Catalog Archive
Auction 124, Lot 295

"[Land Promotion envelope]",

Subject: Texas

Period: 1910 (dated)

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A fascinating set of ephemera from the Fowler Bros. Land Company. The original envelope is dated 1910 complete with the one cent stamp. All of the original documents and sales information are present. They provide information on the farm lots of the Naylor & Jones Ranch in Lasalle and McMullen counties in Texas. There is a black and white pamphlet with information on the lots, including price ($380), which nets you a farm site of at least ten acres, along with a town site in Fowlerton. A broadside is also included that contains a map showing the placement of the ranch site. It exhorts the reader on the benefits of the 65,000 acres of 'rich, black land,' the amenities the town of Fowlerton was to have, and the benefits of the Nueces Valley. Also guarantees the following improvements to the town site: Large Artesian Well, Electric Power Plant, Overall and Shirt Factory, Ice Plant, Bank, Hotel, Telephone Exchange, and more. There are two copies of the land application, and a colorful 18pp pamphlet on San Antonio that includes numerous photographs of important buildings including the Alamo. Also included is an envelope for payment, as well as a typewritten sales letter. The sales letter begins with "Are you going to let this golden opportunity slip by?" Fowlerton, Texas is slightly more than a ghost town now, with only 62 people in the census of 2000. A scarce set of documents that provides a time capsule of the marketing effort to sell "flowing artesian water" land in Texas. A drought in 1917 doomed the growing town. The full story of the brothers' land company and the 'development' is here.

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Condition: A

All documents are fine or very good. The envelope is torn at top where the recipient opened it.

Estimate: $200 - $275

Sold for: $275

Closed on 5/7/2008

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