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B.R. Barfield

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They used to call her “The Duchess.” At only 5’2” tall, Melissa Dora Callaway Oliver-Eakle was an unsuspecting woman with a prominent name. She carried a pearl handled revolver after a kidnapping attempt, and whenever she was asked whether or not she worried about another, she promptly responded, “I’d like to see them try.”

Mrs. M.D. Oliver-Eakle was Bourdon Rea Barfield’s grandmother and one of the leading businesswomen in Amarillo at the onset of the city. As a descendent of two prominent 17th-century Southern families, Melissa was born in Alabama and grew up in Georgia, where the Callaway name remains well-known. She graduated from the Georgia Female College in 1879 and married industrialist Capt. William Oliver five years later. They owned stock in the largest textile mills in the South, and after Capt. Oliver died in 1889, Melissa accepted an invitation from her brothers, John and James, to visit them in the new Texas Panhandle town. By 1895, she moved to Amarillo permanently.

“She was very astute. She rode side-saddle with an English Derby and was very well respected,” says B.R. Barfield. “They always said there wasn’t a horse she couldn’t break.”

When Melissa arrived in Amarillo, she made a grand entrance with her horses, carriage and household help. Within a few years, she met and married her second husband, Oscar McIntosh (O.M.) Eakle, an early organizer of Amarillo National Bank, and gave birth to her only child on October 26, 1903, daughter Oliver Rea Eakle, B.R.’s mother.

“She was such a proud woman, and at 38 years old, she didn’t want anyone to see her pregnant,” he begins. “So she and her nursemaid went to California in the last few months of her pregnancy to give birth. My mom was probably a month old when they came back to Amarillo.”

Even though Melissa remarried, she continued to be an independent and feisty entrepreneur, characteristics that were rare in early 1900s women. In 1927, at 63 years old, she built “Amarillo’s First Skyscraper” and named it the Oliver-Eakle building, later renamed the Barfield building when B.R.’s mother acquired it.

“For the opening, she invited the public and had food and an orchestra. My grandmother was one of those visionaries,” he recalls. “It was such a special building. All of the marble was poured in Italy and she had two of what were considered to be the highest-speed elevators in the country. They were done in mahogany and the chair armrests were bronze and silver. It was so beautiful.”

Melissa was one of the largest single property owners on Polk Street, investing her money from the 400 to 700 blocks for the construction of a thriving downtown. They owned land from 15th to 34th and Pierce to Washington for the construction of the Oliver-Eakle Addition. She also donated a large block of land on 28th and Polk Streets to the city, which became the Oliver-Eakle Park. The land was originally given to her by her brothers.

“She loaned them $10,000 in 1892, but they were in the cattle business and the market fell out and they couldn’t pay her back,” says B.R. “Instead of paying her money, they gave her that piece of land. My mom said she just cried over it because she didn’t think it was worth the money she loaned them, so she ended up just giving to the city.”

Aside from real estate, she and her husband helped establish the first library and opera house in Amarillo, and subsequently passed down that philanthropic and entrepreneurial spirit to her daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons. Oliver Rea Eakle, B.R’s mother, wasn’t necessarily business-driven, but because she’d inherited so much land, and her husband Bourdon had an interest, the two continued the family way of building the city of Amarillo.

“They had the wedding of the century. It was called the Social Event of the Year, when my parents married,” says B.R. “My mother’s wedding dress was made in Paris and her shoes were white satin with a rhinestone buckle. I gave the Panhandle Plains Museum a lot of my family’s things, including that dress. I’ve given them a lot of their turn-of-the-century furniture pieces so they could be preserved.”

B.R. and his brother, Oliver, inherited much of what used to be his mother’s and grandmother’s real estate. B.R. went on to graduate from the University of Texas with a degree in Business Administration and married his wife, Carolyn, in 1951. The two honeymooned in Havana, spending the first night in the Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Ernest Hemingway wrote the first chapter of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The family home was built near the corner of 16th and Tyler, where B.R. grew up. He remembers the days when his parents held grand parties and events throughout the year. (He later used it as a personal office and eventually donated the building to his church.) As the family grew, the Barfield name became synonymous with Oliver-Eakle, and the efforts of B.R.’s grandmother to build a livelihood through the construction of a city helped inspire him.

His mother sold the Barfield building in the early 1990s, when Amarillo was on the cusp of an economic downturn. The people who bought the building stripped it of its ornaments and décor, salvaging every last piece of Melissa’s skyscraper for money.

“It made me sick to my stomach to see it stripped,” remembers B.R. “It was such a distinctive, handsome building, like a memorial to my grandmother. But I think downtown will come back. I think it will turn around.”

Another area where the Oliver-Eakle name lingers is in Llano Cemetery. Melissa purchased a private room in the Mausoleum to help get the cemetery growing. The bronze gate bears her name across the top, and it’s in that room where she, along with her husband, is buried.

“My parents and my son, John, are buried in Llano, too, in a separate area on the grounds. I think we still have 27 or 28 plots there,” he laughs. “My grandparents were great supporters of Llano, and I served on the board for a period of time. It’s such a special place for Amarillo. We used to drive over there on Sundays to visit the family graves. It was the respectful thing to do, an accepted ritual. But I guess times change, and we don’t go as often now.”

The Barfields spent the bulk of their lives balancing work and play, between investing in the growth of Amarillo and traveling the world. While favorite destination spots include London and Paris, B.R. maintains that Amarillo is where he wants to stay.

“The older you get, the more satisfied you are at home,” he says. “Besides, I stay here because my roots are too deep. I still own property here, and with all my family buried at Llano, I just couldn’t leave.”

Next: Llano Cemetery

by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.

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