Still interested in learning what kinds of businesses were around the East Side in 1951? The beat goes on as we turn to page 5 of The Meadowlark.
Harold Ice Company, 1517 E. First, FA-8910. This was a simple ad, but it told you everything you needed to know. In 1951, it wasn’t uncommon for homes to have real iceboxes in the kitchen to preserve their food. By iceboxes, I’m talking about an appliance that kept food cool by the evaporation of a block of ice in the top compartment while the food was kept in the bottom section.
Also, there was no such thing as a freezer in an icebox. Home deliveries of ice were made on a daily basis, much the same as the milkman delivered milk. Ice truck drivers used ice tongs (if you’ve never seen a pair of ice tongs, you don’t know what you’ve missed) to carry a block of ice hoisted over their shoulder. A leather pad thrown over their shoulder protected their body from the cold ice. And, yes, ice was delivered even in the winter.
As for their location, it was about where I-35 and 121 intersect today.
Leslie Miller, Inc., 2914 E. Rosedale, Phone LA-2115. Mechanical Contractor. This business was located near where Nashville Street and E. Rosedale meet, roughly two blocks west of TWU.
Meissner Funeral Home, 2717 Avenue B, LA-2102. When it was time to give your loved ones a proper sendoff, Meissner Funeral Home was ready and willing to do the job. Located at the corner of Avenue B and Nashville Street.
Poly Music Shop, 3106 Rosedale, LA-7048. Records, Instruments, Music. They were actually on E. Rosedale, in that same stretch of brick spaces that was directly across the street from TWU. By the way, when they referred to music, they meant sheet music.
Ashburn’s Ice Cream, 3012 E. Rosedale, LA-2133. For a delicious dessert. This location was in the block just west of the one containing Poly Music Shop and other businesses. If you’re getting the idea that the entire area was thriving at that time, you’d be right.
T.A. Mitchell Lumber Co., 3637 Avenue E, Phone LA-4018. Hardware – Paint And Building Materials. Avenue E was one block north of E. Rosedale and ended where it ran into Ayers Street. This business was in that last block just before Ayers.
Wilkinson’s Shoe Shop, 2669 E. Vickery Blvd., LA-9197. Nashville Street runs between E. Vickery and E. Rosedale. While Leslie Miller, Inc. was at the south end, this shoe shop was near the north intersection.
Compliments of Dr. A. Ward Hicks and Dr. J.G. Hicks. No other information is provided in this ad. Presumably these doctors served the area, but I have no further knowledge about them. It’s not unreasonable to assume that they were father and son, but even that can’t be stated with any certainty.
Poly Gift Wrapping Shop, 800-A Nashville at Vickery. Gifts – Toys – Ceramics, Gift Wrapping. The 800 block was at the north end of Nashville and probably within sight of Wilkinson’s Shoe Shop.
Charles Matthews Antiques and Gifts, 4136 E. Lancaster. They were located on the southwest corner of Oakland and E. Lancaster until sometime in the late 1970s, when they moved. That corner has been redeveloped and now is home to a CVS Pharmacy.
White Planing Mill, 1201 Ayers, Fort Worth, Texas. Special Mill Work. Expert Store Fixtures. R.W. White. LA-1165. Another quality business located at or very near the Ayers/E. Rosedale intersection.
Burney Grocery & Market, 600 Hughes, LA-9226. Your business is appreciated. Another one of many neighborhood markets, it was located (the best I can figure) at the corner of Panola and Hughes. That places it about a block from Sagamore Hill Elementary School and also means that it was eventually demolished to make way for the expansion of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church.
Jack And Jill Shop, 3559 E. Lancaster, LA-5461. Infants And Children’s Apparel. This address would put the shop between Sanderson and Lewis on the north side of E. Lancaster, about a block and a half west of Ayers and E. Lancaster.
Irby Drug Co., 4309 N.E. 28th, VA-3044. If You’re Out Our Way, Come In And See Us. This ad is an oddity because of it’s location completely out of the East Side. Sitting near the corner of N.E. 28th and Oakwood, the only practical way to get there was straight up Beach Street.
When in Need of Venetian Blinds see B – B Venetian Blind Co., 1001 Ayers, LA-3073. Also refinishing. In this time period Venetian Blinds were very popular and required maintenance as well. Cheap they weren’t, which made refinishing old or damaged blinds a very practical service. Their address places them in one of those buildings on Ayers, just south of the railroad track crossing.
Jack Langdon Service Station, 4200 Meadowbrook Drive, Phone LA-9102. Washing. Lubrication. Located on the corner of Meadowbrook and Oakland, directly west of Meadowbrook Elementary and directly across the street from the open field that would eventually become part of Meadowbrook Junior High, as well as diagonally across from the fire station. Interestingly, that site is still being used today for an automotive related business in what is probably the original two-bay building.
Burge Hardware & Appliance Co., 3100 E. Rosedale, LA-7400. Not only was this business located in that stretch of spaces directly across the street from TWU, it’s still there, operating under the same name. Doesn’t sell appliances anymore, it you take the term to mean ranges, refrigerators and similar. But it’s still a hardware store and does a significant business in repairing and rebuilding Dearborn space heaters.
The last ad for this post dealt with a very popular place to gather to relax, play and have fun, especially in the summer. It’s still there, though I suspect a large percentage of current Ft. Worth residents have never heard of it. The place? Burger’s Lake. Here’s what the ad had to say in 1951.
Have Your Class Picnic At Burger’s Lake. Special Rates To School Groups. Swim In Cool, Constantly Flowing Spring Water. Picnic Fun For Everyone. Beautiful Shade Trees * Picnic Tables * Fireplaces * Sandy Beaches. On Meandering Road Just Opposite Carswell Air Base. Take City Bus Marked Carswell Air Base. Phone Pershing 3414
Next post, I’ll finish up the ads. After that, we’ll deal with some of the other aspects of the newspaper and finally get around to including scans of some sections.
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3 comments:
I took the old chair and a few other things into Charles Matthews Antiques over on Lancaster Blvd. to have them appraised. I had traded coins with Mr. Matthews when I was a teenager and recalled that he had always had a nice looking stock of things. Mr. Matthews was an old man when I knew him and had passed away by the time I took that chair into his store. His children were running the store in 1976 and Mr. Matthews’ elderly wife was sitting in a rocking chair sewing as I walked in, chair in hand. Although she had to have been approaching 90 by then, she leaped out of her rocking chair, grabbed the chair from me, turned it over to inspect the construction, and nodded to her daughter who was then running the store. I doubt the old lady had moved that quickly for quite some time. Anyway, they proclaimed the chair to be of the period and appraised it for a lot more than I paid for it in Schenectady.
In back of the Matthews store were a couple of 40’ trailers they had used since the 1930’s to haul antiques around. They went to the Northeast yearly and made the rounds of the local New England auctions to fill their trailers. Then they hauled them back to Ft. Worth and sold the stuff over the course of the next year.
Coins were Mr. Matthews hobby and I had unwittingly tapped into something that he truly enjoyed doing when I started trading coins with him. He didn’t display any coins in his shop, and to my knowledge never made a commercial venture of his interest in coins. How I came to find out he traded in them I don’t recall. But the combination of coins and antiques in his store introduced me to an interesting juxtaposition. Some people would covet a coin and pay a lot for it, while they would see nothing in an old chair and wouldn’t pay anything for it. Conversely, some people would pay a lot for a chair and not understand at all why someone else would pay a lot for a coin. The lesson: Value is in the eye of the beholder. Virtually no amount of puffing, persuasion, or education would change that fundamental truth.
Horse trading with Mr. Matthews was a learning experience. He was not a tough trader and would give in to a youngster—maybe that was just his way. He was a very nice old man. I went to school with one of his grand daughters. Their antiques business had been on that same corner for over 40-years (in 1976) and had no competition in that side of town. A trip in the front door and a journey through it was like stepping into another world of ornate furnishings and fine decorations, much unlike my own home.
Memories...Memories . I worked on the staff of the Meadowlark in 9th Grade at Meadowbrook High . Catherine Ware (pronounced weir) was the faculty advisor . I was her Ft. Worth Press paper boy, too.
I remember Mr. and Mrs. Charles Matthews, too. They only drove new Frank Kent Cadillacs when few people who lived on the East Side had one. I was a sack boy at Safeways, too, for spending money and I loved to sack the Matthew's groceries . Mr. Matthews would give me a quarter for taking their groceries to their car. They had a daughter named Francis who had a daughter named Terry. The Matthews family always called Mrs. Matthews "Precious" or some sweet name like that. I also remember Lota Haverty (Mrs. Bruce Haverty) who had shops on East Lancaster . Also Mr. Alexander's "Iron Garden " on Lancaster in Handley.His wife was from England. Their daughter and son-in-law the Browns had an antique shop on Lancaster also in Handley . I grew up with all the O'Neils who owned Red Rooster Lumber Company . Pat and John O'Neil ..Nancy, Jeanne, Chris and Mary Helen. Pat was a Lehman who started Red Rooster . They had another daughter Phyliss Ryan (they all lived on Provine) with children Kathy, Carol, Richard, Paul and Elaine . They had the first color TV in our neighborhood .
That's really cool! I think it's really neat to go back and look at little bits of history like this. To the first post: I'd recently been introduced to an antiques shop when I was traveling a few weeks ago, and it really is amazing! I was able to get a couple of really old cameras that the owner had gotten at New England auctions.
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