions of liberal advisors rather than his own or those of
congressional leaders. Therefore, he began to oppose the president in the
cloakrooms.
The event, however, that sealed the split between Garner and the president was
the Court-Packing Plan of 1937,qv whereby the president was to receive
unprecedented powers in the appointment of Supreme Court justices. The shock
waves radiating from the proposal split the Democratic party. Garner, whose
loyalty was first to the party, vehemently opposed the plan. In the midst of the
struggle he went on vacation to Uvalde, an act that publicized the rift between
him and the president. Moreover, the split was exacerbated by Garner's growing
hostility to New Deal programs in general.
As 1937 drew to a close Garner was recognized as the second most powerful man in
Washington. He was the leader of a group of conservative Democrats and
Republicans dedicated to retard, change, or scuttle various phases of the New
Deal. One commentator called Garner the "conniver-in-chief" of the opposition.
Now almost anything that did not meet with Garner's approval was in trouble. By
1938 he was opposed to most of the New Deal proposals, especially those
involving government spending. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes said that
Garner was "sticking his knife into the President's back." The final blow to the
fast-fading Garner-Roosevelt friendship was the proposed purge of conservative
Democratic congressmen by the president. Garner used all his influence to
prevent the action. With him at the head, an opposition bloc now began to vote
against almost everything the president desired. After the failure of the purge
Garner, in the interest of party harmony, was willing to seek a reconciliation.
He met with Roosevelt on December 17, 1938, for the first time in six months. No
one is certain what happened, but the meeting did nothing to restore Roosevelt's
confidence in Garner.
Though Garner never openly acknowledged his split with Roosevelt, their mutual
hostility continued, and the president grew to despise Jack. Garner reciprocated
by transferring his dislike of the New Deal to the president himself. Because of
their mutual distrust, during the last two years of Roosevelt's second
administration Garner opposed virtually everything the president wanted. In
effect he became "the leader and the brains of the opposition" to the man with
whom he had been elected.
Opinions about Garner's vice presidency vary widely. John L. Lewis characterized
him as a "labor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, evil old man," but the
New York Times praised his "political miracles." James Farley thought Garner was
"more responsible than anyone" for implementing Roosevelt's programs, yet it is
realistic to state that Garner prevented completion of the New Deal.
In spite of his age Garner's political stature made him a prominent Democratic
candidate in the 1940 election. As early as 1938 the Texas state Democratic
convention endorsed him as a candidate. By March 1939 both houses of the Texas
legislature followed suit, and in June a Garner-for-president committee was
formed. Polls indicated that Garner would be the leading candidate if Roosevelt
did not run. Even though Garner declared in December 1939 that he would accept
the nomination, his actions indicate he did so primarily because he opposed a
third term for Roosevelt. The president's machine, however, was too powerful,
and Garner was handily beaten in the primaries he entered. After the convention
he packed his belongings and prepared to return to civil life. After the
inauguration, at age seventy-two, after thirty-eight years of government
service, he crossed the Potomac for the last time.
Garner spent the rest of his years in Uvalde in relative seclusion. In the late
1940s his wife burned his public and private papers, leaving only his scrapbook
collection, which is housed in the Barker Texas History Center at the University
of Texas at Austin. John Nance Garner died on November 7, 1967, a few days
before his ninety-ninth birthday, and is buried in Uvalde.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lionel V. Patenaude, Texans,
Politics and the New Deal (New York: Garland, 1983). Bascom N. Timmons, Garner
of Texas (New York: Harper, 1948), Betty Wright