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History
in a Pecan Shell
The first post office was known as "Blue Goose" for an hapless
Heron that cowboys killed thinking it was a goose. The town was later
named after Sweetwater Creek but it was spelled Sweet Water
until 1918.
A timeline of significant facts concerning Sweetwater:
1877: first store set up
1879: post office opened as Blue Goose
1881: county was organized - Sweet Water becomes county seat - Texas
and Pacific Railroad arrives
1883: a saloon robbery kills the proprietors and necessitates the
opening of a bank
1885: blizzard kills 90% of the county's animals
1886-1887: a drought forces the population to move to greener pastures
1891: first totally separate courthouse is built (former courthouse
shared space with jail and store)
1898: town lake built
1914: Trammell Lake built
1918: Sweet Water becomes Sweetwater
1929: Lake Sweetwater built
1940s: Sweetwater's airfield (Avenger
Field) was used to train British pilots, American pilots and in
1943 - Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS) |
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Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd |
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Courtesy
www.rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/
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Sweetwater
Landmarks / Attractions
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Nolan
County Courthouse
Avenger
Field, AKA Sweetwater Army Airfield
WWII WASP Memorials & National WASP WWII Museum
National
Register of Historic Places
Sweetwater has 90 entries on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nolan
County Coliseum is perhaps the city's architectural centerpiece.
Pioneer
City-County Museum: 610 East 3rd Street
915-235-8547
Lakes: Sweetwater,
Trammell and Oak Creek Reservoir
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The 1926 Municipal
Building.
In the National Register of Historic Places
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Sweetwater Municipal
Building Auditorium historical marker
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Sweetwater Municipal
Building - Police Dept.
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
The Ragland Building
downtown
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Ragland Building
historical marker
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
1911
building downtown
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Sweetwater Reporter
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Sweetwater Reporter
Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Texas Theatre
in 2007
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Photographer's
Note:
Once you get outside of the courthouse square you start running into
more run down or abandoned buildings. - Mike
Price, December 2007 |
Midway Drive-In
Theatre
Photos courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
The Closed Drive-In
Theater.
Photos courtesy Mike
Price, December 2007 |
"Sweetwater's
favorite animal, taken 10 miles east of Sweetwater just by chance."
Mike
Price,
September 2007
More Texas Animals |
Sweetwater
Chamber of Commerce: 810 E. Broadway
P.O. Box. 1148, Sweetwater, Texas 79556
Phone: 1-800-658-6757, 915-235-5488
Website: http://www.sweetwatertexas.org/
Sweetwater
Hotels |
Roy
Crane and Captain Easy by Clay Coppedge ("Letters From
Central Texas" Column)
That Roy Crane would end up in the funny papers did not seem pre-ordained
when he was a boy growing up in Sweetwater. Comic strips hardly
existed when Crane was born in 1901. He would be one of the people
who would help create a crucial part of that art form, if you’re
willing to call it that...
Bluebonnet
Hotel by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" Column)
Now surrounded by so many 200-foot tall wind turbines that it has
become the wind power capital of the nation, Sweetwater used to
have a more traditional skyscraper – the seven-story Bluebonnet
Hotel...
Sweetwater
WW II WASP
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) were a little known group
of female pilots who performed many duties short of combat during
WW II. Their
story makes pretty good reading for those interested in WW
II. All were trained at Avenger
Field in Sweetwater.
While the army was forming the 509'th group (to deliver the atomic
bombs) the men pilots did not want to fly the large and complicated
B-29 which had a reputation for problems. The commanding officer
brought in two WASP pilots and in a couple of days trained them
to fly that plane and they proceed to shame the men into flying.
- Mike
Price, December 08, 2007
Pan
Zareta: Queen of the Turf by Clay Coppedge
Pan Zareta, the greatest filly in horse racing history, was foaled
in Texas, in 1910 by breeder J.F. (Jim) and H.S. Newman in Sweetwater.
History Cartoon by Roger T. Moore
Texas
rangers naming Sweetwater
April 2, 1921: Threats of Secession
Following Gov. Neff's veto of a bill creating West Texas Agricultural
and Mechanical College
Jan. 24, 1876: Bartholomew (Bat) Masterson
Jan. 24, 1876: Bartholomew (Bat) Masterson's legend gets off to
a lead filled start in a Sweetwater saloon.
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Broadway Street
looking East, circa late 1940s
Photo courtesy Donnie Fort |
Sweetwater,
Texas
Enclosed is picture of Sweetwater (see above photo) as it looked
as I was growing up. I graduated in 1955 from Newman High. It was
a very nice town for a person to grow up in with the pride of the
times and the size of the town. I was taught to respect the Texas
Flag and the US Flag and other people.
As a child I worked for the Sweetwater Reporter, Homer Baxter as
a delivery boy. Anybody that has lived in the area for any amount
of time knew Homer.
History includes The Sweetwater Swatters (baseball team), the old
court house and the square, the overpass on the West side of town,
Starr's Drive In, Sweetwater Lake, flying kites down by the ball
park, drug stores and their banana splits and sundaes, Newman High
School, Sweetwater Mustangs and of course the Texas Movie House,
Avenger Field and the WASPS plus the churches in the area. - Donnie
Fort, May 29, 2006
Subject:
Scary Snakes of Sweetwater
My name is Brandon, from Fort Worth, Texas. We spent a lot of our
childhood going to Sweetwater because it's where my dad was from.
They have some pretty cool stuff, like the annual Rattlesnake Round-up.
Sweetwater is in West Texas so there are plenty of Western Diamondback
Rattlesnakes. Personally I am very afraid of snakes, but I still
had a lot of fun at the Rattlesnake Round-up most years. They have
a huge carnival and flea-market, good barbeque, and you can look
at the scary snakes. I had to stay there the entire summer I turned
15. It's not a very fun place for a city kid from Southwest Fort
Worth but I had cousins there my age and they seemed to like living
there just fine. I always thought it was an interesting little town,
just too in-the-middle-of-nowhere for me, and too snake infested.
The Rattlesnake Round-up is a huge tourist attraction, so check
it out! - Brandon Cunningham, February 22, 2006
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories
and recdent/vintage/historic photos, please contact
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