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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name= Richard Mortimer Chitwood |image=Richard Chitwood of TX.jpg |caption=Chitwood legislative portrait |office=Texas State Representative<br> for..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= Richard Mortimer Chitwood
|image=Richard Chitwood of TX.jpg
|caption=Chitwood legislative portrait
|office=[[Texas]] State Representative<br> for District 121 (Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties)
|term_start=January 11, 1921
|term_end=January 9, 1923
|preceded=John J. Ford
|succeeded=Sam A. Bryant
|office2=Texas State Representative<br> for District 17 (Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties)
|term_start2=January 9, 1923
|term_end2=August 20, 1925
|preceded2=Walter F. Jones
|succeeded2=J. C. Hall
|birth_date=February 9, 1878
|birth_place=City missing, [[Alabama]], USA
|residence=Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas<br>
[[Lubbock]], Texas (1925-1926)
|death_date=November 21, 1926 (aged 48)
|death_place=[[Dallas]], Texas
|resting_place=Sweetwater Cemetery
|spouse=
|children=
'''Parents''':<br>
William Parker and Laura Lyon Chitwood
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|religion=
|occupation=
|alma_mater=Morgan Park Academy<br> ([[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]))
'''Richard Mortimer Chitwood''' (February 9, 1878 – November 21, 1926)<ref>Chitwood's [[death certificate]] lists the date of death as February 9; the Texas Legislative Reference Library has the date as February 1, 1878.</ref> was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state representative from Sweetwater, [[Texas]], who represented District 117, which encompassed Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties in the western part of his state. In his first House term from 1921 to 1923, he represented the same counties as District 121.<ref name=lrl>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=2302&searchparams=chamber=~city=~countyID=0~RcountyID=~district=~first=~gender=~last=Chitwood~leaderNote=~leg=~party=~roleDesc=~Committee=
|title=Richard M. Chitwood|publisher=Texas Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=December 30, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
A native of [[Alabama]], Chitwood was a son of William Parker Chitwood and the former Laura Lyon. He was educated at Morgan Park Academy in the Morgan Park section of [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref name=lrl/>
In 1923, Chitwood, as a second term member of the legislature, was the chairman of the House Education Committee. That year state Senator [[William H. Bledsoe]] of [[Lubbock]] and Representative [[Roy Alvin Baldwin]] of Slaton in south Lubbock County pushed to passage Senate Bill 103, with a $1 million appropriation, to establish a four-year educational institution in West Texas with an emphasis on agricultural research. The school would be separate from [[Texas A&M University]] in [[College Station, Texas|College Station]], which had a similar mission and whose leadership opposed the new institution. Bledsoe confessed to having drawn up the requirements for the host city to fit only Lubbock, which was selected over thirty-six other locations, including Chitwood's Sweetwater in Nolan County, [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]] (before the existence of Angelo State University), [[Midland]], Plainview in Hale County, Brownwood in Lampasas County, Big Spring, and even Boerne, in Kendall County northwest of [[San Antonio]]. Vernon in Wilbarger County west of [[Wichita Falls]] claimed it should be selected because of its railroad access; at the time Vernon had more than one thousand more people than Lubbock.<ref name=wtha/>
Though the site selection committee traveled to all the communities seeking to become the location of the new college, but the fix was in from the start. To win the competition, Lubbock was allowed to amend its initial application to account for eighty more acres so that it could meet the two thousand acres required in the legislation for the chosen location. In time, Texas Tech, originally Texas Technological College, helped to make Lubbock the largest city of West Texas, excluding [[El Paso]] in the far southwestern corner of the state. Chitwood thought Sweetwater far better suited for the new institution as the "central" location of West Texas. When Lubbock was chosen, Chitwood was given a [[patronage]] consolation as business manager of the new institution.<ref name=wtha>Zach Dowdle, "In the Land of Sandstorms and Sand: Locating Texas Technological College in 1923:, ''West Texas Historical Review,'' Vol. LXL (2014), pp. 75-102.</ref>
Chitwood died of angina pectoris at the age of forty-eight at the Baker Hotel in [[Dallas]], after just fifteen months as the Texas Tech business manager. He is interred in Sweetwater Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Chitwood&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=46&GScnty=2696&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15513681&df=all&|title=Richard Mortimer Chitwood|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=July 31, 2015}}</ref> ''The Daily Toreador,'' the Texas Tech newspaper, wrote upon Chitwood's passing that there was one "no more truly big hearted" than the former college business manager. ''The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' referred to Chitwood's death in its edition of November 23, 1926, as "A Loss to Texas and to Tech College."<ref name=lrl/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitwood, Richard}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Alabama]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
|name= Richard Mortimer Chitwood
|image=Richard Chitwood of TX.jpg
|caption=Chitwood legislative portrait
|office=[[Texas]] State Representative<br> for District 121 (Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties)
|term_start=January 11, 1921
|term_end=January 9, 1923
|preceded=John J. Ford
|succeeded=Sam A. Bryant
|office2=Texas State Representative<br> for District 17 (Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties)
|term_start2=January 9, 1923
|term_end2=August 20, 1925
|preceded2=Walter F. Jones
|succeeded2=J. C. Hall
|birth_date=February 9, 1878
|birth_place=City missing, [[Alabama]], USA
|residence=Sweetwater, Nolan County, Texas<br>
[[Lubbock]], Texas (1925-1926)
|death_date=November 21, 1926 (aged 48)
|death_place=[[Dallas]], Texas
|resting_place=Sweetwater Cemetery
|spouse=
|children=
'''Parents''':<br>
William Parker and Laura Lyon Chitwood
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
|religion=
|occupation=
|alma_mater=Morgan Park Academy<br> ([[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]))
'''Richard Mortimer Chitwood''' (February 9, 1878 – November 21, 1926)<ref>Chitwood's [[death certificate]] lists the date of death as February 9; the Texas Legislative Reference Library has the date as February 1, 1878.</ref> was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state representative from Sweetwater, [[Texas]], who represented District 117, which encompassed Fisher, Mitchell, and Nolan counties in the western part of his state. In his first House term from 1921 to 1923, he represented the same counties as District 121.<ref name=lrl>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=2302&searchparams=chamber=~city=~countyID=0~RcountyID=~district=~first=~gender=~last=Chitwood~leaderNote=~leg=~party=~roleDesc=~Committee=
|title=Richard M. Chitwood|publisher=Texas Legislative Reference Library|accessdate=December 30, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
A native of [[Alabama]], Chitwood was a son of William Parker Chitwood and the former Laura Lyon. He was educated at Morgan Park Academy in the Morgan Park section of [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref name=lrl/>
In 1923, Chitwood, as a second term member of the legislature, was the chairman of the House Education Committee. That year state Senator [[William H. Bledsoe]] of [[Lubbock]] and Representative [[Roy Alvin Baldwin]] of Slaton in south Lubbock County pushed to passage Senate Bill 103, with a $1 million appropriation, to establish a four-year educational institution in West Texas with an emphasis on agricultural research. The school would be separate from [[Texas A&M University]] in [[College Station, Texas|College Station]], which had a similar mission and whose leadership opposed the new institution. Bledsoe confessed to having drawn up the requirements for the host city to fit only Lubbock, which was selected over thirty-six other locations, including Chitwood's Sweetwater in Nolan County, [[San Angelo, Texas|San Angelo]] (before the existence of Angelo State University), [[Midland]], Plainview in Hale County, Brownwood in Lampasas County, Big Spring, and even Boerne, in Kendall County northwest of [[San Antonio]]. Vernon in Wilbarger County west of [[Wichita Falls]] claimed it should be selected because of its railroad access; at the time Vernon had more than one thousand more people than Lubbock.<ref name=wtha/>
Though the site selection committee traveled to all the communities seeking to become the location of the new college, but the fix was in from the start. To win the competition, Lubbock was allowed to amend its initial application to account for eighty more acres so that it could meet the two thousand acres required in the legislation for the chosen location. In time, Texas Tech, originally Texas Technological College, helped to make Lubbock the largest city of West Texas, excluding [[El Paso]] in the far southwestern corner of the state. Chitwood thought Sweetwater far better suited for the new institution as the "central" location of West Texas. When Lubbock was chosen, Chitwood was given a [[patronage]] consolation as business manager of the new institution.<ref name=wtha>Zach Dowdle, "In the Land of Sandstorms and Sand: Locating Texas Technological College in 1923:, ''West Texas Historical Review,'' Vol. LXL (2014), pp. 75-102.</ref>
Chitwood died of angina pectoris at the age of forty-eight at the Baker Hotel in [[Dallas]], after just fifteen months as the Texas Tech business manager. He is interred in Sweetwater Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Chitwood&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=46&GScnty=2696&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=15513681&df=all&|title=Richard Mortimer Chitwood|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=July 31, 2015}}</ref> ''The Daily Toreador,'' the Texas Tech newspaper, wrote upon Chitwood's passing that there was one "no more truly big hearted" than the former college business manager. ''The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'' referred to Chitwood's death in its edition of November 23, 1926, as "A Loss to Texas and to Tech College."<ref name=lrl/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitwood, Richard}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Alabama]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Democrats]]