The Brave Englishman

In downtown Ft. Worth, Texas near what was the Texas Pacific Railroad Terminal (now condos) stands a very old monument to a special Englishman.

There is a bust of him at the top and a history plaque explaining what he did, way back before that terminal building was even there.

The Texas Spring Palace

You see, on that spot  in 1889 there was a fabulous new exhibit hall  built to showcase the crops and produce grown in the state of Texas in grand style. The area was more like a fairground. The building having a large ballroom as well as displays of various priceless artifacts from Texas history, like the flag that was carried at the battle of San Jacinto and Sam Houston's walking cane.You could even fish in a small stocked pond or watch a prairie dog village with real prairie dogs scurrying about.Crowds came from all over the state during the first exhibit, and the one the following year. That exhibit was to end on May 30th 1890 climaxing with a huge society ball. There were a reported 7,000 people in the building

 when a child stepped on the head of a match causing the entire building to become a ragging inferno. People fled the first floor and those on the second were dropped into the arms of the crowds below.

Miraculously there was only one fatality. A forty one year old English Engineer. Al Hayne who was born in London to an upper class English family, educated at Eaton College and was living and working in Ft. Worth at the time. A single man he decided to attend the ball that was widely advertised as the grand finale of the exhibit. Mr. Hayne bravely saved countless numbers of women and children by dropping them to the crowd below. Sadly by the time he jumped, he had been badly burned.Severely injured in the fall as well, he died later that night at the hospital.

Al Hayne 1849-1890

A True Hero

Photo credit: Hometown by Handlebar (1st picture)

Illustration: Frank Leslie

                     

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The Fruit Basket

Just a shot I snapped on my morning walk. A cast concrete fruit basket adorning the entrance of an estate.

The Front Porch

Our neighborhood is a mixture of old and new homes. So many of the older (smaller) homes have been demolished to make way for newer, larger ones. I know there are a lot of people on both sides of the fence on this subject. What I have noticed is that architecture has changed over the years.

 Most of the older homes were built with front porches.

It was a place for socializing. Neighbors walking by would stop and chat awhile,

and in Texas, before air conditioning, a place to hopefully catch a breeze after dinner.I grew up loving the front porch. It was the place we played jacks or monopoly or better yet, home base for a game of hide and seek. Tell me, did you have a front porch where you grew up? Do you have one now? I don't, and I miss having one.

* Home number one is vacant and for sale. It has been on the market quite awhile. I fear if it doesn't sell, developers will purchase it, and it will meet the wrecking ball...due to it's prime location. Stay tuned.

The Old Theater

I found this mural on the front of an antique mall on the west side of Fort Worth, Texas.

It depicts the old Bowie movie theater on Camp Bowie Blvd that was built in 1940.The car, a Woody, was built by Ford and Mercury from 1949-51, having real wood side panels. The movie Giant being advertised was filmed here in Texas in 1956.

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My attempt at the same scene today
 The Bowie theater has closed but the building was re-purposed in the 1980's and became a bank. The brick streets, which are a maintenance nightmare, have also been saved.

Linking today to Monday Murals : HERE

Down in the Valley

At the end of this month we will be headed to Colorado to our house in the mountains for the summer. The summer to my husband is five months long. That's right, we will return in October.  I am always talking about the little town that we live in, and with good reason....it is a very special place.So that you have an image in your mind...of where we am going. Well.....

click on photo to enlarge

 

here it is....deep in this valley. As you can see we are surrounded by very tall mountains...in every direction, and those hills are a great big playground..Someone took this from an aircraft and you are looking south..Just around the corner to the top left  is a picturesque lake, which is why our town is called Lake City.I can tell that this was taken in the Fall. You can see the gold of the Aspen trees and probably the first snowfall since it is only covering above 10,000 feet.

I have been absent of late. Sorry, I do plan to get back on somewhat of a schedule.I have had a lot of company, cataract surgery and a root canal. I do plan to post on occasion before we depart, in between packing. So don't give up on me! Janey

It's Own Currencey

There is just one more thing I wanted to tell you about the department store that I have been talking about in the three previous posts. During the Depression of the 1930s here in the U.S. there was a run on banks. Many of them failing. So the department store printed their own currency.

Sorry about the photo quality-taken through a glass case

They would cash your pay-check giving you part cash and part department store currency. Since the store sold everything you could ever need it was a win win situation for the customer and the department store. I am thinking that this practice was clever marketing.

The Tunnel

My two previous posts are about at  mega department store we once had in Ft. Worth, Texas. A store that  seemingly was before it's time, and had it's own private subway. One of my reader's ask if the tunnel is still there?

The answer is yes. Although a college campus covers one opening, and the other end is protected by a locked gate. Above is a picture of one of the founder's daughters signing the tunnel. She and a cousin were along with a newspaper crew that filmed a video inside the old tunnel.

For those that are interested you can go to the link (and video) regarding that visit :HERE