HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Panel Group 03Fran Dodson
Dick Birdwell, Joyce Birdwell, Jack Grant, Knox Walker
Kymberli Rucker
Richard Molina
Conference Center, Room 101
10:10 FD Is everyone from here? Born and raised?
10:11 DB Not born here, but we use to walk?
10:12 FD I know ya'll have.
10:12 KW Where do you want to start?
10:12 JB Oh, you ready for us to start. I'm still getting all my things together.
10:13 FD That's ok, will wait.
10:13 FD Thank you. Ok, now. Would you like to introduce yourself?
10:13 KW I'm Knox Walker, I was born in Bryan late 1927. But, we my parents the
three of us lived on the campus when I was a few days old and we moved to campus on
Lubbock Street is now Joe Route, and my father was a civil engineer worked with the
schools and (Audible) and we remained living there until A &M kicked everybody off the
campus, in the late 30's. We left in 1940 and moved to the edge of Bryan. So anyway I
was there about thirteen years. Anthing Else?
10:13 FD That's fine, thanks.
10:13 JB I'm Joyce Patranella Birdwell, and I was born in Tarrant County. Moved to
College Station in 34 -35.
10:14 DB 31.
i ;nal Copti
10:14 JB No, (Laughter) I was born in 31. And my father had the first grocery store at
Northgate. I went to the A &M Consolidated School system. Graduated from A &M
Consolidated High School. Fine.
10:14 DB I'm Dick Birdwell. I moved to College Station with my family in 1945. My
father was a manager of the Exchange Store at A &M what was called the Exchange Store
now is called University Bookstore.
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10:15 JG I'm Jack Grant. I was bom in Flynn, Texas in 1930 and 1935 we moved to
Bryan. My daddy had the first gulf station what in now University Drive was then called
Schulfer Spring Road. It's strange, I don't remember moving, even at the age of five. I
guess it wasn't very important. (Laughter). Went to Consolidated up to the 9th grade
and transferred to Bryan High for some unknown reason, and finished at Bryan High
School.
10:15 FD Interesting can ya'll tell us how you got to school.
10:15 JG I'm Jack Grant. I walked because we was about what four blocks from the
school. To the chicken house, is what we called them (Laughter). Eventually probably
got a bicycle and rode most of the time. It was going back and forth to school only.
10:15 DB I'm Dick Birdwell. I lived on a block from Jack, and I also walked to school,
walked past his house across the vacant lot in order to get there. Some where along the
way.
10:15 JG Cut across the street in folks yard.
10:15 DB Yea, right. Some where along the way I got a motorcycle I think about my
sophomore year in high school. Not a motorcycle a motor scooter actually and so I rode
that motor scooter back and forth to school.
10:16 KW Let me break in here because were talking about schools, to different kinds of
schools. In early 1940 Consolidated School left the campus, it was on the East end of
Lubbock Street, and they moved that school over there on where we are now George
Bush. So put on the time frame we using about who's yard you walked through and so
forth. So I don't know which school. I only went to school that was right here. Right
here we are now. Many kids thought went to the grade school which was on the campus
and the high school, which was on the campus to. Until the Spring of 40, and then they
moved.
10:17 JG I'm Jack Grant, I went to the one on the TAMU campus for the 1st year, and
they built the new dorms. The school is what they called the old band hall at the time.
And we had to walk all around because the sheep pasture was in the way and had probably
another mile to go around that thing. But most of us we walked. I walked to school. I
couldn't afford a bicycle. I did afford a motorscooter to cut down bus fair. When I was
going to Bryan High, which liked to killed me on the highway, had accidents running into
cars and back of buses, and starlike that.
10:17 FD Did ya'll have brothers and sisters?
10:17 JG I had a brother a older brother that went to the high school on the campus.
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10:18 KW Yea, A &M Consolidated prior to I think about 1922 when this change was
made. Prior to that we had one room schools all over this community, there's one there at
Midway, which was Old Young Blood Restaurant, use to be Union Mill in front of Rock
Prairie, of course, Wellborn had schools and there were some others, and when they
consolidated the school district then they thought they would get developers ideas to get
the kids in buses, but that started in the earlier 20's when they built the school. They built
a great school on the campus and used and old building from the college for the high
school.
10:18 FD Did anyone ride horses to school, or have to cross creeks or rivers or anything
like that?
10:18 KW Sometime the school buses did.
10:18 FD School buses did. Umm and I guess all your parents and other relatives lived
here with you. Umm we've already talked I think about how your family happened to get
to this area. Ya'll have a lot of proprietor from mom's and dad's didn't you? Do you still
have relatives living here in this area.
10:18 DB Yea, I'm Dick Birdwell, Joyce's mothers whose been a resident of College
Station since `34..
10: 18 JB Char Durman.
10:18 DB Built a house on Jersey Street.
10:18 FD What is her name?
10:19 DB Elsie.
10:19 JB Patrenella Sauer, Sauer.
10:19 FD I don't think I know her.
10:19 JB She's in a nursing home at Southwood in College Station.
10 :19 FD Umm. What were the roads like, like in the surrounding areas?
10:19 JG Ah, the roads primary in the neighborhood was gravel or dirt roads.
Eventually the asphalt had around the community on South Oakwood and eventually did
that on College Hills, most of it was gravel.
10:20 FD What about between College Station in Caldwell? College Station and
Houston?
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10:21 KW It was about 37 Bill.
10:21 FD In 1945.
10:20 JG Highway 6 was one lane almost.
10:20 KW It was concrete it was very, very, narrow, and no shoulder.
10:20 FD Can you remember what some of the first paved streets around this area were?
10:20 DB Ah, Dick Birdwell, the significant thing about the A &M campus and highways
is sometime in the early 30's, I don't know of the exact date; Highway 6 was moved from
what's now Wellborn to what's now Texas Avenue and the campus was actually turned
around. The front entrance to the campus faced on Highway 6 and railroad station and
that was an asphalt road back then, and in 33 -34. I don't remember at the time but
somewhere in that Highway 6 was built were it is now.
10:21 DB And it was built as a concrete highway. When I moved to College Station in
1945 there was no curb and gutter anywhere in the City of College Station.
10:21 DB With the possible exception of at the Northgate, there may have been some
curb and gutter at the front of the stores then. That was a gravel street though. but all the
roads except for Highway 6 was concrete and Wellborn Road which was asphalt was
graveled.
10:21 FD Umm.
10:21 KW A large number of the streets on the campus weren't paved, until 1932 or 33.
I remember when that happened.
10:22 FD And you think that was the first.
10:22 KW Well, you know the highways was the old highway 6. What Dick, talked
about was paved. Let me talk about that for a minute that was a funny looking thing. But
most of the streets on the campus on Lubbock Street were we lived was mud, gravel, and
soforth, and about 32 -33. I remember distinctly as a small kid it was (Audible) street.
The main entrance from the West side was paved, of course, there wasn't any Eastgate
there were any roads going out to Highway 6. So most of the streets on the campus were
simply gravel and mud and cinders, `cause they burned coal at the engineer marble. That
time they made Highways in a slope down on the side so if you were driving and there
were no shoulder, you had to drive that car right down and hold that thing or you were
going to go off in a ditch. I don't know why they built those things like that. And the
concrete wasn't white it was gray funny looking stuff and it had this long curb out so you
had to drive all them sides after that it went narrow.
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10:22 FD Do ya'll remember your parents automobiles anything about that? What they
might have paid for there first cars?
10:23 DB When we moved here we had a 1938 Plymouth, this was in 1945. So it was 7
yr. old. Nobody between 1941 and 1946 nobody bought a car because they didn't
manufacture any cars. They were manufacture airplanes and tanks. And I remember that
we bought a 1946 Ford and this was something you put your name on a list and waited to
get them. I think this was late 1946. And I think we paid $ 1,100. I think that was the
price. Brand new four door, V -8 Ford Sedan and it was the first time I'd ever seen a car
without running boards (Laughter). Moved the doors out and made them a little wider.
10:23 KW Added the trunk and took away the running boards. (Laughter).
10:23 FD And who used that automobile the most, and who drove it?
10:23 DB Ah, when I got my drivers license I drove it. It was the only car we had. We
had only one car in the family
10:24 FD Did your mom drive?
10:24 DB My mother drove, and my father ?
10:24 FD And what about gasoline? Do you remember how much gasoline might have
been back then?
10:24 KW Nineteen cents a gallon.
10:25 JG Jack Grant, Daddy had the station and the first pumps he had was the one you
had to pump up by hand, and they were still selling white gas for the T- Model's and
Model -A. Daddy had bought I don't know probably a 1930 Chevy hard top and then he
also back in 1940 I think he bought a Ford Pick up to make deliveries on campus. He
would take people who worked on the campus. He had contracts to service the vehicle.
The professor would be on campus, phone Daddy that he needed he car worked on.
Daddy and a helper would drive the Ford up there and they would pick the car up, bring it
back to the station and service it and take it back to them for the customer to leave for
dinnertime. The cars were not always at the station. A driver would phone and say, "Hey,
I need my tires changed," or something, and one of the tenants would get in the car and go
to the persons work and let the person go to work and bring the car back and then they
would deliver it back to them.
10:25 FD So they really serviced there customers, back then, that was nice.
10:25 KW His father only had one competitor his name was John Bravenec and they
were the two serious people that ran phillip stations. Your dad had about half of the
business and Mr. Bravenec, had the other half.
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10:25 JG Well, I think he had all the Universitys' service contract offered. I think one
year was the only time he lost it to Bravenec.
10:25 FD And he had the gulf station?
10:26 JG Bravenec had Sinclair.
10:26 FD And what year did your dad open that station?
10:26 JG It was probably back in 1935, '36, because that's when we moved here.
Probably because prohibition got so bad around Flynn and bootlegging and everything, we
had to move out of Flynn (Laughter).
10:27 JB Joyce Patrella Birdwell, our family had a personal car. My father had a pickup
truck for Luke's Grocery, because in those days your ordered your groceries by phone
and you charged them and he would deliver them to your house.
10:27 FD Oh, that's nice. And where was your family store located?
10:27 JB At Northgate.
10:27 FD In Northgate, Umm.
10:27 KW You know her father, last time we did this I talked about her dad in his
position in the community all the things he did that's all recorded in my (Audible) but that
your dad was a philanthropist. He was always interested in doing things for the
community I know that help business, but he still wanted to do that, that's the way he
was.
10:28 FD That's great!
10:28 KW And we didn't and weren't many people like that around here.
10:28 FD That's wonderful! Now you probably have sisters and brothers?
10:28 JB No, I'm the only child.
10:28 FD Are you really? Well, I'm thinking about all these other Patrellas that I know
that you sort of remind me of It ask here about drivers licenses and how old you were
when you got it. You said when you got your drivers licenses Mr. Birdwell, you were
able to drive that, was that a new car that ya'll got.
10:28 DB Yea, by the time I got really old enough to drive it wasn't new.
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10:28 FD It was 46 you say?
10:28 DB It was brand new when we got it.
10:28 FD How old were you when you got that drivers licenses?
10:28 DB Sixteen, same as now. I was in at A &M Consolidated. I was in the first class
that they had ever had for Driver Education. But Knox's brother and I and two girls were
in this class. It was four of us that took driver's Ed at A &M Consolidated and we had a
Corbusier Chevrolet furnished that was equipped with dual steering wheel and dual brakes
so that the instructor could sit on the right hand side while you were sitting on the left and
you did something wrong, well he could take over, ah the driving. Seem's to me that was
like a course that lasted maybe two months ah, once a week for two months.
10:29 FD And Mr. Corbusier had furnished that car?
10:29 DB And we did a lot of the driving and then eventually took the test and went
down all four of us together and went down to the State Office. I don't remember where
it was and took our drivers test to get our drivers licenses. We were all between 16 and
17 years old at that time.
10:30 KW The first car let me tell you about some of these early cars on the campus.
The first car that I can remember that we had must have been about 1931 and it was called
a Pontiac Straight Eight. You can't image what this thing, kind of looked like Al Capanon
and the banons drove around Chicago prosecuted there bootlegging. It was a great big
imperial thing and it was huge in it. It didn't have a V -8 it had a flat eight engine that's
the difference. And on the dash it had this knob that said free wheeling. When your
driving along and you took your foot off the execrator and had this knob pulled out free
wheeling would engage that would kind of put it in neutral and you go rolling out in the
road, it suppose to save gas, but the brakes didn't last long. It had no heater, had a
running board and had no trunk, but at the time it looked like we were high as most of
them. Profitable thing I think my father did was buy a car that big. Normally bought the
V -8 the little things, but we drove that. The most amazing automobile that I ever saw on
the campus belong to a professor whose wife was an unvalid, and he owned a Packer
touring car. It wasn't black like every other car was, it was Robin egg blue. His name
was Dr. Ricky, and every evening if the weather prevailed, it was nice he would take her,
take his wife for a ride. We watched that for years she was obvious in serious condition
and she died a few years later, but every evening he would drive around that campus with
a tour car. A touring car is not a convertible. You've never seen one of those things, its
just amazing to see. You know they got a front seat and back seat on the back. You got
a big roof that fold over. It wasn't black, it was Robin egg blue, and nobody in the
community had a car like that.
10:31 FD Sounds pretty.
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10:31 KW But every evening if it was nice, he took her for a drive.
10:31 FD Do ya'll remember trips out of town, with your family and how long it took
you to get there? Did you go to Houston?
10:32 DB Yea, we would go to Galveston. I remember our trips to Galveston. What I
remember about our trip to Galveston, was how long it took you to get though Houston.
You went to Washington Street in Houston and out Telephone Road on the other side.
10:32 KW Everybody had a different route.
10:32 DB But it was (45 minutes) from one side of Houston to the other, and Houston
wasn't near as big then, as it is now. You can get across Houston a lot faster then what
you could in 1945. Occasionally, I remember going to Austin to see the State Capital.
10:32 JB How long did it take you to drive to Houston?
10:32 KW Took an hour to get through to Houston.
10:32 JB No, to Houston.
10:32 KW Two in a half hours.
10:33 DB You'll be in downtown Houston.
10:33 FD Were you going to the beach when you went to Galveston?
10:33 DB Yea, yea sure.
10:33 FD The whole family will get on the train.
10:33 JG Most of the time we visited anywhere was to my grandmothers, which was, in
Madinsonville and Centerville and Leona. And it was in a 1939 Chevrolet. Daddy was a
Chevrolet man, other than that, he had a Ford Pickup for service. I don't know why.
Most of our trips were going to Houston to see my uncle he lived in Fairbanks, which is,
this side of Houston. And it took about two and a half hours to get there because we
didn't drive very fast. I went by the Owl, which took about four hours, to Houston by
train. It stopped like a Greyhound Bus. It stopped every place (Laughter). It was cheap,
gosh I don't know how much. It was right downtown Houston when you got there, that's
where the train station was.
10:34 JG You could go and shop and do everything You almost had to spend two days
just to go to Houston, because it was four hours to go down. I mean g -wez. You didn't
have that much time if you had to come back the next time.
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10:34 JB It took most of your day.
10:34 JG Or you'd come back that night maybe about 3 :30 or 4:00 a.m. in the morning.
It stopped more often at night then it did at day time, and was real slow, but it was
efficient.
10:34 KW The highway my mother came in at 22 and went to work on the campus, and
the roads from here to Galveston that's where she came from weren't paved all the way.
Part of it in 1922 was graveled. You went South through Navasota it was stretched to
graveled road, so the concrete road came sometime after that.
10:35 FD It was a rough trip.
1035 KW Part of it was paved, part of it wasn't.
10:35 FD Do ya'll remember people having car pools to get to class at A &M? Did
people get together and car pool then?
10:35 DB A lot of people walked to class you know from where Jack, and I lived. It
was not, it was I guess pretty close to a mile to the main part of the campus, but it was a
lot of people walked back and forth. Jack, was talking about the train about riding the
Owl there were two trains. The Owl was one train and the other was the Sunbean. You
can go from here to Dallas in the Sunbean in three hours. If you went from here to Dallas
on the Owl, the Sunbeam only stopped in Corsicana.
10:35 KW Always stopped.
10:35 DB It stopped in Corscicana.
10:35 KW Later on they didn't stop anywhere.
10:35 DB But, the Owl stopped at every crossing. And it was a six to seven hour ride to
Dallas.
10:35 JB Twice as long.
10:35 JG Do ya'll remember the Silver Zepher? It came through North Zulch. We rode
over there and looked at it one time. That was the first streamline train.
10:35 FD Now where did you catch the Zepher?
10:35 KW In North Zulch.
10:36 JG It didn't come through Bryan, though it was almost worth the drive to get on
it.
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10:36 KW Well the Sunbean was still a steam engine.
10:36 JD What was the Owl?
10:36 KW A steam. There were freeline. They weren't these blacks raw iron looking
things.
10:36 JG The Sunbean was orange and black and it had like finders over the wheels, and
was a real streamline looking train. It was a fine way to go to Dallas?
10:36 FD How much did it cost you to go to Dallas?
10:36 JB I went to college at TSCW in Denton and we took the Sunbeam to Dallas and
it was about $ 12.50 round trip.
10:37 FD Round trip?
10:37 DB And a pie?
10:37 KW The most comfortable thing.
10:37 FD Was it?
10:37 KW Go down to the coffee shop and serve coffee in the little silver things here.
Yea, it was elegant.
10:37 FD Oh, that sound nice.
10:37 DB The Zepher he's talking about at North Zulch that train continued to run until
well into the 60's. I worked in Bryan for a consulting engineer from `55 to `60, and my
boss didn't believe in flying and when we had business trips he'd send us to North Zulch
and we'd catch the Zepher. I'd frequently catch it in North Zulch ride to Houston and
change trains and then go to New Orleans. I don't know when they discontinued that
train, but it was well after 1960.
10:37 KR Spell the name of the train.
10:37 DB Zepher?
10:37 KR Un huh.
10:37 DB Zepher. They called it the Silver Zepher.
10 :37 KW State of the art.
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10:37 FD State of the art. And the Sunbean was orange and black? With what kind of
finders?
10:37 DB Well, it it had a lot of trim on it that they normally did not have on a normal
train.
(Audible)
10:37 KW We, my father would go down to Wellborn we'd race it back half way to pick
up (Audible).
10:37 JG Well, this is the time that A &M went to Baylor with the cannon and got out
there and stacked railroad tides and stopped the train near College Station and load the
canon on the flatbed and started for Baylor with the cannon.
10:38 FD Oh my God.
10:38 JG Finally the Texas Rangers finally stopped them I think somewhere in there.
They were really serious about it.
10:38 FD They were out on the track?
10:38 JG They commodore the train. The Aggies did? Senior got out there in his boots
and savored waved it around. They stopped the train and load that canon on there and
took the train over and took the railroad tides off and went on.
10:38 JB They would also bring the train in here from Houston for the football games
and it had many cars and the people would come to the ball games.
10:38 KW Special.
10:38 JB Ah, uh Special train and then go back.
10:38 JG Then they'll bring the women from TSCW by bus, Greyhound bus.
10:38 FD Bring them in for the game?
10:39 JG Most of the travel was by hitchhiking, whenever they'd open up the new main
entrance of the Aggie Mothers Club built benches out in front for all the Aggies to seat on
while they waited to hitchhike to go to Houston, Dallas. They would get one person out
there to hitchhike and a car would stop and they'll say how many, were to; and they'll call
it out and the next person in line would get the ride.
10:39 FD I understand that was the major way to get around.
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10:39 JG They would introduce you I'm fish so and so you know there real poplar to
pick up an Aggie because they were so polite. Most of their transportation was
hitchhiking.
10 :39 FD You said the Aggie Mother's Club provided benches out there.
10:39 JG Well they built benches. That's what they called it then. Yea, great big long
benches.
10:39 KW I really don't remember , but I remember the benches.
10:40 JG There was a designated place at Eastgate where you suppose to stand in line
and wait, and it was strictly first come and first serve. Seniors that got there everything
else at A &M seniors got privileged, but not on the hitchhiking. Whoever got there was
first line, whoever came up later was second in line. It wouldn't be unusual for thirty -five
or forty people to be in line at noon on Saturday. Classes lasted at noon on Saturday and
you would see like thirty-five or forty people hitchhiking.
10:40 FD And this was to get home?
10:41 JG To go to Houston for the weekend to have a date or go home for the weekend.
10:42 JB And go to Denton.
10:42 DB Or got to Denton TSCW, football games, go on football games out of town.
10:43 KW (Audible) I was talking about this elegant car. Let me go back to cars, I
can't forget those things. Ah, Dr. Richie, Packer Robins egg blue magnetic probably
about a 1927, probably right out of the great gasket. But across the street from us E.L.
William's lived they had a touring car to, but it didn't look like Dr. Richie, it was a
Studebacker about 1927 model and what I remember first was already dilapidated rusty
and they continue to drive that thing right up to World War I or World War II; but they
kept it in the garage and it apparently they couldn't take the key or the key stayed in the
automobile and one of the Dean Winkler, hell raising son Matthew, use to come over at
night, slip in there and start that thing up and take it and run around the campus and put it
back. And one time in the late 30's we all piled in that piece of junk to go to the movies at
the Palace and every time Jane William's, would slow up the engine would die, so we got
things started and she wasn't going to slow up at that time they just put the first stop sign
between Old College Road and the new Highway 6. We went up to that thing and she ran
that stop sign and there was copy on a motorcycle right behind us and here we went down
to College Avenue and the cops chasing us and kids were hollering in the back seat, they
they had it rough now. The policeman cap blew off and we saw that and we told Jane
William's, and she turned on a side street and angled around and ended up at the campus
Palace and went to the theater, no arrest (Laughter) That was Studebaker touring car.
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10:44 DB Know, somebody on the campus had a Rose Royce that was about a 1930 or
earlier. I remember seeing it. The thing that was unusual about it, the only thing that you
could hear was the tires. (End of Tape 1 - Side A)
10:44 KW Bill Langston, would know he always picked up he would know exactly what
that was.
10:44 DB The only thing you would here when that car came by was the tires making
noise on the pavement, because the engine was just whisper quiet.
10:44 KW That wasn't a norm though it was a cheap automobile cars you drove for ten
years.
10:44 DB Most people had model "A's ".
10:44 KW Yea, just keep it going in the 30's that's what they did.
10:45 JG There was always something unique about automobiles on the campus.
Whenever they would have yell practice and somebody's car was left in that area where
they were having yell practice they "Aggies" would get the freshmen to pick up the car up
and put it in between the two trees (Laughter) they was spaced and you couldn't get it
out unless,
10:45 FD Wedged it in there.
10:45 JG They just picked it up and set it in between trees, and it stayed there until you
got enough Aggies to pick it up and take it out.
10:45 FD Oh my God.
10:45 JG So you made sure that you didn't park your automobile where there was
activity that might be in the way, because it would get put in between the tree.
10:45 KW The Aggies were landed a remarkable like of all the crape they pulled this
place.
10:45 FD They could do anything could they.?
10:45 KW They would go over to the train station and just commandeer, they had these
great big wagons with these big old iron wheels they used to haul freight, and they would
go over and get those things and use if for their activities on the campus.
10:45 JG To haul the wood?
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10:45 KW Yea, that was hunky -dory.
10: 45 JG They would go all the way to the Brazos River and put those big logs on the
carts and back to Bonfire
10:45 FD Did they take them back
10:45 JG They were baggage carts.
10:45 KW I guess they did (Laughter). They did what they did nearly.
10:45 JG They were baggage carts.
10:45 KW Baggage carts, yea.
10:46 FD Do you remember where? Speaking of those train again, where the freight
cars loaded and unloaded along the track?
10:46 JG There was something that nobody knew very much of there was a turn
around here at A &M.
10:46 FD What was that?
10:46 JG That's where the train can change directions.
10:46 KW Where was that?
10:46 JG You didn't know that? It's almost where the old train station, I mean the
newer one they put down there. It is a Y. It comes up this way and backs up. They
could drive up and the engine backsup and it turns around and heads back. Somewhere in
the sourth end of College Station. I had a map but I don't know where it is though; but
somewhere at the University Library there's a map put out by the Aggie Corps. I tried to
date it in the '20's sometime that showed where all the buildings were and Cashion Cabin
was and all those kinds of things. Shows this turn around and it's a Surveying Map done
by the Military Department. It's in the library probably in Archives somewhere. It shows
all the streets back in the late '20's, early '30's. I had a copy of that map. I had to xerox it
in sections and I put it together.
10:46 KW Well I (Audible) with a just a little Y like that could tum those things around.
10:46 JG It's a Y. You would back up in the Y and pull out the Y the other direction.
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10:46 KW Wouldn't you have to keep going back and forth one time. I never saw them
turn anything around, but I guess they did.
10:46 DB Yea, it was a turn around here. There also used to be a spur that ran on
campus that went to the Power Plant where they hauled in coal. When I first came here
the only time they used coal is when the weather was cold. They had converted to natural
gas, but when the the weather got cold, gas would get turned of i and they would convert
to coal and black smoke started pouring out of those two stacks. I guess there both
smoke stacks. There use to be two tall smoke stacks at the Power Plant?
10:46 KW They brought natural gas into the community I think in 1931. I talked with oh
his dad use to be head of Aggie Engineer.
10:47 DB Bill Schotes.
10:47 KW And about that time A &M ships made the change from coal to natural gas
when they could use it, of course, they would back it up with coal. But before 1931 it
was all Pro -Line that used (Audible) A &M had there own engine they kept in the long
house there where the Owl. They would run back and forth across the campus with that
coal and people on the campus burned coal to heat the house. When I was a little bity kid
they burned coal and grate in the fire place, but when natural gas came in, of course, 31
that changed.
10:47 FD Can ya'll tell me about the Inter -Urban Trolley System
10:47 KW I know I rode it, but when it came I was to little.
10:47 FD Where it ran, and how often it ran.
10:47 JG Well the only thing that I remember is: The tracks were removed and it would
only run in downtown Bryan for a long time. Then they turned the trolley into a diner
there for many years. It was a hamburger joint on Highway 6, Coulter drive and Cavitt
Drive.
10:47 KW (Audible) that was probably the last.
10:47 DB That piece of property isn't occupied to this day is it?
10:47 JG I don't know it might be a plaque there.
10 :47 KW The last run was though the campus. It must have been 1920 shortly after I
was born. My mother said she carried me to Bryan. I don't remember.
10:48 JG See this was back in 1935.
15
10:48 KW I don't remember that Jack, if there was.
10:48 JG They were running in Bryan then.
10:48 KW They were still running it then?
10:48 JG They ran out to Allen Academy. And you could to this day, could still see
where the trolley tracks were because there's concrete on either side and filled some of it
with asphalt; and still haven't improved those streets.
10:48 KW That should be in that Historical Study that Bryan did here a few years ago.
10:48 JG This is what I remember.
10:49 KW The thing that changed the campus it came down College Avenue and got on
what is now Cavaitt and then it angled across the Tauber Pasture, it kind of ended up over
where the campus theater is then it jumped on the campus from there; and that stretch on
the Tauber Pasture during World War II was still there, it was still there in 1950's. We
use to walk it, it was a short cut. You could see the old, where the rails were and spikes
and soforth.
10:49 FD How about Taxi Service. Was there Taxi Service, and what kind of vehicles
did they use?
10:49 DB I don't remember there being a taxi in College Station or Bryan either one.
There was a bus.
10:49 KW Bryan, College Station Traction Company.
10:50 DB One bus in ran from downtown Bryan to College Station. I delivered papers,
and at that time the Eagle office was just down the street from the courthouse. They
would put the papers on that bus and I would pick them up at the YMCA. The bus would
turn around at the old Bugle Stand in front of YMCA. The driver would open the door
and kick the papers out on the curb. I think I probably rode it about twice to go to the
picture show in Bryan. And I remember, almost positive, that the fare was a nickel to ride
the bus.
10:50 FD But very few people rode the bus between Bryan and College Station.
10:50 KW When World War they were. My God did they ride it. You had to fight
sometimes to get on that thing.
10:50 DB You could stick out your thumb and hitchhike to Bryan it was no problem at
all to catch a ride with just whoever.
10:51 JB Girls would ride the bus to go shopping in Bryan. We couldn't hitchhike
16
10:51 FD Well that's one of my next questions. Could you tell me about the customs of
young ladies that traveled along?
10:51 DB Ladies now.
10:51 JB I don't know if young ladies traveled alone.
10:51 FD How about on the train? You know you mention the train. Ah, when you
would come in for a game were you with friends or alone?
10:51 JB We were always with friends. I really can't think of many females that traveled
alone. If you were coming from school you came with friends.
10:51 FD Well, you said not very many people rode the buses?
10:51 KW Then but, it really depends of what time your talking. I tell you when that
war started they rode um.
10:51 FD What could you carry on the bus with you?
10:51 KW Fishing tackle.
10:51 FD Fishing tackle. Wherever you were going huh?
10:51 KW We lived, we moved you see we left the campus in 1940 and my father built a
house and we went tight up the street from Skaggs, what's that South College about a
mile and built a house and all of a sudden the War was on us. It wasn't any way you go.
You either walked or rode a bicycle or you rode that darn College Station, Bryan
Traction Company. And I would go out there on the hour 1:00 the bus would come by
(Audible) wouldn't stop until 2:00 and couple of times I'd walk to Bryan. You know I
measured it awhile back about 3.4 miles, and walked all the way back. That's what you
did. Sometimes you ride a bicycle.
10:52 FD To go to the movies?
10:52 KW To go to the movies. There were no other gasoline was your folks weren't
going to take you.
10:52 JG Well, during the War they had gas stamps or coupons. You had so much gas
per month.
10:52 DB Four gallons a week.
17
10:53 JG If you wanted to go to Houston or somewhere you saved up your coupons so
you could travel to Houston, and that was to buy tires or any part you have to have a
coupons.
10:52 FD I know we kind of touched on the hitchhiking all ready, but explain the
attitude toward hitchhikers during the 20's, 30's and 40's, verse our attitude toward
hitchhiking today?
10:53 JB (Laughter) it was safe, it was friendly.
10:53 KW They willing picked people up. Even picked up shabby people on the side of
the road. You didn't do that you know.
10:53 FD Just gave them a ride huh.
10:53 DB It was always easy when you had on uniform. In the 40's and 50's you can
speak about it. I can't speak about the 30's. But, of course, during World War II, there
were lots of people in uniforms and people picked up people in uniforms without
hesitation. This is why Aggies could get around. Back then the Aggies wore uniforms 24
hours a day, seven days a week; you had to always wear a uniform.
10:54 FD Did ya'll ever have any experience with hitchhiking
10:54 JG I hitchhiked everywhere I went. I went to Tarlton State College on weekends,
I would get out and thumb a ride and a Cadillac would come by and stop and say were
you, they'll ask you were you were going. I'm going to San Antonio that's right where
we were going (Laughter). So we would go to San Antonio. They just asked you where
you wanted to go. We went to San Antonio and caught a ride to go to Corpus Christi and
come around and we'd stayed on the road hitchhiking, though to a certain point you got
where you only wanted to ride in a certain kind of automobile. And, they'd stop and
offer you a ride and you'd ask them where they going and they'd tell you it might be
exactly where you wanted to go, though you didn't want that automobile. That's how
easy it was to get a ride, and I'm sorry were not going there; thank you.
10:55 KW One time after we moved from he campus the War had started and I always
like to fish and I would get my things together at the house and (Audible) catching
minnows and poles, I had one of those things you take apart. I walked about a mile up the
road there where the Country Club Lake or Municipal Lake is. One day (Audible) doing
this and this came along he had bad teeth, and he picked me up and we'd hadn't gone 300
yards until he was putting his hands in my crouch. I never heard of a homosexual. I
wasn't but 13 or 14. I kicked over the bucket of minnows and they all poured over the
floor board and they were flipping around and it made him so mad, and he stopped the car
and I gout out and picked up the minnows. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't
know what it was, so I didn't go fishing. Most of the minnows were in bad shape then. I
walked back to the house and my mother knew something was wrong, but I didn't tell her.
18
It was years later before I figured out what this son of a gun (Audible) done this before.
So it wasn't all that pure you know.
10:56 DB When Joyce, was in TSCW and I was at A &M I could hitchhike from College
Station to Denton faster then I could get there on a bus. But it was very rare you would
wait no more than fifteen minutes to get a ride. The only problem that you had
hitchhiking like when I get to Dallas, it would be unusual for me to catch a ride from
College Station to Denton. I would get a ride to Dallas with somebody, then I would
have to get in a place in Dallas on the highway so usually somebody would let me out
downtown Dallas, and I'll get on a city bus from Dallas to get out what use to be a big
circle out about where Cowboy Stadium is. I would get a bus out there and at the edge of
town and on the highway and at a very short time I would catch somebody going to
Denton.
10:57 JB And when the family went to another town in the car we always went by and
picked up hitchhikers before we left College Station.
10:57 FD Oh you checked?
10:57 JB Oh yes.
10:58 FD And there was always somebody there?
10:58 JB Usually.
10:58 FD When people were passing through our town here where did they stay at night,
or where did they stop to get refreshments?
(Laughter)
10:58 KW Well, if you wanted something alcoholic you said refreshments a beer you
would have to come in on old Highway 6 at the Hard Liquor. That was the first place
they sold beer there. Old (Audible) liquor.
10:58 DB Don't try to spell Hrdlicka, it doesn't sound anything like its spelled.
10:59 KW Martin BB -Q as you went up Old College Road would be the next place or if
you passed hard liquor you could always drop in at Martin and then downtown Bryan.
Some of the restaurants had beer. Now there were other places maybe made
accommodations. I think it is what your asking. Where would they spend the night?
10:59 FD Umm huh.
10:59 KW Blue Top Courts. Well that came up before that it wasn't a place. Before
Blue Top Courts were build on new Highway.
19
10:59 DB Aggieland Inn.
10:59 KW Aggieland Inn was the only place or you would have to go to Bryan and find
a hotel.
10:59 DB Blue Top Courts was located right there where Red Lobster is, that area there.
10:59 FD But sleeping accommodations were in Bryan other then Blue Top Courts.
10:59 KW That's right.
10:59 DB Aggieland Inn.
10:59 KW What's the old hotel? LaSalle Hotel. SRI Hotel, Charles Hotel.
10:59 FD No place to stay.
11:00 JB Just weren't that many places to spend the night
11:00 KW People would come in early. They would come in by droves in their
automobiles and they'll all leave.
11:00 DB The special trains I've seen is many as six, special trains here for a football
game. It would be like were playing Rice and they'd be six different trains form Houston
or maybe four from Houston and two from Dallas would come in and people would just
walk across the railroad tracks to Kyle Field, and then walk back to the train after. That
might be the reason they put that turn around out there because there were so many
people coming that they couldn't even see the train having to turn around and go back.
11:00 FD Tell me about airplane service in and out of College Station. What type of
planes were there and how many passengers would they hold?
11:01 DB Well in about 1950 ah trans no, pioneer no.
11:01 KW One before Pioneer.
11:01 DB One before Trans Texas Airways which became Texas International used to
call it Treetop Airlines ah, there was something before that.
11:02 KW There was one in 49 that I flew on.
11:02 DB They had a D -C3. I think it was a old military plane been converted. It was a
noisy old thing It was noisy. It was not a pressurized cabin. Ah it held about 25 people.
20
11:03 FD Twenty five people.
11:03 DB Yes, I remember just one seat on each side.
11:03 KW Shortly after the War was over they started that.
11:03 FD You flew in 1949 on one?
11:03 KW Yea, but I flew before (Audible) go ahead let him finish I'll tell you about
more flying here there are some more aspects.
11:04 DB But there was a plane that went to Houston, College Station, Waco, and
Dallas, and then it came back; and sometimes they would stop in Temple, and the thing so
significant about that airline is that they were flying these old Pinston engines and they
wanted turbine engines sometimes in the 60's. And the FFA they went to the
manufacture, they went to Douglas Aircraft to get the engines changed from the radial
engines to turbine engines and Douglas said `ve want to do that ". Trans Texas Airline
did it themself. They went out and bought the engines, took those old pinstons engines
and put a turboprop engine on D -C3 and then got a patten on doing that. There were a
lot of D -C3's converted similarly. This raised the speed of the airplane about 125 / 30
miles an hour to 250 miles an hour.
11:04 KW That thing flew from here to Houston I remember that's where I flew there
and then caught one in Shreveport that must have been Pioneer.
11:04 DB I believe it was Pioneer that was the predecessor if I'm not mistaken.
11:05 KW Before all this happened in the late 20's and early 30's they were kind of an
unusual thing just to this Southwest of the College Park on the West part of College Park.
It was a great big pasture part of (Audible) liquor water hose you mention while ago, and
(Audible) would fly in there with there band take people up on Sunday afternoons. And
they also brought in four I(Audible) which was a kind of amazing thing That's the first
airplane that cared pople in the United States, I think that was the case. They had three
engines and the strenght with the outter fusilade, you had a thing that a waning inside.
But they would bring those things in there my father took me up. I only paid fifty cents
and I flew around this about 1931; I flew around the campus. Bill Langston, flew in that
thing. And that went on for a number of years. Later on they made that thing a golf
course just to the Southwest of College Park. But in those early years in the early couple
of years on Sunday and Saturdays they'd bring in all these airplanes World War I piolots
still vicarious wanting to fly a airplane they'd take people up. Curtis Jennings, and two
engine things One time there was an autogiro came in there.
11:05 DB I remember seeing that.
11:05 KW It got a propeller is not powered it just spins.
21
11:05 DB It had one engine to it?
11:05 KW One engine, and they took that thing down.
11:05 FD And that was out, and they came in and landed and took off from Wellborn
Road.
11:05 KW Right off Wellborn it was a big pasture. Later became a golf course.
11:05 JG Yea, its a big golf course over there. We used to go over there back in the
30's and steal golf balls.
11:05 FD Mr. Birdwell, where did the plans lane and take of what you were speaking
of?
11:05 DB At Easterwood Field.
11:05 FD At Easterwood?
11:05 DB Yea, I guess that must have been paved. Ah extensively doing World War II
at the beginning of World War II.
11:06 KW Yea, it must have been.
11:06 DB But it was very nice. You know airport concrete pavement on the run ways
and what not.
11:06 KW (Audible) out of town like a small town.
11:06 FD Did ya'll know anyone who owned an airplane or that piloted?
11:06 KW Or yea, sure.
11:06 FD Who were soem of those people who owned planes.
11:07 KW Yea, I'm glad you asked. If you dire up South College past Skaggs and you
know where Young Blood (Audible) use to be?
11:07 FD Yes.
11:07 KW Right off the left theres a big pasture of land that belonged to Dr. Wilkerson.
He built into old (Audible) house out there, and he owned enough land so he put in a
landed stripe. He flew his own airplane. So right there until Bryan incorporated that
property Dr. Wilkersson, freely flew his beachcraft out of that thing all the time.
22
11:07 FD (Audible) .
11:07 DB I took flying lessons there.
11:07 FD You took flying?
11:07 DB There was a hanger there.
11:08 KW Was it?
11:08 DB Hanger there.
11:08 KW You know what he sold that property then?
11:08 DB I think he still owned it. He just leased it.
11:09 KW You can still fly out of there?
11:09 DB Well, this is in 51 or 52.
11:09 KW Ok, I'm surprised after it was incorporated. I didn't think they flew.
11:09 DB Ali, it was just a dirt strip I took flying lesson there. There was also I don't
remember his name. There was a professor at A &M that lived in what we called the
Knowle.
11:09 FD Knowle.
11:10 DB Knowle which is?
11:10 KW His name is ?
11:10 DB Winding Lane.
11:10 KW Starts with a W.
11:10 FD Now where's the Knowle?
11:10 DB The Knowle is a Subdivsion, ah that's ah Orr Street and Winding Lane ah.
what's the other street.
11:10 FD Is that Knowle?
11:10 DB Yea.
23
11:10 FD The Knowle?
11:11 DB We had (Audible) a subdivison that somebody developed, it wasn't very many
houses out there.
11:11 KW Starts with a W.
11:11 DB Whithker7
11:11 KW No, it has a Germany contemplation to it.
11:11 DB Anyway there was professor that lived out that had a airplane that had a
detailed that was called a.
11:11 KW Air two, aircare.
11:11 DB Aircoop, aircoop.
11:11 KW He's an old cropduster.
11:11 DB Yea, this is the guy that built him a Cropduster.
11:12 FD He did.
11:12 DB He flew back and forth to work. He worked at the Wind tunnel at
Easterwood. And he had a strip that was a farm behind it which is like where the ah,
elementary school is out there located right now just a pasture. And he would fly home at
noon. He would come out and take off and fly out from the wind tunnel and, land behind
his house and taxi up to his house and go eat lunch and fly back. And you know its by air
mile and a half
11:12 FD I was going to say how long did he ride in the air.
11:12 KW He could have a bicycle and been over there.
11:12 DB But anytime the weather was good, that's what he did.
11:12 FD He was a professor on campus?
11:12 DB He was a professor on campus. He was areo engineer.
11:12 FD We have to find out who that was.
24
11:12 KW Starts with a W but I can't, I know he developed these cropdusters a couple
of them was used.
11:12 FD Umm any of ya'll were developed with crops? Well your daddy was in the
grocery businesss. What kind of transportation did you or he or your family used to get
goods and crops.
11:12 JB I said the pickup truck for the groceries delivered to the homes. Before that
they came in here with horse and wagon from Bryan delivering groceries.
11:13 FD Did people grow there crops and bring them by the store for you to purchase
them?
11:13 JB That I do not know, that I do not know. I was told there was a commissary on
campus.
11:13 KW We had a grocery store on the campus.
11:13 JB Commissary, and you could buy fresh produce and meat from there.
11:13 FD Mr. Grant, did your dad give his grocery and vegetables to the store, well he
probably grew them.
11:13 JG My mother always had a garden. During the War there were a lot of victory
gardens and the Arnold's had the land and we could go over there and I guess I don't
know how they paid for it or anything; had a garden and raised all the vegetables you
wanted. Most of the vegetables were local fresh from what I understand. You even grew
it in your flowerbeds around the house.
11:13 KW You didn't have the array of things that you could get today. Things like
spaghetti squash, acorn squash. I rmember you never did see that stuf kiwi (Laugher).
11:13 JG And things for seasonal.
11:13 KW Very seasonal.
11:13 JG You didn't get fresh fruit in the winter time.
11:14 KW It wouldn't all come in from Florida and Mexico and all that.
11:14 FD Any family member or friend who worked for the city street department, the
state highway department; or the county road department. Friends you know, and what
their duties were?
25
11:14 JG I remember Mr. Henry was Maintainer Operator for roads. He lived on what
we called midway, which is also Sulpher Springs Roads there it dorges.
11:14 KW Young Bloods?
11:14 JG Dodges, ahh. In fact, Mr. Henry, worked on the main entrance to the
University. You know they put the main entrance in and he up the maintainer hit that big
piece of petrified rock is still out there; and he did most of the grater work around. He
worked for the power plant and I think this was kind of a side job for him doing
maintainer work because most of the roads were gravel and had to be maintained from
time to time.
11:14 DB After World War II?
11:14 FD Yes sir.
11:14 DB Well if it was after World War II before World War II if you went
(Second Tape- Side A)
11:14 FD Do ya'll have memorabilia about lot of the transportation we've discussed
today? Photgrahy's drawings. You mentioned a map.
11:14 JG Well, that map is a University Library, I'm sure it can be looked up. I just
happened to come across it. I didn't want to check it out. I got to check it out because I
was Copy Center Manager at TAMU, and I copied it for Dr. Reynolds. He was always
interesed in railroads. The map showed the turn around and he was a railroad fanatic. He
like anything on railroads.
11:14 KW I did a map on the campus in 1935 where all the streets were and were
everybody lived; wrote up some stuff. Its been circulated around. You don't have a copy
of that?
11:14 FD Umm the center probably does. If you circulated.
11:15 KW It's something about communication of travel, that sort of thing. One of the
things that I remember very distinctly about living in Bryan and College Station were
where you went if you went on a trip. We went a lot of places. We liked to go to the hill
country and go to Barton Springs or go to New Braunfels and swim in the springs there or
go to Kerrville or you might go to Dallas or you might go to Galveston; but where nobody
ever went was East. I never did go to East Texas. Nobody ever went to Nacogdoches or
St. Augustine.
11:15 DB Except to see the Dogwood.
26
11:15 KW Football, well maybe. The people (Audible) three other ways or North?
Theres aloft of scenery over there. I don't know why we didn't. Hill country.
11:15 JG Most of my life have been to the West. I finally went to New York a few
years back, and that was the first time I've been East of the Mississippi River, and the Hill
country is still beautiful and its still fun to go and take kids.
11:15 KW On Senior Day we graduated 45, out Senior Day was over in Barton Springs
that was like a new world to go out there.
11:15 FD Oh it's beautful!
11:15 KW I got into Barton Creek and I wonded up that that for two miles to look at
the birds and the scenery no houses there, and came back and then swam and got sunburn.
Its just so pretty. So unlike the place here.
11:15 FD Well Mrs. Birdwell, what do you have further to share with us? I know you
got some interesting stuff that you haven't told us.
11:15 JB I can't think of anything father about transportation.
11:15 FD Your trips back and forth. Did you mostly just come for the games or did you
come down to see your faimly?
11:16 JB You mean from college?
11:16 FD Uh,uh.
11:16 JB Yes, yes.
11:16FD To court?
11:16 JB And because the train was so expensive, my roommate, Lou Burgess Cashion,
and I organized a bus in Denton to make the trip here and then charged the girls so much
for the trip.
11:16 FD Like a charter bus trip.
11:16 JB That's right. And we came for the weekend. Returning to TSCW, in 1950 -
`51, you had to sign in early, so Sunday evening we found if we stopped in Waco at the
Chicken Shack, where they fried chicken, we could pick up box lunches and we would sell
girls a round trip bus ticket and fried chicken supper.
11:16 KW Leslie's Fried Chicken.
27
11:16 JB Is that what it was called? Yes.
11:17 JB All the girlfriends could stay at A &M a bit longer before going back to school
on the bus.
11:17 FD And you stopped on the way back and waited until they got ready.
11:17 JB They were ready for us. We'd call in and pre - arrange. At the side we would
honk and they would come out with the box lunches. That's the first fast food we had in
the state was Leslie's Fried Chicken.
11:17 DB It just closed down in the last six months.
11:17 KW Did it? Oh, I loved that place.
11:17 DB Went out of business?
11:17 JB Gilrs didn't go by themselves. You didn't go out without a date. You usually
had somebody.
11:18 FD I guess those weekends games were lots for fun. Real exciting. And did you
meet her at the bus when it arrived?
11:18 DB Yea, yea and all the other Aggies. We'd meet the bus or if they was coming
on the train we would meet the train.
11:18 FD And you had an automobile, you were driving.
11:18 DB No, but my parents lived in College Station and I didn't have a car personally,
but I would borrow my parents car. I did not walk.
11:19 FD We need to walk more don't we now?
11:19 JG The Putzman's moved here when I was eight or nine years old, and I saw her
the other day. She's still walking Mr. Putzman died here a few weeks ago.
11:19 FD Mrs. Putzman'
11:19 JG They have never owned any type of transportation that I know of
11:19 KW Is that right?
11:19 JG They walked everywhere they went. If they had to go any distance, they'd ride
the bus or train. He was a professor in Economic Department, but he was also the track
coach at A &M is that right?
28
11:19 FD At A &M?
11:19 JG, KW (Audible) to Col. Anderson. Mrs. Putzman, was she's probably in her
80's or 90's. She got legs like a marathon runner (Laugher).
11:19 FD And she's still walking?
11:19 JG Yea, she's still walking. I mean moving. I mean walking I mean not just
strolling along. I mean walking. That's what it is. They put up kids and.
11:20 KW He was always regarded as a little eccentric. I suppose as a man.
11:20 JG But he was a runner back.
11:20 KW That's why people looked at him that way.
11:20 JG I don't think he owned a bicycle. They lived on Pershing here for a while.
11:20 KW Do you remember SQUARE ROUTE JACKSON (Laughter).
11:20 JG Oh yea!!
11:20 KW He didn't own a car either.
11:20 JG He had a bicycle and rode it at a slow speed. I mean peddled once, twice
coast another twenty or thirty yards maybe make another turn or two. Until it got to the
point where he was almost going to fall over, and he would make another turn.
11:20 KW He was a good candidate "UNABOMBER" if he was still around
(Laughter).
11:20 JG Do you know why they called him Square Route Jackson?
11:20 KW Why?
11:20 JG He had a theory on the square route a minus one. (Laughter) which is
mathematically impossible.
11:21 KW Le me tell you one more trip on College Station bus before we leave that,
things always sticks in my mind One time when I did catch the bus where we lived North
where Skaggs was. I went to the Palace and I got out about 1943 and everybody loaded
on that bus, they were Sailors. Marines, soilders, they were all going to school at A &M
ASTDC. As soon as we got on that bus we all spontaneous stat singing. We song World
War I songs and (Audible) songs; current songs and we sang and nobody ever shut up.
29
Just like somebody a choir director is there reading all these guys. They finally let me out
where we lived. I went in there and told my mother and she remember World War I, how
everybody sang that way. When they let me off they were going towards the campus and
they were still singing.
11:21 FD Oh, that sounds like fun.
11:21 KW Nobody does that anymore. They sing Rock N Roll.
11:21 FD Things you can't understand.
11:21 KW Yea.
11:22 FD Well I think, we learned alot. WE covered alot. Ah, did you mention anything
about your drivers license and your driving.
11:22 JG (Laughter).
11:22 FD Mr. Grant.
11:23 JG Well, when I was a teenager, I got the car if you had a date; you might at
sixteen you got a drivers license. The favorite spot over there by Boyett and see how fast
you could go over that railroad track without wrecking it. There were two tracks, and
one was lower then the other if you got up enought speed to go over it and make the other
one on the down grade, crazy though. I did one day and I came down and the front
wheels turned a little bit; we come almost turn over, it was unreal. I staighten up and
everybody else got out and did what was natural. We never did it again. (Laughter). I
mean we just almost took down the railroad crossing sign to. My daddy had this big old
pick up, had this crash guard on it and we would get together like normal teenagers and
everything else we drove as fast as we could go around and make a run to see who was
around (Woo Pitch Bridge) and all those other places go to the parking.
11:23 FB Woo Pitch Bridge.
11:23 JB Right by Channel 3 now.
11:24 KW I think parents in general at that would think the kid was going to die and
wither up if he didn't have a drivers license by the time he was sixteen. It was not
(Audible). My parents, I didn't drive until I got out of the Army and bought my own
automobile. There were alot of families like that. There were a number of kids that were
turned loose in those things (Audible) were quite dangerous. Its a wonder if some of
them.
30
11:24 JB I think in the main (Audible) its fun to want that child to drive a car, but let
him grow up a little bit and let him wait a bit longer.
11:25 JG You need to think about being a child here in a early age. The time you got
that car, the world was waiting for you (Laughter).
11:25 FD They'd already heard.
11:25 JG They were waiting for you. You didn't lie about if you got in any trouble.
You got to tell the truth.
11:25 JB Because everybody saw you.
11:25 JG Everybody do everybody else and telephone would (Audible) when you drive
by.
11:26 KW During World War II there was a Chad Smith. His father was a physic
(Audible) and Terry Smith, was in my class at Consolidated.
11:26 JG Built his own automobile. He built it from scratch.
11:26 KW Since he built the thing, he didn't think it would require him to have a license
on it. Two years he drove around the place, policemen finally got him He thought it was
rational if he built it his self
11:27 JB Bill Munnerlyn drove for years without a license.
11:27 KW This was a plain old car Joyce. (Laughter).
11:27 DB Bill Munnerlyn probably started driving when he was twelve years old.
11:27 FD You have anything you are willing to share with the City?
End of Session
31
City of College Station
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
Memory Lane: 1 fa,��
1
\, Interview No.
Name I k ,, / Interview date 4 -I (u-q(o
Interviewer g, �� DOA Interview length
Interview PlaceQ I f) I
Special sources of information
Date tape received in office # of tapes marked Date
Original Photographs Yes No # of photos Date Recd
Describe Photos
arks:
Interview Agreement and tape disposal form:
Given to interviewee on Received Yes No
Date Signed Restrictions - If yes, see remarks below. Yes No
Transcription:
First typing completed by
First audit check by
Sent to interviewee on
Received from interviewee on
Copy editing and second audit check by
Final copies: Typed by
Oral History Stage Sheet
Indexed by:
Sent to binplery by
Received from bindery
Deposited in archives by:
Pages
(name)
(name)
/i ■
(name)
L
Pages
Pages
Pages
Pages
Proofread by: 1)
2) Pages Date
Photos out for reproduction: Where to: Date:
Original photos returned to: Date:
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
arks:
•
City of College Station
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
Memory Lane: {A 1/41 -„Tl1( 1/1
Final copies: Typed by
Oral History Stage Sheet
Interviey No.
Name______ « yo I I Interview date 7 - /j 9(
Interviewer far Interview length L
Interview Place 12r,„,„ Ir) I
Special sources of information
Date tape received in office # of tapes marked Date
Original Photographs Yes No # of photos Date Recd
Describe Photos
Interview Agreement and tape disposal form:
Given to interviewee on Received Yes No
Date Signed Restrictions- If yes, see remarks below. Yes No
Transcription:
First typing completed by Pages Date
(name)
First audit check by
(name)
Sent to interviewee on
Received from interviewee on
Copy editing and second audit check by T AB
(name)
Proofread by: 1)
2'
Pages Date
Pages Date
Pages Date
Pages Date
Photos out for reproduction: Where to: Date:
Original photos returned to: Date:
Indexed by: Date
Sent to bindery by Date
Received from bindery Date
Deposited in archives by: Date
.irks:
City of College Station
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
Memory Lane: 1 (7,0,<-,
Interview No.
Name JG,C� •Cris � Interview date q _ 1(s -q u
interviewer Y ,. - - r>oolSt) Interview length
Interview Place 'lac) 0,
Special sources of information
Date tape received in office # of tapes marked Date
Original Photographs Yes No # of photos Date Recd
Describe Photos
Interview Agreement and tape disposal form:
Given to interviewee on Received Yes No
Date Signed Restrictions - If yes, see remarks below. Yes No
Transcription:
First typing completed by Pages Date
(name)
First audit check by Pages Date
(name)
Sent to interviewee on
Oral History Stage Sheet
Received from interviewee on
Copy editing and second audit check by
ages Date 1,
Grp 3-
Final copies: Typed by Pages Date
Proofread by: 1) Pages Date
2) Pages Date
Photos out for reproduction: Where to: Date:
Original photos returned to: Date:
Indexed by: Date
Sent to bindery by Date
Received from bindery Date
Deposited in archives by: Date
irks:
City of College Station
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
Memory Lane: (Nravi' ( -,1
Interview No.
Name KVA Lth I 1<eV Interview date 1- 1- (ip-cfr.
Interviewer - („ A 5 0 Interview length
Interview Place on .w, 1 c_
Special sources of information
Date tape received in office # of tapes marked Date
Original Photographs Yes No # of photos Date Rec'd
Describe Photos
Interview Agreement and tape disposal form:
Given to interviewee on Received Yes No
Date Signed Restrictions - if yes, see remarks below. Yes No
Transcription:
First typing completed by Pages Date
(name)
First audit check by
Sent to interviewee on
Received from interviewee on
Copy editing and second audit check by
Final copies: Typed by
Oral History Stage Sheet
(name)
(name)
Pages Date
Pages Date
Pages Date
Proofread by: 1) Pages Date
2' Pages Date
Photos out for reproduction: Where to: Date:
Original photos returned to: Date:
Indexed by: Date
Sent to bindery by Date
Received from bindery Date
Deposited in archives by: Date
City of College Station
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
This is 2 D SQ oday is ge».- /
(month) (day) (year)
I'm interviewing for the i r time , 1, ,C L 0441Y
( Mr., Mrs.,
J)JO) Wila 0 - DI U_ iPDW.J.L, JO C E /PD(A)E.
Miss, Ms., Dr., E tc.)
This interview is taking place in Room / D / of The
(
at 1300 George Bush Dr.
College Station , Texas . This interview is sponsored by the
Historic Preservation Committee and the Conference
Center Advisory Committee of the City of College Station,
Texas. It is part of the Memory Lane Oral History Project.
Have each person introduce themselves so their voice is
identifiable on the tape recorder.
INTERVIEW AGREEMENT
The City of College Station, Texas
Memory Lanes Oral History Project
The purpose of The Historic Preservation Committee is to gather and
preserve historical documents by means of the tape- recorded interview. Tape
recordings and transcripts resulting from such interviews become part of the
archives of The City of College Station Historic Preservation Committee and
Conference Center Advisory Committee to be used for whatever purposes may
be determined.
with
I have read the above and voluntarily offer my portion of the interviews
(Name of Interviewee)
1. J _ _ 7.
2. K/00 < 8.
4 . �f G yc� (R n w6L(._ 10.
5.
6.
11.
12.
In view of the scholarly value of this research material, I hereby assign rights,
title, and interest pertaining to it to Th City of College Station Historic
Preservation Committee and Conferenc nter Advise v Committee.
Interviewer (signature)
Date
/"RA -A) D so
Interviewer (Please Print)
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance. ), , &A
Inte 3= ( � e t)
Sigtarfure o Interviewee
Ji9ek �'s41, 0`
Name BRVA v, ! Y 77,08
Address
77Af %2/10
Telephone
Date of Birth .4 ®/"— /7, Aqa)
Place of Birth ?9/A/4 73(
$410 tiO x)
Interviewer (P S ase Print)
ignature / � f Interv' ew
Plac.=' of Interview
List of photos, documents, mans, etc.
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed
Date
Initial
In progress
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any Toss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance.
c.1 '
Interviewee (Please �
Signature of Interviewee
OD 5,0•
Int= viewer (P ease Print)
$ig ture f Interv
Pia a of Interview
List of photos. documents. mans. etc.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
Name --
Address
/7
Telephone
of Birth v /�/ /
Place of B irth y" p, J- /241 --z
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed
In progress
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
Date
Initial
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance.
lieAt)
Signature • Intery ewer
Intep' ifrwer (P1 se Print)
Plac
of Interview
List of photos, documents, mans. etc.
Name
Date
Initial
re of Interviewee
/'o/ t sf Dak
Address A7/01 /7D
Telephones /
Date of Birth /Z - /0 "' 31
Place of Birth
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed
In progress
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance.
� � \ (�
In erv'ewee (Please pri )
Signature of Interviewee
Place of Interview
List of photos. documents. mans. etc.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
Inter`v' wer (Ple s P
Signature of Interviewer
Name
Address K
,/ Cs 6-e) // e < 5 �Ya
Telephone E' c-{-.& 4 16s -- /
? > (
Date of Birth ,((c c (L / i 'ci
Place of Birth
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed
Date
Initial
In progress
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.