Category: The History of Texas

My Friends, The History of Texas4 Comments

The Lone Ranger

lewisotr

My friend of many years, John R Hughes, who passed away 4 years ago next week, told me many times that he was named after his great uncle the famous Texas Ranger John Reynolds Hughes. John R. as he was always refereed to, not John very often, but John R would tell a story. I’m sure if he ever told me that his famous great uncle was actually the Lone Ranger (without a mask I’m almost sure) I probably would have laid it off to just being a wild tale or something. But doing a little reading up on the … Continue reading The Lone Ranger

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, The History of Texas, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

Bump Gates

lewisotr

Probably Nothing Banged Up More Pickups Than The Bump Gate. Being a Hill Country Boy, I never got much practice using a Bump Gate. They are mostly something from West and South Texas. I’ve heard of lots of calamities with city slickers and Yankees trying to use them. Either running into them at full speed to not going through them fast enough. Not to even talk about pulling to long a trailer through one. I think it’s probably something you need to watch a pro operate them a few times before you decide to do it yourself. I guess they … Continue reading Bump Gates

The History of Texas, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Pickup Bumper Advertising (long as the buyer would go along with it)

lewisotr

Dealerships around the state ordered pickup trucks without rear bumpers. D & D Bumper Works in Seguin, Texas made very sturdy steel bumpers with the dealership name and location stamped in and highlighted with paint. That became a rolling advertisement for the dealership. There were perhaps other companies that offered this service, but D & D was the ones that seemed to be most widely used. Continue reading Pickup Bumper Advertising (long as the buyer would go along with it)

Amazing Things, The History of TexasLeave a comment

Don’t Mess With Texas

lewisotr

Believe it or not, Texas had an even worse roadway litter problem a few decades ago than we do now. This is what typical roadways looked like back in the 1960s & 1970s. This was along RM 2222 as it winds down the hill to Bull Creek. This from Texas Highways Magaine The history of one of the most successful ad campaigns ever https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don’t_Mess_with_Texas A Smithsonian Magazine Article about the very famous anti-litter campaign. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/trashy-beginnings-dont-mess-texas-180962490/ It guess it’s not just a Texas problem. When traveling through New Mexico we saw billboards concerning their Highway Litter Problem. Evidently they used the … Continue reading Don’t Mess With Texas

Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The History of TexasLeave a comment

T & S Manufacturing – Jermyn, Texas

lewisotr

Originally posted on May 30, 2017 Anyone that has spent very much time driving around the rural ranching areas of Texas, have probably seen plenty of these Trip Hoppers as well other cattle feeding equipment manufactured by T & S. Of course Jermyn, Texas is a long way from Marble Falls, where I was raised, but just about anyone from here have a special kinship to T & S. The Taylor Family, Charley & Liz along with sons Jimmy Dan & Pat, were residents of Marble Falls up until the early 1970s. Charley was instrumental in forming the Marble Falls … Continue reading T & S Manufacturing – Jermyn, Texas

Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The History of Texas, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Marble Falls Rodeo Association – Marble Falls, Texas

lewisotr

Since 1957 the Marble Falls Rodeo has been going strong. Nothing said summer time back in the early days like “The Rodeo”. Seeing Lloyd Woodley’s trucks loaded with stock rolling into town and a grand parade bringing traffic to a halt on Friday afternoon. There was excitement was in the air ! You knew it was time to rodeo when the turntable playing Hank Williams records over load speakers at the rodeo grounds could be heard all over town and then that ever familiar voice of Charley Taylor would come across to announce that things were ready to get underway. … Continue reading Marble Falls Rodeo Association – Marble Falls, Texas

Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The History of TexasLeave a comment

Bat Guano Mining Around The Area and Blowout, Texas

lewisotr

Bat Guano Mining During The Civil War:https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dkc09 I have never heard of this place or such a thing happening over by Johnson City or Round Mt. or Willow City. Blowout, TexasMore on primitive bat dooky mining and the hazards associated.http://www.texasescapes.com/MichaelBarr/Blowout.htm Blowout Community, a settlement fifteen miles northwest of Johnson City in northwestern Blanco County, dates back to 1854. That year a party of two dozen homesteaders from Kentucky settled on the east side of Comanche Creek near Comanche Spring, about three miles below the creek’s origin. As more settlers moved into the area the small community of Blowout developed upstream … Continue reading Bat Guano Mining Around The Area and Blowout, Texas

Amazing Things, The Early Days, The History of Texas4 Comments

Evolution of a State by Noah Smithwick

lewisotr

This is a post I originally made on the Texas History Books – Facebook Group I have always heard it said that this is one of the best, if not the best first hand account of the settling of Texas ever put into book form. I grew up with a 1st edition, 1900 copy of this book in our home. It had belonged to my grandfather, A.T. Lewis. I knew it was a book that had to remain in our family. I grew up in Smithwick Texas, with the old Smithwick Mill on the Colorado River being on part of … Continue reading Evolution of a State by Noah Smithwick

Amazing Things, The History of Texas13 Comments

White Stone – The Forgotten Little Town

lewisotr

Back in the 50s and 60s there was a community that I well remember. It was a suburb of Cedar Park. Of course in those days, Cedar Park really wasn’t big enough to have a suburb. Shortly after you turned west on FM 1431 off of US 183 (of course in those days there wasn’t a FM 1431 going east) you would start to see little shanty houses along the highway and out across the railroad track. All the houses were white. Not necessarily painted white, but covered in white dust. The scrub oak trees were all layered with a … Continue reading White Stone – The Forgotten Little Town