World War I Peace Monument

Water Valley was founded by two men known as Phelin and Glynn, who dammed the North Concho and dug an irrigation ditch, and was settled largely by English immigrants, the Handbook of Texas says. Its post office went by Yandell, Argenta or Stella and then Rethaville, Mayes Store or Mayesville before S. S. McCrary and J. O. Hanson renamed it Water Valley in 1889. Capt. William Turner's stone house served as a rest home for soldiers during World War II. In 2000 the town reported 120 residents and nine businesses.

What the plaque says

At the close of "The Great War," the citizens of Water Valley wanted to honor those of their community who had served overseas. They were inspired by a small family monument erected on the eastern ridge of Mount McLaughlin in 1902. On Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, at least ten men and a burro named "Come On" climbed the 2,410-foot rise of Mount McLaughlin two miles south of this site. They built five tiers of native fieldstone on the western end of the peak. Designed by local mason Harry Howard, the monument stands twenty-two feet high and measures eight feet wide at its base. It bears the names of the Water Valley men who served in World War I: Herschel Ditmore, John Gillespie, Webb Gillespie, Earl Hanson, Chester Harden, Mark Harden, Ollie McCrary, John Runnels, Boone Rainey, Ulysis Rainey, J. H. Ruth, and Mark Trotter. Important facts about the war also are listed. The builders of this monument were Frank Demere, George Demere, Houston Ditmore, Harve Earnest, Will Garner, Pablo Garza, Harry Howard, S. L. Tate, Stanley Turner, and R. R. Wade. The monument continues to honor the heroes of Water Valley. Four of the veterans and five of the builders are interred in the Water Valley Cemetery. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Angelo State Park — 18 mi
  A 7,677-acre park around O.C. Fisher Reservoir on the edge of San Angelo, where four Texas landscapes meet and the state's official longhorn herd grazes beside a bison paddock.
• Concho River Walk — 22 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.
• Miss Hattie's Bordello Museum — 22 mi
  The upstairs rooms on Concho Avenue where a brothel ran from 1902 until the Texas Rangers closed it in 1952, shown on short guided tours with most of the furnishings original.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 22 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.

More markers nearby

• Anti-Tuberculosis Colony No. 1 (McKnight State Tuberculosis Hospital) — 5.4 mi
• Sheep and Goat Industry in Texas — 14 mi
• Arden Community — 16 mi
• Sterling County — 20 mi