Stillwater Farm
Stillwater Farm in the name given to our family land that is a mile north of where the old community of “Stillwater” is. This community existed before the railroad put train tracks through Mr. Chandler’s land giving rise to the community of Chandler, Texas. The farm is in the area of the section of Fitzgerald farmland where our maternal grandmother—Sophia Alice Fitzgerald Cade was born and reared. Continuous property to the home place was purchased and the old pear grove planted by Erasmus Cade, for his wife Alice. It was contiguous to her Fitzgerald birthplace. Erasmus wanted to make sure his beloved wife Alice could have land close to her home place that her brothers, Jim and Taylor came to own and farm. In addition to the 100-year old pear trees, Stillwater Farm features, pecan, peach, and fig trees. Approximately 10 acres of irrigated row crop vegetables are also grown—Noonday sweet onions, watermelons, tomatoes, peas, squash, okra, peppers, sugar cane, etc.
Market Store
The Stillwater Farm Market Store is located in Chandler, Texas on W. Main Street, in a strip of shops called Old Main Street Station. Old Main Street was a thriving agrarian market area paralleling the railroad at the turn of the 20th Century.
In 2014 the Old Main Street Station started coming to be with Old Main Street Ice, Old Main Street Market Pavilion. In the 1950’s, Uncle Jim Fitzgerald built a barn out of the lumber of the old tomato sheds. The barn was torn down in 2013 and the lumber was harvested and stored. The pavilion features lumber that was taken from the old tomato sheds that stood on the property 100 years prior. Old Main Street Shops opened in November of 2016 and Stillwater Farm Market Store was an initial tenant. The store mimics Grandpa Ellis’ old grocery and mercantile store and the Copeland’s Chandler Drug Store and soda fountain.
Mission
Bringing carefully grown, farm-fresh goodness to kitchen tables.
Values and Vision
Growing a farm-to-market, market-to-table operation serving a customer base with healthy,
wholesome food products for personal and family enjoyment and beautiful gifts for giving to family
and friends.
Vibrant Communities--Chandler, Brownsboro and Lake Palestine citizens are our homefolks
Friendly Relationships—Customers and out-of-town guests, are treated like “family”
Carefully-Grown Produce—Farm raised produce from our farm and by trusted growers
Farm-Fresh Flowers—Floral arrangements and plants for personal enjoyment and sharing with others
Delightful Gifts—Tins of pecans, jellies, salsas, cutting boards, soaps, more than fit for giving
Homemade Food—“Homemade” best describes our daily lunches and sweet ice cream Market Store (Specialty Shops)
Market Sweet Creamery—homemade sweet ice cream products
Market Floral Designs—custom made flower arrangements and plants
Market Country Café—daily, delicious homemade lunches
History
The earliest inhabitants of the area around Chandler were Delaware, Cherokee and Kickapoo Indians. These Native Americans were led by Chief Bowles and were defeated at Battle Creek in 1839. The battleground is located north of the Chandler city limits.
The first record of a white family in the Chandler area is that of Alphonso H. Chandler and his wife, Mary A. Brooks and their seven children. They came to the area in 1859 and settled about one mile north of the present day downtown Chandler. They lived on the road leading from Athens to Tyler. He named the place Stillwater. In 1872, he began the operation of a general store at his farm home in Stillwater.
In the year 1880, the Cotton Belt Railroad was being built through the area. Mr. Chandler was very interested in having this railroad go through his property and so he made the Texas & St. Louis Railroad a gift of the land to establish a depot permanently on the property. The railroad station was born. The railroad company named the depot Chandler Station and it later became the town—Chandler. Land was also donated for schools, churches and a cemetery. The railroad brought new businesses, and the town quickly grew with commerce focused on the railroad tracks that paralleled Main Street.
Mr. Chandler built a two-story brick building across the road from the depot at the corner of Broad and Main Street. He made his home on the second floor and the first floor was used as retail. The building burned in the 1920s. Mr. Chandler owned all the lots on the north side of the railroad and he divided it up into town lots. He named the streets and started selling and building a town. Along the tracks on the south side of Main Street along the railroad tracks were two cotton gins and three tomato packing sheds. This was a place of purchasing, packing and produce shipping to the wider world. Today the Old Main Street Station features old lumber that was harvested from one of the tomato packing sheds that stood on the very property where now the boards again reside.
Today, the sons and daughters of these hardworking
ladies of Chandler frequent the Stillwater Market
Store as customers and help us tell “the story.”