The Tarrant County Historical
Journal Home page:Edition
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EDITION
#THREE |
Editor and photographer , Les Crocker;
General manager, Neva Crocker |
The following is just a sample of the
pictures and articles in the 20 pages of issue #3.
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Send all letters, notes, correspondence,
clippings, complaints, photographs, subscriptions, requests, press
releases, hot tips, hate mail,junk mail, important information, invites,
payola, gifts, confessions, cash, checks, and orders to:
The Tarrant County Historical
Journal P.O. Box 311, Springtown, TX 76082
Kaliga
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It now THE GOLDEN GODDESS - A
six foot polished brass statue. rests in the waiting room of the Spaghetti
Warehouse. The Goddess stood on a pedestal in the lobby of the Westbrook
Hotel on the corner of 4th and Main Street. The Westbrook was the HQ for
all operations, wildcatters and oil scam artists. Before any deal was
made, each entrepreneur gave the statue a rub for good luck |
WHO WAS PADDOCK? B. B. Paddock - born
in 1844 in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Wisconsin. At the age of
seventeen he joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and soon became the war's
youngest commissioned officer. After the war he came to Ft. Worth where he
became friends with K. M. Van Zandt, a banker. Van Zandt offered Paddock
"The Democrat" newspaper if he would run it. Paddock accepted the offer.
He edited "The Democrat" for ten years. He was instrumental for Ft.
Worth's first water system. He served five years as president of the Ft.
Worth and Rio Grande Railway. Paddock was Mayor of Ft. Worth in 1892 and
served four terms. He was a very popular mayor. He was also an author
writing several books about Ft. Worth's early days.
The reason so many
weathervanes are silhouettes of roosters is because around 1000 AD
the Vatican called for the likeness of a rooster to be erected atop
every Christian church as a reminder for all the faithful to attend
church regularly. |
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1012 N. Main Street, now Ellis
Pecan Co. since 1946. Built in 1924 by the Klu Klux Klan Klanvern no. 101
for about $50,000.00.
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The TV Dinner was introduced in
1954…. An average person laughs about 15 times a day… According to one
pole, nearly ¾ of all American women wear a bra that is the wrong size…
Crocodiles kill more people in the jungle than any other animal… Levi's
were invented for the California Gold Miners in 1873… The life span of an
ant may be up to 16 years… In 1984 the National Coca Company of Peru
introduced toothpaste with cocaine in it… One in ten truck drivers is a
woman… A hard rain falls at the rate of about 20 mph… Alexander Graham
Bell was 29 years old when he invented the telephone… The first electronic
computer was built in 1889 for the U. S. Census Bureau… The longest lived
insects are queen termites, which may live for up to 100 years… The first
city in history to boast a million inhabitants was London, in 1811… When
he died, Elvis' estate was valued at $10 million… In 1976, a Los Angeles
secretary formally married her fifty pound pet rock… The first stereo
record went on the market in 1958… The zipper was invented in 1893, for
use in shoes… Only 1% of American women are completely satisfied with the
way they look… Only about 5% of American men say they are satisfied with
the way they look… The average American consumes almost ten pounds of
"chemical additives" annually… Your fingernails grow up to four times
faster than your toenails… America's first pizzeria opened in New York
City in 1895… The first shopping center was built in Baltimore MD, in
1896… Bathtubs dating back to 1999 BC have been found on the Island of
Crete… First American hotel with indoor modern bathrooms was the Tremont
House in Boston, 1880… Ten gallon hats only hold about a gallon of liquid…
Your backbone is actually thirty-three different bones… Coffee has
absolutely no nutritional value.
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THE LAKE WORTH MONSTER by JAMES
BUEL
I don't know how it got started but
there's news going around about the big hairy monster It's the
biggest tale in our town
He lives in a swamp out by the Worth
Lake and has been scaring young folks who are out on a
date
A big hairy figure lurking in the
dark right where the young lovers had decided to
park
All of a sudden in the still of the
night with a chill in the air and it was deathly
quite
A noise was heard in the undergrowth
nearby and when it was spotted it let out a cry
It would curdle your blood say the
one's who have heard and the young lovers just sat frozen and
couldn't speak a word
Several day's later when they were
able to speak they told about the horror of the hairy monster
freak
Legend still has it that he's seen
now and them and you'll hear these frightening stories time and
time again
When you're out near Greer Island
looking for a place to park be cautious and careful you never
know what's luring in the dark
(12-12-94)
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THE LAKE WORTH MONSTER OF GREER ISLAND FORT WORTH,
TEXAS by Sallie Ann Clarke is a neat little book.
When I purchased the book, Sallie wrote me a note explaining that she
wrote the book before she saw the Monster. She says the book is of her
imagination of what could have happened if the Monster was really on the
loose and dangerous. She has several accounts of eye witnesses who say
they saw the Monster. There is a picture of a tire that was said to have
been thrown 500 ft. Large tracts of the animal (or?) were found and
measured. They were about 16 inches long with a width of eight inches. The
tracts were said to have been seen by about 120 people. Sallie said that
she was in a group of about 19 people when she first saw it. Pictures were
taken of the Monster by about three different people. For one, I would
like to see one of the pictures and maybe print it in The Journal. I like
the book and thought it very entertaining reading. As you can see from the
Star Telegram reprint it all started around July 11, 1969. As Sally says,
"The legend never seems to die." For a copy of her book send six bucks
postpaid to Sallie Ann Clarke, 4209 Elmwood Dr., Ft. Worth, TX
76116. |
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DUMB THINGS TO SAY TO YOUR
WAITER
"Waiter, would you bring me a smaller
check?" "Waiter, take back the ice cream, it's too
cold." "Waiter, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Sign
outside a North side eating place: This place has tip-top waiters.
If you don't tip, they blow their top."
Customer, "Say
waiter, how is the food here?" Waiter, "I'm only a waiter, not a
witness."
Remember, the only waiter who never accepts a tip
is a dumb waiter. | |
You can't make footprints in
the Sands of Time if you're sitting on your butt… unless your intent
is to make buttprints in the Sands of
Time. |
POLLACK-CAPPS HOUSE- 1120 Penn St.
-1898-1899 In the days before air conditioning Bluff-Top locations
were very important for the breeze they caught. This house and the
Eddleman-McFarland house next door are the only two remaining Victorian
homes that once abounded on what was known as "Quality Hill".
EDDLEMAN-McFARLAND HOUSE - 1110 PENN - built in 1899. This
house was built for Sarah C. Ball, a wealthy Galveston widow. They moved
to Fort Worth to be near their family doctor, Dr. Joseph Pollock, who
lived next door. The home cost $38,000 to build in 1899. Sarah died in
1904 and the house was sold to William H. Eddleman. He lived in the house
with his wife Sarah, his daughter, Carrie, and son-in-law Frank McFarland.
After William Eddleman's wife died in 1921, he gave the home to his
daughter.
At the East
end of the Hog and Sheep barns there is a subway for animals. As the
animals were unloaded from the railroad cars, there was a need to move
them to the North end of the Yards to the Slaughter House. Crossing
streets and opening and closing gates was not efficient. So, they made a
subway to go under the streets. I recently walked the length of the
subway. It was dark, erie, and muddy. Be careful if you try it
yourself. |
The cowboy was needing a shave
so he stopped into a barber shop in old Hell's Haslf Acre. As he was
sitting in the chair, he tooka fancy to the young manicure girl and
suggested a dinner and a show later that evening. "I don't think I
ought to," she said. "I'm married." "Why don't you ask your
husband?" the cowboy said, "I'm sure he wouldn't object." "Why don't
you ask him yourself," the girl said, "he is shaving
you." |
LA GRAVE FIELD'S home team dugout
tunnel leading to the showers and locker rooms. La Grave Field was the
home of the Fort Worth Cats Minor League Baseball Team. From the Tarrant
County Courthouse go North on N. Main across the Paddock Viaduct to 5th
Street, turn right, go several blocks and the Field to your left with the
trees is what's left of La Grave Field.
MORE or LES
The
driver behind you wants to go five miles per hour faster…. If you have the
time, you won't have the money…. If you have the money, you won't have the
time…. You can just about always stand more than you think you can….
Control your generosity when you're dealing with a chronic borrower…. Buy
a used car with the same caution a naked man uses to climb a barbed wire
fence… Watch your attitude, it's the first thing people notice about you….
The reason a lot of people do not recognize an opportunity when they meet
it, is that it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard
work…. The man looking for trouble doesn't have to take out a search
warrant…. Don't tell secrets to a friend, because she might have a
friend…. A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband, while
a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife…. Everything is
funny as long as it's happening to somebody else…. Adam and Eve had many
advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething…. Noise
proves nothing, often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she
has laid an asteroid…. It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear
stupid than to open it and remove all doubt…. The car to watch is the car
behind the car in front of you…. It is not enough just to put your
shoulder to the wheel; you must remember to push…. Imagination is more
important than knowledge…. Too bad that all the people who know how to run
the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair…. After you've
heard two eyewitness accounts of an auto accident, it makes you wonder
about history…. You can live to be a hundred if you give up all of the
things that make you want to live to be a hundred…. Few things are more
satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own…. Any
child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can
tell when he's really in trouble…. Human beings are the only creatures on
earth that allow their children to come back home…
OLD AGE IS GOLDEN Old
age is golden, I have heard it said. But sometimes I wonder as I go to
bed, My ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup, My eyes on the table
until I wake up.
Ere sleep dims my eyes. I say to myself, Is there
anything else I should lay on a shelf? And I am happy to say, as I
close the door. My friends are the same as in days
of yore.
When I was young, my slippers were red. I could
kick my heels right over my head. When I grew older my slippers were
blue. But still I could dance the whole night through. Now that
I'm older, my slippers are black - - I walk to the corner and puff my
way back.Since I have retired from Life's
competition, I busy myself with complete repetition. I get up in the
morning and dust off my wits, Then I pick up the paper and read the
obits; If my name is missing, I know I'm not dead, So I eat a good
breakfast, and go back to bed.
Contributed by OLENA SARGENT
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