Fort Worth Timeship

Interurbans & Streetcars, Part 3.

2010-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

The third and final interurban photo (the next two posts will feature streetcars) is more than a little interesting. To begin with, it's photographed on the north side of the Tarrant County Courthouse, with the photographer standing across Belknap Street and behind a decorative iron fence. This, of course, raises the question of what was behind the fence. Park? Some kind of building? Or was the fence simply there to keep people from walking on the grass?

As for the car itself, the steamcoach roof and the fact that it's car number 16 tells us that it was built sometime between 1903 and 1910, most likely between 1906 and 1908. The sign on the car's side identifies it as Interurban Line, Northern Texas Traction Co. While that's all well and good, photos of the NTTC on websites show a completely different layout of the same sign, as in Ft. Worth-Dallas Interurban, Northern Texas Traction Company. If anyone has information on when each sign style came in or went out of use, it would be possible to identify the exact date of this photo. Finally, the destination board on the front of the car tells us that it's on a Dallas Limited run.

Again, if anyone desires an 8"x10" print, please contact me at tennexican@mindspring.com. Cost is only $10 plus postage for each print.

Interurbans & Streetcars, Part 2.

2010-03-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

Still looking north on Main Street from E. Lancaster, this shot was apparently taken a few days later than the first photo I posted. In this view we have a single interurban car that's headed for Dallas. While the buggys and bicycle are no longer parked at the curb, enlarging the picture allows us to see that the Wm. M. McVeigh name is also found at the top of the building facade, above the third floor windows. Undoubtedly, he owned the entire building.

As with the first photo in this series, I can provide an 8"x10" PhotoSmart inkjet print for $10 plus postage. Contact me directly at tennexican@mindspring.com if interested.

Interurbans & Streetcars, Part 1.

2010-03-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Today Ft. Worth has begun planning a new, modern streetcar system. Sounds wonderful and forward looking, doesn't it? Well, the truth is that they're simply going forward to the past. Just about a century ago, Ft. Worth had a fully operational streetcar system that served the public well. If that wasn't enough, interurban cars ran on a regular schedule between Ft. Worth and Dallas. In fact, as late as the 1960s, you could see (and had to walk over when you crossed the street) streetcar rails embedded in Houston Street. They're still there as far as I know, though paved over.

At any rate, a developer who was rehabbing a building in the 600 block of Houston ran across a fascinating photo album that included several 8"x10" prints of streetcars and interurbans in downtown Ft. Worth. While not the original prints, never mind the negatives, it's a miracle that anything on Cowtown's interurbans and streetcars has survived. The developer had no interest whatsoever in the photos, but rather than trash them, he was gracious enough to pass them on to me for the purpose of historical preservation.

There are a grand total of five photos, three showing interurbans and the other two dealing with our original streetcars. All photos were taken in the 1902-1910 time period. Without further ado, here's the first one, along with an analysis of what you can glean from the picture.

This shot was taken looking north from the intersection of E. Lancaster and Main Street, square in the heart of Hell's Half Acre. In the center of the photo is a two-car interurban that is bound for Dallas. When you blow the photo up to the point that the grain begins to break down, you also find that this particular interurban is an express. To the left of the interurban is the Alamo Saloon and Bar. Another sign proudly announces that Mack Bros. are the Mgrs. Just above the Alamo Saloon sign is a rectangular sign, apparently mounted on a pole, that advertises the fact that Miller Highlife Beer is available inside.

If you look directly above the roof of the leading interurban car, you can barely make out a sign painted on a building. Blown up, you find that it comprises two lines identifying a company. While the top line can't be read, the bottom line reads 'Clothiers'. In the distance, just above the roof and slightly beyond the trailing interurban car, is what appears to be a turreted structure. That's believed to be the Knights of Pythias Hall building on the corner of 3rd and Main. It still exists today. Way back in the hazy distance is yet another spire sticking up above the surrounding structures . If my analysis is correct, that is the Tarrant County Courthouse.

Coming back to the front of the photo on the right hand side, the sign on the building identifies it as the Wm. M. McVeigh Transfer-Storage business. And parked at the curb along that side of the street are a couple of horse-drawn buggies and a bicycle.

I sent photos of all of the shots to Don Pyeatt for his input. He came up with a very interesting observation regarding the appearance of the ground. The light color of the ground cover, combined with the darker tones in spots and the type of clothing worn by all the people leads inescapably to the fact that this photo was taken not too long after a snowfall. Whatever year it was taken, the calender period was somewhere between October and March.

Finally, for those who are interested, I can provide an 8"x10" copy of this photo (as well as the other four), printed on an HP PhotoSmart Printer with Vivera ink for $10 each plus postage. Contact me by email at tennexican@mindspring.com.

Interesting Ads from Don Pyeatt, Part 1

2009-09-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

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.

The Hanging Tree, Drinking Fountains, Restrooms and the Poll Tax

2008-05-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

Segregation was as entrenched in Ft. Worth as anywhere else in the South, but by the early 1960s it was in the process of dying a natural death. At least as far as overt practices were concerned. But it wasn’t always that way.

This was way before my time, but a little research on the internet will quickly reveal that the Klan was extremely active in the early 1920s, going so far as to have control (thru legal elections) of the Ft. Worth city government as well as several other major cities in Texas. I’ve also heard that the Klan had a hanging tree that was located on North Main near the Ellis Pecan Building.

When I came back here in 1961, there were still three extremely visible signs of segregation. Granted, there were many more, but these were so obvious that you had to be deaf, dumb and blind to miss them. Inside Monnig’s Department Store, on the block bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Houston and Throckmorton, on the south side of the elevators, was a pair of black enamel drinking fountains. If you wondered why two fountains, all you had to do was look above them. The signs identified one for ‘White’ and the other for ‘Colored’. By that time, no one paid any attention, but it was stark evidence of the segregated past. Not too much later, the signs were removed, but the fountains remained until the store was demolished.

Following the same pattern were the restrooms in the basement of Leonard’s Department Store. Located just past the sporting goods area (where a whetstone was available for everyone to sharpen their pocket knives) were two men’s restrooms. As with the water fountains at Monnig’s, one was for ‘Whites’ and the other for ‘Colored’. Eventually, I believe either one restroom was eliminated or the two were combined.

What’s interesting is that no one seemed to make any kind of fuss over either the fountains or restrooms. They just kind of faded into the background over a period of time.

The third thing took a legislative change and that was the Poll Tax. It still existed as late as 1964 because the Presidential Election in November 1964 was the first one I was elgible to vote in. To do so, I had to pay a 50 cent Poll Tax. For those who don’t know, the Poll Tax was basically created to prevent poor people (primarily blacks and hispanics) from voting. Considering that the original price was $1.75 per person per year, it did it’s job admirably. Of course, it had become a shadow of it’s former self by 1964 when the price had dropped to 50 cents. It was finally abolished in Federal Elections by the passage of the 24th Amendment to the Constitution in 1964 and two years later ruled unconstitutional in state and local elections by the Supreme Court.

Ft. Worth has a lot to be proud of...but also a lot that it’d probably just as soon forget. But the danger with forgetting is that a very famous phrase will jump up and bite you in the hinder part. That phrase? “He who forgets the past is condemned to repeat it.” Incidentally, the correct phrase is “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” And the author is George Santayana.

Have we learned from our past? Sometime I wonder.

Remember Window Shopping?

2008-04-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

Back in olden times (the late 1940s thru the 1950s and even into the 1960s), a major form of entertainment was window shopping. In other words, you strolled thru downtown (shopping centers were just getting started in the early 1960s) looking at goods displayed in the storefront windows. Not only did it matter if the stores were open, it was actually more fun when they weren’t. Sundays were popular because everyone was closed.

What? Closed on Sunday? That’s right. Not only were Blue Laws in force, the general belief was that Sunday was the day you went to church. Also, most stores, even the big department stores, closed at 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. every day.

Window shopping was both an art and entertainment. You strolled slowly past the windows of various stores, lingering in front of those that caught your eye. While standing there, you imagined owning a particular outfit or jacket, shoes, toys, bicycles, etc. that you’d love to have but were way too expensive for you to afford. The flip side of the coin would be to find reasonably priced items that you either needed or wanted, then return when the store was open to purchase them.

Many’s the time you did neither. Instead, you just looked with no purpose in mind other than an outing with your family. Eventually you hopped a bus or took a cab and headed home.

Until stores started migrating to the suburbs and those new-fangled shopping centers, (Enclosed malls didn’t come along until quite a bit later. Sometime in the 1970s, I believe.), just about everything you wanted was in downtown Ft. Worth. All the big department stores, of course. Leonard’s, Everybody’s (An early version of a discount department store and owned by Leonard’s.), Monnig’s, Stripling’s (I worked in the toy department there in 1963), Cox’s and The Fair. Then there was Meacham’s, F.W. Woolworth, Cromer’s Ace (Bicycles were in their window.), Western Union, The Camera Shop, several greeting card stores, newsstands, banks (no branches), drug stores, restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops, churches, jewelry stores, western shops and even a couple of automobile dealerships (Pontiac and Chevrolet, I believe.).

Of course you had City Hall where you could pay your water bill, Lone Star Gas Co., Texas Electric and a healthy collection of office buildings. And let’s not forget the Worth, Hollywood and Palace Theaters, along with the late, lamented Ft. Worth Public Library building that sat on that pie shaped piece of land at the intersection of Ninth and Throckmorton and was eventually demolished despite the protestations of a substantial number of residents when the new library was built. Just up the street on the corner of Eighth and Throckmorton was Barber’s Bookstore. For those who couldn’t afford the price of a new book or didn’t want to part with that much cash, there was Thompson’s Bookstore. Located on Throckmorton only a block or so south of Leonard’s, it was hole-in-the-wall offering used books and magazines. I spent a lot of time in there...and a fair amount of money.

As I said, there was just about any kind of business you could want and quite a few you didn’t, such as high interest small loan companies (Yep, they’ve been around since the beginning of time.). From Ninth Street south to Lancaster, the area was known as Lower Main. It was, with the exception of the Telephone Company (AT&T) and the Catholic Church, basically a collection of more or less disreputable flop houses, walk up hotels, bar & grilles and liquor stores, with the occasional antique shop thrown in for good measure. The Cellar (where Secret Service agents went the night before JFK was assassinated) was below ground level at Tenth and Commerce, I think. Union Gospel Mission was located on Throckmorton, about two blocks north of Lancaster, until everything was razed for the current Convention Center and the Mission wound up out on E. Lancaster.

How do I know about that particular part of Ft. Worth, since you darn sure didn’t do any window shopping in the area? Mainly by riding buses home. Their route took them straight down Houston to Lancaster or over to Calhoun and then south to Lancaster before heading east. Believe me, you saw some very interesting things while looking out the bus windows. Beyond that, one of my uncles died in 1957 while sitting on a barstool in Richelieu Grill waiting for his breakfast. Massive coronary. He was 65 and had received his first Social Security check only a week or two before.

I went with a couple of cousins to obtain his belongings from his hotel room (A walk-up flophouse with screen doors on the rooms.). By the time we got there, someone had popped the screen and taken everything he had.

Yep, downtown Ft. Worth in that time period was a very interesting mix of the good, the bad and the ugly, but they were good times overall. I still miss it.

The Starlite Club & The Telephone Pioneers

2008-04-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

While the Rocket Club was arguably the best known nightclub on the Jacksboro Highway, there were plenty of others. One was the Starlite Club. Located on the west side of the highway and several blocks south of the Rocket Club, my knowledge of it is due to exactly one thing. Stashed in some of the photos and documents that my parents saved is a photo folder that is virtually identical to the ones used by the Rocket Club. It only differed in color, cover design and the club name on the front. The folder serves to perpetuate the memory (good or bad) of the Starlite Club, but it’s what I found inside that’s interesting.

My mother, Ruby Claudine Wacaster Marmo, started working for the telephone company in 1922 when she was sixteen years old, having just moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Remember, this was when the phone company was AT&T with no competition.

At any rate, my mother spent 31 years with the phone company before retiring and spending another 33 years on various PBX boards with hospitals, newspapers and department stores. When she retired from AT&T, she was a Life Member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. But, as I’m sure you know, to become a Life Member of anything, first you have to be just a member. I never knew when that occurred...until I found the Starlite Club folder.

Inside was a certificate printed on heavyweight stock Certifying that Ruby C. Marmo was a Member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. The date is December 25, 1949. This much is fact. From this point on, it’s an educated guess, but I think I’m correct. If anyone has information to the contrary, I’d appreciate hearing from them.

Since my parents appeared in a photo taken at the Rocket Club sometime in 1949, and the Telephone Pioneers certificate was found in a Starlite Club folder where it’s been since 1949, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to reach a particular conclusion.

What I believe is that the presentation of the certificate was held at a party in the Starlite Club, sometime in late December, 1949. Could it have been a few months later, making it early 1950? Sure could, since I can’t nail the date down to the specific day,

This is just a microcosm of the kinds of things that went on during the late 1940s here in Ft. Worth. No earthshattering event was connected with this presentation nor did it make the newspaper. It was just another moment in the day-to-day life in Cowtown.

The Rocket Club

2008-04-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

Drive north on Henderson until you cross the intersection where University Drive North and Northside Drive change names and you will find yourself on the Jacksboro Highway. Actually, you’re not going due north but northwest. Still, on the west side of the highway is Rockwood Park for a good distance. On the east is a retaining wall and a very steep hill that forms the back yard for houses that front on Grand Street. By the time you’re halfway between University/Northside Drive and N.E. 28th, the area is a hodge podge of car lots, cafes and abandoned buildings. But it didn’t use to be that way. In the late 1940s, you wouldn’t have been wrong to have called it nightclub row. There were quite a number there. The Starlight Club at 1301 Jacksboro Highway and the well known Rocket Club at 2202 Jacksboro Highway to name only two. As of the last time I’ve passed thru that area (and it’s been several years), the Rocket Club building was still there and I think the sign was still mounted on it. Might be wrong because I’ve slept since then.

Since anyone who knows me knows that I don’t drink (can’t stand the taste), nor do I care anything about going clubbing, you’ve got to be wondering why I’m talking about the Rocket Club. Well, there’s a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the Rocket Club is part of Ft. Worth history. As for the second, I have a folder from the Rocket Club containing a photograph of my parents sitting at a table inside the club. The date had to be around 1949.

In that time period, many clubs had roving photographers who took photos of the customers, much like sidewalk photographers in downtown Ft. Worth. If they wanted to buy the photo, it would be presented to them in a photo folder that appears to be made from heavyweight construction paper. Not only did it bring in extra money for the club, the folder did an excellent job of publicizing the club. To give you an idea of exactly what the folder looked like, I’ve added three photos to this post. The first, seen below, shows the front cover.

This was actually quite a creative cover. Note there are two planets Saturn, along with a rocketship passing by. As it nears Ft. Worth, it’s spotlight illuminates a crooner (think Bing Crosby) standing on a cloud holding a microphone with musical notes wafting into the ether. By the way, the folder is a horizontal format with the fold on the left side.

Inside the folder were four slits designed to hold a 5”x7” print. Black & White in those days, of course. As I told you, the couple in the photo are my parents, Caesar Sarafino “Jack” Marmo and Ruby Claudine Wacaster Marmo. This picture was most likely taken in 1949, making my father 41 and my mother 44. I would’ve been a few months shy of 7. Note that all tables had white tablecloths and a centerpiece that appears to be comprised of a number of glasses and at least one bottle.

The back of the folder provides the club name and address, as well as the number of the folder. If the number is sequential and started from #1, then we can assume that over 5,000 patrons had purchased photos at the Rocket Club. If anyone has similar folders from the Rocket Club or any of the other clubs on the Jacksboro Highway, I’d like to hear from you.

Next post I’ll deal with the Starlight Club & The Telephone Pioneers Of America.

Headlines From The Meadowlark, May 4, 1951. Part 2.

2008-04-10T02:16:00.000-07:00

This post picks up with page 3 of The Meadowlark. Most of this page is taken with ads and the continuation of Scrapbook Memories from page 1. However, there are two photographs identifying the winners in the lunchroom contest at Meadowbrook Elementary. One is for the First Grade, while the other is for the Second Grade. While I can’t identify First Grade teacher, Second Grade is another story. The teacher is Ruby Wenzel and the photograph is the same one I posted earlier of my Second Grade class.

If you’re wondering, as I did, just what the heck a Junior High School newspaper is doing running photos of First and Second grade contests, I can suggest a couple or three things. First, Meadowbrook Elementary and Meadowbrook Junior High were almost within sight of each other. Second, Charles Berry had been principal of Meadowbrook Elementary the previous year. And third, the student reporters were doing what all good reporters do. Finding news.

Moving on to page four, we find headlines that tell you about some of the activities going on at that time.

Senior Play Casts Selected lists the casts of the senior play “Just Ducky.” A point brought out by the report was the fact that both the fifth and sixth period classes were going to perform the play, making it twice as good as last year’s effort.

Then there’s The Class Will Of “51” which was essentially a vehicle to metaphorically pass the torch to those who will come after them.

Another report let you know that Meadowbrook Has First Garden Show. There is a complete list of awards.

Finally, an article (or actually announcement) headed Attention, High Nine! invites everyone to the senior banquet to be held in the school cafeteria on May 18, 1951 at 6:30 p.m. Decorations would have a circus theme and there would be special entertainment afterward.

Turning over to page five, there are photographs of the Third Grade Lunchroom Winners and Mrs. Graham’s Sixth Grade Lunchroom Winners. There’s also a Sixth Grade News Report given by Mrs. Dry, with the rest of the page containing ads and the continuation of The Class Will Of “51”.

Finally we work our way to page six, titled Sports On Parade. There are photos of the school’s Tennis Players, Boy’s Softball Team and Girl’s Volley Ball Team.

As for headlines, Tracksters Hit The Cinders At Track Meet April 24 details the performance of their track members, broken down by school grade.

T For Tennis describes the performance of the tennis team and Softball deals with the softball team. Another report describes the Volley Ball Team under the Volleyball heading.

Finally, the headline High Nine Tea To Be Given describes a tea to be given in honor of the high ninth grade and their mothers in the school cafeteria on May 17.

And that, folks, is the end of Meadowbrook Junior High School’s The Meadowlark student newspaper.

Before closing this post, I’ve said it before but it doesn’t hurt to say it again, don’t hesitate to post your own memories of Ft. Worth or send them to me by email. Photos are particularly welcome (even if all you have are negatives). Contact me for a snail mail address in order to send photos for use in Timeship. They will be handled carefully, scanned and the originals returned promptly.

Headlines From The Meadowlark, May 4, 1951

2008-04-08T23:19:00.000-07:00

There was a lot more in The Meadowlark besides ads and a photo of the graduating class. It was a newspaper and the students took their job seriously. First, let’s see who’s listed on The Meadowlark Staff. After that, we’ll work our way thru the paper headline by headline. In line with that, the newspaper staff is as follows:

Editor: Cynthia Seacrest

Assistant Editor: Jackie Tackett

Make-Up Editors: Mary Lou Oliver, Charlene McBrayer, Richard Hollingsworth, Montie Mauldin

Circulation Managers: Jerre Jean Power, John Irby

Business Manager: Kay Spurlock

Advertising Manager: Bob Franks

Exchange Editor: Bill Oglesby

Advertising Staff And Special Reporters: Cecil Davis, Monell Holden, Madelon Mathieu, Jackie Simpson, Barbara Wellman, Alma Netherton, Cathryne Barnett, Charlene McBrayer, Xanthia Macy, Mabell Rainey, Carolyn Rice, Betty Tripp, Mary White, Nancy Fawver, Annelle Northcut, Eleanor Armstrong, Marian Bickle, Jean Hiett, Lanny Ham, Carmen Baltasar, Ella Jane Faris.

Sports Editors: Ted Stuart, Sandie Gordon

Principal: Mr. Charles M. Berry

Dean And Sponsor: Miss Flossie Green

In case the name of Charles Berry sounds familiar, it’s because he was the principal of Meadowbrook Elementary during the 1949 – 1950 school year. Apparently he was appointed principal of Meadowbrook Junior High for the 1950 – 1951 term. They were fortunate to have him. He was a good man.

Now to the headlines. The front page carried only one, once you got past the half page photo of the graduating class. That headline read:

Scrapbook Memories (Class Prophecy) and was written by Xanthia Macy, Mary Oliver & Nancy Fawver. Taking up the lower half of the front page and a third of page three, it was a fictionalized report of a chance meeting by Mary Oliver & Xanthia Macy in New York and their decision to take their vacation together by returning home to Ft. Worth. Along the way they run into all their old classmates with descriptions of what they are doing now.

On page two, the next headline reads Apologies In Order and is essentially a thank you to the teachers they’ve had in their time at Meadowbrook Junior High. DAR And American Legion Winners is self-explanatory, particularly when the box just below announces the Meadowbrook Junior High School Awards Day Program. Considering the atmosphere that exists in school today, along with all the rules, regulations and political correctness, just reading the program order is educational. To that end, here it is:

Processional........................Aida; Grand March
*”America”.........................Boston Pops Orchestra
* Invocation.........................Rev. W. Fred Swank
Pastor, Sagamore Hill Baptist Church
Platform Guest.....................Mrs. George M. Connor
President, Board Of Education
Vocal Solo – “Jerusalem”................Henry Parker
Roberta Murphy
Mrs. Strickland, Accompanist
Remarks........................................Mr. Joe P. Moore
Superintendent of Schools
Special Octet – “My Hero”...................Oscar Staus
Eight Ninth Grade Girls: Soprano, Jackie Simpson,
Ella Jane Faris, Mary Jo Einstein, Gene Fricke;
Alto, Montie Mauldin, Marilyn Swayze, Marian
Bickle, Jerre Jean Power.
D.A.R. Awards......................................Mrs. M.H. Crabb
American Legion Awards...............Mr. Buster Kirkpatrick
* School Song.......................................”Alma Mater”
Recessional..................................”War March of the Priests”
* Audience Will Please Stand May 4, 1951

The next headline on that page says Good Luck, Champs! and, as you’ve probably guessed, it deals with the annual Press Spelling Bee. Finally we have Student Council At Work which is simply a listing of the members of the student council and an accompanying photo of the group.

That’s it for this post. Next time around we’ll start with page three.

Images From The Meadowlark, May 4, 1951

2008-04-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

The ads that appeared in this issue of the Meadowbrook Junior High School student newspaper have provided a pretty fair picture of what the East Side of Ft. Worth was like 57 years ago. Now let’s go thru the paper page by page to see some of the things that were important to them way back when.

First up is a photo of the graduating class of 1951. Notice that they were still taking class photos outdoors with part of the building as a backdrop.

For those of you with sharp enough eyes, just above is the original caption that listed all of the graduates appearing in the photograph. Not able to read it? For your convenience, I've retyped the entire caption is easier to read font size. The names of the students are:

Class of '51: First row, left to right: Don Short, Bill Brock, Richard Hollingsworth, Jimmy Moore, Bob Wear, Gene Dimock, Gary Grier, Mike Mallicote, Leon Brown, Ray Fisher, Dedric Roberts, Kenneth Royar. Second row: Terry Mack, Mary White, Aletta McMean, Kay Spurlock, Jackie Tackett, Tylithat Schaber, Didi Quirino, Rita Martelli, Mary Jo Einstein, Betty Tripp, Jerri Jean Power, Tommye Hensley, Gale Russey, Carmen Baltisar, Irene Twiss. Third row: Barbara Fitzgerald, Sandra Kelly, Mae Belle Rainey, Dessie Dennie, Diane Brewer, Cynthia Seacrest, Barbara Wellman, Cathryne Barnett, Marian Bickle. Fourth row: Sandie Gordon, Mary Lou Oliver, Marilyn Swayze, Jackie Hooe, Gene Fricke, Charlene McBrayer, Nancy Beck, Eleanor Armstrong, Louise Smith, Shirley Gorham. Fifth row: Annelle Northcut, Monell Holden, Nancy Fawver, Reba Cook, Joyce McKinney, Jackie Simpson, Montie Mauldin, Ella Jane Faris, Sarah Flynn, Xanthia Macy. Sixth row: John Irby, John May, Bill Maloney, David Rowland, John Bateman, Ronald Lockhart, Alma Natherton, Carolyn Rice, Phonita McGill, Jean Hiett, Madelon Mathieu, Dorothy Long. Seventh row: Jimmy Boggs, James Dial, Jack Hester, Lanny Ham, Cecil Davis, Charles Huffaker, John Black, Don Raspberry, Bill Ransom, Albert Craig, Jim Mosely, Paul Wyatt, Don Overton, Garth Owens, Bill Oglesby. Eighth row: Danny Rouse, Ted Stuart, Fred Hughes, Henry Daniel Hutmacher, Bob Franks.

Still Reading The Meadowlark, Part 5

2008-04-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

This post will finish up the ads in that old student newspaper from Meadowbrook Junior High School, The Meadowlark. Let’s see what other businesses were around in 1951.

Meadowbrook Drug, 3636 Meadowbrook Drive, LA-1605. Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Wilborn, Miss Toni Edwards, Miss Jamie Trainer. Located in that same multi-tenant building at the southwest corner of Ayers and Meadowbrook as Meadowbrook Cleaners and Meadowbrook Dance Studio. There’s no way to know for sure, but it’s not an unreasonable assumption that the Wilborns were the owners with Mr. Wilborn being the pharmacist. The two single ladies would have been employees who handled the non-pharmacological aspects of the business.

J.E. Kuykendall Lumber Co., Lumbering Along, 3200 E. Lancaster, LO-1921. This business’s location is particularly interesting because it apparently occupied the future site of Meadowbrook Bowling Lanes, which gave way in turn to the current TWU soccer field. It must’ve moved shortly thereafter because Meadowbrook lanes had been there for some time when I returned to Ft. Worth in 1961.

Everybody ought to know to go to Tandy Lake Garage, 3505 E. Lancaster. Free Pick-Up And Delivery. Almost directly across the street from our late, lamented Flashpoint Boogie Burger, it was owned by Mr. Thomas. He and his wife lived behind the garage in a house that fronted on Sanderson (I believe). His wife raised Chow-Chows.

Tandy Lake Service Station, 3501 E. Lancaster, LA-9489. Texaco Products, Washing, Lubrication, Road Service. Immediately west of Tandy Lake Garage at the corner of E. Lancaster and Sanderson. By the early 1960s, it was owned and operated by a man who’s first name was Ted, but the last name escapes me. Still a Texaco station, though. I did quite a lot of business at both the service station and garage.

State Bank of East Fort Worth, 1100 Nashville, LO-2811. We would welcome a visit from you – Convenient Banking Service. Member of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

This was probably the largest building on Nashville Street between E. Vickery and E. Rosedale. It remained there until at least the late 1960s or 1970s when it relocated into that multi-story building at the corner of Beach and Scott on the south side of I-30. Today Chase Bank occupies the space.

Washing and Lubrication. Tire Service. Harry Lawing’s Service Station. “Sinclair Products”. 3950 E. Lancaster, Ph LA-9126. It’s been said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s certainly true where service stations are concerned because 3950 E. Lancaster is basically where Valero is currently located, on E. Lancaster between C lairemont and Boston.

Beavers Food Store, 3301 E. Lancaster. Quality Meats and Groceries – Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. This store was on the northeast corner of Collard and E. Lancaster. By the early 1960s it was still a food store but operating under a different name.

Bill Kuykendall Appliances, 323 Collard. LA-8927, LA-2127. This business was south of E. Lancaster, undoubtedly between E. Lancaster and Panola.

Hart’s Dress Shop, 3708 E. Lancaster. Styles For Teen-Agers. LA-0964. That things were beginning to change is apparent by the rise of stores catering to very specific groups. Teen-age girls in this case.

Only two ads remain, one for a church and the other for a new pharmacy. Let’s look at the church ad first.

We Invite All Meadowbrook Students To Spend Their Sunday With Us. This Is A Young Peoples Church. Sagamore Hill Baptist Church. W. Fred Swank, Pastor.

It’s obvious from the ad that the East Side had a large population of young people, as well as parents who were mostly in their 20s and early 30s. No wonder Sagamore Hill promoted themselves as they did. The church was located on Panola at a point where Rand Street empties into Panola. Today that property belongs to the Charity Church and Sagamore Hill is building a new campus on Eastchase Parkway, just south of Meadowbrook.

As for the drugstore? Let’s take a look at their ad.

Hello! Meadowbrook Students! Have You Seen The New Jack Collier Drug Store? A Wonderful Place To Meet Your Friends and Enjoy Refreshing Fountain Drinks. You Are Always Welcome At Jack Collier Professional Drug Stores. We Give S&H Green Stamps. 3700 E. Lancaster.

The strip center between Ayers and Forby on the south side of E. Lancaster was the location for Jack Collier Drug. Today it’s a run down flea market, but in 1951, Jack Collier Drug Store anchored the center on the Ayers end. Next to it was a shoe repair, then Ben Franklin 5 & 10 and at the opposite end, Worth Food Mart. All of those businesses were there until well into the 1960s and some stayed longer than that. Jack Collier Drug remained until the early 1970s, I believe, when it moved to the corner of Meadowbrook and Yeager, becoming Eastern Hills Pharmacy in the process.

As the ad said, Jack Collier Drug had a full service soda fountain, complete with stools at the counter as well as booths. Believe me, you haven’t lived if you haven’t had a real, thick milkshake served in a heavy, tall glass.

Well, that’s it for all the ads. Next post we’ll look at some of the written information in The Meadowlark and I’ll see what I can do about scanning parts of it.

Ads From The Meadowlark, Part 4

2008-04-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

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.

Ads From The Real Meadowlark, Part 3

2008-04-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

Moving on to page four of the Meadowbrook Junior High’s student newspaper, we’re beginning to see what a vibrant place the East Side of Ft. Worth was in 1951. Let’s check out some more businesses:

Geo. Gunter’s Texaco Service Station, 1901 E. Lancaster, phone ED-9421. Complete Lubrication – Road Service. This address placed it near the corner of E. Lancaster and Grafton, where the Salvation Army building sits today.

Harry Smith’s Meadowbrook Dance Studio, 3628 Meadowbrook Drive, phone LA-8501. Private – Semi-Private or Class Lessons In Ballroom Dancing. Professional Teacher – Proven Method. Call between 6 and 10 p.m. Monday and Wednesday For Appointment.

The location of the was near the intersection of N. Ayers and Meadowbrook Drive, on the south side of the street. As close as I can figure, it was due north of the old Stripling/Cox (and future police crime lab) building.

J. Fred Smith, Office 3114-A East Rosedale, phones: LA-5532 and LA-8496 – Res. LA-5466. Real Estate And Insurance Of All Kinds. Location was across the street from Texas Wesleyan University.

Charlie Isham Service Station, Corner of Meadowbrook and E. Lancaster, Telephone LA-9124. Our Fast Service Keeps Us Busy. This business sat was located on that triangular piece of land where Buck’s Auto Upholstery did business for so many years. Considering the configuration of the building in relation to the land, I’m still trying to figure out where the gas pumps were located.

Snapshots, Inc., 2455 E. Lancaster, phone LO-2823. Quality Photo Finishing. Just a couple of blocks west of Beach Street on the north side of E. Lancaster, I believe the building is still there. In fact, it was still a photo finishing operation in the 1960s and possibly into the 1970s. I did quite a bit of business with them during that time period, though the name was different.

Long Beauty Shop, Phone LA-4194. For Freedom. For Fun. For Femininity. Short Hair Fills The Bill For You. It’s Practical. It’s Gay. It’s Pretty.

No address is given for this business, but the ad is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, short hair on women was in fashion again. Second, the phrase ‘It’s Gay’ had a totally different meaning. The term meant that you were happy, excited and/or merry. Things change and so do the meanings and useage of words.

Jack Blair Floor Company, 305 Collard, LO-1971. A full service flooring company, it’s location was about a half block south of Collard & E. Lancaster on the east side of the street, directly across from the present-day soccer field for TWU. Jack Blair is now doing business from the 5500 block of W. Vickery.

Meadowbrook Cleaners, 3632 Meadowbrook, phone LA-8469. “Where Better Cleaning Is Done.” Save With Cash And Carry. Pick-Up and Delivery Service. W.S. Samply, owner.

Location was in the same brick building on the south side of Meadowbrook at the intersection of Meadowbrook and N. Ayers. They had the space immediately west of the Meadowbrook Dance Studio.

The last ad on page 3 was from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Fort Worth. The plant itself was located, I believe, on South Main, about halfway between E. Lancaster and Magnolia Street. But it’s what’s in the ad that tells you a lot about what things were like in those days. It featured a huge number 5, Drink Coca-Cola in white on a dark circle background and a phrase above it that said Two Things That Go Together – Coke And 5c. That’s right, folks. Cokes, in the familiar wasp waist glass bottles and beer bottle style caps that required bottle openers, were only a nickle and available from vending machines and coolers virtually everywhere.

We’ll tackle page 5 in the next post. Hang in there, people, there’s a lot more to tell.

More Ads From The Fifties

2008-03-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

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.

The Real Meadowlark

2008-03-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Ask people on the East Side today what The Meadowlark is and, if they even know, they’ll tell you that it's the newsletter of the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association. That’s true as far as it goes, but it isn’t the original Meadowlark. The original Meadowlark took the form of the student newspaper at Meadowbrook Junior High School, 2001 Ederville Rd. S. This location was just north of the open field at the corner of Meadowbrook and Oakland that I mentioned in an earlier post. When the cattle left I can’t say, but that field today is part of the original Meadowbrook Junior High School, now known as Meadowbrook Middle School.

Where did that information come from? From a time capsule I didn’t know I had, in the form of the May 4, 1951 issue that focused on the graduating class of 1951. In the course of six pages, this version of The Meadowlark offers a fascinating window into what Junior High was like in those days and the activities they had. Even better are the advertisements that help rediscover the kinds of businesses that existed in the area back then.

So bear with me, folks. It’s gonna take more than a little time to wade thru all this history, probably forming a substantial number of posts in the process. To get us started, let’s look at some of the ads. They are:

Moseley Refrigeration Co., 1529 E. Lancaster. Their phone number was listed as FO-4118. The advertisement stated that they were Mechanical contractors – Heating – Cooling and they were located on that part of E. Lancaster that is now known as mission row.

Trailer Finance Company. No address given, but their phone number was NO-5696. Obviously a small loan company, but I know nothing else about them. Can any of you help?

Brandon’s, 1415 E. Lancaster. Their ad states Drugs – Groceries – Household Needs, so it’s apparent they were some kind of neighborhood market along the lines of what we now call a convenience store. No more than a block from Moseley Refrigeration, which indicates that part of E. Lancaster was thriving at that time.

University Supply & Equipment Co., 1204 Ayers St. Phone number was LA-0803. They described themselves as Printers – Publishers – Lithographers, Publishers of High School and College Yearbooks. Their address puts them right around the intersection of Ayers and E. Rosedale.

Ferry’s Boot Shop, 5807 E. Lancaster, phone number LA-9435. Location would have been pretty close to the intersection of E. Lancaster and Canton Dr.

Mott’s, 3008 E. Rosedale, phone LA-5629. The ad lists them as a 5c – 10c – 25c Store. Their address puts them just west of Vaughn Blvd. and almost directly across the street from Texas Wesleyan College in that block long strip of brick buildings that’s mostly boarded up these days.

Tharp’s Grocery & Market, 2636 Meadowbrook. Their ad states that they have Quality Merchandise. Location was around the intersection of Ward and Meadowbrook, not more that a block from where Meadowbrook joins E. Lancaster.

John Morris Floral Company, Flowers For All Occasions – Three Locations To Give Better Service. No idea where two locations were, but one was on the southeast corner of Boston St. and E. Lancaster, directly east of the Valero service station.

The Chicken Shack No. 2, Specializing In Leslie’s Fried Chicken, 4400 E. Lancaster, phone LA-2319. You know, they say there’s nothing new under the sun and this ad proves it. Fried chicken businesses have apparently been on E. Lancaster since the first fried chicken moved out of the family kitchen! Incidentally, their location was just the other side of the Rand/E. Lancaster intersection.

That’s about it for this post, but don’t go away. There’s another two pages of ads to go through. By the time we’ve turned the last page, we’re going to know a lot more about life in this area during 1951. Considering the way things have been going for us lately, meaning the economy, fuel prices, food prices, etc., we could wind up wishing we could go back to 1951!

The Times They Are A’Changin’

2008-03-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

My parents and I returned from El Paso on May 3, 1961, running headlong into major changes to Ft. Worth in general and particularly to the East Side.

Downtown was still basically the same, though it had acquired a futuristic 30-story skyscraper in the interim…the aluminum-skinned Continental National Bank building at Houston and W. 7th. It was easily identifiable from any point in Ft. Worth that offered a view of downtown as a result of the giant rotating clock mounted on it's roof. Two opposing sides displayed the time, while the letters CNB adorned the other two sides. Ft. Worth National Bank was directly across Houston Street from Continental (Remember the TV commercial with the girl singing "Ft. Worth National, that's my bank!" ?). Also, the corner diagonally opposite from CNB was Texas Electric, complete with a time/temperature display jutting out from the building and an image of their mascot, Reddy Kilowatt (Anyone remember him?).

Seminary South shopping center had been built at the intersection of I-35W & W. Berry Street. They drained a small lake to do it, so the shopping center actually sat below street level on the lake bed. This was the first modern shopping mall in Ft. Worth and it was accompanied with all kinds of gloom and doom predictions that it would ruin downtown. Turned out the predictions were correct for a long time, though now the tide has turned.

On the East Side, things had changed in spades, though most of the changes were good and simply made the East Side a more desirable place to be. The Monnig’s East Shopping Center had been built and there were plenty of small businesses, antique shops, two bowling alleys and the like. You could walk the neighborhoods or up and down E. Lancaster with no concern for your safety. Believe it or not, it even extended to women. Yep, things were good....but they would be changing in ways that no one suspected. If we had only known!

One harbinger of what was to come (though very few people would have believed it at the time) was the fact that when my father came on ahead to a job at Ranch Style Beans (he made the sauce for the beans) and look for a house, his boss told him to not look at anything south of E. Lancaster. What'd my father do? Looked at houses that were south of E. Lancaster. We eventually wound up at 416 Chicago (seven houses south of E. Lancaster), which is where I've been for the last 46 years and I suppose is where I'll be for the rest of my life.

In the intervening eight years, the toll road (I-30) had been built to speed access to Dallas, as well as to bypass all the lights and traffic on the old Dallas Pike. Oh, you never heard of the Dallas Pike? Believe it or not, you drive on it every day. It's nothing more than E. Lancaster…or Highway 80….or I-80…or I-180….or Division Street…or the Dallas Turnpike…or the Dallas Pike…or….you get the idea. Depending on the time period or where you live in relation to it, every one of those names describes the same road. Is it any wonder we get confused when someone mentions a certain street name?

In any event, the construction of I-30 has been considered by many to be the primary reason that the East Side has changed (or deteriorated) the way that it has, with a singular inability to attract and keep major destination businesses. When you could hit I-30 near downtown and be on a straight shot to Dallas with very few interchanges or exits to deal with, you're simply not going to have any reason to divert to a local highway. What's the result? Businesses begin to die. Of course, they don’t die right away. In fact, the East Side was still quite vibrant well into the 70s. Matter of fact, let's take a look at what the area was like in 1961.

Starting at Henderson and E. Lancaster, the Main Post Office was exactly that, the Main post office where all mail was sorted. It was a busy place with mail arriving and departing by both truck and train. If you wanted a letter to get someplace in a hurry, you sent it via air mail, with those letters and packages being delivered to the airport for that special treatment. UPS and FedEx were still nearly 20 years in the future.

Moving east, you had the T&P Depot that was still in full operation with passenger trains coming and going on a regular schedule. The downtown overhead was in full bloom, the result of an extremely short-sighted city council that voted against building I-30 below grade…and y'all know what kind of battle resulted from that decision before the overhead was torn down and I-30 moved south of the railroad tracks.

Oh, by the way, remember a couple of posts back when I said I'd tell you about the cold storage plant? During the 1940s, Swift & Co. had an ice cream manufacturing operation in the long freight building that sits just across Henderson Street west of the main post office. If you still don't know what building I'm talking about, it's easy to identify. It has about 30 or so loading docks with rust-red roll-up doors facing the south side of Lancaster. That's the building that had an artesian well inside, which is why my parents, grandmother and I didn't need to boil water during the '49 flood.

Anyway, continueing east on E. Lancaster, the area between I-35 and the T is now pretty much known as Mission Row (Union Gospel Mission and so on) was small businesses and gas stations. What we now call The T was the Ft. Worth Transit Company and just to the west of their main office on the south side of E. Lancaster was an electronics company (similar to a Radio Shack outlet) where I bought my first component stereo. Nobody bothered to lock their cars when they went into a business place and it was a generally safe location. And speaking of Radio Shack, they built a two-story headquarters building in the early 60s on W. 7th Street, just a little ways down from Montgomery Ward and across the street. Only it wasn't called Radio Shack. Instead, it was Tandycrafts and it contained everything from Leathercraft to Radio Shack. When they had their grand opening, my father and I rode the bus over there to explore the place. The atmosphere was very much like a bazaar and Radio Shack even had a radio controlled robot running around the building to give you a taste of what the near future would be like for all of us. Somehow, I don't think what we've wound up with is quite what they envisioned.

Good Times, Things Change & A City In A Pyramid.

2008-03-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

After Ft. Worth recovered from the ’49 flood, the next couple of years on the East Side were really pretty quiet, even mundane. It was simply a good time to live.

People were friendly, neighbors looked out for each other and downtown Ft. Worth was the place you went when you needed to make a major purchase. Leonard's dominated downtown, but you also had Everybody's Department Store (I think that was the name) that was actually owned by Leonard's. Sporting goods stores and all of the other major department stores that we were familiar with (Cox's, Striplings, Monnigs) were there, along with jewelry stores, western shops, shoe stores (How many of you remember Red Goose Shoes?) and on and on. Hotels such as the Worth and Westbrook and movie theatres, including the Hollywood, Worth and Palace Theatres on Seventh Street. In other words, whatever you find today in the huge shopping malls was available in downtown Ft. Worth in the early 50s. By many standards, it was better.

And there was no dearth of activity in downtown Ft. Worth, either. It was quite common to drive downtown (or take the bus) for a family outing (Remember when families did things as a family?) to do nothing more than stroll up and down the sidewalks, window shopping. Along the way you might encounter a photographer who would take photos of people on the street, then hand them a card as they passed. If you were interested in a copy of the photo, you contacted the company, gave them the number on the card and ordered a print. No one thought anything of it. Try taking photos of strangers at random today and you'll be lucky if the only thing that gets smashed is your camera.

One year, in the late '40s or early '50s, they had a movie premiere of a film called, appropriately enough, Ft. Worth, that starred Randolph Scott. In order to promote the film, a horse race was staged on the streets of downtown Ft. Worth, on W. 7th Street with the start/finish line being in front of the theatre where the film was showing (The Worth Theatre, I believe.). The horses were fitted with rubber horseshoes to prevent falling and the crowd that gathered to watch was very well behaved. Kids were controlled by their parents (Shock! Gasp!!) and you didn't need 40 cops to handle the mob of unruly adults.

What does this little dissertation about downtown Ft. Worth have to do with the East Side? Well, consider that in that time period, the neighborhoods (East Side, West Side, Poly, etc.) were where you lived and downtown was where you worked, shopped and did business. There was no branch banking or check cashing operations where you could also pay utility bills. The telephone company was the telephone company and if you didn't want to mail your bill (with a three cent stamp), you went down to the phone company and paid your bill inside the building. So, downtown and the neighborhoods worked together in a symbiotic relationship that functioned like well-oiled gears.

I believe I stated a few installments back that the East Side (and also Poly, though they actually qualify as South-East due to being south of the T&P tracks) was a highly desirable place to live. All in all, it was a good time. Your major source of news was… surprise, surprise… the newspaper and the radio. Remember, WBAP (now KXAS-TV) didn't even exist before 1948 and television ownership wasn't an ordinary thing. To steal a phrase from a song, "…the livin' was easy..".

But things were about to change….and a way of life with it. My parents, grandmother and I moved to El Paso in November 1952 on my doctor's orders (my lungs couldn't stand the humidity at that time). We stayed there eight and a half years and when my parents and I returned in April 1961 (my grandmother died in El Paso nine months after we moved), Ft. Worth and the East Side had changed radically. Even though the East Side was still a good place to live, seeds had been sown that would lead to what we're dealing with today.

By the way, while in El Paso, two things made the news that had Ft. Worth's name attached to them in one way or the other. One was the Geren Plan (I believe I have the name right.) that was touted as a way to revitialize downtown Ft. Worth. I may have some clippings buried somewhere. If I can find them, I'll share them with you in a later post. You can still find elements of that plan incorporated into various redevelopment ideas for different parts of Ft. Worth.

Secondly, Frank Lloyd Wright actually came up with a concept for a mile-high, pyramid-shaped skyscraper (with a foundation sinking a third of a mile into the ground). He envisioned consolidating an entire city into a single skyscraper, leaving all the reclaimed ground area to be developed in a spacious, park-like setting for those relatively few people who still insisted in living in single-family houses. I believe Ft. Worth was one city mentioned whose size would fit perfectly into a single skyscraper.

As with all things, some of the changes have been good, others bad and still others…. well, probably the less said the better.

Ruby Wenzel, Report Cards, Tony Weddel & Fountain Pens

2008-03-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that my First Grade teacher at Meadowbrook Elementary was Belle Pearson. In 1950, I was promoted to the Second Grade and my teacher turned out to be Mrs. Ruby Wenzel. An excellent teacher, friendly and very concerned about the welfare and health of her students, she was also a believer in health food supplements and, I believe she sold wheat germ in her off time. I’m not sure of that, but I seem to remember my mother picking some up from her house. She lived over on Morris Court, which is a deadend section the runs east from Oakland and winds up just behind the school playground.

I suppose I got more than my fair share of attention from my teachers because I was just a year past my major chest surgery and was puny, delicate or fragile, depending on which term you cared to use. In other words, I was the kid who…when it came time to choose up sides for any kind of games…was always the last one chosen. And in some cases, was the one that the team captains got into arguments about who was going to be forced to take on their team. Yep, kids can be very cruel. Of course, that kind of thing happened to a lot of us – still does - and somehow we survived it, becoming stronger in the process.

Of course, all kinds of things went on at Meadowbrook, as at all schools. And we drug a wide range of things home…some wanted (like class photos) and some not (like report cards). Since I still have some of each, I'm including a few photos of both so you can remember what it was like back then. Hint: Schools were not glorified prisons with police stationed at every campus and metal detectors at every door. Practically every boy (me included) carried a jacknife to play with at recess and…believe it or not…you never heard of anyone being stabbed with one. Oh, yeah, instead of crossing guards being comprised of volunteer or part-time paid adults, the kids themselves took on crossing guard duties as members of the school safety patrol. Now, on to the photos.

This Second Grade Class photo was taken on the steps of Meadowbrook Elementary School by Bill R. Cathey Photographer, 3625 Crenshaw, Ft. Worth, Texas. Photo #5-8182. Teacher of the class was, of course, Mrs. Ruby Wenzel. There are only two kids in the class that I can identify, one being yours truly, and the second one leads to an interesting story of it's own. If you’re interested, scope out the boy on the back row, fourth from the right end. That's me.

The only other kid I can identify is Walter Thomas (Tony) Weddel. He’s on the far left end of the back row. I never had anything to do with him in the Second Grade, nor he me. He was healthy and physical while I was sick, a bookworm and absent half the time. The strange thing is that we met as adults back in the late '60s and became friends (he is a superlative aviation artist, with original paintings and prints all over the world). He always had the feeling that he'd known me before but didn't know where from. I finally sent him a copy of this photo and he discovered that we were both in it. Turns out we've known each other since 1950 and didn't know it!

Quite a difference in appearances if you compare this 1950 photo to a Second Grade class photo taken today. And it's not only the appearance of the kids that'd be different. The report cards don't look anything alike either. For example, I'm including a couple of photos depicting both sides of my own report card from the First Grade (1949/1950).

I know you’ve seen these report card images in a previous post, but bear with me. I think you’ll find it interesting.

Note that this is both the front and back. The card actually opens up. And if you think the signatures of the teacher, principal and my parents look a little strange, there's a reason for it. Ballpoint pens didn't exist then. Anyone remember fountain pens that were filled with real ink and would occasionally squirt blobs of ink just where you didn't want them? Students took bottles of ink to school and refilled the internal bladder by sticking the pen nib into the ink and then working a little metal lever on the side of the pen to suck the ink into the bladder. If you've never used a real fountain pen, you don't know what you've missed, including ink stains in the bottom of your shirt pocket because the pen sprung a leak.

You've only seen the outside of the report card. Now let's look inside.

Take a look at what they graded you on. Handwriting…Art…Health. And one entire half of the card devoted to Citizenship! This section covered everything from Courtesy (!) to Self-Reliance (?). You also see why I was the reject in the class. Take a look at my attendance. Out of 205 days, I was only in class for 85 (and I left early due to illness one of those) and out sick for 120. Today, between missing that much class time and the fact that I was skinny as a rail and couldn't gain weight if you handed me an anvil, the Child Protective Services would be investigating my parents for suspected child abuse! As I've said before, some of the changes we've experienced of late have been anything but good.

The Flood, Keeping Your Feet Dry, Alligators & Milk Cans.

2008-03-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

When 1949 arrived, rain came with it...lots of rain. All that rain led, in turn, to the infamous '49 flood. If you've been watching the films of all the flooding that occurred at the end of July 2004, especially the area south and southeast of Dallas, visualize that scene in Ft. Worth proper. You have to remember that there were no levees containing the Trinity River on the west side of town, the water treatment plant sat down on the Trinity flood plain (just like Don Carter's bowling alley and the subsequent Hope Community Church on the East Side) and there was little if any protection for any of the other low-lying areas. Result? When it started raining…and raining…and raining (NOAH! WHERE'S THAT ARK WHEN WE NEED IT?), the water followed the path of least resistance.

Once the water rose high enough to overflow it's banks, what came next was predictable. What wasn't predictable was just how bad it would get. The near west side of town, essentially meaning from the bluffs on the east side of the Trinity onward, went underwater. Montgomery Ward was a going concern at that time and their building was flooded all the way up to the second floor. Of course, that much water also contaminated the water treatment plant, meaning you had to boil all of your water (bottled water in every convenience and grocery store wasn't an option then) unless you had access to a deep well that hadn't been flooded. And one more thing. Typhoid shots.

How did the East Side fare? For the most part, pretty well. Keep in mind that the East Side is, in general, one of the highest parts of Tarrant County. In fact, the hill that National Farm Life (On the north side of I-30 and about a mile or so east of Oakland.) sits on has actually been identified as the highest point in the entire county. Put another way, if the East Side ever floods to the point of being submerged, you'll be using a boat to travel over Ft. Worth.

Despite that advantage, there were still problems. Sycamore Creek, which runs under E. Lancaster just west of Marshal Grain, was also out of it's banks and over the highway. My father was working for Swift's at the cold storage plant (the T&P warehouse just west of the post office on E. Lancaster) and rode the bus home every day during the flood. According to his stories, the water was so deep over the road that all passengers had to stand up in their seats in order to keep their feet dry as the bus made it's way slowly thru the water. Strange, isn't it, that buses in the 1940s could successfully navigate water so deep that the water would be up inside the bus so far that it was nearly to the top of the seat cushions, yet today you're warned not to drive into water that barely reaches your car's bumper?

And, of course, floods bring out all kinds of strange critters living in close proximity to humans that you normally never see. Cottonmouth snakes for one, though those were pretty well expected. What wasn't expected was a little beastie that followed my father down Morris Street when he was walking home from the bus stop. An alligator about three or four feet long that apparently had crawled out of the Trinity. As he told it, the little fella was just simply following him down the street. They ignored each other and the 'gator finally ambled on somewhere else. My father came on home and didn't tell anyone about it…until a photo showed up in the paper showing a man who had caught this alligator. My mother couldn't believe he missed an opportunity to get his picture in the paper!

Finally, does anyone remember those big aluminum milk cans with handles on the side to make it easier to lift? And the big, screw-off lids? The things probably held twenty or twenty-five gallons of milk. It so happened that Swift's had a deep artesian water well inside the cold storage building (presubably it's still there) that was not contiminated by the flood waters and my father would bring artesian water home in those milk cans. As a result, my parents, grandmother and I had clean, fresh water that didn't have to be boiled before drinking.

Meadowbrook Elementary, Belle Pearson and The Surrounding Area.

2008-03-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

In 1949, I started the first grade at Meadow-
brook Element-
ary. At least on the outside it looked then as it does now, even extending to the same temporary classroom buildings sitting behind the main brick school. The principal was Charles Berry and my First Grade teacher was a woman named Belle Pearson. This would be the last year she would teach before retiring. From my point of view, she was a kind, sweet, caring lady, an excellent teacher and I got along quite well with her. Strangely, she had a reputation that had a lot of parents and children virtually in hysterics. Why? The only reason I can think of is that she was exactly what a good teacher should be. Someone who didn't let the pupils run rough shod over her. In other words, she taught…and we learned as a
result.

By the way, if you will look to the left, you will find photos of my first grade report card. Take a good look at it and compare it to the report cards of today...assuming they’re even sending report cards home anymore. If some ‘experts’ have their way, kids won’t be graded on their work at all for fear of damaging their self-esteem.

However, the perception that so many (meaning mainly the parents) had of her made registration an experience. The way the system worked was that you registered for school first, then you were assigned to the specific class. As you would expect, there were several different classes for each grade, meaning you had no idea who your teacher would be.

All too frequently, when a child was assigned to Belle Pearson’s room, the parent (usually the mother) would hug the child to her and start wailing something along the lines of “Oh, you got Belle Pearson...you got Belle Pearson! Oh, no! That’s horrible! I’m so sorry!”, etc., etc. It wasn’t long before the child was crying and screaming at the top of their lungs!

Incidentally, Meadowbrook Elementary uses the Buffalo as it's mascot (unless it's been changed as a result of political correctness). Matter of fact, I still have an original yellow and green Meadowbrook Buffalos hat from 1949 which I will eventually post a photo of.

As for what the area looked like in that time period, Meadowbrook Drive itself had been fully developed and the fire station on the northwest corner of Meadowbrook and Oakland was the main protection for this area. Today the station has been relocated further west on Meadowbrook, not too far from Meadowbrook and Beach, and the old fire station has become the Firehouse Gallery.

Oakland, Martel and the area around scenery hill from Meadowbrook up to what would eventually be I-30 was developing rapidly, driven in large part by the presence of Channel 5. Once you got north of the future location of I-30, Randol Mill Road (which was narrow and 2 lanes wide) snaked it's way thru heavy woods eastward towards Arlington. The entire area that is now White Lake Hills, Riverbend and Woodhaven was virgin ranchland (except for the White Lake Dairy, which is where White Lake Hills got it's name). The last vestige of the dairy can still be seen today on the west side of Oakland and north of I-30, just beyond the present day location of Waffle House. It’s a silo that looks like it was built from individual stones. In actual fact, it’s solid cast concrete that was textured to look that way.

The northeast corner of Meadowbrook and Oakland, where Meadowbrook Middle School is today, was a wide open field where cattle grazed. Yep, things were more than a little different in the late 40s and, in some ways, a lot better.

From An Estate To A Supermarket

2008-03-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

One of the more interesting residences on E. Lancaster during the 1940s was the W.K. Gordon, Jr. estate at the northwest corner of E. Lancaster and Edgewood Terrace. Believe me, it deserved the name because it encompassed the entire area now occupied by the Pep Boys and Carnival buildings. William K. Gordon, Jr. was an oil man whose childhood stomping grounds was out around Strawn, Texas. When he bought the E. Lancaster property I can't say, but it existed until sometime after November 1952 when my parents and I moved to El Paso. By the time we returned in 1961, the estate had been sold and the property converted to commercial use.

What did the estate look like? Well, there are no photos that I'm aware of, but try to envision this description: The entire property was heavily wooded….and I mean from the edge of the sidewalk back and the foliage was thick enough to make it difficult to see the house, which was set back toward the back of the property. And the entire property, if I remember correctly, was protected by a wrought iron fence. There was also a full-size tennis court in an open area between the house and E. Lancaster. Can't remember what the house looked like, but it was impressive.

As you would expect, the Gordons employed servants…mainly a cook and a chauffeur. I know this because they had two children, a boy and a girl. I can't remember the girl's age or name, but the son was William K. Gordon, III, who was within a few months of my own age. Had an opportunity to visit their estate one time to play with Bill and Mrs. Gordon insisted on sending their chauffeured Limousine for me, even though I could've walked since it was only three or four blocks. That was an interesting experience in oxymora because the Limo looked like it was bigger…and might've actually been…than the house I lived in. Beyond that, I was a very small and delicate looking child. My mother said that she could hardly see me sitting in that back seat!

By the time we returned from El Paso, the estate had been sold to Safeway. Needing to expand their original E. Lancaster location and having no way to do it, they had bought the Gordon estate, bulldozed the entire wooded property level and built the second Safeway on E. Lancaster, which is the vacant building most recently occupied by Pep Boys. The rest of the property was used for parking. When Safeway found a need to expand (in the late 60s I believe), they didn't have to move very far. They simply put up a new building due west of the current one on the same property. That building is currently a Carnival.

But what about the original (actually second) Safeway building? It wound up being used as a TruValue Hardware location until they eventually moved over to a location just down the road in Monnigs East Shopping Center. Cloth World then took over the space. After they moved out, Pep Boys moved in. Now they're gone and who knows what comes next.

And where was the original Safeway store? On the corner of Chicago and E. Lancaster. That building has had more occupants than you can count, including at least two tire stores and two pawn shops, but is currently the home of Cash America Pawn Shop.

So, just in case I've lost you somewhere along the way, this summary may help you. There have actually been three Safeway store locations on E. Lancaster. Each succeeding free-standing store was larger than the preceeding one. First came the southwest corner of E. Lancaster/Chicago location. Don't know when that store was built, but considering it's design, it could've been the early 1940s or even earlier. Keep in mind that the Beacon Hill Addition/Turner Sub-division area (which is the legal description for the part of Chicago Street south of E. Lancaster) was developed in the early 1920s. From there, Safeway moved to what we know as the Pep Boys location for their second store, then twenty feet west for their third store that eventually became Carnival when Safeway abandoned Texas.

Cars, Taxis, Buses and (Gasp!) Walking

2008-03-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

If you're curious about how people got around back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was just like it is today, only better. At least I think it was better.

Private cars, of course, but for those who couldn't afford to own a car there were plenty of other options. Taxi fares were very reasonable (dirt cheap by today's standards) and the same went for buses. If I remember correctly, bus fare was something like ten or fifteen cents on the city bus. Incidentally, instead of being called the T, as it is today, it was the Fort Worth Transit Company.

Walking wasn't done for exercise but was, instead, a perfectly normal…and safe… means of getting around. No one thought it unusual to walk half a mile or a mile to one of the few neighborhood groceries (a slightly larger version of what we now call convenience stores) and then walk back home carrying two or three large sacks (paper, not plastic) of groceries. When you needed to buy a large supply of groceries, or items that the neighborhood groceries never carried (such as candied fruit in bulk, not pre-packaged, for holiday fruitcakes) you took the bus downtown to Leonards Department Store (they had a huge grocery section on the ground floor, comparable to today's smaller supermarkets). After buying a full shopping basket of groceries (which might have cost you all of ten or twelve dollars, if that) you splurged and took a taxi home for the phenomenal sum of $1.50 or $2.00. For that price, two passengers rode and the taxi driver even helped unload the groceries from the taxi.

If you're wondering just how safe it really was in those days, consider the following. Many's the time my mother was waiting on a bus (which ran every fifteen minutes during peak periods) when a rank stranger driving down the street would stop and offer her a ride to work. That's it…just a ride to work. The person, either man or woman, was simply headed toward town and didn't see the point of leaving another person standing on the curb waiting for a bus. It was nothing more than simple consideration for a fellow human being. Once they got downtown, my mother would get out near the phone company to go to work, thank the person for the ride and go on, knowing she'd never see that person again.

Even more shocking by today's standards is the fact that when I seven and eight years old, it was commonplace for me to walk two blocks to the bus stop…by myself…ride the bus downtown and meet my mother for lunch at the phone company, maybe spend time in some of the shops downtown (particularly bookstores or newsstands), then ride the bus back home…alone. I was never bothered, assaulted, abducted or otherwise threatened by anyone. And believe me, I talked to any stranger that I happened to be near!

Oh, yeah, one other thing. Waiting for the bus out in the neighborhood was always fun because you could entertain yourself by catching and playing with Horned Toads. When the bus came, you put'em back on the ground or in the grass where you found them. And at night in the summer, fireflys were virtually epidemic. Try finding either one today!

Homes, Entertainment & Gas Stations

2008-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

As I said in a previous post, around 1947 we had bought a house at 4928 Morris Street, purchased from a woman by the name of Mrs. Godwin. She lived in a large two-story brick home on Oakland Blvd., just north of and on the same side as the present Oakland Corners strip shopping center. If you drive north on Oakland from E. Lancaster and look to the left (to the west if you prefer compass directions), you'll see a vacant lot right next to another large two-story brick home. That lot is where Mrs. Godwin's house was. By the 1960s, she had turned it into a boarding house. After she passed away a few years later, the house was torn down.

During the late 40s and early 50s, the East Side was almost entirely residential, including most of E. Lancaster, though interspersed with a few small businesses. For example, a washateria was located on the west side of Rand Street, about a block south of East Lancaster on property that is now a parking lot for Sagamore Hill Baptist Church. Incidentally, Sagamore Hill Baptist Church has sold their property to Charity Church and begun building a new sanctuary on Green Oaks in far east Ft. Worth.

At least one church was located directly on E. Lancaster and gas stations were beginning to occupy more than a few corners. Incidentally, the building on the northwest corner of Rand and Virginia Lane (which housed the Choice Pregnancy Center) was originally the Texas Department of Public Safety building. That's where I went in 1964 to take my driving test.

There was, I believe, a gas station on the corner of E. Lancaster and Rand, occupying a small portion of the area now taken by Auto Zone. Just behind the station was a large two story house, complete with tall front columns in the antebellum style

The Gateway Theatre (the neighborhood source of entertainment) sat where McDonald's is now on the northeast corner of Sargeant and E. Lancaster and a brick structure across the street on the northwest corner of Sargeant and E. Lancaster (what we would now describe as a small strip center) was home to numerous small businesses. Although I can’t document it yet, I’ve heard that the building held a doctor’s office and possibly a drugstore. Oh, yeah, in those days doctors still made house calls. The practice wasn't unusual either and if you had an emergency in the middle of the night, you called the doctor and he came out (carrying the familiar little black bag). There was none of this calling the funeral home ambulance or finding your own way to the emergency room. Your home was the emergency room and the doctor came to you.

Tarantulas & a dead pilot.

2008-03-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

According to my mother, along with photos I have to support the fact, we first lived on Ash Crescent, literally at the top of the hill about a block and a half south of an elementary school on Vickery Blvd and a block east of Riverside Drive. Despite my mother's intentions that we were going to stay there so I could attend that school when I got old enough, it didn't work out that way.

Though we didn't remain on Ash Cresent that long , there were a couple of interesting events told by my mother that I'll relate for you. While living there (probably during 1946), a light plane crashed into a gulley that was maybe a block away, I believe, killing the pilot. Essentially, the location was a couple of hundred feet from the southeast corner of Riverside and Vickery. Remember, there was no TV news or instant media coverage in that time period, so it made for a little bit of excitement for those living in the immediate vicinity.

As for the other event, we've all gotten used today to the idea of hardly ever seeing any critters in or under our houses. Today people get upset if they see a roach in the house or a harmless spider in the garden. It wasn't always that way and a case in point was the Ash Crescent house.

My mother was a consummate animal lover, willing to do just about anything to help an injured, starving or trapped animal. Cats, especially. Anyway, she kept hearing kittens crying under the house (pier and beam foundation). No way she could ignore them and they wouldn't come to her when she called. What'd she do? You guessed it…crawled under the house to find the kittens and bring them out. Consider that there was precious little light under the house, so she couldn't see what else was under there with her. What there was would qualify for a modern episode of Fear Factor.

After she had extricated herself and the kittens from beneath the house, a neighbor came over to her to see if she was alright. When she assured the neighbor that she was, the neighbor asked her is she knew how much danger she had been in. "What danger?" my mother asked.

"Tarantulas." the neighbor replied. It so happened that tarantula spiders (You know what I'm talking about. Big. Black. Hairy. Experts also say they're non-poisonous and totally harmless. Yeah, sure. If you believe that, I've got some waterfront property in Arizona I'd like to sell you.) were quite common all over Ft. Worth at that time, but you'd usually see one or two at a time. They could even be spotted crossing streets. Turned out that the little buggers were apparently breeding under many of the houses on Ash Cresent…including ours. Despite the fact that my mother was deathly afraid of tarantulas, she had crawled thru dozens if not hundreds of them to rescue those kittens. Why none of them crawled on her while she was under the house no one ever figured out. Good thing, though. If one of'em had crawled up her leg or she could've turned on a light, she would've created a new entrance into the house by standing straight up thru the floor!

By early 1947, we had bid goodbye to the tarantulas and bought a house at 4928 Morris Street. This was on the East Side, one block south of Meadowbrook Drive and halfway between Queen Street and Tierney Road. My father was working for Swift at the Cold Storage Building on East Lancaster (I'll explain that one later), I would soon have major chest surgery, the East Side was a very desirable place to live and the 1949 flood was still two years down the road.

Except for 8 1/2 years in El Paso, I've been on the East Side ever since. This part of Ft. Worth has ranged all the way from a highly desirable location to a virtual combat zone and everything in between. Where it's going now is still to be determined, but if you don't know where it's been, you won't be able to figure out where you want it to go.

If you've managed to find this installment vaguely interesting, stick around. You may learn some things about the East Side, as well as the rest of Ft. Worth, that you didn't know. And if y'all happen to have information that'll fill in some of the gaps in my memory, don't hesitate to let me know.