Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutNorthgate Panel 3\W Memory Lanes -North Gate Interviewees: Bill Boyett George Calloway Interviewers: Mollie Guin Mary Jo Lay PRE DISCUSSION: (The beginning is inaudible.) Original Boyett home was at the corner of Boyett and University Drive. Mr. Boyett: ...started construction in 39, they picked that house up, moved it back a block, and set it where there's now, a pay as you go parking lot behind the Deluxe. And the house was moved and sat there and it became rent property, and it later burned to the ground. We've got a bunch of pictures of that house, and it was a nice, large, old white home. It came originally from the campus, but, it sat on that corner overlooking University Drive until they built the theater. Mollie Guin: Well the thing that I was so impressed about was when I came to this town and my kids were small, uh, is that you would leave home on the weekend, you wouldn't worry about locking your doors. The kids would ride anywhere... Mary Jo Lay: ...anywhere they want to on their bikes. Mollie Guin: ...on their bicycles. You just give them a time restraint, because I lived over where Mary Oaks lived. And all that area down there it was just, you know, Blinns, and my kids... Mary Jo Lay: I just thought it was wonderful. Mollie Guin: I did too. And my kids could play all through there. They would bury their cats and their dogs and have, you know, they took a sack and they built a grave and bury the cat and rock the name and all this kind of stuff. It was just, it was a really good town for kids to grow up in. (INAUDIBLE) Mary Jo Lay: Yeah. They think this is it. This is their home town. Mollie Guin: uh huh Mary Jo Lay: Why would you want to leave here? I don't want to leave. I love it here. Mary Jo Lay: That's right. That's right. Mr. Boyett: You know it seems like everybody is in one of two schools of thought. Either, they want to get away from here or they don't ever want to leave. One of the two. Mollie Guin: Or they'll leave and come back. Mr. Boyett: Yeah, its perfect. I mean, I left twice after I graduated from A &M for employment reasons, etc. And I wound up coming back, when I came back the second time I said, that's it, I'm not leaving again. But then I've come from a huge family and there, almost none of my family still live here. The original, my great grandfather had 14 children. And 8 of those lived to be adults. And there was only two of them living in Bryan /College Station. They all left the area, every one of them. So my grandfather is one of only two of them that stayed in this area. And the other one passed away at a very early age. So, my grandfather was the only one of the original family that wound up living here. They all spread out all over the state. Mollie Guin: Well, I guess we can get started here. BEGIN: Mollie Guin: Um, as we've been talking about, the purpose of this um this interview is to um let us talk about um what life was really like in the uh early days of uh College Station. And uh the question I kinda feel like both of you, and you can each give me your answer. We'll start over here with Mr. Calloway. What was your first reaction when you heard that they were going to do something like this? Alright. Mr. Calloway: I thought it would be an interesting project.... Mr. Boyett: Basically, I have a personal interest in it obviously from my family being here for generations. Its throughout my own family, as I said before, my own family scattered greatly. Nobody has ever really put all this stuff together in any kind of reviewable format, or anything. So, even though my family has lived here for generations, I can learn a lot from the people who were just sitting in the other room because they know a lot of things that I don't know and I was born and raised here. All of the older generation of my family is now gone. The last one passed away two years ago. We had boxes and boxes of pictures and everything and we won't have anybody to tell us who's in some of them. And, to me, that's a shame. So, that's the reason I'm here, because I want to try to put together more of this and bring in our stuff. And I just met two or three ladies in the other room that I'll bet can tell me who's in those pictures. Hopefully they can. Mollie Guin: Because I'm facing that same thing with some pictures that I have - I don't know. Um, what kinda, I'll start with you, uh, Bill, what kind of business was your family involved in in North Gate. Mr. Boyett: My family has always been in the real estate business. Of course this is all second and third hand information, but my great grandfather had the first grocery store which was at the gate, which Mrs. Opersteny's father later took over and it became Operstenys and it was its called Charlies for I guess 40 yrs, even though it changed hands it kept Charlies name on it until just I guess less than 10 years ago, Charlies was still there. It originally was just a clap board building but it went on and on. But then my great grandfather was again, I'm using second and third hand information, but I think he was the first post master in this area, out here also. He's had a lot of just vacant land holdings. He had cotton fields and everything in what's now North Gate. When the area began to develop after he had already passed away, there was like 8 adult children at that time, and the land was split up amongst those 8 living children. In the early development stages, most of these buildings in the North Gate area were built by one or more of those 8 living children of his. Not everyone of them but the majority of the North Gate area wound up belonging to some part of our family in one direction or the other. Including the large pieces of vacant land, that were just like I said, they were cotton fields, so , as far as the specific business, I would generally term it real estate because the family, through my grandfather who was the one that wound up staying here throughout the years and he bought back pieces of land from his own brothers and sisters and even though various cousins do own a piece here and a piece there, he wound up being the primary land holder. And we built commercial buildings and residential rental buildings on the majority of the land that my grandfather owned. Mollie Guin: What about you Mr. Calloway? Mr. Calloway: I'd always lived with my grandparents. They were mom and dad to me. They were the Ashfords, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ashford. He was in the Building & Grounds Department of Texas A & M College for a number of years. We first lived on the campus during World War I. The house we lived in was right across from the old laundry. Our house was on the corner across from the machine shops. We were there when the Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918. In fact, my mom was so excited because she had a son who faced going overseas and into combat. He was in the service here on the campus, and she was so excited about the war being over that she ran down the street yelling about it. When she came back towards our house, she got in the wrong house. An old sergeant lived there who was in the army. He was in a bedroom putting on his trousers. (Hah -Hah!) It didn't bother him a bit. He just kept doing what he was doing. She finally made it home. We use to have people come and stay with us. We had a room we rented out to people who came to see their sons while they were in service here. Down the street from the old machine shops there use to be a row of barracks. On the upper floor of one of those barracks was a fuselage of an airplane. I use to go there and play in that thing all the time. Mollie Guin: You mean they actually had the airplane up in the barracks? Mr. Calloway: Yes, I had a lot of fun playing in it. But, I remember that specifically because of that incident of my grandmother, or my mom. That was the first place that I remember we lived on the campus. We later lived in a house which was across from the old power plant. Mollie Guin: Do you remember any of the, the addresses on these, the street? Mr. Calloway: I do not. It's the same street now. There's still a street that runs by the machine shop. Also the Power Plant is a place that I remember particularly because we use to take our watermelons over there. That was the ice house too. (hah hah!) We'd take our watermelons there to get them cold. That was the second place we lived on campus. As I mentioned, my dad, my grandfather, was an employee in the Building and Grounds Depatrment. He worked for a Mr. Kraft. When Dr. Bizzel, President of Texas A & M College, left here and became President of The University of Oklahoma, he took along some of his people, including Mr. Kraft. Mr. Kraft in turn asked my dad to go along. So we moved up to Norman, Oklahoma, for a year. When we came back here, we moved back to Bryan. I could not get into the East side school, so I went to the West side school. That was in the 7th grade. Then we moved back on the campus. At that time he went to work for the Texas A & M athletic department. Mollie Guin: Do you know what year this was about? Mr. Calloway: About 1927 or 8 somewhere in there. Uh huh Mr. Calloway: He was provided a home by the Athletic Department. It was in that clump of trees right next to the Omar Smith Tennis Courts. We lived there, south of the athletic complex. And the back of our house backed up to the, the old tennis courts, not the present Omar complex, you know. So, then when went to A & M Consolidated, and I finished A & M Consolidated in 1931 and went to A & M that Fall. During my, during this period of time, we went to the old A & M Methodist Church. It was a frame tabernacle. It was in the North Gate area where the Methodist church is now, but more to the west where there was a tabernacle and a parking lot. I use to call myself half Methodist and half Baptist because I went to Sunday school and church at the Methodist church and then, because I had friends at the Baptist church I went to BYPUS church at the Baptist Church. That's just one part I know about in the North Gate area. The next part that I know about is that during quite a bit of the time I was in A & M. I worked at the Aggieland Pharmacy. It was in that building across from Loupots built by Mr. Sparks. Mary Jo Lay: Do you know who owned that? Mr. Calloway: Mr. Sparks owned that. Mary Jo Lay: Sparks? Mr. Calloway: Yes. Sparks who was part of Casey & Sparks that had the confectionary in the basement of the YMCA. It was a very popular place, because you know we didn't have anything like the MSC at that time. The YMCA was the student "hang out." They had pool tables and ping pong tables downstairs. They had a swimming pool which was later covered over. They put in about six bowling lanes. I worked at the bowling lanes as a freshman. I also worked at the Aggieland Pharmacy as a soda jerk. So that's my knowledge of the North Gate area, the churches, Methodist Baptist, and through working at Aggieland Pharmacy in the North Gate area. Mollie Guin: So that was like Sparks Pharmacy, that's what that was called? Mr. Calloway: Aggieland Pharmacy. Mollie Guin: Aggieland Pharmacy. Mr. Boyett: Now that would be in the 30s, or the 40s? Mr. Calloway: That was in the 30s. Mr. Boyett: In the 30s. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mollie Guin: Now do you recall anything about this uh, the YMCA or anything? Because... Mr. Boyett: No, that was all before my time Mr. Calloway: ...before his time. No, this was in the 30s. I don't know when they started, uh, Casey & Sparks started it, but it could have been in the twenties, in the late twenties. The confectionary was always referred to as Casey's. Mr. Boyett: Mrs., well her name was not Mrs. James, the lady that was talking from the back left hand table in the other room, Mrs. Frances Kimbrough, Jim James sister. Uh, she can really tie that together because her family was the one she was talking about, James Drug had one on the corner downtown Bryan and they moved out here and opened a drug store right across the street on the other corner from where he's talking about. And it went through several names, uh Sparks had a drug store there and James had one and I remember it becoming Ellisons at some point. Mr. Calloway: There was an Ellisons in there. Mr. Boyett: Uh, and its the same Mr. Ellison that's in Bryan right now. They opened a drug store on the opposite corner right across the street from the one he's talking about later on. So where Loupots is. What's now Loupots was a drug store also. Mary Jo Lay: So there were two drug stores there? Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mr. Boyett: At one time, yes. Mr. Calloway: At one time there were. Mr. Boyett: ...and the one that he worked in became the campus photo center years and years ago. Mary Jo Lay: OK, so that's the building? OK. Mr. Calloway: That's the building. Campus Photo Center. Mr. Boyett: It became Campus Photo. And the other drug stores stayed open until Loupots purchased that building. And this was probably when I was in college this was probably in the 60s or 70s . Probably late 60s that Loupots purchased well at that time I'm pretty sure it was Ellisons Drug. Mr. Calloway: I don't know what year it came in. You know A. M. Waldrop was the main men's store in down town Bryan. They came out and put a store in where University Bookstore is now. On the opposite end of that block from the pharmacy they had an A. M. Waldrop store in there. Mary Jo Lay: I remember that. That was still here when I came. Mollie Guin: ... becuase Waldrops was... Mr. Calloway: Yes. Waldrops was there for years. I don't remember what year they came in there because I think I was away when they moved in there. But that was one of the big stores in down town Bryan, A. M. Waldrop. Mr. Boyett: Yeah, all of those large bookstores that are there now at one time were about two or three smaller stores and Waldrops had part of that and there were several others in there. Bookstores over the years took in their adjoining neighbors and expanded largely. Mr. Calloway: Ivys Barber shop was in between those. I use to go to that shop all the time. Mr. Boyett: Uh huh Mary Jo Lay: Uh, Bill, I would like for you to tell us where you lived, you know , you told us where you lived but I think your story is interesting too. Mr. Boyett: Well, we actually lived in Bryan most of the time but when I was born when I was very small, we lived in a small frame house on Nagle Street. Right across from what's now called the Mud Lot. Uh this was in the late 40s and in the early 50s they started construction on what became the Circle Drive in Theater, which is whats now the Mud Lot was a Drive in Theater. And when I was a child growing up, they were building it right across the street. Where we lived was where St. Mary's Catholic Church is now, on that strip right in there. Um, but we moved to Bryan my first school was Crockett, I went to Crockett when I was in Elementary School and started when I was five. So, we didn't live in that area but just a few years and then we moved close but over on right off of Cavitt Street on Old South College. Mary Jo Lay: And you said you have some pictures of that Nagle Street. Mr. Boyett: Yes my family has some pictures of that area and the theater being built there. And then we go back up to the North Gate area, and we've got a lot of pictures from different parts of that up there. Mr. Calloway: I remember those white apartments were the first large buildings in the area. Mr. Boyett: It supposedly was the first apartment building in Bryan /College Station or in College Station, what became College Station. The building that he made reference to in the video earlier that has gone through many changes that was Two Pesos and is now being redone again, that building was built in 1928 and that was supposedly the first apartment building out here. And it was built as apartments. Students called it "The Alamo." Mr. Calloway: The terminal, of the old trolley, interurban as it was called, was right near that. Mr. Boyett: It was real close Mollie Guin: When did they stop that trolley? Mr. Calloway: I'm not sure. I do not recall when that stopped. Mollie Guin: I've heard so many tales. Mr. Elders whose on the conference board talking about how that cause he was at A & M and how they would get on a trolley, and there was nothing in College Station for you to quote * * *** * * * * * ** *they would get on a trolley and go to Bryan, which was a major you know it was uh... Mr. Calloway: The only road you had to go to Bryan was the Old College Road That was the only road that you had. Mollie Guin: So 6 wasn't there. Mr. Boyett: No. Mr. Calloway: 6 wasn't there. Mr. Boyett: Roughly, what's now South College Avenue, that was the only road that went all the way. I mean even 6 wasn't even there when I was a kid I mean it was just it was a secondary street. It wasn't a main drag at all. South College was the main road then all the early years. Mr. Calloway: That used to be the main road to Houston. That used to run down through Wellborn to Navasota and on to Houston. Mollie Guin: Oh, OK. So that was, how would you ? Mr. Boyett: See the original road. What's now called Old College Road if you turn at the Chicken Oil Company. The road came there and then went down what's now Wellborn Road. The old road didn't come through this way at all. It made that big curve in there and came back out through there. And this is even when I was a kid it was still that way. Mollie Guin: When did they build that campus theater? Since there was no entertainment you had to go to Bryan. Mr. Boyett: The campus theater.... Mr. Calloway: It was after my time here. I don't know when it was built. Mr. Boyett: I've got pictures of it and everything. I want to say it was completed in the early 40s. Like 42, 43, somewhere right in there it was completed before Mary Jo: That was the only movie house in the area? Mr. Boyett: Oh, no there were like four. There were three movie houses in down town Bryan. Mary Jo Lay: But, I'm talking about here in College Station. Mr. Boyett: That and the drive in were the only ones that had ever been in College Station. Mr. Calloway: I have to add one more thing about this. They used to show movies in the Assembly Hall which was located across the street and a bit more north from the YMCA. Mollie Guin: OK. Mr. Calloway: An additional memory which was important in my life. In addition to the Methodist tabernacle, The Methodist Parsonage was located in the area near the church. Mary Jo Lay: Near the tabernacle? Mr. Calloway: Yes, near the tabernacle. That's where I met my wife. In the parsonage. We've been married 55 years. Mary Jo Lay: It worked then didn't it. It worked! Mr. Boyett: Was it the gray house that was in the picture in there awhile ago that the lady said that she grew up in Mary Jo Lay: She said that was the mass the uh, what church was it though? It was another denomination. Mr. Boyett: Another one. Mr. Boyett: Somewhere, in some of the family telling me stories. They told me one uh roughly across the street from what is now St. Mary's uh where the current student union building is there on Nagle Street, there was a gray house that sat on that corner and somebody in history told me that that house had been moved over to the corner that that lady is talking about. That gray house which is now a rent house on the corner of Church and Boyett Street. Uh was originally one of the parsonages. But I don't know which one. Mr. Calloway: I don't know when they moved it. Mary Jo Guin: Is the Methodist Parsonage still in the area? Mr. Calloway: No it is not. Mary Jo Lay: Its been destroyed. Mr. Calloway: I don't know when that happened. It was a two story. Students use to come there quite often, because as I said, that was the activity center. Mr. R. L. Jackson was the pastor. He and Mrs. Grace Jackson had an "Open House" for students at all times. Mary Jo Lay: I saw a picture of the Westly Foundation too, of a wooden building. Did you... Mr. Calloway: OK. I don't know when that was. Mary Jo Lay: That was later Mr. Calloway: That was later. Mary Jo Lay: OK Mollie Guin: lets kind of center on and think about the businesses there. Um, why don't you tell us something about uh the pharmacy even though you worked there quote as the soda jerk. I had my first crush on this kid who was really a jerk. He was a soda jerk. (Ha ha!) Mr. Calloway: I was one of the soda jerks. Mollie Guin: His name was Clyde and oh I was about 11 or 12 and I just thought he just hung the moon. Um, but what were the business hours uh at this pharmacy? Do you recall? Mr. Calloway: I know I worked there at night quite often, especially when there were dances at Sbisa Hall. That was the main place where they had dances, and of course they'd all come there for the intermission at the dance. I remember we were very busy. Mollie Guin: Were they open five or six days a week? Do you recall? Mr. Calloway: I think as I recall they were open seven days a week Mary Jo Lay: Oh, on Sunday too. Mr. Calloway: I think so. I, I may be wrong on that, but I think they were. Mollie Guin: Cause we were talking about because I can remember when it use to not and we could open, well business was for 6 days a week, it was just a standard. Or at least five and a half Mr. Calloway: Maybe not, I don't recall now whether I ever worked on Sunday, I can't tell you. Mr. Boyett: In Texas, the what they called the blue law was in effect, but I'm not sure when it started. I know it was, they did away with it in probably the 70s. That recently. But it was more or less illegal to be open on Sunday. For certain types of businesses. (INAUDIBLE) Mary Jo Lay: And I suppose they delivered the, pharmacy delivered products? Do you remember? Mr. Calloway: Yes, we did. Mary Jo Lay: Times have changed you know. Yeah. Mr. Calloway: I used to work for a grocery store on campus. Mary Jo Lay: On campus? Mr. Calloway: On campus, yes. Right across form the old Exchange Store. It's the personnel building now I believe. It was in that area down from the fire station. I worked for a grocery store there. I drove the truck delivering groceries. Mollie Guin: Now these were like home delivery? You could call in? Mr. Calloway: Home deliveries. You could call in Mary Jo Lay: Well that, great. I wish they'd do that today. (Hah hah!) Mr. Calloway: You could call in and we'd deliver your groceries to you. Mr. Boyett: Didn't they call it the Commissary. It was.... Mr. Calloway: No Mr. Boyett: It was like a military commissary wasn't it? Mr. Calloway: No, it was a regular grocery. Mr. Boyett: Oh Mr. Calloway: Yes. It was a regular grocery. Mollie Guin: And it wasn't... Mr. Calloway: I remember one day a woman came in and asked me the price of something, and I said "That's two bits." She went, "How much is two bits ?" Mary Jo Lay: Well now Charlies grocery was at the North Gate and your grandfather, was it your grandfather? Mr. Boyett: That's right. Mary Jo Lay: Grandfather? Mr. Boyett: My great grandfather opened a grocery store there originally. Mary Jo Lay: Well, can you tell us anything about the operation of that grocery store? Mr. Boyett: No. That was way before my time. Mary Jo Lay: Way, but you haven't heard any tells? Mr. Boyett: He, my great grandfather got out of the grocery store business or whatever he leased it sold it, or whatever to Mr. Opersteny. Charles Opersteny. Mary Jo Lay: Is that the one that's here today? Mr. Boyett: That was, that ladies father, yes. Mary Jo Lay: So, OK, Good. Mr. Boyett: So uh it was Operstenys and it became called Charlies and it stayed Charlies for life. Mr. Calloway: Oh yes Mr. Boyett: All the time I was growing up it was still Charlies until fairly recently. They actually sold it to a man named J. E. Robins. But over the years, he kept the name Charlies, and he went by the name Charlie and that wasn't his name at all, his name was J E Robins. But he just let everybody call him Charlie, and he even quit correcting people. Mary Jo Lay: Well, you know, I'm kinda curious. I want to know just what was North Gate like? I mean, what kind of feeling did you have you know? Today its just so studenty. The students and everything seems to be oriented. What was the Mr. Calloway: We didn't have that many activities up there at that time. Mr. Boyett: Its always been, its always been, you know, the vast majority, its always been basically just students. Mary Jo Lay: Students. Mr. Boyett: ...to a very large degree. Mr. Calloway: I remember Sosoliks up there. Mr. Boyett: Yeah, and the Holiks Mr. Calloway: and the Holiks. Mr. Boyett: The Holiks have been there for a long time. Mr. Calloway: I don't remember any other activities up there. We didn't have the eating or drinking places up there. Mary Jo Lay: But the Aggies were there. Students were always.... Mr. Boyett: Oh yea, the aggies were definitely there. But there was the Photo Center, and a drug store and a grocery store, the first pool hall, well, no there's been a pool hall there for years and years and years. It was actually upstairs above the drug store. The original pool hall and was in what's now Loupots. The whole upstairs was a pool hall when I was a kid growing up. But its like everything else. It was different back then. First of all there was no alcohol in the Brazos County. Mr. Calloway: That's right. Mr. Boyett: Everybody was friendly. Everybody was laid back. There wasn't fighting and drinking and stuff going on all the time. Mr. Calloway: I wouldn't say there wasn't any alcohol in the Brazos County. Mr. Boyett: Well, (Hah hah hah!) Mr. Boyett: It was illegal in the Brazos County Mr. Calloway: They use to make it over in the Brazos Bottom. We called it "Brazos Bottom Rot Gut." Mr. Boyett: Right, but....hah hah but even when I was a kid they, we had to drive across the Brazos River. Of course there was a liquor store right on the other side of the bridge. On both highways, and so everybody had to go out there to buy beer or anything else. Uh, but it was always even when I was a little boy growing up, the Aggies were all over North Gate. Uh, my grandparents actually, on the other side of my family, had a place called the Campus Confectionery. Do you remember that? Mr. Calloway: Oh, yes! Mr. Boyett: Which is right next door to what is now the Campus Theater. In the very adjoining building. Mollie Guin: Uh huh Mr. Boyett: Uh, but it was along the style of what you see on TV now, it was a true cafe'. It's down home cooking, and that kind of stuff. And I, that's were grew up, places like that. Like I said, it was still 90% Aggies, but it was a quite different atmosphere of course then Mr. Calloway: A whole lot different. Not much activity there. Mr. Boyett: Yeah. Well even at that time, right across the street from that, there was a house on the corner where now you've got a bustling 7 -11 that's suppose to be the busiest 7 -11 in the southwest, or whatever. Mary Jo Lay: I didn't know that. Mr. Boyett: One of my great uncles had a house on that corner right there his name was Guy Frank Boyett. And he lived right there on University Drive on that other corner until I was way up in school. So it hadn't really become just a solid business strip even as late as the fifties. Back late in the fifties. So, it was a lot quieter back then. (Hah hah hah!) Mollie Guin: What, like with this um the grocery store the Confectionery, were you old enough to remember how uh they received there uh there shipments of goods. Was it brought in from Houston or.... Mr. Boyett: No. I really don't. I was pretty young when they were running the cafe', Mollie Guin: Yeah. Mr. Boyett: I was just old enough to talk good and my mothers, one of her recollections, which I hate to hear her tell, and I hate to tell it myself, is something about me coming in one day because I had been out on the front sidewalk with a bunch of Aggies, and I came in and I announced that I was going to be an Aggie. (Hah hah!) Mollie Guin: And she wasn't happy about that. Mr. Boyett: She wasn't real thrilled with that idea right off the bat. Mollie Guin: Well, Michael, this grocery store that you were talking about, um, when that happen, did the people um, run like a charge account or something and then pay on it? Mr. Calloway: Yes they did. They ran tickets on it. They sure did back in those days. The grocer had to put up with it because uh they didn't have the money all along. They had to wait for payday to pay for their groceries. They ran tickets. Mary Jo Lay: And, would that be the same way in the drug store? Mr. Calloway: I don't recall them doing it in the drug store. They may have, but I don't recall. Mr. Boyett: I know that almost all the stores carried markers or tabs. Mr. Boyett: Even the local service stations and stuff in the end of the 50's did that. They used just a 5 x 7 card file, and everybody had a ticket in there. My grandfather had a service station /beer distributorship in I guess in the 40s and the early 50s which set on the corner where the overpass is now. It was taken over by eminent Domain when they put in the access roads and they put the overpass there at University Drive. It was Henry Jones's Filling Station. And the filling station in the front had a warehouse built in the back and they distributed, I think it was Grand Prize and Southern Select beer out of the back of the service station. I've seen a lot of the old books and everything. And everybody back then did things on credit, but it was just a little ticket book, you just rip off the page and put it in a little card file, and everybody would come by once a month and pay their bills. Mary Jo Lay: It was a different world. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mr. Boyett: And they didn't even sign for it. They'd just drive through and get $2 worth of gasoline and the clerk would just write it down. Mollie Guin: Well how effective were they in paying? Were they good? Was the people good on their credit? Mr. Boyett: Uh, well lets put it this way, there's still some unpaid bills in that box. (Hah hah!) Mr. Calloway: I expect there were some who didn't pay, but ... Mr. Boyett: well there was always hardship cases, but I don't think there was a large number of people that did it intentionally, lets put it that way. If they didn't pay there was a good reason why they didn't pay. Mr. Calloway: I'd hate to do that today. (Hah hah!) Mr. Boyett: You wouldn't be in business for very long that way. Well back then there was a real stigma attached to you, if you didn't pay your bills, or at least didn't make an honest attempt to, you know, people thought a lot more back then about their image. Mr. Calloway: image Mr. Boyett: Their image, their honor, their word. You know, basically it was an honor system just like A &M's and the students who you know tried to maintain an honor system throughout history. Its hard to do in our modern times. Mr. Calloway: ...you didn't need a written contract, you just shook hands. Mary Jo Lay: Isn't that wonderful. Mollie Guin: Uh, wh.., in your dealing with the business part, you said now, you were talking about, you know, you worked in the pharmacy, and you worked in the grocery store when you were at A &M, Once you graduated from A &M, what was your uh business association? Did you still stay in this area? Mr. Calloway: No. I left the area. The first job after I graduated, I was a guide at the Texas State Centennial (1836- 1936). I went from there to another...and from there to the military service. Mollie Guin: In the air force. OK. Um, so you were, when they um, when World War II ended, then they were, you went over seas or something in this nature? Mr. Calloway: No, I was in this country but I was in the Air Force. U S Army Air Corp rather... Mollie Guin: Do you have Mr. Calloway: I had a break in the service and then I went back in and retired from the U.S. Air Force. Mollie Guin: Do you recall anyone talking about um because I have my parents, I don't remember it at all, talking about uh, when uh, World War II ended. All the celebrations and all that. What kind of uh insight can you give on that? Mr. Calloway: Well, nothing other than there was a lot of "hoopla" and relief. (Hah hah!) Mr. Boyett: A lot of children being born. (Hah hah!) Mr. Calloway: Yes. (Hah hah!) Mollie Guin: These baby boomers that were uh yeah hmm Mr. Calloway: But I was at McClellan Air Force Base then. They were just real happy about it. Mollie Guin: What kind of special events do you remember as as as a young person growing up that uh made a big uh you know, made a big impression on you. Mr. Boyett: A special event. I cant think of anything that stands out in my memory other than graduating from A &M as a single thing because I was too young after World War II. I was still real young, so I don't think really any single event stands out in my mind. Mollie Guin: Well you made the declaration when you were small that you wanted to go to A &M. Did you, graduate? Mr. Boyett: Oh yeah and kept my word. Mollie Guin: Kept his word. Mr. Boyett: Yep. Never, never wavered. And we moved away from Bryan for a period of time. In the 60s, we moved out to west Texas and lived in Big Spring. I graduated from high school actually, out there. But I got harassed severely the whole time I was in Jr. High and High School because I never wavered from my plans to be an Aggie. I was living right in the middle of Red Raider territory, out there, so I was the "Aggieman" all through school. (Hah hah!) Mr. Boyett: But as soon as I graduated from high school I came straight back and went to A &M and went straight through. I never even considered going anywhere else. Mary Jo Lay: Well, now this is sortof along the line of that you asked, but its a little bit different. What about holiday celebrations, can you remember anything special about any of the holidays during this era that made, you know, that were sortof unique to the North Gate area? Mr. Calloway: I don't recall anything special. Mary Jo Lay: Were there Christmas decorations? Did they decorate the streets? Do you remember? Mr. Calloway: Oh, I'm sure there were, but I don't recall anything specifically. Mary Jo Lay: Do you, uh Bill? Mr. Boyett: No, I don't either. Mary Jo Lay: OK Mollie Guin: Then what about, you know like, since you went uh at A &M a few years back, how would you make a comparison between when you were in attending and now? Could you make a comparison there? Mr. Boyett: Between A &M now and then! Mollie Guin: Uh huh, yea * * ****'--- - and I know you could, well, that question to you in just a second too. Mr. Boyett: Well the answer to that question usually winds up with a large discussion of women being allowed into A &M, but I don't happen to be one of the school that was ever against that. I think the university grew tremendously, and improved in a lot of ways, after the women were openly admitted into the University. There were women in A &M when I was there. But when I started A &M in 67, there were only a very few hundred, and they were daughters of the faculty, or wives or something of that nature. They were already admitting women pretty much quietly. There were girls, you know I bet an average class might have one or two girls in it. Especially since I was an Agriculture /Economics major, and there was very little Liberal Arts at A &M at that time. I guess the main difference between A &M now and A &M then is the struggle that's going on to maintain the traditions. There was no question about the traditions, you know, even 15 or 20 years ago. When I was going to A &M the traditions were there and if you weren't into doing things the traditional ways, then you were in the wrong place. You should have gone somewhere else. But there wasn't very many people that felt that way. Over the years, a lot of the traditions have thinned but not gone away. A &M, I think has done a remarkable job of maintaining them to the degree that they have, with the growth rate that they've experienced, and just with modern society. I mean, things just aren't the way they were. I think probably the biggest difference now is that A &M is having to, through legal ramifications and everything else, they have to bring everything up to quote, 20th century standards, or whatever. The struggles that they have gone through to maintain the traditions have been pretty impressive to me. I mean, they've been able to maintain the vast majority of the traditions. And guess the main difference in the school now and then is that its like there is a group of students that go to A &M that don't partake in it, of the traditions. And I mean part of that may be because, I don't know what the current numbers are, but I suspect 20 or 25% of A &M's students are foreign students. And I'm not saying that's a negative thing, Its not. But, compared to the way it was then, if there was any kind of traditional event going on, you got almost 100% campus participation unless the poor guy had to study for a final the next day or something and they just absolutely couldn't. And now you've got such a big kind -of a rift. A lot of the students are still very much into the traditions, but then there's also a large number of students that go to A &M now which, they know the traditions are there, but they just don't take part. But that's part of our changing society, it brought that around. Its the same thing with family traditions, or anything else. Its inevitable. In my opinion, its kind of sad. But, I think they are missing out on a lot of what A &M is. I think there's a lot of students that go to A &M that even though they go there three or four years and graduate, I think there's a bunch of them that don't ever really quite get what the rest of us did get. Mr. Calloway: Of course during my time it was depression time. Mary Jo Lay: And it was all Corps. Mr. Calloway: And it was all Corp. Unless an individual had a physical handicap and could not participate. I mentioned that there were some girls...since it was depression time they started letting some girls in who were daughters of faculty and staff. There were just a few, but there were that few. However, we had girls in summer school, but not during the regular session.... remember when they started having seniors go back to their high school and talk to students about coming to A &M. Their goal at the time was 2500.... Mary Jo Lay: Oh! (Hah hah!) Mr. Calloway: 2500.... Mr. Boyett: Well there was only 13000 when I graduated in 71 Mary Jo Lay: I remember those days. Mr. Boyett: So, the explosion came shortly after that. Because they actually, I think publicly announced that women could enroll at A &M in 68 or 69. While I was here, even though they had been letting them in for a long time and the numbers were gradually grow.., that was the first time they'd publicly said that, you know, anybody could apply for admission. But the explosion came in the in the mid 70's. Mr. Calloway: Of course we all wore the uniforms then. We didn't have to worry about other clothes. Mary Jo Lay: You were in the Corps? Mr. Boyett: Yes, I was in the Corp. when I first came here. Mary Jo Lay: Cause, I still think that ought to all be in the Corp. (Hah hah!) inaudible Mr. Calloway: Well, I'm kind of surprised you were talking about traditions and so forth and I'm still kind of surprised that the corp has the influence it still does. I'm glad to see it, but with such a small number compared with the overall enrollment, they only have about,.2000 now, 1900, somewhere around that number. Mr. Boyett: There's about 2,400 to 2,500. Mr. Calloway: Is it up that far? Mr. Boyett: I think so. It's actually on an increase again. I kinda wound up right in the middle because the late 60s I guess as for the whole world was a time when everything began to change so rapidly. So, on the corp thing I was pretty much on the fence too because when I came to A &M my step father was career Air Force. So, when I came to A &M I took all the test, went in the Corp, and stayed in the corp. my freshman year, went through all the harassment and everything because I wouldn't quit so somebody could tell me that I was a quitter. But I got out of the Corp. my sophomore year. Because I was working and going to school and... Mary Jo Lay: It takes time. Mr. Boyett: Trying to have a social life. Mr. Calloway: Its hard... Mr. Boyett: I had a social life and all those things and I know a lot of people love them. And I decided that a military career wasn't going to be my thing anyway, so I went through the Freshman nightmare and then quit. (Hah Hah) Mary Jo Lay: I want to get away from A &M for just a minute because something just flashed in my mind. But there is a Boyett Street in College Station. And which one of your relatives, or, I know you were in real estate, so how did that street name come about? Mr. Boyett: Well, I'm assuming that my great grandfather named it. His house sat on that corner and I'm assuming that he put the street in, I'm sure he named it. He owned nearly all that land on both sides of that street so Mr. Calloway: It had to have been.... Mr. Boyett: It had to have been named after him. Mary Jo Lay: Are there other streets that are named after your family? Mr. Boyett: Yes, but all others are after first names and such. Mary Jo Lay: So there's a number there? Mr. Boyett: There's a number of streets back in there that came about later on. They were named after different family members. Mary Jo Lay: That just, I was just curious about that. Mollie Guin: Well, you told me you were in the, in the Corps and at A &M during the depression. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mollie Guin: um what was some of the uh effects that the depression had on the businesses and everything in general, in that area? Mr. Calloway: One thing of course, as far as A &M's concerned, I don't know where the money came from, but they did have some funds for student labor. And they tried to spread the jobs around the best they could among those who needed jobs. I pushed a mop many a mile in the old Chemistry building. worked at the bowling lanes at the YMCA. There were others who did all kinds of student jobs. That was one of the main things, that they did provide some jobs for students at that time. Mary Jo Lay: Do you remember the businesses? The effect they had on the businesses? I guess I ask did the payroll continue at the university so that the businesses did not suffer as much as maybe in other places. Mr. Calloway: Well, I think you are probably right. I think that the university was the main source of income around here. Mary Jo Lay: Well, that's what I was wondering, how did that effect the businesses? Mr. Calloway: Fortunately, they still contributed to the community. Mollie Guin: Cause there wasn't a great deal of business in the College Station.... Mr. Calloway: Not a lot of businesses, just the few that we talked about. Mr. Boyett: Now you can tell by looking just at the age of the buildings that North Gate and that little literally one block strip of South Gate, that's all there was. When I was a kid growing up even in the 50s, there were only a few other businesses and they were basically on TX avenue immediately across from the campus, there was a couple of cafe's and Arnolds BAR -B -Q, and just a few places up and down the strip but again, immediately across from campus and they've all been replaced obviously because of TX Ave and parts of the land. All that was, has pretty much been removed and replaced with much larger and newer structures. With the La Quinta and all that stuff right in there. I think probably there are only a couple of older buildings still there. There's one next to that Exxon station next to Red Lobster Mary Jo Lay: ...where the drug store use to be, I can't remember was it Jones Pharmacy? Is that the original building? I think there's a bicycle shop... Mr. Boyett: ...and, uh, Mary Jo Lay: ...furniture, or something like that. Mr. Boyett: At what we call East Gate? Mary Jo Lay: Yea. Mr. Boyett: Some of that building right along there has been there for a long time. Mollie Guin: ...Dr. Boyton has been there a long time cause that was right next to the service station cause I was there when... Mary Jo Lay: Were there any physicians in the North Gate area? Do you remember? Mr. Boyett: Not that I remember. Mr. Calloway: I don't recall any being there. Mr. Boyett: I want to say there wasn't, we lived on Nagle Street, but I was born at St. Joseph's Hospital, it was the only hospital. Mary Jo Lay: Well, everybody was until... Mr. Boyett: Yea, exactly. I mean, so. Mr. Calloway: I know that we used to talk about the fact that there weren't many eating places here when they had the big ball games, like Texas vs. A &M games, people brought their own sack lunches and so forth so they'd have something to eat. There just weren't that many eating places around. Mary Jo Lay: And places to stay at. Mr. Calloway: And places to stay. I remember that there was an Aggieland Inn across from Sbisa Hall at that time. And not many others. Mary Jo Lay: And that was on campus. Mr. Calloway: That was on campus, right across from the Sbisa Hall. Mary Jo Lay: I didn't realize that. Mr. Calloway: Yes, the old Aggieland Inn. Mr. Boyett: It was operated kinda like a boarding house... Mary Jo Lay: And when did that close down? Mr. Calloway: I'm not sure when they moved that inaudible Mr. Boyett: No, it was before my time Mr. Calloway: It had to be in the 40s some time. Mr. Boyett: It was already gone because they built, uh, they built, when, do you remember when they built the first set of dorms there, that on this side of campus, on the North side of campus? Mr. Calloway: Well, we had, Walton Hall across from the YMCA. Mr. Boyett: Walton, Puryear and all those. Yea, which were called newer. Mr. Boyett: I'm thinking in the 40s. Mr. Calloway: Earlier, all those were built in the early 30s Mr. Boyett: Were they built that long ago? Mr. Calloway: Yes. My outfit was in one of those. Mr. Boyett: OK, then they began to build the other dorms, when they really finished removing a lot of the old remaining structures that had been there, in that main part of the campus, over there, Mary Jo Lay: And the presidents house was over on that side wasn't it? Mr. Calloway: It was, President Waltons place. Mr. Boyett: It was right down the street from Sbisa too. See, when that original road which is now dead ends into North Gate, that was the original road and I don't remember what they called it. Mr. Calloway: I don't either. Mr. Boyett: It went through the campus. Mr. Calloway: It ran all the way. Mr. Boyett: It ran straight through campus. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mr. Boyett: And, after you got past the post office and Sbisa, that was a beautiful tree line, the old street, and it was lined with houses, and the Presidents home, and there was a couple of, all I remember is they called them guest houses. They were houses that were operated more like a boarding house. Up and down that lane and there's a lot of old pictures around of that, but that street ran straight through from North Gate to South Gate. Mary Jo Lay: So that was just a major thoroughfare. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mr. Boyett: Back then, yes. INAUDIBLE Mr. Boyett: It was the only thorough fare. And then everything else branched off of that, but then when they very first began...which was late 60s, early 70's, when I was in school, they began to close off the street. Mary Jo Lay: Oh, Yes, because when I came here, you could drive, you know that was just a short cut running threw the campus. Mr. Boyett: Right. Mary Jo Lay: It was the easy thing to do. Mr. Boyett: Yea, when I was in school they closed that street and the other road which was Nagle Street, I guess that cuts across right were the new, what is it, Harrington, or whatever that, that new administration type building is, there was another thorough fare later on, and then they closed it when they malled in all the library. And then all the way down by the cyclotron, that street use to go straight through even up into the 70's, then they closed it, they just closed them all and saved it as they worked their way up the campus so that you can't drive through at all anymore. Mary Jo Lay: That's right. Mollie Guin: I know if your gonna go see if ... Mr. Calloway: There used to be a little park area there by the Presidents home. The Aggie Band used to put on concerts there. That's right, on Sunday afternoon people use to show up for the concerts. Mary Jo Lay: I can remember a tractor circle there... Mr. Calloway: Well, it was in that area. Mary Jo Lay: Uh huh, yea. Mr. Boyett: Where that fountain is now, right in there. Mary Jo Lay: Right. Mr. Boyett: That's where the circle was. Mary Jo Lay: That's where the circle was, it sure was. Mollie Guin: Alright, you were talking about when you were living on the campus, now can you kindof recall how many houses or families were on the campus back then? Mr. Calloway: There were quite a number. There were homes along side the current drill field and where the MSC is now, there were houses all along there. Mr. Boyett: I think I read somewhere, it may have been in the you know but there's a history of College Station, that book, I think it said that there were like 30 or 40 something houses that were actually removed from the campus when they cleared the central campus. Mr. Calloway: There had to be that many. Mr. Boyett: I'm just guessing at the number. I think probably 40 or 50. Mr. Calloway: As you come into the campus by the Bell Tower and turn back to your left, there were houses along there. Mr. Boyett: With that, with that curving lane, the curve on the outside was lined with houses. Mr. Calloway: Yea. There were several houses... Mary Jo Lay: Well how did you get to live in one of those houses, you said you lived in one. How did your family... Mr. Calloway: Well, the one we had was provided through the Athletic Department. The others were for faculty and staff, faculty primarily I guess. That's how you got to live in those. Through what selection process, I don't know. Mollie Guin: So I guess if you were a faculty member, I guess you had your own house then. Mary Jo Lay: That would be nice. Mollie Guin: That would be nice. They would certainly like that now days, you know. Mr. Boyett: I think probably the early reasons when they first began to do away with that is because A &M grew to the point where they had so much faculty and staff, there was a huge waiting list and everything, and with the campus growth and they were building more buildings and they were gradually moving the houses out anyway because they wanted to use the central space. Mr. Calloway: I remember that was a period in time, too, when they built those project houses South of College. That enabled a lot of students to go to A &M that probably would not otherwise have been able ...I don't even know what they charged to live there, but I know a lot of students lived in them. Mary Jo Lay: I was just curious, can you, both of you if you can, can you think of some really funny experiences that you had during this era of time, that you might share with us. I don't know, that's probably kinda hard to do just on the spur of the moment like that. Mr. Calloway: A funny experience? Mary Jo Lay: It might be interesting you know, maybe as you were a soda jerk, or while you were working on campus. Mr. Calloway: There probably were, but I do not recall any. Mary Jo Lay: Well, I should have told you this way ahead of time, because, you know, I think that might add to our Mr. Boyett: No, my,the funniest experience I can remember was when I was a freshman at A &M, and like I said, I was in the Corp, and the first sergeant in our outfit was "hell on wheels" to put it politely. Well the first home football game was about, oh I guess I had already been on campus for about three weeks, and he had been constantly harassing me and three other guys which were all local family connected, he had a little problem with that, so he had been ratting us severely and doing everything he could to publicly humiliate us, And uh the first home football game, he had been bragging to the entire outfit for weeks about the gorgeous girl that he had coming in for the first home football game. And he had his little scenario all set up, how he was gonna act a big shot when she got here and everything, and uh he brought her out there where we all were right before the football game, before we formed up and everything to show her off and everything, turns out she was one of my old girlfriends from high school. (Hah hah!) Mr. Boyett: Of course when he found that out he really worked me over. It was hilarious and humiliating at the same time. He wasn't real happy about that. He had imported this beautiful girl from Big Spring. Mr. Calloway: Of course we use to bring the girls in here from, what was then CIA, now Texas Women's College. We use to bring the girls in for dances and so forth because there weren't enough locally. That was one of the rights when we were in high school, we had to compete with the students for girlfriends. Mary Jo Lay: And that was true. Mr. Boyett: Yea, even in the late 60s when I was going to A &M there was uh just a mass exodus on weekends. On Friday afternoon the highways were packed. INAUDIBLE Mr. Boyett: The Aggies "invaded all the little towns around here North, South, headed every direction on Friday afternoon. This campus was just vacant because if you consider how many girls there were in Bryan and Consolidated high school, but most of thems parents wouldn't let them date Aggies anyway. Mary Jo Lay: Let me, you went to school on campus, to public school, I mean got your degree... Mr. Calloway: I went to A &M Consolidated High School. Mary Jo Lay: You've had all of your education on the A &M campus then. Mr. Calloway: Quite a bit, quite a bit. Mary Jo Lay: Pretty Much. Well tell us a little bit about that school, that's interesting to me. Mr. Calloway: Well, I think we had probably 21 or 22 in my graduating class. Mary Jo Lay: Big class (Hah hah!). Mr. Calloway; And it was the first consolidated school in the area. We were fortunate in that A &M made available some of its facilities which enabled us to have a real good school, you know, physics labs, and machine shops, and things of that kind. And of course we had student teachers from A & M. I think probably that the whole high school was some 100 students. All three classes we did not have a twelfth grade. We had eleven. They brought students in by bus. There were no blacks in the school; they had their own school. It was segregated. Mary Jo Lay: Was that Lincoln school at the time. Mr. Calloway: I think it was. I'm pretty sure it was. Mr. Boyett: They really didn't integrate local schools until Lincoln High School burned to the ground Mr. Calloway: I was a member of the first football team A &M Consolidated ever had. Mary Jo Lay: let me asked you a question I heard that they had originally planned to name them "The Elephants ", Mr. Calloway: I don't recall Mary Jo Lay: The tigers won out, I'm glad. Mr. Calloway: my class was given the credit for the tiger name. Mary Jo Lay: OK, well good for you. (Hah hah!) Calloway: We didn't have a practice field of our own, and we had hand me down uniforms from A &M, I think probably the largest football player we had weighed 200 pounds. INAUDIBLE - SIDE 2 OF TAPE Mr. Calloway: It was a good school overall. We had good teachers. I've always been thankful that we had the setup that we had because it was a small number of students to teachers. We received more personal attention. Mary Jo Lay: Did you graduate from high school before it was moved off campus to the, well to here I guess. Isn't this where... Mr. Calloway: Oh yes, it was in the old location. Mary Jo Lay: OK. Mr. Calloway: Yes, it was in the old location. Mary Jo Lay: Now, did you go to A &M Consolidated schools, or... Mr. Calloway: No, we moved away and I graduated from high school in Richmond. Mary Jo Lay: Right. Mr. Boyett: Yea, I had gone to the elementary school and stuff in Bryan and then we moved to west Texas and I went to high school there. Mollie Guin: Can you think of any other questions? Mary Jo Lay: I'm trying. Mollie Guin: I'm trying to look at what we've gone through. Can ya'll think of anything else that uh cause I know we had said that this is more of a kinda fact finding mission you know for you and they wanted to kinda put this over on as memories or just an association with North Gate and uh Mr. Calloway: What's in my memory is prior to College Station being a city. Mollie Guin: uh huh. Mary Jo Lay: And that's important too. Mollie Guin: And that's important. uh huh Mary Jo Lay: We want that information. What year did you move? Mr. Calloway: 1936. Mary Jo Lay: What year did it incorporate? Mr. Boyett: 39. Mary Jo Lay: 39? Mr. Calloway: I was away. Mollie Guin: ...when you were, before you moved away, could you like just on one hand name the businesses that were in the area? Mr. Calloway: Gee, I guess I can. I only remember...the grocery store and the pharmacy, barber shop... Mr. Boyett: Holiks. Even though, the pictures that you see all around town like at the Toms Bar B Q and everything, there's a picture that floats around that was just uh taken through the actual gate at North Gate, I think its maybe 1917, well there were like six businesses there even then. But it was all clap board and they were all hooked together, I mean it literally, it was a pharmacy, a grocery store, a post office, and a little clothing store or whatever, but there's only five or six businesses in that one little group there at that time probably ... Mr. Calloway: Probably that building that we were in, the Aggieland Pharmacy, was the first brick building that was built in that area. Mr. Boyett: Yes. Probably so, Because I know the one across the street was built after that one. Mr. Calloway: Yes. Mr. Boyett:...Sparks building probably was the first brick building. Mr. Calloway: I would think it might be. Mr. Boyett: The other buildings down the strip, they're all concrete built construction now, but I don't know at what point the various ones broke out and changed. Most of them came into there current status in the fifties and sixties. Like Loupots, he was in what's now the Dry Bean Saloon, that little bitty shop down at the very end, he was in a really, literally about eight feet wide little bitty thing. Mr. Calloway: Well Loupot must have graduated somewhere around 31 or 32. Mr. Boyett: 32. Mr. Calloway: 32, yea, so he'd be...involved with the business. Mr. Boyett: Yea, he moved into it then and been there ever since. I'd say he moved into that little building that's just a little bitty shot gun thing. And he was in that building when I started A &M in 67. So, he bought the old drug store building down there and moved on into the corner, and that was in the late 60's, early 70's. I think he was in that building, as a matter of fact, I know he was in that building before I graduated because I bought books in both buildings. He moved in the late 60's, after that. And all those other buildings in there have changed hands over and over and over again. Charlies was probably the one that stayed the longest. And when J. E. Robins retired, about eight or ten years ago, he turned it over to Texas Aggie Bookstore, and now Charlies, part of it is in the bookstore and part of it is in the burrito place. (Freebird's) Mary Jo Lay: Oh, those are good. Mr. Boyett: I can't even think of the name of that. Mr. Calloway: ...My work was at the pharmacy. There was a store in that area over there. I think sort of a variety store. Mr. Boyett: I was fixin to say, it was probably a variety shop. (Taylor's) Mary Jo Lay: So there was uh, we hadn't mentioned variety stores... Tom Taylors father, there is a Tom Taylor on campus now... Mr. Calloway: I don't know Mary Jo Lay: I just kinda associate that. Well there's one question over here that I don't know if you can answer, you probably can, George probably, it says "describe a good work day ". So if you think back to when you were a soda jerk, (Hah hah!) Mary Jo Lay: I thought it was a good question. The next question was how was a bad work day? (Hah hah hah hah!) Mr. Calloway: Well, I think a good work day was most any day to tell you the truth. Mary Jo Lay: To have a job. Mr. Calloway: Yea, to have a job. Because my dad was making $300 a month when the "depression" came, they cut him to $100. So everything I contributed helped. Mary Jo Lay: I was just asking, did they give tips back in those days? I don't even remember the drug stores... Mr. Calloway: No, I don't remember any tips. Unless I didn't give good service. Mollie Guin: What was your specialty that you could make? Mr. Calloway: There use to be a popular malt that the Aggies came in and bought. It consisted of vanilla or chocolate ice cream and malt all stirred up together. There was a lot of malt. Mary Jo Lay: A lot of malt. And vanilla ice cream? Mr. Calloway: Vanilla, chocolate... Mary Jo Lay: Whatever they liked. Mr. Calloway: We use to make cherry cokes INAUDIBLE Mr. Boyett: You know the rapid escalation in wages and everything all happened in the late 60s too because when I started A &M in 67 I worked at the campus theater and wages then in a place like that weren't covered by minimum wage laws. And of course the minimum wage was only like $1, $1.10, or $1 and a quarter or something like that. But there was a tremendous number of jobs that weren't covered by that. Wages at the Campus Theater were $4 for an afternoon shift, and $7 for a night shift. The afternoon shift was like six hours, and the night shift was like 8 hours. Mary Jo Lay: So you were not making a $1 an hour? Mr. Boyett: Oh, no. Not working at the theater. Now that was in 67. Mary Jo Lay: Let me just... Mr. Calloway: In the 30s I was making 25 cents an hour there at the pharmacy. Mary Jo Lay: What was tuition when you went to A &M? Mr. Calloway: I don't remember because mine was a different situation since I lived on campus. A lot of the cost I did not have. Mary Jo Lay: Yea, and what about the year you had, now what's the difference... Mr. Boyett: Tuition in 67, you could go to school for about $125 a semester. (Less than $200.00 with a 15 -16 hour Toad) Mollie Guin: Geez! Mr. Boyett: And books cost about 20 to 30 dollars from Loupots... Mr. Calloway: I think one semester I went to school when I only paid the lab fees. That's all I had to pay. inaudible Mr. Calloway: But let me tell you about my salary at the bowling place. This was one of the jobs that they parceled out ...I was the pin setter. They had a semi - automatic pin setter machine. You had to pick up the pins and put them in the machine;then pull it down to set the pins on the spots. Mary Jo Lay: That was a dangerous job, wasn't it? Mr. Calloway: It was dangerous, if some nut bowled while I was in the pit picking up pins. Bowling cost 10 cents a line. They paid me 3 cents a line, and they let me make $10 a month. Mary Jo Lay: Let you make, huh? Mr. Calloway: Let me make $10 a month. Mr. Calloway: That's all I could make because they were trying to spread their money around to different students who needed the money. Mollie Guin: What was the average cost of a meal if you were quote going to eat out? Mr. Calloway: I beg your pardon. Mollie Guin: What was the average cost of a meal? Mr. Calloway: Of a meal? Mollie Guin: Uh huh. Mr. Calloway: mmmm. I, I'd hate to put a price on it cause I'm not sure. But it'd be no more than $1. No more than a dollar and a half anyway. Mary Jo Lay: Well did people eat out then, you know, everybody eats out now. Mr. Calloway: Well, there were some. You know as I said there weren't that many eating places. Mr. Boyett: Yea, the only take out place that I can remember, course everybody now delivers and takes out, and the only take out place I can remember that was even here in 67, and there was a place called the Reo, R - - Which the little building is actually still there, and its next door to the International House of Pancakes, that little bitty building sitting there on the corner of South College... Mary Jo Lay: little tiny building? Mr. Boyett: ...on that corner there was a place called the Reo Burger, and hamburgers were five for a dollar. And this is in 67'. Five, they weren't real big, they were like a McDonalds burger, but they were five for a dollar at that place, when I was going to A &M. Cause everybody would just whiz by there, out in the parking lot everybody would slide to a stop, grab five hamburgers, and keep going. But, that was for a dollar, so you could feed a couple of people for a dollar. Mr. Calloway: Of course ten dollars was a lot of money. I can remember when our grocery bill, when we had one small boy and we had a boarder was less then $25 a month. That's hard to realize that in this day and time. Mr. Boyett: ...the movie tickets I saw in the newspaper, the movie tickets in the 40s use to go for like thirty cents. And then by 67' they were trying to break a dollar, in 67', we still had the movies all the time at the Campus Theater that you could get in for a dollar in 67'. A dollar and a quarter was a first run movie. That was high dollar prices. Mollie Guin: ...my kids in seventy, seventy -two, we went to the Campus Theater. Mary Jo Lay: When you were a student here, George, what was the main source of entertainment? I mean, what did you do for recreation? Mr. Calloway: Played a lot, Guion Hall was the name of the place to go at that time. That's where they held graduation ceremonies, etc.. I remember at one time Paul Whiteman's Orchestra came to Guion Hall. Events like that came in there. And of course there were movies in the old Assembly Hall, which was in the area where the current All Faiths Chapel is located. And I was just thinking about something a lot of people don't know about. When A &M played football games away, at the old Assembly Hall, they would set up a great big screen so that they could put a football field in there. On the sides were the line -ups for each of the teams, and then running underneath they'd have the different things like, whether it was a punt, or a run, or whatever it was. Lights behind it that would flash. And then the operators behind the board, when they got the telegraphic, or telephone record, I don't know how they got it, would run the play. With a flash light behind that screen, you could spot the ball. And when they started the play, they would flash the light by the name of the boy that was going to run with it, the type of play, and then they'd move that ball up and down that field. And that's the way that we got the football games. It was very interesting. They had a lot of people in there to see that rather than just sitting and listening to the radio. Mollie Guin: So that was your play by play...(hah hah hah) Mr. Calloway: That was it play by play. INAUDIBLE Mary Jo Lay: Well now you were here, this was a latter era, so what about the entertainment, or what did you all do? I know you said yall went away on weekends, a lot of people... Mr. Boyett: Well, in the fifties and sixties, movies were a really big deal. And it had become a big part of everything around here. The Campus Theater would seat like 700 people and it was packed a lot, even though in the late sixties the Circle, the drive in was still operating and had been there for years and years and years. Uh, the drive in, shoot, there was 10 acres in that one drive in and probably three more in Bryan. At the height, there were probably six or seven movie houses then. Movies were really popular. Guion Hall was still open when was going to A &M, they tore the building down to build Rudder Center, where it was at. Mr. Calloway: ...do you recall when? Mr. Boyett: They tore it down in the 60's, I don't know, maybe early 70's. Mary Jo Lay: I think early seventies. Mr. Boyett: Early seventies... Mary Jo Lay: but I remember when it was... Mr. Calloway: I got my diploma from high school and from A &M in Guion Hall. Mr. Boyett: In Guion Hall. I don't think they tore Guion Hall down until maybe my Senior year, until the time I graduated in 71' it was still there. The Grove out there was pretty popular. I don't know at what time the Grove started. Mr. Calloway: I don't know Mr. Boyett: Do you remember when they started using the Grove? Mr. Calloway: No, I sure don't. It was after my time. Mr. Boyett: The Grove was pretty popular, especially with the dorm students who didn't have transportation and stuff even up in the sixties. They could also walk to the Campus and the Circle, the old drive in was a fairly high tech type theater. It was a drive in, but on both sides of the concession stand there were huge wings with seating areas built specifically because of the students across the street. You could walk over there and sit in an air conditioned indoor theater, even though you were at a drive in. And it probably could seat a couple of hundred people in there, in these two big wings on either side of the concession stand. Mr. Boyett: A lot of my memories from when I was a really young child, we'd bob around the two theaters because my family owned the Circle and Campus both. My uncle ran the Campus and my father ran the Circle, so on any given day I might have watched three or four movies. I'm still a movie buff. Mollie Guin: Well I notice, I can tell you all are getting tired. Mr. Calloway: I have to tell you about one funny story about "thumbing" rides. Mary Jo Lay: OK. Mr. Calloway: So many students use to go places by "thumbing rides." During that period of time you would still pick up people. I wouldn't pick up anybody today. I picked up a young man outside of Beaumont, Texas. He was thumbing somewhere outside of Beaumont. Down the road a ways was another young man thumbing a ride. A car came along and picked him up. Then the car stopped and picked this fellow up. He was telling me this story. I think he was a student at SMU, if I remember correctly. He said they were going along and he kept watching the fellow who they had picked up before him. The fellow kept looking at the woman in the passenger seat. And suddenly, this fellow leans forward, turns her head around and kissed her. He said, I didn't know what was going to happen then. As it so happened, apparently, he had been separated from his mother. I don't know how long, but he happened to know who she was, but she didn't recognize him. It was a mother and son. Mary Jo Lay: What a story. Mr. Calloway: So, everything was alright. Mary Jo Lay: Well I feel I could just talk to ya'll all day. This is just totally fascinating. Mr. Calloway: We'll come back in a few years! Mollie Guin: And I'm looking forward to all of the other "Lanes" that we are going to pursue as we go along. Mary Jo Lay: And, I think both of you can help us too on the others you know as we, you know, continue this project. Mollie Guin: This is why they wanted you to have a copy of these and that shows you the different avenues or different lanes that we are going to take and they have names on those and if you'd like to look at those and think of others that you would like to add to, uh that that would help us with ... Mary Jo Lay: And I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time you gave to come and share with us today. Mr. Calloway: Glad to do it. Mary Jo Lay: Really, it was good of you to do that. And if you can think of other people as we continue to do this, I know you said, George, had some information, maybe he'll help us next time. Mr. Boyett: George Boyett has got a lot of pictures and various bits of things. You know George went to Consolidated and he can kindof fill the gap between the two of us. Mary Jo Lay: That would be very helpful. Mr. Boyett: Because George is 58, somewhere right in that range, maybe, somewhere around 58 yrs old. But, he went to Consolidated and he lived right there in North Gate when he was a kid growing up and he went into A &M and graduated from A &M and went in the Army. So, he can fill the gaps between the two of us. (Mr. Calloway 30's /40's, me 60's /70's) He's got most of the information and his mother just passed away a couple of years ago. I know he hasn't even been through the information, but there's a lot of it. We do have a lot of pictures and everything. Its just the question of digging them out, sorting them out, and going through them. Seeing which ones have any real meaning to anybody other than us. So. Mary Jo Lay: Well, it was such a pleasure to meet both of you. Mollie Guin: We certainly appreciate it. Mr. Calloway: Sure, hope it helps. Mary Jo Lay: There's food over there, that, we never did take a break. INAUDIBLE - BREAK Mollie Guin: Why is it called, originally, why is it called North Gate? Mr. Boyett: There was actually a gate there. This area right back here was called East Gate. I mean they had one at one time. The University is now going back and you can see a lot of areas every time they redevelop part of the landscape, they've gone back and built the brick walls with the wrought iron. There was actually a fence around campus at one time. It was wrought iron and it had gates on it at the entrances. The picture from 1917 that I was talking about is of North Gate, but its taken from standing down that street in front of the Post Office. The gates are there. They've got two big huge iron gates that latch, swing and close that street... Mary Jo Lay: Did they lock them in at night? (hah hah hah) Mr. Calloway: I don't think so. Mr. Boyett: I don't, I've never seen a picture or anything with those gates closed. But there were gates on it. Yea, there were. The whole campus was fenced in. Mollie Guin: Was this because of military? Mr. Boyett: I don't think so. Mr. Calloway: I really don't know either. Mr. Boyett: I've never heard anybody say. Mollie Guin: Cause it was a military, you know,... Mr. Boyett: I guess if they wanted to close the campus for any reason, at least back in those days they had the capabilities of doing it. They could shut the gate if they wanted to. Whoever researched the landscaping and built the new fences, went back and researched all this. So they've gone back and tried to put it back together a lot of the ways it was originally. Mr. Calloway: One of the interesting things about that time was the fact that we went on all of our corp trips by train. Mary Jo Lay: Oh yes, we didn't bring that up did we. And that's how the girls came, on the train. Mr. Calloway: Trains, I don't know if they came by bus, but trains. INAUDIBLE Mr. Boyett: Anyway we could get them here. Mary Jo Lay: Well, listen, thank you so much Mr. Calloway: You're welcome. 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 insurances e0,4 � / y re. t..rV e nt) Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer Place of Interview List of photos. documents. mans. etc. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE City of College Station, Texas 77840 ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET G�? /7 7c Address Telephone Date of Birth y� 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. Rate •�( Ini 'i - -- 77 c c)/ HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE City of College Station, Texas 77840 ORATE HTRTORY 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 a causes of action in whole or in part are covered by insurance. _ (1V10 C> Y -� Intery w (P1ase pint) Signature of Interviewee Name 3106 1, Addres Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer Place of Interview List of photos, documents, mans. etc. Place of Birth J, 27(52)2- (.?6 ? ) Teleph ,( Date of Birth 11-3- �ST 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. 7 -27 �> 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. a L q rcd SR o Nt Interxie a (Please print) j 1 t eu L ,'�j- Lc/e/l � S igndture of Interviewee / A (Z \f . v 1Y' c_ft - /Z S N" Name a 91( )D2 4_1) r2 o cz, t) e / gfo-A Address l �� o Z, Telephone Date of Birth te 2 L /70 Place of Birth' Interviewer (Please Print) Signature of Interviewer Place of Interview List of Dhotos. documents. mans. etc. Date Initial Mrs. Marytama Wicker 2911 Broadmoor Dr. Bryan, TX 77802 INTERVIEW STATUS: Con P 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.