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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Panel Group 08.rks: City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral History Project Memory Lane: -- Vag011 3 I14 Oral History Stage Sheet p Interview No. Name D I - e - t Interview date 4 :1 i., V t‘i Interviewer ctl"Yicka Pa u 12R Interview length 11./0 YY Interview Place vI . 1(7 Special sources of , l /( f Date tape received in office , /(/ /9 G # of tapes marked ,- Q. y / � Date (' Original Photographs Yes No ✓ # of photos Date Recd Describe Photos Interview Agreement and tape dispo fo Given to interview : on ' - eceived Yes Date Signed / • Restrictions - If yes, see remarks below. Yes No Transcription: First typing completed b Pages (name) First audit check by L J Pages Date � Fr ame) Sent to interviewee on / fD Received from interviewee on Copy editing and second audit check by Final copies: Typed by (name) 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 binGlery by Date Received from bindery Date Deposited in archives by: Date orgl No Date / / / 6 i rks: Memory Lane: City of College Station. Memory Lanes Oral History Project Sent to interviewee on Final copies: Typed by • Oral History Stage Sheet 1 p lntervie N J U Name 1 Interview date interviewer ?a r i d NAV Interview length Interview Place rIM . r p) Special sources of information Date tape received in office ' `fi / # of tapes marked a Original Photographs Yes No # of photos Date Recd Describe Photos Interview Agreement and tape dis 1 o Given to interviewee J9 (o Received Yes No Date Signed ` 9 Restrictions - if yes, see remarks below. Yes No Transcription: „ / i , First typing completed b ( Pages Date 7 0 6' (na ..,a� First audit check by , Pages Date J 17/,(name) Received from interviewee on' GII 14'` qt/ Copy editing and second audit check by Proofread by: 1) Pages Date 2,} (name) Pages Pages X10 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 Date /AG f ' Date Date"✓/ 16 f �Q e. , ks: Memory Lane: 7,C.1 (f1 Jl a 14.0.11/ludoavid interview date Interviewer h 1C ( PAKite Interview length Interview Place rvin . 10 Special sources of information Date tape received in office /!I (c # of tapes marked Original Photographs Yes No 1 ✓# of photos Date Recd Describe Photos Name Interview Agreement and tape dis Given to intervieweepn Date Signed Li // (� / Transcription: / / First typing completed by First audit check by Sent to interviewee on Received from interviewee Copy editing and second audit check by Final copies: Typed by Proofread by: 1) 2; City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral. History Project Oral History Stage Sheet f P 7 Received Yes No Restrictions - If yes, see remarks below. Yes No i '37; ame) interview No. Pages Pages Pages Pages 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 Date Date Date Date "�� -0 Date Date City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral History Project This is W.ir,r,ir. I3ork . Today is Apt- /� , (month) (day) (year) I'm interviewing for the hi time 00n)1,14 1 , (Mr., mrs., � irnnrkc, KDf.g,-P , t-11 Lei A - Vt5Ya�ln Miss, Ms., Dr., Etc.) This interview is taking place in Room 107 of The ��, , 5 at 1300 George Bush Dr. a 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. The City of College Station, Texas Memory Lanes Oral History Project INTERVIEW AGREEMENT 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 giro./ of Interviewee) 1. iQra./ h Mau 7. 2 . (J.-/ /r 7. ' '► .. 8. 3 - thi7y P( / T 9. 4. 10. 5. 11. 6. 12. In view of the scholarly value of this research material, I hereby assign rights, title, and interest pertaining to it to The City of College Station Historic Preservation Committee and Conference Center Advisory Committee. Interviewer (signature) Date 4 /I 62r �C(� cc�ricicA_ 'jvrk. Interviewer (Please Print) 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. / ,p 0 le 0 lit P - yrt A-ut- 4? WI cx-vi_ P cx kr ti Bu HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE City of College Station, Texas 77840 ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer Place of Interview List of photos, docglpents. maps. etc. C:oatlw 0 Interviewee ,,( ease print' Signa tore of Interviewee M o Ro 1-■ t Name 0 0 /006 G` o23. .6reci .7apLs77go3 Address a ( o9) 3 —5'/ a Telephone Date of Birth Juno A 3 /9/9 Place of Birth9fc.J C 0 u ti. 1-i' J're, S _ INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed In progress rt ' ati ' /Lk 7 r,�!/0� � 1� ,1��m ` c be 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�� f.7 rh- Intervie Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer Place of Interview List of photos. documents. mans. etc. J n fa4 ° 7 (PleOe print) -1 flaw re of I, fvidwee Name � 2. . " 7 ,, 7 zi lr, AddrAs s �ea� 77( 77 c Telep ne g 17 16 • 7 & 9 Date of Birth /2 / Zq / /q 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. Date Initial 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. VV �� Interviewee (Please print) G - --\ 30( \C Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer \o Place of Interview List of photos, documents, mans. etc. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE City of College Station, Texas 77840 ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET Signature of Interviewee Name Address /4 ,7 /° efr . 4-■ - Telephone (d, Date of Birth Place of Birth PIA la Initial 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. 6E2 /6 /q41? Date H.C. -- Do you want our address on here? Transportation - Group 8 Moderator: Patricia Burke- Transcriptionist: Sylvia Martinez Camcorder Operator: Joey Dunn Interviewees: Charles Keese Hazel Prewit Chastain Dorothy May Bill Chastain I am doing this for the camera so they'll know where to stick us in the long run (Watch your feet). My name is Trish Burk(pnd today is April the 16th., 1996. I am interviewing for the first time The Chastains and Charles Keese and Dorothy May. This is an Oral History Project that is taking place in room 107, of the George Bush Drive, Conference Center. This interview is sponsored by the Historic Preservation Committee and the Conference Center Advisory Committee of the city of College Station. It is part of the memory lane Oral History Project and because you have something that nobody else has, and that is specific memories of what things were like before I was here. We would like to know exactly what you can tell us about transportation. And by transportation don't mean trains and cars, we're talking about roller skates, tricycles, bicycles and walking on your two feet, so if you will kind of go with us. Let yourself relax and visualize and try to remember some of these things. Now we can move on. Now before we begin, I would very much like for you to take one of these forms, it's an interview form, and basically what it says is that we have your permission to tape this interview and also we have your permission to transcribe these things so that others after us would be able to know what things were like here in College Station. So if you'll just take one moment to look this over and basically what we are asking for is your permission to interview you and to use what it is that you are saying in the Oral History Project, so that it won't be lost, your memories of this place won't be lost. I love to hear the stories. That's one of the things I love most about moving to College Station. I work with the university and I love to interview all the old Ags and hear all the things they have to say. T.B. -- If you could that would be just wonderful. Right under the signature where it says name and address. And if we could have your phone number, then if we have any questions about somehting that didn't get quite right, we can call on you. H.C. -- Columbus and I discovered America the same day! T.B. -- Oh did you? How fascinating! I heard that they found Coranado's settlement. There is definite proof of Coranado's settlement in the panhandle. H.C. -- The last time we met, I had a picture of the garbage collector from College Station. T.B. -- Did you really? H.C. -- Yes, and I brought it, I gave it to someone, and a grocery store ad also, for only 15 cents or something like that, so somebody has it. I don't know who. T.B. -- Well, if you didn't bring anything today, you needn't put anything down. H.C. -- Well, somebody has that. T.B. -- Okay, Have it all filled in. The top part, right after your name. H.C. -- You haven't been here long enough. You don't know about our... T.B. -- You're a whipper snapper! D.M. -- That's the reason I didn't bring carrots! T.B. -- But she still wants you to take the ride. B.C. -- She doesn't want me hearing part of her thing! H.C. -- What went on! 2 T.B. -- Now if you would be kind enough after we've started by letting everyone in the room tell us your name so that we can get that on the tape, so they can moderate your voice and recognize your voice later on this tape. Just let us know your name and where you were born and where you lived. D.M. -- I'm Dorothy May and I was born in Madison County but we moved to Bryan in 1935. And I went to Stephen F. Austin High School and graduated there in 1938. Then I had some night classes at A &M, they wouldn't let girls go to A &M back in those days. But anyway I have 9 hours and I am very proud of it. And I have also gone to Blinn College. But I worked for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (A.S.C.S.) from 1941 until 1977 when I retired. So I have some very pleasant memories of A &M. And I have gone to some dances at Sbisa, and at The Grove. But I worked over on campus for 36 years. T.B. - -Jack can you tell us a little bit about yourself. J.K. -- I am Jack Keese. I was born in Somerville, Texas. The metropolitan area of Somerville, which is over in Burleson County. I was born on December 29, 1919. December 29th is close enough to the first of the year, so that I am always 20 years younger than the year. That's the way I remember my age. I had four sisters. I was the only boy in the family. While growing up, my parents always said, "When you go to A &M," so I never considered going to any other university. When I graduated from high school in 1937, I came to A &M and completed a degree in 1941. I spent 5 years in the military during W.W.II, in both the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation. We moved to College Station as a member of the faculty at A &M in 1948 after 3 years in Cleburne, Texas. We left here for a short period of time, 1952 to '55, in Midland, Texas. Then, in September, 1955, we moved back to Bryan/ College Station area for good. T.B. -- Great. B.C. -- You know, 1919 was the year that Jack Dempsey whipped Jim Sawyer for the World Heavyweight title. T.B. -- Why aren't you lucky! Do you ever use that? J.K. -- NO! T.B. -- No? Now you can. D.M. -- I forgot to say when my birthday is June 23,1919 T.B. -- Hazel, if you would start and then well hear what your Hubby has to say. H.C. -- I am Hazel Prewit Chastian and I have been in College Station since 1937 and I signed the petition to get College Station incorporated. These many years ago. I was born and reared in Louisiana. I am not a native Texan, but I have been here since I was 19 and I was educated in Louisiana schools. I was born in Leesville, Louisiana, which is not far from Fort Polk, between where my sister lives and that's where General Rudder was stationed at one time and there is a museum there that has his memorabilia, and anyway I lost my first husband in 1972. And then when I had my Medicare party Bill came along. We married so I would have a different name now and he doesn't know anything about all these things that went on. He's from Arizona and he tried to get me to go there and I said "no" so he became a Texan. T.B. -- So you became a Texan just to get her, huh swept her right off her feet. B.C. -- My oldest brother was born in Paris, Texas, and they moved up into Oklahoma, Indian Territory, then I was born the next year. T.B. -- What year was that? 3 B.C. -- 1907. H.C. -- Oh I forgot to tell the year I was born. T.B. -- Do you want to tell us? 4 H.C. -- Yes, Columbus and I discovered America on the same day, well, October the 12th, 1909. T.B. -- Let's see Dorothy, what year was it that you came to the Bryan /College Station area. D.M. -- In 1935, June of 1935. T.B. -- What brought you here? D.M. -- Well, I'll tell you what. My parents owned a farm at North Zulch, you know where that is? Highway 21 came in, our farm was only about 39 acres, or something like that. But anyway the highway came through and went diagonal across our land, and then we had a piece over here and over there. It wasn't enough to make a living on and so my dad was 53 years old and unable to work too much on the farm anymore so we were going to have to do something. And of course we had always. We were in the store business for a while, my grandfather my grandmother and my husband 's father Tom started the store in 1908. Uncle Tom went back to England in 1916, and Mother and Dad were there for a year. The depression came on and of course everybody you know is in bad shape in depression time. And daddy and brother Tom lived in Hasting,England, where their Dad had Butcher Shops. After serving the British Navy for ten years, my dad, Charles May wanted to go to Canada. He had lived 6 months in the Eastern Part (Owotta) and he always thought he would like to try the Western Part (Edmonton, Alberta). So he wanted to go there and after he sold his farm we did go there. During World War I he worked in ship building and he thought of going back and joining the British forces, but we and British were all together, and they said "You're more valuable right were you are, in Houston Ship Building." Mom and dad lived in Houston and had two little girls (Winnie Belle and Edna Louise). The family had the flu and Winnie Belle got pneumonia and died in 1919. So after that they moved back to Madison County and that was 6 months before I was born. They bought the farm in 1920, but daddy always wanted to go to Canada. So 1934 we all went to Canada, but we didn't have enough money to live there. A family of five would have to have enough money to live on without work or anything, and so of course we came back and we stayed in North Zulch, with my grandmother, (Grandfather died in 1930). So we lived there for a couple of years and then in 1935 we moved to Bryan. So we started from there on after we moved to Bryan, we were in school. I have a younger sister, Mildred, who married an Aggie from Lampasas Texas, they lived at 730 Lazy Lane in Bryan and they have one son Charles who is in the Skyline Communication Business. T.B. -- Do you remember when you first came? D.M. -- When I came to Bryan? Oh yeah, June 10,1935 T.B. -- How did you get here? D.M. -- Well we just had the truck filled, moved our furniture, and belongings and everything, and we lived on Parker Avenue. It was about a mile from the middle of town. T.B. -- What was the road like? D.M. -- It was just about like now. T.B. -- Was it paved road? D.M. -- Yes it was paved road it had sidewalks, it was pretty good. It was up close to the oil mill. T.B. -- I haven't seen the mill but I have seen maps. D.M. -- The mill is gone now, but it used to blow at 12:00. Oh it was a wonderful odor when they were grinding all of the cotton seed . We lived there about 9 years and then we moved over close to Allen Academy, and there's where I still live- East 23rd Street. T.B. -- Did you ever live in College Station? D.M. -- No we didn't live in College Station, I just worked there 36 years. T.B. -- Where did you work? D.M. -- I worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Stablization and Conservation Service, The Farm Program. J.K. -- Dorothy, I think what you said a while ago when you retired I think you got your dates wrong, you said you retired in 47. D.M. -- In 47, oh thank you it was 77. Before that time I was going to Business School, I went to Mc Kenzie - Baldwin Business College and worked at all three downtown theaters part time. 5 H.C. -- Where did you say you lived? Couldn't hear you? D.M. -- I lived on Parker. H.C. -- Parker? D.M. -- You know it's Main and then Bryan and then Parker. T.B. -- What were the roads like in Bryan? D.M. -- Well, they were like they are now. They were all right we could get around. T.B. -- How did most people get around? T.B. -- All right. Really got your independence that day! D.M. -- My dad went with me and he was proud. T.B. -- I bet. Jack, can you tell us a little bit about when you first came to town? 6 D.M. -- Well, most people had cars, we didn't have one at that time. I bought my first car when I was 21, it was a '36 Oldsmobile. I got my first vote and my car the same day. J.K. -- In 1937 when I started school at A &M, the country was still recovering from the great depression and there were not very many automobiles. Most A &M students came by train. We were fortunate to have a car, because the 30 mile trip from Somerville to College Station by train would have been almost impossible. Almost all of the students at that time had jobs. I had worked during high school and saved some money and I was very lucky to have a job working as a student worker in the bakery at Sbisa hall. I worked from 5:00 to 7:OOam seven days a week, with one or two Sunday mornings off each month. In September, 1937, my dad drove me over to A &M to start my freshman year. We came over in a 30- something Chevy. This was the second or third family car. The first was an "Overland Redbird," a huge wagon - looking touring car with a canvas top and side curtains for use when the weather was bad. That didn't work because the roads were not paved and the car wouldn't pull through mud. That car was kept in the barn and covered with a tarp. It was rolled out only when the weather and road conditions permitted. I remember that it had to be hand - cranked and that it was always of great concern because the old hand - cranked cars were notorious for breaking the arm of the cranker. remember that when Dad brought me over that first day, we entered the campus on Old Main Drive from West Gate, drove around the bugle stand at the "Y," and stopped at the south end of Puryear Hall. We unloaded everything on the sidewalk and while I was checking things, Dad drove off. There I was on the sidewalk as a Freshman at A &M. T.B. -- Did you feel abandoned? J.K. -- For a moment I did, but of course the upperclassmen helped me get moved in and introduced me to life as an Aggie Fish. T.B. -- Made you feel right at home. J.K. -- Make me feel right at home, you said that right. T.B. -- Did your dad also go to A &M? T.B. -- Were you the oldest in your family? 8 J. K. - -No. Dad had About 3 years of formal education. He grew up in Burleson County in the High Prairie area before the turn of the century. He was from a large family, a total of eight children. They lived some distance from the school and it was necessary for Dad to start working on the farm at an early age. Since it was a one room school, and since Dad had seven brothers and sisters, they all taught each other. Many folks thought that Dad had a college degree. My mother went to Sam Houston Normal and completed a teaching degree there. All four of my sisters had college degrees. It was the expected thing to do as far as both parents were concerned. J.K. -- No. I'm next to last. Thinking back on when my wife and I first moved to College Station, we purchased a house across the way on Milner Street, 1300 Milner. And by the way, it is still there and looks pretty good as a matter of fact. Not bad for having been there this length of time. But, thinking back on travel when I was a student trying to travel home to Somerville once in a while, if the roads were completely dry, we could drive through the Brazos bottom, through Snook and over the old bridge, "Jones Bridge." If it rained, or had recently rained, it was necessary to go from Somerville to Caldwell, to Bryan and on to College Station, or we went from Somerville to Brenham, to Navasota and up to College Station. The pavements were very narrow and had no shoulders. You better not drop a wheel off the edge of the pavement. T.B. -- What happened when someone was coming the other way? J.K. -- You just had to be careful. Weren't too many people going the other way, really. Hwy. 21 was fairly well traveled, and of course Hwy. 6 was pretty well traveled. From Brenham to Navasota was questionable. You know we did a lot of thumbing or hitchhiking back in those days. We only had one family car when I was in College, so if I wanted to have the car for one of the dances you're talking about, I would hitchhike home, get the car, bring it back over, and then take it back on Sunday and hitchhike back. And with no more traffic, hitchhiking was kind of a risky business. You did a lot of standing around waiting for traffic but nobody ever passed you up. Nobody ever passed up an Aggie. H.C. -- That's right I remember that. T.B. -- Anywhere you went, huh J.K. -- We had to, that's all we had. If we were standing there, someone would stop if they were going where you wanted to go, and they'd pick you up even if they had a car full. They would make room. But I never heard of any Aggies getting in trouble for not being polite and nice and courteous. They would always help to the motorist in case of car trouble. T.B. -- OK. Well, Hazel can you tell us a little bit about.. . H.C. - -I remember when we use to go to Bryan there wasn't anything between Bryan and College Station but a farm or two. The first big house built on Texas Ave was that big white two -story house, its something now, on the left side. Pretty close to town now, I mean its in the middle of everything now and I don't whether its a fraternity house now or not. But anyway that 5 miles was 2 lanes, one road you know you went down one side and came back the other. It was just a paved road at that time, there wasn't all that much traffic but quite a bit. And we used to go to Bryan to do our grocery shopping except huh Luke had a grocery store here remember Luke on the campus, then he moved over on Walton Drive T.B. -- What brought you here first? H.C. - -I married a west Texan. And he was worried he was from Pecos and he working down there in Louisiana for an electrical company. He was an Aggie. He had graduated from A &M in 1923 and I was a senior in high school and graduated that year, and he didn't want me to finish college after spending a year in New York, so we moved to Brady Texas and he was county agent there. Ten years later he was here as district agent for the agricultural extension service and then he was made associate director, and he worked for the college for 37 years, and retired and passed away in 1972. But anyway we walked a lot because most of the people in the extension service the wives had only one car in the family, some of had two. You walked or hitched a ride with someone. We built a house in 1939 on Walton Drive T.B. -- But then when you first came to town, what did you see, what was it like? The first time you came to town what was it like? 9 H.C. - -Oh you go up to campus park anywhere on campus. The Aggies would march around you, My 4 or 5 year old son just loved to walk and watch the boys march in. You could just park anywhere and huh, huh the campus was open to everybody. you could go to any building and find if you knew anybody you could go in and visit at anytime. Everybody in the different departments sent everybody else a Christmas card and you didn't have to stamp them. You could take them up to the building, and they would take them over to the other building, so you can imagine how many Christmas cards everybody got and how busy you were for about a month, everybody even the president sent out cards. It was a lot. Lots of them had a big Christmas party for you. Christmas for anybody that was left here in Sbisa Hall and then they had a big dance once a month. And it was almost a command performance because everybody went and a lot of times they had the Aggieland Orchestra. You know it was quite a social place. You dress up in your long dress and went to the parties and things. The kids, after we moved to Walton Drive, built a house and moved up there, well they rode their bicycles everywhere. My daughter after she started dating, her dates even rode their bicycles because most of them were Aggies, they didn't have a car either. T.B. -- Were there a lot of bicycles on campus? H.C. - -Oh yeah lots of bikes. B.C. - -Her son said that it was an all day trip to go from Bryan to College Station on a bicycle. T.B. - -Ibet H.C. -- My son was a paperboy for a while with the Bryan Eagle and he used to have over in addition, what's it called? J.K. -- Oh huh, Beverly Estates H.C. -- Beverly Estates paper route was over there and he had to ride from our house at College Hills to over there and one time he was sick. My husband didn't know where to take the paper, he said lets just wrap him up and put him in the back of the car and deliver his papers and my husband came out laughing and he said, "Well this is something that the Associate Director of Extension Service should be doing T.B. - -And stay cool H.C. - -Stay cool until 5 o'clock when our husbands got home. T.B. -- Now is that the Student Center, The Memorial Student Center? 10 H.C. - -We walked a lot. I'd walked up there a lot of times and my husband would say, "If you'd come up there, I'll bring you home." At noon sometimes I go to Guion Hall. I mean to the Student Center because that was the only air conditioned place. The of the student center would say I'm going to start charging and Bill Hickerson rent because we stop and drink coffee or coke all afternoon 11 H.C. - -The Memorial Student Center. It was built, gosh it's been built a long time now. Speaking of Aggies walking and everything I know he remembers when they used to air him out. T.B. -- What do you mean air them out? H.C. - -Well they would dress Aggies in white "cover all" no matter where they were. They go into the dining room and they would yell out "Air Freshman" and they would have to take off. J.K. -- This would be in the middle of the night. The sophomores, we would get together and they planned nobody else knew anything about it but they would air them out Scheduled for 2 o'clock in the morning for a certain night. Like she said, when you heard it somebody would step out in the dark and yell, "Air it out, freshman." I never could quite get to the point of dressing before I left my room. always went out with something over my arm, and dressed after I found someplace to hide. H.C. - -We used to go to all the yell practices. My husband was always such an avid Aggie. My little boy just thought it was the most fun, and we always went to Silver Taps, yell practice, and we got home one night, I heard this scrambling around, of course no one locked their doors. I heard this scrambling around, I said, "What in the world." I turned on the light and it was this tall Aggie jumped out from under my bed. He said, "No Ms. Prewitt it's me, and it was a boy from Pecos and two more boys hidden one behind the couch. And one in the corner, they wouldn't sit where one could see them through the window. They would sit in the corner, so they wouldn't be seen. But they were afraid somebody would see them and they spent the night on my floor and on the couch. D.M. -- Do you remember when there were not any movie houses in College Station? H.C. - -The what? D.M. -- Any picture houses. H.C. - -Only in Bryan. D.M. -- And the Aggies used to come to Bryan every Saturday night and I tell you, when all the Aggies came, it was something! J.K. -- Well, do you remember when we boycotted the Theaters, and only seniors were allowed to go to a movie in Bryan? That was done to get the owner to bring better movies to College Station. (Everyone talking at once.) D.M. -- I was just mentioning about the picture shows. The Aggies all came to Bryan to the picture shows. T.B. -- How, how did they get there? J.K. -- Well there were buses. T.B. -- What were the buses like? D.M. -- Well the buses were regular buses. T.B. -- Were they close buses? 12 D.M. -- Yes, sort of like they are now. And they ran in 15 minutes, I believe, and the bus stopped in Bryan, at the side of McQueen's Pharmacy. T.B. -- OK, well they didn't run down Texas Avenue? J.K. -- College Avenue. D.M. -- Because Texas Avenue was not built then. J.K. -- It did not come on campus. You caught the bus up at the Post Office. H.C. - -North Gate. Well we had a bus at one time that ran out over at College Hills over at that area because I needed to go to Bryan at times and didn't have the car, I'd catch the bus and it was going to Bryan and get off at Waldrop's right on the corner. You could stay in town as long as you anted and when you wanted to go back, you could catch it and go back home. That was the way I did my traveling. T.B. -- Now was there any kind of a trolley system? D.M. -- Yes there was a trolley. T.B. - -At the same time or... D.M. -- No, before the bus system. I don't know when it started, but the trolley system ran before the buses. T.B. -- Now, did they drop down College? 13 D.M. - -Now, the trolley started, I believe at North Gate. Not long ago there was a historical marker erected, where the trolley was on the line between Bryan and College Station, as it was Bryan and College Station interurban. My cousin, Albert May, was the engineer on the interurban and, these photos here are taken, there's a picture over at the archives of this one. T.B. - -And how long did the trolleys run? Until when? D.M. - -The trolleys started in 1910 and ran until 1921. Albert May and they nicknamed him "Casey ", because he ran his trolley on time. He was the engineer, was born in England on August 23rd, 1889 and passed away in Houston on January 19, 1978. T.B. -- Do you remember riding the trolley? D.M. -- No, no, that was before my day. T.B. -- I'm sorry, you didn't come here before 1937. D.M. -- 35, but he was my cousin and he grew up just like a little brother with my mother. Granny and Grandpa raised him from a baby of two years old so he was always very close to us. And, I would like to give these to you the newspaper write -ups and photos. T.B. -- Oh wonderful! D.M. -- I mean let you make copies, I think I may have another one, but he has quite a history because he took leave of absence from being an engineer on the trolley in 1913 when they had the Brazos River flood, he saved three peoples lives. He built the boat that he went out to get the people in the Brazos River and he took a leave of absence to do that. These people whose lives he had saved, looked him up and he received #13 Andrew Carnege Medal for bravery. T.B. -- How nice, you must be very proud of that. D.M. -- He married Mattie Worthington and they were from the Brazos Bottom over in your neighborhood. She was the daughter of Tom Worthington. They had a son and daughter and the little boy was with his dad on the interurban when the bridge broke at Smetana and killed him and his little friend who was Charlie Eden's son. They are buried in Bryan cemetery and also Mattie is buried there. They had a daughter Ethel, Ethel is gone now, she was married and had one daughter, Jane who had one daughter, Lebritia. And Lebritia lives in Miami, Florida. She has been here for reunions because the Worthington's have reunions and the Mays have reunions and we all gather once a year and we do enjoy. T.B. -- So when you came to the Bryan /College Station area there were no more trolleys, there was a lot of bike riding? D.M. -- Oh yeah, there was a lot of bike riding. I never learned to ride. I tried to ride one once... Nearly killed myself! T.B. -- And there were buses then that ran between Bryan and College Station about every 15 minutes. You look like you are getting itching to say something. J.K. -- No I was just wondering, they keep talking about bicycles and that's something I don't recall there being to many of, not like there are today. I don't recall a bike rack on campus while I was here from '37 to '41. H.C. -- If you had a car, most of you couldn't park it on campus. Even then I know we kept a car or two in our garage at different times. T.B. -- You kept extra cars at your place? J.K. -- You did not get to park. Staff could park in certain places, but students could not have cars on campus period, except on the weekends and then you had to get permission. We had one police officer as far as I can recall "Pop ", you had to ask him if you could park in certain locations during the weekend, and if he granted it you'd park there - if not you'd have to get permission to park at a residence in the vicinity. There were always cars parked in the North Gate area that belong to students on the weekends. H.C. - -Now he was talking about the Aggies. We used to go to all the football games and they used to be lines up for miles almost. Everybody would stop and pick them up. If they'd go way down, they were up streaming. They'd get mad at those boys for up streaming. You never like, I say you never passed one. One time, I picked up two boys, we were going to Waco and my husband asked where they were from and one of the boys said, I can't remember which place, but it wasn't one of those banana countries. He told me "I'm so and so and I'm from there" and I said I never knew but one person and his name was Avery and he said "Well that is my daddy." He was from my home town in Louisiana. I never knew anyone but Charles Avery, he said that's my daddy. Isn't that a coincidence? After all there are hundreds of boys down here and we picked up that one. D.M. -- I wish I could get my brother -in -law out here because he could tell some stories. He graduated from Texas A &M in 1949, and then got a Master's degree in Horticulture in 1951. T.B. -- I bet. Can I ask one question, because nobody said anything about horses. Did anybody ride horses? 14 D.M. -- They had horses out here and some Worthington girls that I went to school with, used to come out here with the teacher that taught our business, typing and all that. They'd come out on Saturday's and ride horses. T.B. -- But that was just for recreation, it wasn't a means of transportation for anyone. T.B. -- Where did the groceries come, from Bryan? J.K. -- Well there was one place up here. Mai's Grocery on the corner. T.B. -- And where was that located? J.K. -- That was located where the service station is next to the U -Haul, that corner right where... T.B. -- Where University and Texas cross? H.C. -- That's right, I'd forgotten about that store. J.K. -- Then Charlie.. H.C. -- Charlie on campus, I mean North Gate and Luke's. J.K. -- At South Gate. H.C. - -Well Luke was first. J.K. -- Luke was on South Gate. H.C. - -Luke moved from North Gate over to Walton Drive later. J.K. -- There was one at South Gate along with Madeley Pharmacy. H.C. - -Oh yeah. I know where you are talking about. J.K. -- I can't think of his name. H.C. -- I can't either. 15 J.K. -- In the rural areas, back in those days, horse buggy or horse transportation was quite common. When you got into the city of Bryan, horse or wagon transportation was inconvenient, but you still had it. I can remember when they had grocery delivery with the wagon. T.B. -- It will come to you as soon as we change the subject right. J.K. -- Yeah, but they delivered groceries from Orr's in downtown Bryan. They delivered all over here. T.B. - -And they delivered in wagons. J.K. -- Some delivered in wagons. A little later, they delivered in trucks. Then people would come around town with vegetables and watermelons and so forth by the wagon Toad. H.C. -- Peddlers. J.K. -- Farmers. T.B. -- Now did they come to your door or did they... J.K. -- They'd come down the street. H.C. - -rang a little bell D.M. -- When we lived on the farm at North Zulch, we had a wagon but to go town we were half a mile so we just walked then. My grandmother and grandfather had a horse and buggy and I remember very well my grandmother coming to see me, you know and she could saddle up her horse and hitched it up to the buggy. Her horse was named Fannie and was a beautiful gray mare. H.C. - -Was that here in Bryan? D.M. -- No that was in North Zulch. H.C. - -Oh. H.C. - -About the what? 16 D.M. -- And so it was about the same. They had the general store and they did all their shopping once or twice a year here in Bryan and they traded with D. Mike and the wholesale merchants in Bryan for their store. T.B. -- That's interesting. Do you have any memories when they came around with their produce or people riding around in horse and buggies? T.B. -- Do you have any memories of folks riding around in horse and buggies? H.C. - -No that was, no the only thing I remember is the garbage pickup in College Park when we first moved here. There was an old colored man, he had a wagon and I don't remember whether it was one or two mules. I took it one day (a picture) because it had these little Pickinies Indian in the back, but the garbage man wasn't there he was over. He'd take you wet garbage, he had this big can, it shows in this picture showing this big container where he'd pick up the wet garbage for his pigs and then he would take all of the dry whatever you had in his wagon. But that was the first garbage pickup we had. Really at least, I suppose most every area must of had somebody because they paid the old man to take it off. T.B. -- When you moved here it was in '37? H.C. - -'37. T.B. - -You lived in this area in College Hills? H.C. - -I lived in College Park first, just off the campus. Dr. Marsh, you remember Dr. Marsh - the doctor of the college, they built several rent houses and this big two story apartment house. We rented the down stairs when we first came here for $65 a month. Can you imagine that? She sent out every month, her colored man came out and waxed the floors and washed the windows and took care of all the outside. Can you imagine that? Anyway, I would go places with them occasionally because they were good friends of some friends of our relatives and Dr. Marsh would drive like mad to Houston in two hours and I never did want to go to Houston with him. He just flew. T.B. -- What were the roads like in this area? I heard that there was not much development in this neighborhood, much development much further south that maybe Park Street. H.C. - -You know, I can't hear you very well. T.B. -- OK, can you tell me what the roads were like just south of the campus when you move here. H.C. - -We just had one paved road to Houston and it was a... J.K. -- Two lane, no shoulder. 17 H.C. - -Pull out if there was something big coming. It was dangerous in a way but we didn't know it because allot of people would go back and forth shopping every once in a while. They'd get a carload of ladies together, 4 or 5 ladies to go to Houston spend the day. And everybody would pay half the gas, and everybody would shop in Houston and eat at the Old Town Cafeteria. Then start back home about 4 o'clock and get home before dark. Unless you'd come in on the train sometimes also. T.B. -- When you wanted to go to Bryan how would you get there? H.C. - -Car if you had a car otherwise you'd ride with somebody else. T.B. -- Did you ever ride the bus? H.C. - -The bus quite a bit more after we moved to College Hills. But it wasn't bad in fact I liked it better than I do now 18 D.M. -- Way back in the early days over in North Zulch they had a mail hack that came and pick up mail from Bryan, and anybody who wanted to catch a train over here or anything they would catch the mail hack when it came over to catch their train a lot of times H.C. - -Oh another thing I think I might have told this before, but another thing all the ladies on campus, the professors wives that lived on the campus and Luke, the grocery man, delivered groceries of course. One morning he had to go to Bryan to the bank and one morning I had to go to the grocery store real early. I walked down there from my house on Walton Drive down to his store it faces highway 6. He was getting his money and everything together. He said, "Well, I'm going down to Bryan to go to the bank do you need anything ?" I said, "What do you mean ?" He said, "Well, I've got to buy some face powder for Ms. Sony and some thread for one of the other wives." So he did all of the errands for anyone. I said, "No I didn't need anything." J.K. -- A grocery store that delivered would stop by the pharmacy to pick up stuff. People just worked together. H.C. -- Black's Pharmacy down there delivered long time ago. T.B. -- In here it says that I am suppose to ask about ferries. Were there any ferries around here. Not the kind with wings. Just the kind you rode on. J.K. -- In early history there were some on the Navasota River and also some on the Brazos, but way ,way back then in the 1850's and 1860's back in there. There were ferries. I do not remember them, but my dad, who was born in 1875 did. B.C. - -Mine was born in '76 J.K. -- But you were talking about one thing that maybe of interest there in transportation and floods. When the Brazos River flooded H.C. -- Everybody went to see it. J.K. -- Everybody went to see it if they had transportation. T.B. -- How close would it come J.K. -- Right out, you know where the bridge is out here on highway 60? There's a hill there, that generally just flooded for just a few short distance, oh it would be up to, what's the name of that little community that they had so much trouble with recently? H.C. - -You mean Brushy Creek J.K. -- Brushy Creek. Well, as I remember and did not flood but it flooded on the other side of the road. All the way across there all the way to Snook. T.B. -- Oh my. J.K. -- I've seen it many times, Snook side look out and just see fence post or nothing you know just the little shacks. Little farm shacks that are out there . T.B. -- Did that happen very often. J.K. -- It happened quite frequently. by the time they completed the dam I guess Waco and that was when? H.C. -- I don't remember that J.K. -- Late 30's or maybe even later D.M. -- Sometimes in the 30's I would say J.K. -- Well there were series of dams on the Brazos, it helps allot and I don't recall the sequence. I think there was about 3 and the floods decreased every time they built another dam. The last flooding was probably I would guess sometime in the 50's D.M. -- Didn't it flood to highway 21 J.K. -- And the Navasota used to go out all the time. 19 D.M. -- And in 1913 December the 7th 1913 was when we had the bad flood that Albert was in. T.B. -- Do you remember when they first started landing planes here? D.M. -- Do you mean at Easterwood? T.B. -- When did they first build it? 20 D.M. -- I don't know whether Coulter field was first or whether Easterwood. It must have been I know my nephew Travis Mathis left from Easterwood. He was in the Navy. And he was at boot camp. He got to come home and then he went to New Jersey and we saw him off at Easterwood and that was in 1952 or 53. T.B. -- Do you know if Coulter Field was around Ms. Chastian. Was Coulter around before Easterwood? D.M. -- I the 1950's I know H.C. - -Oh yeah it was here before. D.M. -- You know there was an huh Anderson boy was a pilot and he was killed out there and I think it was in the late 1940's or something like that. T.B. -- Did anyone ever use air transportation at that time other than for military? H.C. -- I don't know. I don't think so. D.M. -- My first plane trip was at Coulter field and that was in the late 1940's and my sister worked at the air base here. These boys that she knew had the afternoon off and they rented a plane and took us off the ground that was my first plane and we flew all around Bryan and College Station. We enjoyed that and my dad was still living and he died in 1943 so it must have been in 1943. And then I didn't fly anymore. He said I wonder if they will take me up. Well he had a bad heart so we were kind of scared for him to go up. The two boys and my sister and I we made the boys go up first. He took each boy up at a time and then after that we all went out and had supper. So but they pretty soon were transferred away. The next time that I flew was a trip to England in July 1984. T.B. -- Did you fly out of here? D.M. -- No we didn't fly out of here. My brother -in -law used to. He worked for Pennwalt. He was an old Aggie and he worked for Pennwalt Company. And he used to fly in and out of Easterwood. That must have been in the 50's. T.B. -- Hazel, what were you going to say? H.C. - -I was just going to say I forgot I took a trip in a plane in the 40's I think from Easterwood Mr. Smith, Remember Smith was the College pilot and my husband and several of them had a trip to West Texas Alpine and Kimbrough who was the county agent over in Bryan was a big golfer and they wanted to get off. They took about 5 or 6 people and they had an extra place and they said well let's just take Hazel along. James came home and said well you're going on a plane trip. I said, "I am? Where am I going ?" He said well were going out Alpine route and Kimbrough is going on after his meeting. He's going to play golf and Smith is going too, the pilot. So we're going to spend the night in Alpine and come back the next day. I said well I don't want to go because I'm scared. James sister was killed in an airplane, his youngest sister was a freshman at Texas and this barn storming plane came through Pecos at Easter time, she and another passenger. She was killed. H.C. - -I flew when I was a girl in Louisiana. Anyways, we flew from Easterwood and there was a storm and Smith said, "Well, I'm not going through that, we are going another way." So I was really glad and I just wanted to thank the good Lord. Man, I like Terra - Firmer. The Firmer the better. D.M. -- I went to school with Guy Davis. His dad had an auto parts shop in Bryan. He married Maybelle Nunn and he had the service at Easterwood for quite a few years. I don't remember what airlines J.K. -- Davis Airlines. D.M. -- Well I mean, I don't remember what kind of planes he had. But I just remember that service and that was one that the fellas from our office traveled. And Guy Davis took them. T.B. -- Jack. T.B. -- Was the train trip to Houston a comfortable trip? J.K. -- Yes we had one famous train, the "Hoot Owl" came at 4 o'clock. T.B. - -The Hoot Owl. 21 J.K. -- Well, I was just going to say that much has been mentioned about the fact that up to the end of World War II, any trip longer than from here to Houston for example, generally a trip over 50 miles, was by train. Train travel was a very common thing for all of the areas. All of the Aggies from any distance came by train. J.K. -- It came at 4:00 in the morning. It went to Houston. I mean it was an express train, but if you had any business in Houston that was the train to catch, then there was a train back in the late afternoon. H.C. - -Like I said a little while ago, we used to get on the train to go shopping, stay all day and have lunch, shop some more and leave by 4:00 and be home before dark. J.K. -- If you were going to Fort Worth, starting in the late '30's, early '40's, you could hitchhike but if you had access to a train ticket - you went by train. T.B. -- How long was the train ride to Houston, do you know? H.C. - -Not long. J.K. -- 3 hours. H.C. - -About 2 hours, I think it left here about 9 o'clock. T.B. -- Where did you catch the train? H.C. - -Down by the depot. The old depot, it just makes me sick, why can't they buy that back or build a replica of it? Buy it back and redo it. T.B. -- Where is it? H.C. -- It's a restaurant now,out on highway 30. My daughter went to school up in Denton, up at a girls school and all the girls went to school up there, she used to ride the train back and forth and the boys that went with them on the weekend, if they didn't have a car, they would take the train. Go up on the train, but that was the only train. D.M. -- They used to call the interurban, the train. H.C. - -They ran special buses for big ball games and thing they had down here for girls. There's lots of girls on the buses and of course the boys would meet those buses. D.M. -- TSCW was the sister school to A &M and the girls use to come down here to attend dances. J.K. -- My wife went to Mary Hardin Baylor, she was a blind date for a dance the early part of my senior year. D.M. -- Was she your blind date? 22 J.K. -- Yeah. We have been married 55 years, I guess its going to stick. D.M. -- My sister and her husband were blind dates. J.K. -- But you were talking about the dances , the faculty dances normally, like yours, the Extension Services, put them on once a month. The students had dances every weekend practically all year long. There would be an organizational dance on Friday night and a corps dance or an open dance on Saturday night. T.B. - -And where would these ladies stay? J.K. -- In Walton Hall, in the old Aggieland Inn and in neighbors houses. H.C. -- There's an article in the paper last year or the years before that Dick Harvey wrote some remembrances. Something about that he'd be in debt to Ms. Holleman and to Ms. Hazel Prewitt Chastain because they always kept the girls for them. D.M. -- That was very kind of you to do that. H.C. - -Well, there was no place for them to stay and then after my daughter was up at TSCW every time she came home 2 or 3 girls wanted to come with her they'd have dates. they'd stay at our house, they'd inevitably forget something, and we'd have to mail it back to them. J.K. -- You might come up and look at our attic. T.B. -- Why is that. J.K. -- We are the depository for the Aggies, when they want to go home for the summer, Christmas holidays, they got valuables they don't want to leave in the apartment or in the dorm they'd bring them up to the house. 23 H.C. - -We did too. And trolleys and things during the summer, it inevitably rained at final review, always and the boys would get soaking wet and they'd drive up to my house they'd have some clothes in the cars, they'd be up there half a dozen would be out there changing clothes, dry clothes, to get ready to go home, I was a seamstress for a while I had to sew stripes. Feeding them, I fed a billion of them particularly after my Virginial started dating, my husband used to say "One in the bush is better than two in the hand." And he'd say, "Every time I come home, I particularly step on them, they are sitting on the floor, sitting on the couch playing music." I said, "Well, you have to be nice to them. Any of them is a potential son -in- law." My daughter married one. 24 D.M. -- They'd ask me how did you manage to work all those years amongst those boys, I said "well I was interested in my job" I have only been married 10 years now I married my English cousin Thomas harold May and he had never been married before either. We married July 23, 1986 in England (Chatham) and then had a church wedding in Bryan at First Baptist Church on November 1, 1986. H.C. - -So you just worked it out. J.K. -- Well, you know there were few ladies... Generally speaking, there was one lady per department as well as I remember back in those days, '30's and '40's, and in the extension service in agriculture there were more. But in civil engineering, physics, any of those departments, there was one secretary. H.C. - -If you really had them full, Ms. Cashion could keep a few and Ms. Kyle, you know, they always had their place open at the time. T.B. -- Did any of you ever take the train to Dallas. J.K. -- Oh heavens, yes. T.B. -- What was the big draw in Dallas. J.K. -- The big draw? T.B. -- Yes. J.K. -- Back when I was a student, Dallas was the metropolis, that was the urban area, we had access to Houston we were kind of use to that. H.C. - -Had to go to Bryan. J.K. -- Had to go to Bryan to catch the train T.B. -- Catch the train there. J.K. -- No. D.M. -- Let me put something in about north Zulch now, that was the main line between Dallas to Houston. And you see many people went there to catch a train to Dallas or Houston and beyond. T.B. -- How long was the train ride to Dallas? D.M. -- About 3.5 hours. J.K. -- About 180 miles about a four hour drive. D.M. -- To Dallas. J.K. -- Train travel from here was very interesting because we had to travel from Houston if you wanted to go East and West. You had to go up to Hearne to go west. T.B. -- When did the people stop riding in the trains so much and start riding in the cars? J.K. -- Why? T.B. -- No, when? J.K. -- Uh, well then, I would probably say the 50's. D.M. -- The last train that went through college Station and Bryan when my little nephew was born in '51 and huh when he was about 3 and 4 years old they brought him out to ride the last train. So my mother and I took him down to the depot with harry and Mildred and they got on the train in Bryan and mamma and I drove along the side of the track to College Station and we almost beat the train. Just a minute ahead of them, and we pick him up in College Station and so he could have a ride on the last train through Bryan - College Station. It was real funny and after he got on it he said "where is the train where did it go ?" Well your riding in it, you are on it, you can't see it because your on it, his dad told him. He was kind of curious. H.C. - -When all the girls were leaving town and they'd get on the train when they would be going back to school and the tears would just be rolling down their cheeks. Tell their boys good by. There was always a bunch of mamas and daddy's to bring their kids to send them back to school. D.M. -- You were talking about the bananas countries Mildred and Harry Culver from Lampasses. Harry worked for United Fruit Co. a couple of summers in Honduras and Guatemala while in A &M. He also helped build a Pennwalt plant in Lima, Peru. H.C. -- Who? 25 D.M. -- My sister Mildred had met and was going with Harry Culver and I worked with a lady that was a real good friend of Ms. Culver and that is how she met Harry. They were having a horticulture picnic and he said are there any girls that you know that I could get a date with and she said well I'll see about it and so she asked me do you reckon that Mildred would like to have a date and I said well I'll ask her and see Mildred said you may not want to go with me without firstmeeting me. He said no and it's been Harry ever since. They married in 1948, they've been married ever since. T.B. -- You mentioned your first car was an Oldsmobile, what year was that? D.M. - -1936 T.B. -- 1936 D.M. -- But it was a used car. It had belonged to, well I can't think of his name, but they had the Humpty Dumpty store, anyway it was 4 years old when I bought it, and I'll never get a car like that old car, I bought it in 1940 and I think I sold it in 1947 and sold it for more than I paid for it. T.B. -- Do you remember what a gallon of gasoline cost? D.M. -- It was about $.35 -.39 maybe $.29 a gallon way back in military days. T.B. -- Do you remember your first car JK J.K. -- Oh, definitely, kind of an interesting story, being brought up over in Somerville, you knew every car in the county, who it belonged to. And when I came to work for A &M in 1948, we knew all the faculty members cars, part of there personality I guess you'd say. D.M. -- I guess you could tell by the sound of the motor what kind of car it was T.B. -- Seat covers were extra? 26 J.K. -- You sure could. When I purchased my first car in 1941, I went to the banker and told him that I had orders to report for military service in June & thought I needed an automobile, and wondered about getting a loan and he said well, what kind of car do you want? I told him I wanted a Chevrolet club coupe and said what color? and I said black & went through all that, you see there were no additives, but seat covers were an extra additive. J.K. -- Yes, seat covers and radio! - no heaters, no air cond. and he said, -let me check into it and he called in about a week, he said look up in that car. I said what do you mean, he said well, the Chevrolet dealer in Burten has your car and you can pick it up anytime you want to! He said we made the deal & all that, said that don't count how do I get the money, what do I do? he said just write a check for it and next time your home well make out a loan T.B. -- How nice 27 D.M. -- Reminds me of the one I bought over the telephone, I told Chevrolet I wanted a car, this was 1956, I told them kind what color and everything I wanted, & he said it was the end of the season and we don't have the car you described. the he said wait just a min. let me look, we got one like that up at Bremond & I can bring it to you about 2:00 o'clock & when he brought it he had the papers already made out & I told him he was pretty sure, & he said you told me what you wanted and we found it, and I bought it right then. T.B. - -You don't get service like that anymore do you. now what year did you buy your car? J.K. -- 1941 T.B. -- How much did gasoline cost then? J.K. -- It was about $.25 a gallon, we were supposed to report for duty on June 6 so the university had a special graduation exercise & final review for 59 students & graduated, kissed our date, crawled in the car and drove straight into Fort Monroe Virg. and you'll never find another university who would put on a full weekend for 59 students. T.B. -- Dorthy do you remember how much your car costs? D.M. -- My first car! $220.00 & I sold it for $275.00 seven years later T.B. -- What about you Jack? J.K. -- $850.00 and kept it from 1941 -1946 and driven all over the U.S. stationed here & there for the time I was back in the states, but we had a good friend who had a Hudson dealership and talked me into selling the 41 chevy & buying a Hudson, and that was the biggest mistake of my life. They didn't sell many of them, there no parts, they were real lemons. D.M. -- I would like to say something about learning to drive, my sister & I didn't even own a car at that time (1937) & we attended the first driving school here at A &M & drove around where the MSC & drill field is and everything way back then. That was the first one put on by the engineering extension service & the cars had dual controls & I learned how to drive on a great big car, and turn around on a 2 lane street with a 3 pt turn, & put the bumper over a line on the drill field, & parallel park, & my instructor was W.G. Breazeale & when we completed the course we got our license. H.C. - -Did you have to have your license before you started driving? D.M. -- Oh yes, I had it the year before! H.C. - -Well, I didn't even have to have a license! T.B. -- When did you learn? H.C. - -I learned by dates, I've driven every thing from a ford, Iincoln, to a stuts Bearcat. T.B. -- I want to hear about the Stuts Bearcat? 28 H.C. - -That was a big car back in the 20's! I graduated high school in '27. When a new boy would come to town, somebody's nephew or something & they'd call you up ask if you'd go out with him & they'd show up in one of these beautiful cars, and all we would do was drive up and down main street and it was paved and we had five miles north, south, east, & west of gravel roads and we spent our Sunday afternoons driving up & down it. D.M. -- Did you ever so out kodaking? H.C. - -Oh yes, pictures D.M. -- I had a sister that was eight years older than I and that's where we got most of our family pictures is when she would go kodaking with her friends and I just wouldn't take anything for them. T.B. -- That's great. Hazel so you remember your first car? H.C. - -Well, yes but it was the family car it was my uncles! he was a good looking bachelor. he bought it so he could take his girlfriend's out, it was a Chevrolet, not a ford, and one night we had been to a dance and on our way home we saw a car turned over in the ditch and it was uncle Bob. but he wasn't hurt. J.K. -- Was he drunk? H.C. - -Not that time! T.B. -- What about your first car? H.C. - -My first husband had this car, it was a Chrysler coupe & called it Walter P. & it had these round bumpers. T.B. -- Do you remember how much it costs? 29 H.C. - -No, but he sold just before we got married for a Chevrolet that was around three hundred dollars. Those prices remind me of our house we had built over here in College hills, we made a contract with the contractor & architect who was a senior Aggie & he's still here in business but I can't remember his name but anyway we built the house & told him we only had 5600.00, & they built the house for that, it was a two story 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath, living room & dining room & sold it 15 yrs later for $15,000 & thought we'd robbed the people & it's sold 2 or 3 times since then, it's almost 50 yrs old, & the last people who bought it, it was a white colonial house T.B. -- It was on Walton, what was the address? H.C. - -Back in those days you just lived next to George Drapper & Dr. Lindsay's, but anyway the last time it sold, it sold for $100,000 something thousand & was built for $5600. Our friends from the extension service would say, I didn't know you were going to build a mansion, you know when somebody was building a new house you would drive around, look & see the floor plan & so & so. I know I sat down & cried because I thought the rooms looked so small, they built it on peir and beam, and this man from Arp Texas had his own lumber bus. and came over with the crew and everything & built it, we had a fire place & a heating furnace but no AC, no AC, we would just go outside in the afternoon & wait for the breeze, we used to get a breeze, but now the buildings cut everything off but we were in the highest part of College Station we could see the campus from our upstairs window D.M. -- Well you know Guion Hall didn't have any AC for years... J.K. -- They didn't have any heat, it was steam heat, about frozen to death A.C. -- Nobody had AC, when the student center was built everybody went up there D.M. -- Some of the girls at the office would take off & go to the student center & I will remember when they were air conditioning our building which was the only one facing west over there on the corner, & that was in the middle of '57.