ROAD TRIP: A BBM Game

[MaineWriter]

Pharr, TX

Originally a Spanish land grant made in 1767, heirs broke the grant into smaller tracts in the late 1800s. John Connely Kelley and Henry N. Pharr arrived about 1909 and bought 16,000 acres of land. Pharr, a Louisiana sugarcane grower founded the Louisiana and Rio Grande Canal Company to construct an irrigation system for a sugar plantation. Kelley formed the Pharr Townsite Company, naming the new town after his partner.

Pharr became a stop on the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway around 1911. Four thousand acres had already been sold to settlers and the town had a depot, hotel and bank. The Rio Grande valley sugarcane industry went bust - dashing Pharr's hopes. Kelley assumed control of the existing irrigation system and supplied water to vegetable and cotton farmers. In 1915 the population was a mere 600.

In 1916 the town incorporated and it had its own newspaper three years later. That same year Pharr and two other small communities formed the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD.

By 1920 Pharr had grown to 1 nearly 1,560 and eleven years later it had doubled. The population was 4,784 in 1940. In 1956 a vote to merge with neighboring McAllen was soundly defeated. By 1960 the population had reached 14,000 and by 1990 it was nearly 33,000.

The Pharr Hotel in 1913:



L

[jpwagoneer1964]

Robinson, Tx

Historic Robinson

The City of Robinson traces its beginnings to the settlement of the Robinson brothers, John and Levi, who began farming in the area around 1852. Known originally as Robinsonville, the city was incorporated in 1955 under the name of Robinson and adopted the present Home Rule form of government in 1999.

Mark

[belbbmfan]

Navidad, Texas

NAVIDAD, TEXAS. Navidad is on Farm Road 822 ten miles west of Edna in the Navidad gas field in northwestern Jackson County. Soon after 1845 German immigrant John Jacob Knopp settled the area. Navidad functioned as a mail stop from 1869 to 1882, 1891 to 1918, and 1920 to the late 1950s, at which time the post office closed for the last time. By 1892 the community was on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway and by 1896 its population had reached 200. By 1914 Navidad had acquired a telephone connection and become a banking and shipping center for local farmers. By 1926, however, the population had dwindled to twenty-eight. In 1936 Navidad consisted of a rural school, one business establishment, and about seventeen farms running along a bladed earth road. From 1926 to 1969 the number of residents hovered around twenty-eight, but by 1988 Navidad consisted of little more than widely scattered dwellings.

[MaineWriter]

Dew, TX

The area was first settled in the 1850s by Alabamans and was first known as Avant or Avant Prairie. In 1870 the Sunshine Methodist Church moved here from Harrison Chapel and the community's name was changed to Sunshine, Texas. The last name came about in 1885 when the town applied for a post office. Like many towns, there was a mix-up caused by either poor penmanship or poor eyesight and the desired name of Drew (after a local person) was officially recognized as Dew.


By the early 1890s, the town had most essential businesses and a respectable population of 150. After WWII the town still had less than 200 people. In the early 1990s, only 71 residents called Dew home. A cemetery association that had been organized in 1912 is still operating and the town has an annual homecoming.

Leslie

[jpwagoneer1964]

Woods Landing, Wy

In 1883 Col. Sam Wood started out with his family in a Conestoga wagon from Atlantic, Iowa, to come to Wyoming Territory. At the foot of the Medicine Bow Range, he staked out a house site on the Big Laramie River and built the first house, the site that now bears his name. Woods Landing became a welcome spot for freighters and stage drivers, and the saloon Sam Wood opened beside the river became a popular place for the scores of tie hacks in the vicinity. Ties cut and hewn in the mountains were floated down river to Laramie during the spring run-off and the woodsmen celebrated the end of the tie drive at the riverside saloon. In 1927, a young Indiana couple, Mayne and Clarence Lewellen, who had come west to find a cure for Clarence's tuberculosis, bought the property and began development of what is today's Woods Landing Resort. They hired a stalwart young Norwegian, Hokum Lestrum to build a dance hall, which was constructed entirely of hand-grooved logs (with no nails). The hall was built on top of 24 boxcar springs and even today is reputed to be the best dance floor in southeastern Wyoming. The dance hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

[Meryl]

Gramm, WY

(Only 6.8 miles from Woods Landing)

[moremojo]

Menard, Texas

--the county seat of Menard County.

[jpwagoneer1964]

Diboll, Tx

Diboll, Texas

For more than 100 years a sawmill has nurtured a community.  Once, just a Whistle stop, Diboll has grown into a community that feels more like a large family.  Located in the heart of the piney woods of East Texas, Diboll offers an open invitation to come live in our town.

Whether it's a day spent on our many area lakes, a hunting trip, a golf outing at Neches Pines Golf Course, a pristine 18-hole municipal course, or hours spent at our city's history center, there's plenty of activities to keep you busy and an important part of the community.

Our city also boasts an excellent school system, an active Boys and Girls Club, a beautiful civic center, city parks, and a library.  Our many churches support the community's spiritual needs and sustain family values.

Attractions, historic sites and natural beauty are tempting, but what really stands out are the people, the smiles, and the southern hospitality that always makes you feel at home.

Mark

[MaineWriter]

Lamar, TX

 Founded in 1839, Lamar was a rival to the then thriving Aransas City, Texas which was just across Copano Bay at Lookout Point. Aransas City had the customhouse which guaranteed prosperity. Lamar became the first coastal town in (what was then) Refugio County.

The President of the Republic was petitioned by a group of settlers to move the customhouse from Aransas City. Their forceful argument that the new town was twice the population of Aransas City convinced the President - who just happened to share the same name of the town. The change was made and the worse fears of Aransas Citizens became a reality. Aransas City virtually disappeared.

Lamar's star rose and its prosperity surpassed that of its former rival - that is until the town was destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War. Only a few shellcrete foundations remained.

Lamar found itself in Aransas County when that county was established in 1871.

The cemetery, said to be the oldest in the territory, remains relatively unchanged and is one of the more picturesque coastal cemeteries in the state. It has been designated a historical landmark.

A list of all interments has been made available through the Lamar Cemetery Association. Authored by Mary Lou Brannon the information is available at the Aransas County Public Library and at the cemetery itself.

Leslie

[moremojo]

Richardson, Texas

--situated in Dallas County, today a suburb of Dallas (the Big D).