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"You
must remember this ..."
Yogi
Berra might've said "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be,"
but it is "alive and well" and living in
Texas. |
It
might be a place that was only special to one person, or it might've
been the center of the town. Maybe it was your first bowl of chili
on a bus ride through Texas or a favorite uncle who spoke like Ben
Johnson and didn't EVER want to talk about Huntsville. Maybe it was
your unmarried aunt from Abilene who drove to El Paso and married
a stunt man named Earl or that bus stop in Beaumont where that novelist
disappeared.
These people, places, pets, trees, theatres, cafes, ice houses, swimming
holes, playgrounds, class projects, air fields, crime-scenes, beaches
and imprinted-while-wet sidewalks may not qualify for historical markers,
but they're remembered here in TE. - Editor |
Dwight
Young
Originally published in Preservation magazine
National Trust for Historic Preservation:
Right Here
Keene, Texas
"There's something incredibly powerful about being able to
walk into a building and say, "This is where it happened, within
these walls, right here."
That's what a landmark does: It tells you, "Right here."
Perfect
Worlds
Donna Reed and the Granada Theater in Plainview, Texas
"... I distinctly remember more than one afternoon when I thought,
sitting there in the plushly upholstered splendor of the Granada,
“I wish the whole world was like this.” A decade later, Donna Reed
brought that sentiment into our living rooms..."
Sagging
Symbols
"In the midst of the vast, windswept West Texas landscape,
the courthouse was the architectural paperweight that kept the town
from blowing away. ... [It] offered tangible evidence that our town
was here to stay and that the residents were a civilized lot who
knew what a public building ought to look like."
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Harold
Bell
Excerpts from "I Was a Teen in the 1930s and Some More Stuff"
Miss
Bell
Nobody in the world, dead or alive, knew how long Miss Bell taught
the fourth grade in and around Decatur, Texas...
The
Sheriff
"You never know when somebody says something, or does something,
that it may have a big effect on you the rest of your life."
The
Tight-Wire Walker
"She's very daring. They put her wire up to the very tiptop
of the tent thirty-five feet above the ground, and she does exciting
maneuvers without using a net."
My
Date with Mary
Mary was the cause of the most exciting week of my young life.
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Bronco
Stories by Jim James
Wings
Over Notrees Texas by Mike Moore
Remembering
Big Lump by Dan Scott
"All this occurred before my time but I remember my grandfather
telling about how he shot the dog while it was being held by its
owner and had it's head sent to Austin to check for rabies."
I
remember Bartlett by Carolyn Ripper
"I remember taking my shoes off, walking near the tracks, and
feeling the exhilaration and excitement of laying out pennies to
be squished. When we got home, my feet were black, and my cheeks
were bright red from the heat."
Memories
of Uncle Bob and a Wooden Box by Delores Miles
"Really he must have been a most intelligent man for how else
could he have known to give a child joy you must let them have it
a little at a time."
Remembering
Alexander and the "Fattest Kitten" in Erath County
by Duby Joe Moore
Not
Remembering the Monahans Sandhill Rangerettes
Readers mail from Maine
I
Remember a Faded Love by Ken Rudine
"Just looking at a San Antonio map, I want to say it was probably
on Taylor Street, near the intersection with 4th Street – but of
course, I could be wrong. It was called Hips Bubble Room..."
Story
about Coolidge, Texas by Archibald Flint Watkins
An excerpt from the writings of Archibald Flint Watkins. (This unpublished
manuscript was written in 1956, two years before his death.)
Lela,
Texas by D. Caywood
"I am 78 years old and lived in Lela for a relative short time
in 1932 or 33. My father was an Agent for the CRI&P RR and was Agent
at Dodge City, KS before going to Lela...."
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Life
in Clara
Written by my uncle, Ray Johnston, and my aunt, Edith Johnston-Hall.
They grew up in Clara, Texas and are the only two remaining family
members.
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Richard
Gaertner's Story by Murray Montgomery
Every town needs a storyteller and Moulton is fortunate to have
a mighty good one in a feisty fellow named Richard Gaertner.
Bend,
Texas by Harland
Moore
San Saba County Chronicles
"In this account of the history of Bend, Texas, it may sound
like that my ancestors invented the earth, inhabited it, created
Bend, Texas, and hung the moon..."
Bethel
Community by Shirley Thompson Mohler
Romance at the mailboxes, smuggled books and why pregnant women
couldn't teach.
"The
town we are approaching was Perico."
No longer on the map, it resides now in the heart of one Amarillian.
From an Interview with former resident Hugh Hamilton.
A
Gonzales County Rite of Passage by Dawson Minear
I never realized until I became old how much fun I had as a youth...
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The
Thirties in Texas »
There was some truth to the story of people in Texas not being aware
of a depression - let alone a "Great" Depression. For most Texans
there was little change in their standard of living. |
The Toyah
Women's PTA Baseball Team from the 1930s.
Photo courtesy Jesse L. Moore, Jr |
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Texas
Forum - Small nuggets from Texans' inexhaustible mother-lode
of collective memory.
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