ROAD TRIP: A BBM Game

[MaineWriter]

Goliad, TX

The site of Goliad was inhabited by Indians prior to the Spanish establishing a mission and fort in 1749. The Mission was Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiratu Santo de Zuniga. The fort was originally Presidio Nuestra Senora de Loreto de La Bahia.

Both the mission and fort had originally been established in 1722 on what is presently Lavaca Bay, hence the designation "La Bahia" - Spanish for bay.

An earlier mission (Mission Nuestra Senora del Rosario) just west of town was founded in 1754 with the purpose of converting the Indians. The mission was quite successful in breeding cattle, but was abandoned in 1807. There's a marker on the former site four miles west on highway 59.

The mission (La Bahia) is considered to be the first large cattle ranch in Texas since it was successful in raising an estimated herd of 40,000. Goliad was set up as a Mexican municipality in 1829. The town of Goliad moved across the river to the present location in 1836 when the county was organized and it was made the county seat of government.

Later in its history, Goliad County was the scene of the "Cart Wars" - an ugly series of incidents in Texas history which was brought to a close by a legislative ruling and the employment of the large Live Oak on the courthouse lawn.

Leslie

[jpwagoneer1964]

Double Oak, Tx

DOUBLE OAK, TEXAS. Double Oak is on Farm Road 407 ten miles south of Denton in southern Denton County. The area had a school district as early as 1884, but Double Oak was not incorporated until the 1970s, when suburban sprawl from Dallas-Fort Worth arrived. Double Oak reported a population of 836 in 1980. Ten years later the residential community's population had nearly doubled, to 1,664. The population grew to 2,179 in 2000.

[Fran]

Kahwin, AB

[Meryl]

Nopaltepec, Mexico

[jpwagoneer1964]

Chandler Texas 


My last name.


City Of Chandler

Welcome to the City of Chandler

Some of the earliest recorded inhabitants of this area were the Cherokee Indians. These native Americans led by Chief Bowles were defeated at Battle Creek in 1839. The battleground is located north of the Chandler city limits.

In 1859, Alphonso Chandler and his brother Haskell moved their families from Georgia to these rolling, wooded hills between Kickapoo Creek and the Neches River. They were one of the earliest white families in this area. Alphonso established a general store on his property, and in 1873 a US Post Office was added. The site was called Stillwater. By 1880 the Cotton Belt Railroad was expanding westward, and Mr. Chandler deeded land to the Texas & St. Louis Railroad for tracks and a depot. Land was also donated for schools, churches and a cemetery. The railroad brought new businesses, and the town, now called Chandler, quickly grew.

Chandler is also the birthplace of former U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough. Many items from his career as a statesman and author are on display at the Chandler Public Library including letters and documents from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Senator Yarborough was in the car behind the President and Governor John Connally on that day.

Chandler is located on State Highway 31 just 8 miles west of Tyler, Texas. The "City with a Heart" is the gateway to beautiful Lake Palestine. The Neches River is the main source for this man-made lake south of the city. Various waterfowl inhabit this area and during the cooler season it becomes home to many migratory species. Bald eagles can often be seen soaring in the skies and diving for fish.

Chandler is part of Brownsboro Independent School District. Two campuses are located within the city limits. Chandler Elementary is a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School. Chandler Intermediate is one of the newly constructed facilities in the district. Students attend secondary schools in Brownsboro.

Residents of Chandler are served by the Chandler Volunteer Fire Department. With grants and donations, the volunteers have been able to purchase the most up-to-date firefighting and rescue equipment. The modern facility is also a station for East Texas Medical Center EMS. The annual CVFD barbeque is held in May.

Looking for a church home? There are many churches representing most denominations in the city limits and immediate area.

Winchester Park provides baseball fields,exercise stations, walking paths and recreation areas for local residents. McCain Memorial Park, located on Hwy 31, has picnic tables and a walking path.

Commercial and retail businesses include walk-in restaurants, fast food franchises, three banks, a drug store, supermarket and a variety of stores as well as antique and flower shops. East Texas Medical Center and Trinity Mother Frances Hospital have clinics in Chandler with full time doctors on staff.

You are always welcome in the "City With a Heart"!

 
 And of course an automobile.


Chandler Motor Company produced automobiles in the United States of America during the 1910s and 1920s.

The Chandler Motor Company was incorporated in 1913, Frederick C. Chandler, President, headquartered and with its factory in Cleveland, Ohio. Chandler was a former designer for the Lozier Motor Company, a top end luxury automobile manufacturer. Chandler and several other Lozier executives left the company to form the Chandler Motor Company.

Chandler concentrated on producing a good quality motor-car within the price range of middle class Americans. Chandlers were well received in the marketplace.

In 1920 Chandler had a line of 6 cars, ranging from $2095 to $3595 in cost. In 1922 Chandler had 10 different cars, ranging from $1495 to $2375.

Chandler's peak year was 1927, when they sold 20,000 cars. Hopes for continued growth of the market led to overexpansion by the company the following year, which finished 1928 over half a million dollars in debt.

In 1929 Chandler Motor Company was purchased by its competitor Hupp Motor Works and the brand was discontinued.

Chandlers, like most cars built before steel sub framing became the industry standard in the mid-1930s, were built with a metal skin around a wooden frame. After a few decades the wood tended to rot; because of this Chandlers have survived in smaller numbers than some other more popular automobiles of the era.

[MaineWriter]

Ranger, TX

 Back in the 1870s there had been a Texas Ranger camp two miles northeast of present-day Ranger along Palo Pinto Creek. The Ranger visits gave it the place it's initial name of Ranger Camp Valley. It did indeed have the appearance of a camp since all businesses, including schools, churches and stores were inside tents.

When the Texas and Pacific Railroad entered the valley in 1880, 160 acres were donated to the railroad and the community moved to establish the permanent town of Ranger. In the last few days of 1880, the town's new post office opened. Growth was slow but assured. BY the end of the 1880s Ranger had 350 people which grew to 750 by 1904.

The region suffered a drought in 1917 - just about the time the area's first oil well came in. With daily production measured at 1,700 barrels, this produced one of the largest (and some say the most archetypical) oil boom in Texas. The Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company had 22 wells either in production or being drilled in 1919. No fewer than eight refineries were under construction or refining and with $5 million in deposits, banking was good in Ranger. The 1920 Census figures have given the population of Ranger as 16,201, but the tent cities and transient population made an acurate count impossible. Some estimates go as high as 30,000. Ranger received a second railroad with the arrival of the Wichita Falls and Southern and soon five trains a day were stopping at the boom town.

Every silver-lining has its dark cloud and when the drought broke Ranger's dirt streets turned into a morass. Unsanitary conditions caused an outbreak of typhoid fever. An April fire in 1919, destroyed two downtown blocks. Naturally, the parasites descended on Ranger and violence, gambling and prostitution sprang up like the proverbial mushrooms.

The boom was short lived and while some in 1921 were hoping for new oil discoveries, a string of bank failures dashed all hopes. The 1930 population of Ranger (which was much easier to count than the 1920 census) was down to just 6,208.

After the bust, unrest and discontentment provided a strong base for the Ku Klux Klan. By 1980 Ranger had a population of 3,142 which has since declined to just under 2,600.

A mural of Texas Rangers in the Hamilton Post Office:



Leslie

[Fran]

Retlaw, AB

"In the southeast sector of Alberta is Retlaw, eight miles west of the busy town of Vauxhall.  The first homesteaders came to Retlaw in 1906 and lost most of their livestock the next winter, one of the worst on record.  Prairie fires the following summer destroyed most everything the winter blizzards had left.  Many homesteaders gave up and departed, yet some stayed.  Their reward was short lived.  Poor crops sounded the death-knell for Retlaw and many of its surrounding farms.  By 1925, stores began boarding up windows and locking doors for want of customers.  By 1957, only two families were left.  But many of the old buildings stand awaiting the camera-carrying ghost towner.  The town was named Retlaw—Walter spelled backwards—in honor of CPR official Walter R. Baker." 

-- H.B. Chenoweth

[Meryl]

Walix, Mexico

[jpwagoneer1964]

Xochuca, Mx

[MaineWriter]

Austin, TX

I am amazed this one hasn't been played yet!

Austin, the capital of Texas, county seat of Travis County, and home of the University of Texas at Austin ... was established by the three-year-old Republic of Texas in 1839 to serve as its permanent capital, and named in honor of the founder of Anglo-American Texas, Stephen F. Austin.

Leslie