HISTORY

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Baggett was often considered a legendary character in Big Spring. On one occasion, the Sheriff was checking out the streets, an unknown shooter took aim at the Sheriff from underneath the Burton-Lingo Lumberyard. In a 1955 interview with the Big Spring Herald, Howard County pioneer Walter Roper told how the Sheriff “suspicioned something wasn’t right so he walked down the center of the street instead of along the wooden sidewalk.” Roper continued “The Sheriff was knocked down with a dozen buckshot. He recovered and later pumped the (suspected man) full of lead. This character made the mistake of going for his gun and the Sheriff cut loose with a new automatic which had just come on the market.”

The sheriff and his family moved to the Dallas area in 1916. They sold the home to Artist H.W. Caylor and his wife for $2500.00. It has been said that Caylor painted numerous paintings on the second floor of the home as it was illuminated by large wide windows that produced the perfect lighting for the artist to work in. Local children would often knock on the Caylor’s front door asking to come inside and watch him paint. Mary Cushing Stipp (from the Cushing ranch family) remembered being one of those children. She watched patiently as Mr. Caylor painted “some magnificent quail.” A painting that later became part of the Currie collection. Mrs. Caylor filled the seven-room home with the aroma of her delicious tea cakes baking in the oven. It was a treat to receive one! As the house became too much for the Caylor’s to manage, financially and physically, they sold the property to Mrs. J.T. Mable Quinn in 1918 for $6000.00.

Mrs. J.T. (Mable) Quinn had recently become a widow and decided to purchase a home in town. When the purchase was finalized, Mrs. Quinn said Caylor’s paintings were part of the purchase agreement. Mable Quinn was a remarkably shrewd and intelligent lady, earning four degrees, simultaneously from Baylor University, in 1881. She and her husband, J.T, owned and operated 19 sections of ranch land between Big Spring and Stanton. The Quinn’s only son, John became a Rear Admiral in the Navy. His son, Tommy Quinn, later attended

Annapolis and followed his father’s footsteps. The Quinn family held the largest collection of Caylor paintings in the area. Some of those paintings are on loan to the Heritage Museum and are on display in the H.W. Caylor gallery.

After Mrs. Quinn’s death, local Attorney, Gil Jones, and Associates obtained the property. They sold the house to Ralph Fowler to be moved off the lot. Jones and Associates had plans to build an office complex on the property at 600 Main naming it after Caylor. Once Mr. Fowler disposed of the old coal; the home was ready for the move.

At 7:30 am on Wednesday, May 20, 1964, the 48-foot-wide two-story structure had become a mobile home. With help from movers Charles Hood, the old house crossed the city and made its journey, 18 miles southwest of Big Spring onto Garden City Hwy. The Fowlers boasted that the home was so well built, it did not show any wear during the move. Fowler said, “A picture, that had been hanging on the wall, did not even move during the transition.”

The old home had found a new family as it continues to stand tall today. The house with so much history within its walls.