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Bird's
eye view of Iraan
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The name has nothing to do with the country of Iran.
Oil was discovered on the ranch of Ira Yates and a contest was held to name the
town that would soon materialize. Ira's wife was named Ann. The person who combined
the two names won a town lot as a prize. (See
forum below)
Iraan today has two newspapers. But as an Iraanian
told us (in a confidential tone) "It's the same news." We bought both papers.
It was the same news. Different photos though.
Because of its semi-remote location, the school district provides its
teachers with housing.
Iraan is also the birthplace of Alley
Oop, at onetime an extremely popular syndicated comic strip. Creator V.T.
Hamlin was a newspaperman in Iraan when he came up with the idea for a caveman
who looked like he was wearing bellbottoms when he wasn't even wearing pants.
While virtually unknown now, Alley
Oop was nearly as popular as Dick Tracy and Tarzan.
Mr. Oop had a
dinosaur named Dinny and there is a likeness of both Alley Oop and Dinny
at the 7 acre Fantasyland just west of town amid mulberry trees.
Also in the park is the Iraan Archeological Museum.
Iraan Chamber
of Commerce: 915-639-2232
Iraan
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Left
- West Texas wildlife in Iraan's Park
Right - The Better-than-nothing Car
Wash
TE photo |
Iraan
scene with wind turbine blade
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson |
Related Iraan
Stories:Alley
Oop is a Texan? by C. F. Eckhardt
Alley Oop, the cave-man character
created by Victor T. Hamlin in 1932, is a native Texan. The area around present
Iraan, Texas was a gold mine of dinosaur fossils. In the days before salvage archaeology,
the fossils were simply hauled away by the truckload. This gave Hamlin the idea
for a comic strip... more
Victor T. Hamlin &
Alley Oop by C. F. Eckhardt |
Iraan Texas
ForumSubject:
Naming of Iraan, TX
Regarding Iraan, Texas and the
"History in a Pecan Shell": My father, Jo Hardgrave, told my brother and sister,
that his mother named the town of Iraan by submitting the combining of the names
Ira and Ann Yates and that she won a downtown plot of land that she sold for $1,000.00.
According to the first paragrah, this is true. I'm just wondering if you have
record of the name of the person winning the contest. My grandmother's name was
Mary Louise (Lewis) Hardgrave. If you have any information regarding this I would
appreciate it. Thank you, Carol Bennett, San Angelo, TX, October 12, 2006
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