Editing Stamford, Texas (section)

==History==
While the town was named by Henry King McHarg for Stamford, Connecticut, the townsite was donated by the family of [[Swante M. Swenson|Swante Magnus Swenson]]. Mr. Swenson was the first [[Swedes|Swedish]] immigrant to Texas. He became one of the largest landowners in Texas, and by 1860, his holdings in West Texas approached {{convert|500000|acre|0}}. These ranches, which spread across 12 Texas counties, became known as the [[SMS ranches|SMS Ranches]]. Later reorganized as the Swenson Land and Cattle Company, it is headquartered in Stamford to this day.<ref name="SMS RANCHES, The Handbook of Texas Online">{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/aps01 |title=SMS RANCHES, The Handbook of Texas Online|access-date=October 11, 2013}}</ref> Mr. Swenson had two sons, Eric Pierson and Swen Albin, who became known as the Swenson brothers. They ran SMS Ranches, and even developed a [[Morab]] horse-breeding program near the city.

Swante M. Swenson is largely responsible for initiating and supporting Swedish immigration to Texas, starting in 1847. Mr. Swenson assisted Swedish immigrants with the cost of their passage from [[Sweden]] to Texas in exchange for their labor. In 1899, the Swenson brothers persuaded Henry McHarg, president of the Texas Central Railroad, to extend the railroad through their land. The brothers then founded Stamford in 1900 and provided the townsite of {{convert|640|acre|0}}. The town and surrounding area were then partially settled by immigrants from Sweden. Many of the cotton farmers who moved to the area bought tracts of land from the Swenson brothers.<ref name="SMS RANCHES, The Handbook of Texas Online"/><ref name="Cattle Ranch, Stamford, TX">{{cite web |url=http://www.swensonranch.com/ranch-history.html |title=Cattle Ranch, Stamford, TX |access-date=October 11, 2013}}</ref><ref name="SWEDES">{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pts01 |title=SWEDES, The Handbook of Texas Online|access-date=October 11, 2013}}</ref> Stamford's [[main street]] is named Swenson.

In 1900, the railroad arrived in Stamford, when the independent Texas Central Railway completed its {{convert|38|mi|adj=on}} line from [[Albany, Texas|Albany]] to the town. In 1906–7, the Texas Central built another line, connecting Stamford with [[Rotan, Texas|Rotan]].<ref name="BECK">{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqt11|title=Texas Central Railroad |last=Beck Young |first=Nancy |date=June 15, 2010 |website=tshaonline.org |language=en |access-date=November 29, 2017}}</ref> By 1908, Stamford was connected to points north and east, through a line of the Wichita Valley Railroad running south from [[Seymour, Texas|Seymour]] and commissioned expressly for this purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqw16 |title=Wichita Valley Railroad |last=Werner |first=George C. |date=June 15, 2010 |website=tshaonline.org |language=en |access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref>

Stamford College was founded as Stamford Collegiate Institute in September 1907 by the Northwest Texas Methodist Conference. Drought and World War I caused declining enrollments, and the college was closed in 1918 after a fire. The president of Stamford College went on to found [[McMurry University]] in Abilene.<ref name="STAMFORD COLLEGE">{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbs52 |title=Stamford College |work=Handbook of Texas Online |access-date=October 11, 2013}}</ref>

In 1930, the Swensons were largely responsible for the founding of the annual Texas Cowboy Reunion.<ref name="SMS RANCHES, The Handbook of Texas Online"/>

The city's general-aviation airport, [[Arledge Field]], began operation in April 1941 as an [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] training center during World War II.

For the city's first half century, order was kept by police chief George G. Flournoy. A small, crippled, cigar-chewing man, Flournoy began each day's work with target shooting at a stump outside city hall.<ref name="STAMFORD, TX, The Handbook of Texas Online"/>

In 1967, the rail line which connected Stamford to Albany and [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] was abandoned by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, which had leased the Texas Central since 1914. Though the line from Stamford to Rotan was reacquired by the Texas Central Railway, it was sold three years later to the Fort Worth & Denver Railway Company, and subsequently abandoned.<ref name="BECK"/>