Kemp, Joseph Alexander
Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Joseph Alexander Kemp was a visionary and entrepreneur whose business and civic activities were vital to the development of Wichita Falls. Kemp was born in Clifton (Bosque Co.), where he opened his first store at the age of eighteen. He married Flora Anderson in 1882 and they moved to Wichita Falls in 1883, where he partnered in a general mercantile store, later opening a wholesale grocery. The couple raised five children. Kemp’s business activities were varied. He helped establish several rail lines, including two with his brother-in-law, Frank Kell, with whom he also operated a number of other companies vital for the commercial development of Wichita Falls. He also worked to provide the community with an adequate water supply. Kemp completed Lake Wichita with private funding in 1901, which provided water, irrigation and electricity to the community. He made further contributions to area irrigation with the creation of Lakes Kemp and Diversion, which provided water and flood control to Wichita Falls from across county lines. Other noted activities by Kemp included the platting of the Floral Heights addition, named for his wife; the construction of a number of important area buildings, including City National Bank and Kemp Hotel; and the opening of a library (now the Kemp Center for the Arts). He also worked to diversify the community’s economy in the face of its early 20th century oil boom. When he died in 1930, Kemp was honored by the city and state as a great pioneer and leader. Today, Joseph A. Kemp is remembered as a man of character who inspired, motivated, and led, playing a monumental role in developing the city of Wichita Falls.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Joseph Alexander Kemp, who opened his first store at eighteen, moved to Wichita Falls in 1883 and spent his life building the young town into a commercial city. He helped charter rail lines, platted new neighborhoods, erected banks, hotels, and a library, and — most consequentially — privately financed Lake Wichita in 1901 and later Lakes Kemp and Diversion to give the arid region a dependable water supply.
Why it matters
Kemp shows how a single visionary entrepreneur could conjure the railroads, water, and institutions that let a North Texas frontier town survive its boom-and-bust future.
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Related people
- · Joseph Alexander Kemp
- · Flora Anderson Kemp
- · Frank Kell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Kell, Frank
Wichita Falls, TX
Frank Kell came to Wichita Falls in 1896, following his brother-in-law Joseph Kemp, and together the two men steered the region through decades of explosive growth. Beginning with the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company, Kell chartered railroads to reach north Texas wheat, coal, and oil, built downtown warehouses and banks, and sold his milling empire to General Mills in 1928 while serving thirteen years as a Dallas Federal Reserve director.
Frank Kell Home
Wichita Falls, TX
Native Texan Frank Kell (1859–1941) and his brother-in-law Joseph A. Kemp built fortunes in grain, banking, real estate, and railroads that helped turn Wichita Falls into the commercial hub of North Texas. In 1909 Kell commissioned this classical revival house from the firm of Jones and Orlopp, and his descendants kept it in the family for more than seventy years.
Wichita Falls Traction Company
Wichita Falls, TX
When Frank Kell and J. A. Kemp founded the Wichita Falls Traction Company in 1909, they were as much land developers as transit operators. After buying up undeveloped land toward Lake Wichita, they built an electric streetcar line to it — instantly turning the remote outskirts into a convenient place to live and driving up the value of their own property. The city grew rapidly along the route until buses replaced the streetcars in 1933.
Town of Iowa Park
Iowa Park, TX
Iowa Park was one of countless towns that leapt up ahead of the rails crossing Texas in the 1800s, born in 1885 as "Daggett's Switch" on the Fort Worth and Denver City line. Union Pacific builder Gen. G. M. Dodge promoted the townsite, and land agents recruited Midwesterners — many from Iowa — laying out a plat full of parks in 1888. Two decades of farm prosperity gave way to frenzy in 1918 when oil was struck nearby, sending speculators and land prices soaring until the boom burned out by 1925 and a steady farm economy returned.