More Ads From The Fifties

In my last post, we were just getting our feet wet with the ads in Meadowbrook Junior High’s student newspaper, The Meadowlark. Let’s see how much farther we can get in this installment:

Hiett Cleaners, 5915 E. Lancaster, phone LO-3681. This location was just about a block or so east of Ferry’s Boot Shop on the same side of the road, which placed it between Canton Drive and the presentday Loop 820.

If I’m not mistaken, Ellis Hiett was the owner. During the 1960s, he was heavily involved in bowling leagues at Meadowbrook Bowl. That bowling alley sat on the south side of E. Lancaster at the intersection of Collard and E. Lancaster. Today it’s the soccer field for Texas Wesleyan University.

Conoco Service Station, 2001 E. Lancaster, phone ED-0417. The ad further states W.F. (Bill) Haynes, Wash and Grease, Service By Manuel. Analysis of all information provided in the ad suggests a number of things. Location was near the intersection of Windham and E. Lancaster, basically across the street and slightly east of the current location of the Humane Society of North Texas. The owner, obviously, was W.F. (Bill) Haynes and they apparently did enough car washes (by hand in those days), lube jobs and other mechanical work to justify bragging about it. Particularly interesting is the fact that Manuel did all the service work. He must have been one extraordinary mechanic to be mentioned prominently (in full capital letters, no less) in an ad.

White Lake Dairy. No address or phone given, but none was needed. Everyone knew where they were located, just north of what is now I-30 and Oakland. Remember, too, that these were the days of home milk delivery, which continued well into the late 60s.

Beyond their name, the ad stated the obvious but in a very cute way. Quality Products, Wholesale And Retail. YOU can WHIP our CREAM But YOU can’t BEAT Our MILK.

Unexcelled Cleaners, (Excelled by none), Sub Station No. 3, 2634 Meadowbrook Drive, Mrs. V.A. Tharp, Mgr.

If you recall in my last post there was an ad for Tharp’s Grocery & Market at 2636 Meadowbrook Drive. It’s obvious that the Tharps owned both businesses, probably both in the same building. You have to remember that in those days, washeterias were not that widespread. In fact, the concept was still relatively new. Most people used cleaners on a regular basis or washed at home using washboards and a tub, an old fashioned (to us) wringer washing machine, or by hand in the kitchen sink.

Incidentally, no one thought about damage to the environment back then. The normal way to empty dirty, soapy water out of a wringer washer was to attach a hose to the drain, stick the hose out the back door or hanging off the back porch and let the water run out into the back yard. No kidding, that’s the way it was frequently done.

Roquemore’s Quality Foods, 4402 E. Lancaster, phone LA-2166. This was another small neighborhood market whose address puts it just past the intersection of Rand and E. Lancaster and two blocks due north of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church.

That’s it for this page. I think I’ll stop here and start my next post with ads from page 3.