Harman-Toles Elevator
Happy, Swisher County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Holland E. Toles (1894-1941) opened a grain elevator in this area in 1926, and was joined by Vernon Harman in 1938. After Toles' death, Harman formed a new partnership with John F. and Holl Ed Toles. World War II, increased irrigation, and a federal grain program created a need for larger storage facilities. On March 1, 1945, construction was begun on this six-unit concrete elevator. Labor was provided by the U.S. government, utilizing 50 Italian prisoners of war from a camp near Hereford, under Geneva Convention provisions. The project was completed on July 10, 1945. (1974)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Holland E. Toles opened a grain elevator in this Panhandle area in 1926 and was joined by Vernon Harman in 1938, with the partnership continuing after Toles's death. Wartime demand, expanding irrigation, and a federal grain program soon called for larger storage, and construction of this six-unit concrete elevator began in March 1945. The labor came from an unexpected source: some fifty Italian prisoners of war from a camp near Hereford, working under Geneva Convention rules, who finished the job that July.
Why it matters
The elevator ties the growth of High Plains agriculture to the global reach of World War II, when even POW labor helped meet America's home-front needs.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Holland E. Toles
- · Vernon Harman
Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Neblett Hospital and Clinic
Canyon, TX
The Panhandle town of Canyon spent years trying and failing to fund a public hospital before Dr. Robert A. Neblett stepped in. A Tennessee-born, University of Texas–trained specialist in children's medicine, he announced in 1937 that he would build one himself, and that year a sixteen-room, air-conditioned hospital rose on 16th Street. It closed while he served nearly two and a half years in the Pacific during World War II, reopened on his return, and cared for Canyon residents and West Texas State students until 1975.
C. Stuart Johnston
Canyon, TX
Born in North Carolina in 1900, Claud Stuart Johnston became an educator and fossil hunter who chaired the Earth Science Department at West Texas State Teachers College from 1934 to 1939. Working with his wife Margaret and federal relief-program crews during the Depression, he gathered paleontological specimens that formed the core of the collection at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. His life ended abruptly and mysteriously in 1939, when he died in Boston just weeks after leaving Oklahoma to finish his doctorate.
J.O. Bass Blacksmith Shop
Tulia, TX
As settlers pushed onto the Panhandle plains after the Red River War, sprawling outfits like the 100,000-head J.A. Ranch depended on blacksmiths to forge the horseshoes, branding irons, and spurs that kept the work going. Georgia-born J.O. Bass opened his first shop in Quitaque in 1897 and moved to Tulia in 1902, crafting spurs so prized for durability that cowboys from Montana to Nevada — and even film star Tom Mix — placed orders. In 1914 his gold-and-silver inlaid "gal-leg" spurs won a metallurgy award at the Texas State Fair.
Flynt Building
Tulia, TX
Built in 1909 of red brick trimmed with frosted glass above a wooden awning, the Flynt Building opened its doors as a confectionary on the High Plains town of Tulia. Its ornate marble counter and back bar spoke to the small-town prosperity of the era, and it went on to become the oldest retail firm in town still standing at its original location. E. W. Flynt, its first owner, gave the building the name it carries.