Interesting Ads from Don Pyeatt, Part 1

Advertisements are a fascinating way of finding out what life was like in any given period. The further back you go in time, the more interesting they become. Besides helping fill in historical gaps, they also frequently prove the old adage that they more things change, the more they stay the same. These, provided by Don Pyeatt, originally appeared in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

First up is this ad for American Dye & Cleaning, located at 806 Throckmorton in 1920. The focus of the ad are the delivery vehicles and their drivers. Note that they are dressed in the typical style of gentlemen of that time; suits, vests, ties and hats. As for the delivery trucks, there's no way to positively identify them, but considering the vintage, they are most likely Ford vehicles.

For those of you who think that flour has always been produced at some distant location and then shipped into stores, I have a surprise for you. Before interstate commerce took over, flour...and most other food products...were produced locally. A prime example of this can be seen in an ad for Bewley's Best Flour. Take a look at the sack in the ad and you'll see that it clearly says Bewley Mills, Ft. Worth, Texas. Underneath in small letters is reg. u.s. pat. off.

Bewley Mills also sponsored a western singing group called the Chuck Wagon Gang on WBAP radio. According to a posting on the Fort Worth Forum, which can be found on the Fort Worth Architecture website, the Bewley Mills Chuck Wagon Gang went on location, serving biscuits made with Bewley Mills Flour, while the Carter Family became the Chuck Wagon Gang on radio. Incidentally, this Carter Family was no relation to the famous Carter Family.

Between the 1920 ad and the fact that Bewley Mills was still operating on the east side of downtown in 1963, you have a company with at least a 50 year presence in Ft. Worth and probably most residents never heard of them. Kind of an out of sight out of mind situation. But it does make you wonder just how many thousands of loaves of Mrs. Baird's Bread were made with Bewley Mills flour.

By 1920, the U.S. was getting cranked up for the decade (which actually lasted 13 years from 1919 - 1932) that would be known as The Roaring Twenties. Women bobbed their hair, Flappers were all the rage, bathtub gin was in as was any other form of bootleg booze, rumrunning, gangsters and dancing. Everyone wanted to learn the latest dance and, as a result, dance studios were just as popular as you would imagine.

How many dance studios or dance halls were in Ft. Worth during that time period is anyone's guess, but an example of what you could find is seen in this ad from 1920. Located at 310 1/2 Commerce, this establishment apparently targeted the more well to do members of society. Remember, at that point in time, there was still a considerable emphasis on proper behaviour and appearance. At least in public. Incidentally, when an address had 1/2 after it, that was an indication that it was usually upstairs.

You'll notice on the ad that lessons were given by Professor O.B. Rucker. Whether or not he was actually a Professor, the title definitely added a touch of class and respectability to the business. One other item of interest is the phone number: Rosedale 3246. Rosedale today is a major street, but then it was a telephone exchange.

More Mystery Photos from Don Pyeatt, Part 4

Still working on the same batch of photos that came out of an Estate sale in Ft. Worth, neither one of us has a clue about either of these photos. The first one in this post shows three people posing against either a Connestoga or freight wagon. If you look between the people and under the wagon, a section of lattice can be seen, which implies...but doesn't prove...that the wagon is sitting in the yard of a house.


This photo raises even more questions. We have the same three people posing for their picture. But this time one man is sitting in the seat of a sleigh that is built entirely (except for metal bracing rods) from wood, including the runners. It also appears that it had not moved for some time due to the weeds that have grown up around the runners.

Where the photo was taken is anyone's guess and we still have the lack of identity for the people. Note that the lady is carrying a tooled leather purse.

Time period for either photo is unknown, but since it came out of the same batch of Estate photos, it's reasonable to postulate a time frame of 1925 - 1945.

More Mystery Photos from Don Pyeatt, Part 3

Yeah, I know. It's been over a year since I've added anything to this blog, but things happen. Marriage for one and a total computer meltdown that has consumed the last four or five months.

Here's a couple of more photos that Don picked up at a garage sale. As with the others I've posted, absolutely nothing is known about them beyond what can be determined...or guesstimated...by analyzing the pics themselves.

In my last post, I mentioned that you could see a grocery display and the A&P name across the street from the Dodge Brothers automobile that was parked at the curb with four kids standing by it. Here's a very grainy, pixelated cropped enlargement that there was, indeed, an A&P grocery in the photograph. Now for the interesting question: Where was it located? It almost certainly had to be in downtown Ft. Worth...or did it. If anyone can offer enlightenment, it would be greatly appreciated. Right now all we have is mysteries on top of mysteries. And I'm about to add another one.

Take a look at this shot...and then check out the one from the last post. The one with four kids standing beside a Dodge Brothers car. This car has the same winged radiator cap as the other, along with an identical external sunshade. That in itself doesn't prove a lot, though it certainly suggests that they're one and the same. And the 1928 Texas license plate definitely places both vehicles in the late 1927, early 1928 time period. Whatever year it is, the full foliage on the tree puts the photo somewhere between April and October, most likely 1928.

But the thing that really gets your attention and tends to tie the two photos together is the boy leaning against the car. If you look closely at the two shots, the shoes are identical as are the socks (although the socks on the boy in this shot aren't pulled up as neatly). Moving upward, the shorts are the same but more interestingly is the belt. Not only does it look like the same belt, but the buckle hangs down in a similar way on both boys.

Both wear a long-sleeved white shirt with the left sleeve unbuttoned and hanging in an identical manner. Facial shape is identical and the hair is disheveled though not identical in appearance.
Finally, both boys are standing in almost exactly the same pose. The only difference is that one is standing on a sidewalk while the other gets to use the car for support.

Do the two photos show the same boy? Can't tell you for sure unless someone can identify him. But the odds are at least 9 in 10 that it is. But that leaves us with many questions as far as this photo is concerned: Who is he? Where was the photo taken? What time of year? As far as that goes, what year? It would also be helpful to positively identify the make and model of the car.

Start dealing with historical photos that have no identification on them and the questions mount up in a hurry. And if you think we're done with photos and questions, guess again. There are still more photos that Don sent my way, along with my own memories and photos. Believe me, the questions will continue. Maybe, with luck, I'll also have some answers to share with you.

In the meantime, if any of you have memories, photos, advertisements or any other kind of memorabilia that is part of Ft. Worth history, I'm appreciate it if you would email me at tennexican@mindspring.com I'll be happy to copy anything you have and share it with readers of this blog. And, of course, appropriate will always be given.

Mystery Photos, courtesy of Don Pyeatt, Part 2

This photograph is fascinating for both the questions it raises and a possible connection with the photo you saw in my previous post. The four children in the photo appear to be the same four children seen in the first photo, but about two years or so older. From a time frame standpoint, it fits rather neatly because the car parked at the curb behind them is most likely a 1927 Dodge Brothers Sedan. The wood spoked wheels are the same, as well as the suicide doors.


When you crop portions of the photo that focuses on the car windows, you find that the business across the street carries the name ‘Edwards Drug Co.’









Also, to the left of Edwards Drug Co. is an A & P market. In case you are saying you can’t find it, look across the street, just to the left of the back of the car and just to the right of the man on the walk. You see a more or less pyramidal structure which is, in actual fact, a grocery product display stack. Just a little ways above it and indistinct without enlarging the photo considerably, are the letters A&P.

That’s essentially all the information you can get from the photo. Now we’re back to questions about the mysteries raised:

1. Are the children really the same ones in the Touring Car photo?

2. Who are they?

3. What’s the location of the photo?

4. Who was the photographer?

5. Who owned the vehicle and what was their economic status? You have to remember that anyone who owned a car selling for nearly $1,000 in that time period was quite well off.

6. Finally, since Black Friday and the start of the Great Depression was no more than two years away, you have to wonder what effect it had on this group of residents.

As so often happens when dealing with old, unidentified photos, a simple question leads to another...and another...and another....and.......

Mystery Photos, courtesy of Don Pyeatt

Old photos that surface unexpectedly tend to be both fascinating and mysterious. Fascinating because they help to shed light on days gone by. But mysterious at the same time since so much of the information in the photos cannot be positively identified. This problem applies to all aspects of the photos....locations, vehicles and people. All you can do is make your best guess based on careful analysis of the photos, a guess that may be completely wrong. Once you’ve gone as far as you can, your only remaining option is to publish the photos and ask for help from those who see it.

Don Pyeatt acquired these photos from an estate sale here in Ft. Worth. Absolutely nothing is known about them beyond what can be discerned from an analysis of the photos themselves. So, I’m going to be posting these photos one or two at a time, along with the information that was gleaned from them. And I’m going to ask your help in obtaining as much additional information as possible. Anything you can provide will be most welcome. Do you recognize the location? The type of vehicle? How about identifying the individuals? Time period? Any information, even an educated guess, can be valuable.

With that said, the first photo for your consideration is a four-door convertible (they were called touring cars in the 1920s) with three adults and four children that were obviously posing for the photo. This photo raises more than a few questions, starting with the type of car. Due to the wood wheel spokes, removable all-weather top and the suicide doors (The front and rear doors latch at the center post. If the rear door is opened and encounters an obstacle such as a telephone pole, fence post or another car, the door will be ripped of it’s hinges.), it’s obviously a touring car, circa the 1920s.

An enlarged view of the wheel hub reveals a very fuzzy but legible pair of letters, DB, intertwined like a pair of chain links. Since Dodge was doing business as Dodge Brothers in the 1920s and 1930s, the inescapable conclusion is that the vehicle is a 1925 Dodge Brothers Touring Car. Fairly expensive for it’s day, old ads show it as selling for somewhere between $800 and $1,000.

It’s one thing to identify the car, but all remaining questions concerning the photo are unknown. The questions that need answering are:

1. Where was the photo taken? Obviously in the country, but that raises another question because of the fact that the car is sitting on a paved road. In the 1925 – 1930 time period, paved roads weren’t that common, particularly in the country. Is it possible that the road is Highway 80? That has to be considered since the pavement is definitely poured concrete instead of macadam.

2. Who are the people? There’s absolutely nothing to aid in their identification.

3. Since there are two women, one man and four children (with all the children very close in age) who belongs to whom? And what is the relationship of the man to the women? He isn’t wearing a wedding ring, so could he be a brother? Uncle? Friend?

4. Who was the photographer? One of the women's husbands?

As you can see, a single old photograph can produce multiple mysteries.

When It Was Safe To Walk

There was a time in Ft. Worth when it was safe to walk just about anywhere. Today there are places where you can walk with safety, but it’s not like it used to be. Just in case you’re about to disagree with me, let’s see what it was like in the 1960s on the East Side.

Now just so you can put this into perspective the East Side, in that time period, basically ran from I-30 on the north to the T&P railroad tracks on the south. East and west boundaries were the Riverside/E. Lancaster intersection and Handley Drive/E. Lancaster. White Lake Hills was just starting to be developed and there was nothing east of White Lake Hills and north of I-30 but ranch land. No Woodhaven, no River Bend, etc. As for Eastchase, that was nothing but wooded, rolling terrain.

South of the railroad tracks was Rosedale and Vickery. At that time, a nice area that was quite safe. There was a Buddies Supermarket on the corner of Ayers and Rosedale and just to the west was a Safeway. Small businesses were plentiful.

I came back here in 1961. My parents and I moved into a house on Chicago Street and, since we didn’t have a car, we did what so many other people did. Walked or took the bus. The idea that we might be in danger from disreputable people or pestered by vagrants never crossed our minds. We walked everywhere. Down Panola to Ayers where Temple Baptist Church was located, up and down E. Lancaster to grocery stores, drugstores, True Value hardware, office suppies, Gateway Theater, hobby shops and on and on. Didn’t matter whether it was daylight or dark.

My father and I walked plenty of places at night, my mother got off the bus at night and walked a half block home by herself and so on. This was a normal way of life. People were friendly, helpful and considerate. If you were walking home with heavy bags of groceries, you just might have a stranger stop their car to give you a ride rather than see you carry those groceries the rest of the way in the heat or rain. There were even times my mother put the dog on a leash and walked a mile or so down E. Lancaster to the old Meadowbrook Bowling Lanes....by herself, in the dark, after ten o’clock at night. There was also a Brunswick Bowling Alley at about the 5400 block of E. Lancaster. That was two miles from the house and my parents walked up there late at night one time.

Those were good times and safe times. But, as happens so often, things change. When it actually started, I can’t say, but over a period of time it became a little less safe. By the mid-80s, things were definitely on a downhill slide. Old businesses that had been in the area forever began to leave, in large part because the people who had supported them were getting older and moving. Antique shops that gave a second life to single family homes and used be all up and down E. Lancaster began to disappear. Along the way, the East side developed a reputation as an undesirable, high crime area.

But the pendulum continues to swing. While it still retains the perception of a high crime area, that’s no longer true....except in some people’s minds. In fact, the crime rate is substantially less than some of the ‘desirable’ parts of Ft. Worth. There have been improvements and you can now get out and walk again without any real concern for your safety. Like many areas of Ft. Worth, there’s a lot of work left to be done, but progress is being made.

Will it ever get back to the way it was in the 1960s? I don’t know. Society changes and people change. So do the demographics of an area. All you can do is to work to make it as good as you can. But there’s darn sure nothing wrong with using the 1960s version of the East Side as the template for what you’d like it to be again.