Dr. George A.
Cutler

George
was the youngest son of Major
Jervis Cutler, an early pioneer of
Ohio. He was born in
Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas
day 1832. He studied
medicine at the University Medical
College in New York City
graduating in 1853.
Upon
graduation, Dr. Cutler moved to
Missouri and set up his first
medical practice before
moving to Kansas Territory in
1854, where he was active in the
political arena of the area.
During the early part of
Lincoln's administration, Dr.
Cutler was appointed United States
Indian Agent for the Creeks, doing
much to alleviate their wants and
placing them in comfortable
circumstances.
Upon
resignation from the Indian
services in 1864, Dr. Cutler moved
to Texas, settling in Sherman.
When the M.K. & T.
Railroad approached Texas, Dr.
Cutler was induced to f ound a
newspaper for the new town that
the Railroad Company
intended on building on the Red
River; Dr. Cutler agreed and
published his Red River Journal
from a tent in the woods.
Unusual for the times, Dr.
Cutler printed his first issue of
the Red River Journal
with red headlines, which was the
talk of paper across the country.
Starting at zero population,
the town [Denison] grew to 3,000
inhabitants in the first 100 days.
It is said that as soon as
the railroad crossed the Red
River, a stream of settlers began
arriving.
Before
Denison was established a tent
city of sorts sprang up near Red
River at a site that has never
been definitely established.
Some of the many stories
about Red River City possibly are
true and others probably are not.
The tent city is believed to
have been east of the railroad
tracks and near the south banks of
Red River.
The
frontier village was so temporary
that five years after its
founding, nothing was left but one
log cabin. When Denison's
location was announced, Cutler
picked up his operation and moved
to the new town and began
publishing the Denison Journal,
jointly with Floyd
Perry Baker. When the
lots went on sale in Denison, the
inhabitants of Red River City saw
the handwriting on the wall and
realized the boom would be in
Denison. So, they began
moving en masse to the new town.
The move was a simple step
for most, who only had to take
down their tents and pitch them a
little farther south. Others
only had to roll up their bedrolls
and move.
Seeing
what Dr. Cutler had done in
Grayson County, a committee
approached him, offering him
$2,500 to publish a paper in
Dallas. He founded the
Dallas Daily Commercial, which
became one of the leading dailies
in the State. His reputation
was one of the leading journalists
of Texas as well as being one of
the organizers of the Texas Press
Association.
Dallas Weekly Herald
March 27,
1875
pg. 3
Denison
Daily News
March 15, 1879
pg. 4

In 1881
Dr. Cutler returned to Kansas,
setting up a drug store and medicine
practice near Arkansas City.
Doctors moved to the small
town to treat patients with the
curative waters from the springs.
Dr. Cutler's stay in the area
was only 6 years, after which he
left for California to help
establish a colony in 1888. From
1890 through 1900, Dr. Cutler lived
in Los Angeles and entered into the
drug business. From 1900 until
his death in 1903, Dr. Cutler lived
and continued his drug business in
San Francisco.
The San Francisco Call
March 23,
1903
pg. 9
Dr.
Cutler is buried in Olivet Cemetery,
Colma, California.
Dallas
Public Library holdings
DALLAS |
Dallas Daily Commercial
|
February 4 - August 31, 1874 |
DENISON |
Denison
Daily Cressett |
April 1, 1875 - December 1877 |
DENISON |
Denison
Sunday Gazetteer |
April 29, 1883 - April 15,
1900 |
Sources
William
G. Cutler's History of the State
of Kansas; Shawnee
County, Part 20
George A.
Cutler
Donna
Hunt. "Katy Gives
City of Denison a Jump Start," Herald Democrat, December 27,
2009

Biography Index
Susan
Hawkins
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2025
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