Everett Ewing Townsend

Everett Ewing Townsend was born October 20, 1871 in Colorado County, Texas and died November 19, 1948 in Brewster County, Texas.

He enlisted in the Texas Rangers in 1891 and spent three years along the Texas-Mexican border, before becoming a deputy United States Marshal from 1893-1894, serving under R.C. “Dick” Ware, the man who had killed Sam Bass.

In May of 1894, Townsend was appointed as a United States Customs Mounted Inspector and sent to Presidio, Texas, where he remained until 1898 before serving with the Texas Rangers two more years. Townsend married Alice Jones in Valentine, Texas on November 1, 1895.

Townsend began a career as a ranch manager in 1900 and invested in his own 12,000 acre ranch near Alpine, Texas in 1916. He promised to the community that he would do his best to enforce the laws and was elected Sheriff of Brewster County on November 11, 1918. In the span of his years as Sheriff, Townsend was reelected three terms and served until 1924. During an investigation at the motion picture theater on November 1, 1920, Sheriff Townsend shot Hatley W. Van Sickle, the theater manager and the son of prominent Brewster County Judge Wigfall Van Sickle. In the Summer of 1921, Sheriff Townsend was also tasked with keeping the chickens off the Court House grounds.

After retiring from law enforcement, Townsend focused on private business and local community matters, and in 1932 he was elected as a Representative to the Texas Legislature. Some of the bills he introduced provided for the transfer of all unsold public school land south of Latitude 29 degrees and 25 minutes to the State to be used for park purposes. By October 17, 1933, the bill had been approved by both houses and Governor Ferguson, thus creating Big Bend State Park. Townsend spent the next ten years to incorporate the Big Bend State Park into the National Park system and was successful on September 5, 1943, making Big Bend State Park the 27th addition to the United States National Park Service.

Townsend continued to invest and promote the Big Bend area and Big Bend National Park until his passing in 1948.

Everett Ewing Townsend photo courtesy of Carl C. Williams collection