Once a busy industrial town of nearly 10,000, Thurber now boasts a residency of less than 10. For approximately 50 years, from 1886 to 1936, migrants from the United States, Mexico, Russia, Britain, and Eastern and Western Europe mined bituminous coal, manufactured bricks, and provided the labor for all of the residual businesses in an entirely company-owned town. The rich history of Thurber includes big-city investors, Texas Rangers, labor unions, railroads, sports, opera, diversity, tragedy, triumph, and the everyday lives of men, women, and children.
Deborah M. Liles is an assistant professor and the W.K. Gordon Chair of Texas History at Tarleton State University. She earned her doctorate at the University of North Texas, where she examined the antebellum livestock trade and its relationship to the institution of slavery. She is an award-winning author and coedited four books that focus on Texas history. Almost all of the images selected for this book came from the many collections at the W.K. Gordon Center, located in Thurber on the former site of the famous brick plant. The Haley Library, Special Collections at the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech also generously provided historical images.