Stamford Inn
Here are the scans of the front and back of the postcard I wrote about yesterday. In my excitement at finding it, I didn’t notice at the time that the postmark on the $.01 stamp makes it just a few months over 100 years old. Thomas M. Spindle and his second wife Eliza Harris Spindle, shown in the photo below, ran this inn and a livery stable in the small dusty Texas town of Stamford, Jones County, Texas.
Sometime between 1908 when daughter Angelina was born in Stamford, Texas, and 1917 when son Malcomb was born in Roswell, New Mexico, the family moved out to New Mexico. So this may very well have been made while the Spindles owned and ran the Stamford Inn. I don’t yet have the details of their ownership.
But it was a great find for our family. We do have some other pictures of the family in front of this building, but this photo shows the size of the place.
I can’t imagine being responsible for the laundry of linen for this enterprise.
Very cool find!
What amazing pics! I’ve always wanted to learn more about the Texas history. My brother was named for Thomas Matthew so I’ve always felt close to that branch of the family. I’ve always wanted to go check out the Spindle, NM “ghost town” as it’s classified on the web, for that matter. Thanks again!
I was born and raised in Stamford Texas and know a lot of its history if any one is interested…I am at hailstone5859@yahoo.com
i live in this small town and thats not how the inn looks now it was soo beautiful back then now its burnt and old and its creepy some kids go in there just to see if its haunted…is it??
i used to live right on moran st next to the church 211 thats all i use to see when in my front yard, we only lived there a yr but i always use to ask about the building and got many many many stories so seeing this is pretty cool i have a few pictures of it now, pretty spooky..
I lived in Stamford for a while and used to walk by the old Stamford Inn. I was always very curious. I was the Chamber of Commerce manager for a few years and remember always trying to get the owner to do something with the building. There are (or were) many pictures of the Stamford Inn in the Cowboy Museum. Crazy, I have been watching a show on HGTV, “If Walls Could Talk” its about people buying old houses and renovating them and in the process they find really cool historical artifacts. Since I haven’t been back to Stamford in about 10 years, I was curious if the Stamford Inn was still standing. I think it would make someone (with money, time & talent) a really great house.