Throughout the Gilded Age (1865-1900) Erath County farmer/stockmen were struggling to survive. On April 1, 1898, members of the Farmer’s Alliance met in the Opera House in Stephenville and voted unanimously to identify with the national Populist Party. This new people’s party stood for radical economic restructuring of America and went on to win elections and eventually morphed with the more realistic progressive movement that won national elections, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt. M.L. Auten, A History of Erath County. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Harden-Simmons University, August 1951, in Texas Tech Southwest Collection.