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Here and Thereby
Bob Bowman | |
Here
and there in East Texas.
Each
holiday, a hay bale north of Bethany,
on the Texas-Louisiana line, wishes travelers its good wishes for the reason.
The last time I was there, the hay bale was celebrating. St. Patrick’s Day. The
hay bale, of course, is decorated by the landowner. Texas’
oldest remaining gallows, still in place after nearly 100 years, is in the four-cell
jail of the Sabine County
Jail in Hemphill. The gallows,
however, haven’t been used in eighty years. The
best lookout in East Texas is likely
from Love’s Lookout
north of Jacksonville.
Contrary to popular believe, the lookout wasn’t named for the lovers who often
park there. The hill top was named for Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Love, who donated the
site as a roadside park in the l930s.
Coldspring originally
stood in a low-lying area known locally as the “gullies.” When the county was
built there, rainwater kept flowing down the hill, washing away the buildings’
foundations. The town eventually moved to the top of the hill, leaving behind
a jail and courthouse. The courthouse burned in the 1920s and it, too, was rebuilt
on the hill. The old jail, now a museum, still stands in the gullies.John
Winfred Bowen, a farmer in East Texas,
was born in 1885 with the remarkable ability to store facts and figures with the
dexterity of a computer. “Believe It Or Not” cartoonist Robert Ripley once called
him “the human computer.” A physician who examined Bowen said he was born with
an extra brain cell which functioned much like a computer’s circuit boards.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about German prisoners-of-war who were used in the timber
industry during World War II.
Bonnie Miller of Huntington called to let us know that POWs were also used by
rice farmers in the China
area near Beaumont.When
the Tyler Theater closed in 1982, the entire town mourned its passing. During
its heyday, the theater was the showplace of East
Texas. It was opened on August 2, 1940, with the premiere of “They Drive By
Night” and ended in 1982 with “The Challenge,” a Japanese martial arts film.
Edna Porter of Diboll would like to know more about Clay’s Mound, supposedly in
Shelby County. If you know something about the community, get in touch with me,
and I’ll pass the information along to Edna.The
small town of Pluck in Polk County advertises a non-existant airport. A local
man said: “Well, we’ve got a big field that’s perfect for an airport. All we need
from the government are some runways, hangers, pilots and planes.”
Bob
Bowman's East Texas July 4, 2010 Column
A weekly column syndicated
in 70 East Texas newspapers
Copyright Bob Bowman | |
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