Email Museum

White Deer Land Museum

116 S. Cuyler

Pampa, TX 79065

Rider livery stable opened in 1903

James C. "Jim" Rider of Parker County and Issadore (I-sa-dore) Frances Crawford of Palo Pinto County were married in 1888. About the time their son, Larry, was lborn in 1890, Rider bought a ranch near present Lefors and stocked it with cattle.

He lived in a dugout until a house, consisting of a central hall with two rooms on each side, could be built. When the house was finally finished in 1893, Rider sent for his wife and son. He met them at Clarendon and they rode in a hack to their new home.

Their nearest neighbors were the Henry Thuts who lived in the only house near the newly built courthouse at Lefors. Postmaster Henry Thut had the Lefors post office, established October 12, 1892, in his home.

When Larry attended the Lefors school, begun in 1896, he rode a little pony across the North Fork of Red River. He looked forward to the springtime when the rains made the river rise and he could spend the night with the Thut boys - George, Henry, Jr., and Charles.

Anna Kathleen Rider, born in 1901, was named for Mrs. Henry (Anna) Thut,Sr., who assisted at Kathleen's birth.

 In 1903, the Rider family moved to Pampa to live in a new four-room house built by J.L. "Jim" Stroope at 303 East Foster. That year Rider opened a livery stable business between 100 South Gillespie and 101 South Ballard (location of present White House Lumber Company). Sometime later Rider left Pampa and died in 1939 at Big Lake, Texas.

Mrs. Rider kept boarders and taught piano at home and in the school for about twenty years. She took a correspondence course in music and also studied with Mr. Cranker, a piano teacher who rode the train from Canadian to give lessons in Pampa. Mrs. Rider, died in 1941 at Lubbock.

Larry Rider and Jeff Lard (brother of Elsie Hall) made a white deer for the town of White Deer. The deer had to be replaced because of vandalism, but the original stand is still located at the intersection of Main and Third Streets in White Deer. Later Larry, a game warden, and his wife, Grace, lived at Jayton, Texas.

M.K. Brown was very fond of "de-ah little Kathleen." She graduated from Pampa High School in 1921, the year the first volume of The Harvest was published. This statement appears below her senior class picture:" 'Least but not last,' and this refers to size only. Kathleen was easily voted the most popular girl in school --- an honor she well deserves."

The stable furnished horse and buggy transportation for visiting lawyers and others who needed to go to Lefors for business in the new Gray County Courthouse.

Kathleen married J.B. Logan and moved to Lubbock where she was still living in 1985. J.B.'s brother, Howard Logan, married Ruby Henry, daughter of W.B. Henry, and they also moved to Lubbock.