Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > The Lighter Side
ROAD TRIP: A BBM Game
MaineWriter:
Shenandoah, TX
If you haven’t heard of Shenandoah’s colorful history during the Texas Revolution, its rivalry for county seat status, its being bypassed by the railroad, and its participation in the World Wars, don’t worry. Shenandoah had no history prior to the 1960s.
Shenandoah History
"Shenandoah ... is typical of the bedroom communities that have proliferated north of Houston in southern Montgomery County since the 1960s. Development of the subdivision, originally known as Shenandoah Valley, began in the late 1960s on a large tract of land on the east bank of Panther Creek just west of newly constructed I-45."
Leslie
Fran:
Hussar, AB
Durum wheat field, Hussar, Alberta
Hussar is a village in the province of Alberta. The community was named for the German settlers who had served in a regiment of the hussars.
2001 population: 181 (Source: Statistics Canada)
jpwagoneer1964:
River Oaks, Tx
RIVER OAKS, TEXAS. River Oaks is an incorporated residential community on State Highway 183 within the western boundary of Fort Worth in west central Tarrant County. In 1941 the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce deeded to the federal government 1,450 acres to construct a plant in which to build B-24 bombers, and to build a landing field, which would become Carswell Air Force Base.qv Construction began in April of that year; also that year local residents voted to incorporate their community. The construction of the air base, which was activated by the Army in 1942, became the catalyst for community development. River Oaks had a population of 2,000 by the end of the 1940s. During the 1950s water and sewer systems were completed, streets were paved, and a library was built. In 1960 the population of River Oaks surpassed 8,000. The dramatic population increase was due to the increased activity at Carswell and to the arrival of the General Dynamics Corporation in the Fort Worth area. For the next few decades the population level remained above 8,000. During the 1980s, however, the number of residents dropped, probably as a result of decreased activity at the air base and the decline in defense contracts received by General Dynamics. In 1989 River Oaks had an estimated 7,740 residents, and in 1990 it reported 6,580.
Interesting note on the cars parked in this photo. The smaller station wagon 2nd to the right is a late 1950's Borgward. When I grew up during the 1960's in southern California these high quaility German cars were still not an uncommon sight and apparently not in Texas either. Priced less than a Mercedes, they found a fair share of buyers during the import boom of the mid 1950's. The company found itself in receivership around 1960-61 and the bank ordered it shut down. One of the bank board members was also a high ranking BMW offical. It was later proven there were assets to equal debts. Had it not been for a conflict on interest we might have the opportunity to buy Borgwards Today! At that time BMW had nothing competive in the US market.
The other cars L to R are a 1950-52 Plymouth, 1955 Chevy, 1956 Chevy, 1952 Buick and 1950 Chevy.
MaineWriter:
Sheffield, TX
The Spanish explorer Gaspar Sosa is said to have visited the area as early as 1590.
In 1849, the Army surveyed a road from San Antonio to El Paso and they included what is now Sheffield on their route because of the Pecos Spring and the Pecos River.
The first settler, a man named John Cannon moved into the area and bought the spring. Another early settler was Will Sheffield. He had a slight advantage in having the town named after him since he was the town's first postmaster (1898).
Six years into the new century, Sheffield had all the amenities of a thriving town. The oil boom of the 20s changed the entire region - including Sheffield - permanently. Sheffield didn't experience the type of lawlessness of other oil boom towns like Ranger, Kilgore, Mexia or Freer.
On the map, Sheffield is tucked into the smallest little cranny available in Pecos County like a spider in a huge room.
Leslie
memento:
Dot, Texas
Dot is on Farm Road 1950 four miles southwest of Chilton in western Falls County. William B. Murphy applied for a post office and suggested that it be called Dot, his daughter's nickname; the post office was granted to the settlement in 1894. Two years later the community had two churches, a hotel, a cotton gin, and fifteen residents. Its post office was discontinued in 1905, and mail for Dot was sent to Chilton. Children from Dot attended nearby Liberty School, which in 1904 had one teacher and eighty-two students; by the mid-1930s it had forty-one students. The community appeared as a school, a church, and several residences on county highway maps in the late 1940s, when its population was twenty-five. The school was consolidated with the Chilton Independent School District in 1949. From 1964 to 1990 the population of Dot was reported as twenty-one. In 2000 the population was seventeen.
(It's just a Dot on the map.)
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