Dan Cobb
Seminole, Gaines County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Dec. 2, 1868 - May 16, 1937) A native of Tennessee, Dan Cobb designed and constructed the first Gaines County Courthouse in 1906. He also built the second courthouse in 1922, as well as a First Baptist Church sanctuary, a schoolhouse and other significant early structures of the area. He and his wife Aurelia (Metcalf) (1869-1953) built a home at this site in 1906 for their family of 6 children. A charter member of the First Baptist Church and the Seminole School Board, Cobb had a federal mail contract for a 3-county area. His pioneer efforts and leadership were vital to the early growth of Gaines County. (1982)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A Tennessee native, Dan Cobb was the builder who gave early Gaines County much of its shape, constructing both the first county courthouse in 1906 and its 1922 successor, along with a Baptist sanctuary, a schoolhouse, and other landmark buildings. He and his wife Aurelia raised six children in the home they built here in 1906, and he held civic roles and even a federal mail contract spanning three counties. His work and leadership were central to the young county's growth.
Why it matters
Cobb embodies the pioneer builder whose courthouses, churches, and schools literally constructed the institutions of a frontier Texas county.
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Related people
- · Dan Cobb
- · Aurelia Metcalf Cobb
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Gaines County
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Gaines County was created in 1876 and named for James L. Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Anglo settlement began around 1895, the county formally organized in 1905 with Seminole as its seat, and a courthouse rose the next year. Ranching and farming ruled the economy until the 1930s, when booming oil production reshaped this corner of the West Texas plains.
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Built in 1900, this is among the oldest houses in Andrews County, raised at the exact point where four claimants' land sections met so each could satisfy the legal requirement to live on his claim. After the group proved up their claims, they sold to Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Means, who by 1904 held fourteen sections and kept adding land to build a thriving cattle ranch. The operation ran cattle even after oil fields spread across the range in the 1920s.
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When Andrews County was organized in 1910, the new town of Andrews rose on land homesteaded by Robert Madison "Bob" Means, who had begun ranching the West Texas plains with his father in 1899. In a colorful county-seat fight against rival Shafter City, Means famously deeded town lots to local cowboys so they could register as voters and swing the election. He served as county clerk and gave land and money to the growing town for the rest of his life, retiring comfortably after oil was struck on his land in 1934.
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