Stephenville was once the center of several nationally-known nurseries. V.O. porter, “the horticulturalist-sage of West Texas,” began his seed business in a room of his Carleton home in 1912. “I had $236 cash and nothing else but a large and growing family. I lost $236 the first year, broke exactly even the second year, and made $200 the third year. Then three drouth years and a hailstorm broke me completely in 1918.” The Porter seed business , however, continued to grow.

“Portrait of a Seedsman-Sage.” Southern Seedsman, February, 1945.

James House Cage was born on October 19, 1845. The family moved to Stephenville in 1859 after the father died en route to the California gold fields. The mother, Martha Cage, operated a hotel on Graham Street. Jim Cage went to Arizona with John Baylor’s Confederate regiment [Baylor offered to kill Apaches with poison flour and then shoot those who came to bury them – the Confederate high command refused his offer] Cage returned after the Civil War and became a successful cattleman. He established a general store in 1872 and a bank in 1900. Cage Street is named for him.

C. Richard King, Stephenville Streets, Unpublished manuscript loaned by author in 1986.