Images From The Meadowlark, May 4, 1951

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.

More Ads From The Fifties

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Real Meadowlark

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!