In March, 1916, Judge W. R. Stephens was serving as Mayor of Gilmer.
During Mr. Stephens’ administration, the city completed a sanitary
sewerage system which had been started under Mayor Tom Briggs, and
inaugurated several improvements for the town. Notable among these
improvements was the reduction of fire insurance rates through
improvements in the fire department and the purchase of the first
motorized truck and equipment which was the pride of the entire county.
In the April election of 1916, Judge T. H. Briggs was elected mayor. He
had previously served the town four years, from 1910 to 1914, and during
that time his accomplishments included the graveling of the courthouse
square, and beginning a sanitary sewerage system. A contract was made
with the Public Service Company to furnish the city light and power.
Montgomery and several other streets were graveled during Judge Briggs’
second term as mayor. Residential streets were graveled, and the square;
Tyler and Buffalo streets from the square to the Cotton Belt railroad
were paved with brick during R. M. Denman’s administration as mayor. Mr.
Denman was followed in office by L. N. Coe. Probably Mr. Coe’s greatest
accomplishment was in securing natural gas for the town.
Gilmer today is one of the outstanding towns of East Texas. It has
conveniences that many towns larger than it doesn’t have, including city
mail delivery. Gilmer has a number of merchandising establishments,
including four wholesale concerns, that do an extensive business
throughout the country. There are two national banks here with a
combined deposit of over five million dollars. Gilmer has a magnificent
high school, with buses bringing high school pupils in from the
surrounding districts. It has a beautiful grade school and a first class
school for negroes. Gilmer has a public library, a public park, an
active chamber of commerce and two motion picture theaters. There are
four friendly churches here, all cooperating together for the moral and
spiritual growth of the town. There are two cotton gins located here, a
lumber mill, two ice plants, a cottonseed oil mill, a fertilizer plant,
a bakery, and many other industrial enterprises. Gilmer is a clean,
moral town, and is noted for its absence of saloons, honky tonks and
other places of questionable character. The citizens of Gilmer are a big
hearted people, working together in a friendly cooperation, with the one
goal in view—the happiness of its citizens and the development of Gilmer
and Upshur County. With its beautiful paved streets, its modern
residences, its beautiful schools and churches, and above all, its
friendly citizenship, we can’t understand why everybody doesn’t want to
live in Gilmer!