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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNorthgate Panel 4Interviewer: WB Lancaster Interviewees: Allie and Ed Garner Claude Free Ed - ...by a fellow by the name of Hickman. He had a bookstore. He had a little of everything in that thing when I bought it. WB - Now, when did you buy it? Ed - We bought it in '44 WB - Oh, that late, O.K. Ed - Hm mmm WB - Hickman had run it. Now he started it. Ed - He started it and before that Mrs. Parkhill had, I guess a dining hall, cafe. WB - In that building? Ed - In that building. WB - O.K. now, did she have a dining thing in Bryan? Ed - She had one up at, right in North Gate there for awhile over at Jack Zubik's told me, I don't remember just exactly where it was. Of course it's still there, that building is still there. WB - Do you have any idea what it was built for? Ed - I have no idea, I really don't. It was on the Tauber property and see, the Tauber's owned all of that land there. Oh, gosh, well around 100 acres, because when they sold it to these realtors and got the money, he came down there to me and asked me to divide it up. WB - Yeah Ed - I had to divide it up and write the checks to each one of them because he didn't know how to write. WB - Oh really. Now that Tauber street is right there now that goes beside the Methodist Church. Ed - Well it was the bank then. WB - Now Tauber's own property there and the Boyett's I guess own, where did their property go? Ed - I have no idea. Evidently it was on the other side of University Drive on back in there, but they own a little service station down there on the corner of Highway 6 and that street, I don't know what they called that street then. If you said the name, you know it went over the railroad tracks. WB - Oh yeah, what's now University Drive. Yeah, That was fun to drive over that thing Ed - That was called Sulfur Spring wasn't it? WB - Was that called Sulfur Springs Road? Allie - Yes it was. WB - I believe you're right because there used to be, of course there's another Sulfur Springs Road in Ed - The new Sulfur Springs. Allie - In Bryan. Ed - In Bryan. WB - I was thinking of that just the other day that that thing was called Sulfur Springs, but up on the hill, now you 2 might be able to answer this - why, up on the hill called Candy Hill, why was that called Candy Hill? Allie - That wasn't Candy Hill, Candy Hill was... Ed - No, Candy Hill was up on Old College Road. WB - That's what I'm talking about. Over there by what's now Skagg's. Across the street from Skagg's - was that Candy Hill? Allie - On up the street, about where Tom's Bar -B -Que is, that area, that's Candy Hill. WB - Well, now what I'm getting at, on the back to this Sulfur Springs thing, there used to be some wells, some almost pier sulfur wells, there were some wooden buildings I think with pumps to the sulfur wells. Used to be right across from where Skagg's is, right across form the, not IHOP, what's the pancake place, you know what I'm talking about. Ed - Well that's International House of Pancakes. WB - Right across the street from that there would be two wooden, skinny, tall tapered buildings that I think were water wells. Allie - That was college property though. WB - Yeah, but now... Allie - That was our water supply. WB - That was the, now that's where Sulfur Springs Road came from, was those were sulfur wells. Ed - Those were sulfur wells, water wells, and they smelled bad. 3 WB - I remember that, turned your lavatory yellow and your bathtub black. Ed - You'd drive into College Station and if you wasn't used to it you'd have to hold your nose. Smelled just like rotten eggs. WB - Yeah, well it was that old sulfur. Ed - It was terrible. WB - But we got used to it and if you went somewhere else and drank water you couldn't stand it. Ed - No, it wasn't no good. WB - But anyway, I was just trying to make the point of the Sulfur Springs Road thing, that was called, which is now University Drive. Well now. Ed - But getting back to me on the store business. Hector, his family was from Rising Star, and he just wanted to get out of that place, and there wasn't anything there much, because all the students were nearly gone, so he, Allie's father had loaned him some money to start in this book buying business earlier, so he wrote to this girls family and asked if they were interested in buying that building or the business. WB - The business and the building? Allie - No, just the business. WB - Oh Allie - The building belonged to Tauber. WB - Oh. 4 Ed - Yeah, the building belonged to the Tauber's, so, the other two children weren't interested so we were. We went and talked to him and he told us what you have to have. You have to have $10,000 down and the rest of it you could pay out by the month. $10,000. We've told this quite a few times, you know. So the wife and I got up one Saturday morning and we were going down to the bank, that's when the banks were open until noon. So we go down, we walked up and down that thing I guess a half a dozen times before we ever got up enough nerve to go in. Allie - City National WB - City National, Bryan, Johnny Lawrence. Ed - Who was the president? WB - Johnny Lawrence. Ed - No, I'm talking about the bank. Oh, Johnny Lawrence. Mr. Johnny. So we went in and the lady asked us, so we said we wanted to see Mr. Johnny, so he was busy, she said well, as soon as he gets through. He got through and came over and we sat down. He said "What can I do for ya ?" I said "We want to borrow some money." And then he said, "Well how much money ?" I told him "We want to borrow $10,000." He said, "you do mean a lot of money." I'll never forget that as long as I live. And then he wanted to know what we wanted for it, what to do with it and Hickman was doing business with the bank and he said "10:00 Monday morning I'll call you." And I was working for the fiscal office at that time. 5 WB - On campus? Ed - Hm mmm. He called me. He said "come get your money." And then I just... Ed - $10,000 already in debt. What in the world. We didn't know about what was going on. WB - Well now, when you got it, was it just a bookstore? Ed - No, it had everything. WB - Had everything in it. Ed - It had a radio shop and it had a pawn shop and school books and it had college texts and it had... Allie - Bicycle shop. Ed - Bicycle shop and you name it. WB - And you took it all on. Ed - Took it all on and we didn't know anything about any of it. WB - And this was when, in 1944? Ed - '44 WB - What time of year? Ed - It was early, I think around May or... WB - Spring of '44. Right at the height of WWII and no students at A & M. Ed - Well, they started getting a few marines in and a few ASTP - STRP's and then a few naval boys started coming in. WB - Did you get much business out of the ASTP and the ASTRP's? Ed - Not a whole lot, because a lot... 6 WB - The corp itself was probably down to about 2,000 students. Ed - Ooh, less than that. WB - Was it less? Ed - 900 and some odd when we took that over. WB - Well now, back then you probably sold most of the books didn't you? Had Loupot opened up? Ed - Yeah, he was there. He was there and then there was old Boon Bobbit, he was the head of a bookshop up there, on North Gate, right next to Ivy's. WB - Yeah, Bobbit's. Ed - 01 Boon Bobbit's. Allie - Head of the University Bookstore. Ed - Yeah, where Shaffer and ....where it started WB - Where if first started. Of course everybody bought their book form either you or... Ed - Seriously.... WB - That's right. Ed - That was the main thing. WB - That's right. Well how long did it take you to get satisfied that you did the right thing? Ed - Now! WB - You still weren't sure for a long time. Now, what was around you at that time? What was next door to the student... Ed - Well, wasn't anything on the corner, where the Bank... WB - Yeah, yeah 7 Ed - Then there was two little Tauber houses next to that going up Tauber street. WB - North on Tauber street. Ed - Yeah, going up north, that's right. And then there was a service station next to them and then the Catholic Church on the corner, and then nothing on down. WB - Now the first building that the University National Bank, now it wasn't called that then. Ed - College Station State Bank. WB - Wasn't it in a little skinny building? Ed - two, two, two little prefab houses. WB - Were they, they were prefab, moved in... Ed - Prefab, right. WB - O.K., right next to your store. Ed - Right. WB - Those weren't the houses that were there already? Ed - No, they brought them in. WB - Alright, now, did John, was John Robinick servicing? Ed - He had moved to Eastgate by then. Allie - Yes. WB - There was still a service station there, wasn't there? Ed - I don't know whether John was there when we first, I believe he was when we first got there, but then he moved after, see, Highway 6 wasn't open when I came here, but it was open when I moved over there. 8 WB - Yeah, I can't remember if he moved, whether he moved over there before the war of after the war. Probably during the war. Ed - I think John Robinik was still there when I bought the store. He was there during the war. WB - Well, off at the North Gate. O.K., I was wondering, I couldn't remember... Ed - He bought a tire for me. WB - Well, John did a lot of good things. Ed - Yes he did, he really did. WB - Now, the Catholic Church was on the corner here. Ed - It was on the corner... WB - Well, lets see then, you owned that business though, even after you moved over to Sand's Motel. Ed - Yeah, we bought it from Leon's Estate. Allie - The building. Ed - The building and the property next to it. See, there's a little piece here, there's 27 feet in between the store and the bank and we bought that and the building... WB - From the Tauber, from Leon. Ed - From Leon Tauber. WB - And then when did you go into the 50's when you went into the Sand's Motel wasn't it? Allie - We invested some money in it. WB - Oh, O.K. Ed - Yeah, in 60, was it 60 when we... Allie - We moved up there in 58. 9 Ed - 60 is when we bought it outright. WB - But you kept the store. Ed - Hm mmm, and we sold that in '72. WB - Well that recently, I didn't realize it was that recently, to whom? Ed - Wyatt. WB - You sold it directly to Wyatt, O.K., I had forgotten that, I thought there was somebody in between there. Ed - No, because we sold it to Ted and then I went up there and did the, helped my wife. WB - Man, I remember ya'll were there together all the time and you kids grew up in the, well before you moved to Sand's you lived on Grove Street. Allie - That's right. WB - Next to Don Adam. Allie - Yes. WB - O.K. and then, moved from there over to the Motel. Now what, of course where the Methodist Church is now, that was, they had their building on the back of that property. Ed - They had a house back there, a two -story house, the back of it was where our property was. WB - Was on your side of the street, o.k. Ed - There was a house right behind us. WB - That's where the Methodist preacher lived, Jackson. Ed - Well, that was, Jackson, that was on down a little further. His was right across the street from the Methodist Church. But right behind us, right behind the store there 10 was a house on that street there, and George, what's his name, he... WB - Not Ames? Ed - No, well, his... Anyway Allie - Had the concessions on the campus... WB - Mc Cullogh Ed - George Mc Cullogh WB - Did he live back there? Ed - He lived back there and , what was her name that... WB - Rich, Rita Rich Ed - Rich, Allie - He married Mrs. Rich WB - Married Rita's mother. Was she kinned to the Marburbers? Allie - Yes, yes. WB - Was she Mrs. Marburbers sister? Allie - I think so. Before that, the Ames' lived there, Mr. Ames. WB - Yeah, now that's what I was trying, because I heard her just saying the other day that they lived on Tauber street in one of those houses. Ed - That was after George and them lived there. WB - Yeah, o.k. Ed - In fact, they might have been the last ones to live there and I can't remember, the lady that had the, that seamstress up the street there. WB - Tilly? 11 Allie - Tilly. WB - Tilly, what's Tilly's last name? Allie - Tilly MacHearst? WB - O.k., because somebody was asking about her the other day. Allie - I can't remember, something... Ed - Yeah, that's right. I'll tell ya, her brother was the pharmacist in Medical Center, of Dr. Walton's medical center over there in town for years and years. WB - Is that on Eastgate over there? Ed - No, in Bryan. WB - In Bryan. Ed - In this clinic over there in Bryan. WB - Tilly's brother. Ed - T.T. Walton. WB - Now, the property, like I say, where the Methodist Church faces University Drive now, I don't remember anything being on that. Ed - That was empty WB - Now a wooden building was sitting behind at the back of that lot crossways. Ed - ...almost, about 2/3 of the way back. WB - Now you'll remember Methodist Church, o.k., but there wasn't anything on that lot. Ed - Except for that building. it was in '39 when I came to about '50 before they built the first building. WB - Well the sanctuary that's there now. 12 Ed - No, the sanctuary was built in the early 50's. WB - O.k., now right across from you, was that Mr. Asbury's house? With all the... Ed - I guess. He was still there when I bought the store. Allie - That house was moved, you know, where the post office is now, that's where Dr. Asbury's house was to begin with. WB - Where now, where the post office... Allie - North Gate. Ed - North Gate post office, and they moved it to that block there. WB - Oh, I didn't realize when the post office was 1st built. Ed - They had to move it down to that one in that next block. Allie - Later they moved it up there where those sulfur wells were. WB -Now back to this again - that's not Candy Hill. Ed - No. WB - O.k., I've always called that Candy Hill. I'm glad we got that straightened out. O.k., but now he, that post office was built in the 30's, sometime. Do you remember when it was built? Ed - I really can't tell you because I know that's where we used to go and stand when we wanted to hitch hike into Bryan. Seniors got the first shot, juniors, sophomores, freshmen. 13 WB - Right there at the, where the post office. Ed - Where the post office is right there on that corner. We were on the highway into Bryan, somebody would pick you up then you were next, you know... WB - Many a times. Ed - Now see there were houses there where that post office was. I don't even know how many houses were there. One was the Asbury house and well, WB - Quite a few were going down into the campus. Ed - Uh huh, going into the campus on both sides of the road. WB - Mitchell lived in one of them. A Mitchells. Ed - He lived on , well, there's two Mithcell's. WB - But John Mitchell lived on the curved... Daddy. Now were they brothers? Allie - No. WB - They were not brothers. Now A. Mitchell is Howard Mitchell's father. Is that right? Now they lived in the house there. It was a big yellow apartment house on the corner. Do you remember that? Ed - Oh you bet...yes sir, yes sir...In fact the Sheltons lived in that house. I can remember... WB - The Ores, Joe Ores lived over there. You know who I mean? Ed - Yeah...apartment. WB - Morgan, the English Department. Used to call him Bloody Morgan lived in my time now of course it was there a 14 long time before that. Jack Shelton lived in the house right across from the post office. Now Mrs. Thomas lived before the Shelton's and she built the house where Graham Horsely lives now. Is that right? I think that's right, as I remember it. Well, alright, now then. Were there, I'm going to call it east of Asbury's house where there were some more houses along in there. Ed - Cliff Hotard lived in one of those houses. WB - Alright now, Smith in the plumbing shop and a son Marvin and a daughter Elsie Marie. Do you remember who I'm talking about? He lived in one of those houses. What was his first name? Ed - Alton, wasn't it? WB - I don't know. Ed - Seemed to me like it was. I'm not real sure. WB - But the two kids were Marvin and Elsie Marie. Now then as far as on the other side of the street, who, was Lipscomb the first one that built...Aggieland Pharmacy was already built - Aggieland Pharmacy was already there, it's the oldest, now across the street where Lipscomb was, when was that building built? Do you remember? Ed - I really can't tell you. WB - Where Loupot's is now. Ed - It was built before you came to the...Me? No, no. There was an old hamburger joint there, an old wooden building. Ed - It was built in 39. 15 Claude - Lipscomb's was, well, then I dont remember. Ed - I mean it was there in '39. WB - Oh, o.k., it was built by then. You don't remember when it was built? Ed - No, I don't remember when it was built, no I don't. I remember the old wooden building, right, it was a big building, I remember it real well. A saw a picture of that, somebody had a picture of that. WB - Well, I have a straight on shot from inside the campus shooting north right in front of where the post office is now. You're looking at kind of a wooden building and that must be the one you're talking about. Ed - It may be. Right there where Loupot's is now Loupot's is Lipscomb's pharmacy. WB - I remember my brother broke the window out of that, I remember whether that was the building or not, but he leaned his bicycle up against that glass there, fixing to go inside, and it broke out a big hole, but I don't remember whose. Well it was an eating place, I don't remember any place upstairs. Well now, MacMullen ran a place up over Lipscomb's, was an eating place, a big pool hall. Aw, MacMullen where you go up the stairs. Ed - Right here on the side. WB - And that eating place. But now Aggieland Pharmacy and all of that was well established when you were here as a freshman. Casey Sparks ran it, G.F. Casey and what's Mr. Spark's name? 16 Ed - Bill, I call him Bill. WB - Bill Sparks, and his place. Allie - When did Claude come to College Station. Ed - You were born in here, you were born in Brazos County, you were born in Brazos County weren't you? WB - As a student? Yeah, o.k., that's right. You live over in the... Now, I can remember, I used to deliver papers from your house, out about where oh, Cash and Cabin was out there, on the two rows of houses where the people that took care of the dairy farms out there. I remember the Freed's lived in one of those houses out there. That wasn't the same street that the Chestnuts lived on was it? That same street? Claude - The Chesnuts lived north of us in a stucko building. Now I moved into that house in 1948. WB - You did. The house the Chestnuts lived in? Claude - The Chestnuts. In 1948. WB - As the farm management. In 48? Chestnuts were gone by then? Claude - Gone December 1948. Barely was, right near 49. WB - Now, were those houses still there, the other houses where you moved from, were they still there? Claude - Oh yes, oh yes. WB - I can't remember when they disappeared. Claude - Uh, between 53, I mean 43 and I believe that was 48, and they must have just moved out about 53 or 54 and 17 they got rid of those houses. But we moved out to the other house in 1950. WB - From what I'm calling Chestnut house, you moved there out to the F & B road place. Claude - Yes, I moved out there in 1952. WB - 1952 Claude - December 1952, to the Sherbur house. Ed - That was on the corner too, wasn't it, Sherbur, it was the only house there, wasn't it. Claude - Fred Hill lived in... WB - Second house. Claude - The second house. I lived in the second house first. I stayed there and Dr. Layton was moving into the Fred Hills house. I was living in the Sherbur's house. WB - O.k., Sherbur's was on the corner. Claude - Well, I got it wrong. WB - No, I mean I'm asking, I don't Claude - Well, I forget which one. Ed - I think Sherburs was there on the corner. Claude - Anyway, I moved into the second house, I think it was the Sherbur's house and then Dr. layton was living in the one on the corner and Dr. Layton moved and I moved into that house in about ... Ed - Is that C.K. Layton's? Claude - No, R. E. Layton's. Ed - Was that C.K.'s daddy? Claude - No - no relation. 18 WB - But now, when did you enter Consolidated School? Claude - I went there in 1927. WB - When you first entered? Claude - No, I started out at... I think I was in the third grade when we came here. WB - Oh, when you moved here. Claude - Yes. WB - O.k. Claude - My daddy was working here. WB - O.k., that's when he went to work in '27. Claude - He went in '27. WB - And you went to the school on campus then. Claude - Yes, on the campus, wherever it was, what did they call that building, the band room at one time. Yes, and I was in the fifth grade and the ceiling fell in. And that sure did tickle us cause we didn't get to go to school the next day. WB - Well lets see, that was about 1930 or something. Allie - About the third grade we were in. Claude - Yeah, fourth grade I believe. WB - I was in the 5th grade room in that building, upstairs on the south end. Claude - Yeah, that's where I was, in the 5th grade. WB - Where those corp dorms were being built. Claude - Yeah, what about the downstairs? WB - The downstairs was the first grade. 19 Claude - O.k., I was downstairs when the ceiling fell in ,do you remember that? WB - No, now you're a little agead of me there, now I didn't enter school until 1934. Claude - Anyway the ceiling fell in, but I was downstairs then, but then I went to 5th grade upstairs. WB - The 5th grade was up over the, the first grade was downstirs. Claude - Well, I guess I was in first grade or maybe I was down there fooling around, I don't know. Allie - Maybe you were in the second grade class. Claude - Maybe, I don't know. WB - But do you remember the ceiling falling in? Allie - Yeah. Claude - You remember the ceiling falling in? Allie - A teacher looked up and she said, "Everybody get out." Claude - Yeah, sure did. Allie - It was a plastered ceiling. WB - It just sagged, did it hurt anyone? Allie - No, Claude - No, nobody. WB - Who was the teacher? It wasn't Miss Slook? Claude - Doak WB - Margarite Doak? Claude - Margarite Doak. WB - ...Henrietta Doak. 20 Claude - Oh yeah, maybe it was. Allie - The 5ht, 6th and 7th grade. Claude - She, I hadn't seen Miss Doak in 50 years, I guess. And I got involved in some kind of traffic work out in Bryan airfields, when I was living by Walton Drive, and you, didn't you go, somebody came by the house and picked me up, said "We gotta go and pick up Miss Doak." Miss Doak, I didn't even know she was living at this time. But anyway, she came out of the house...so I got out of the car, I sat in the bachseat, I got out of the car to meet her and she looked, she said... I said "You used to paddle me with a ruler." "Get out of here, I don't want to talk to you." You know she wouldn't talk about nothing in the past. WB - She wouldn't? Claude - No...But she was a good old teacher. WB - She died not too many years ago, about two or three years ago. Claude - Yeah, she was quite a girl. I think she must have been about 95 years old. WB - Well, I guess. Claude - I'm 80 and she was my school teacher. Boy she must have been at least 25 years older than me. She was married when, I don't know where they lived. WB - Well you know they lived on Pompus with the Boltons. Claude - That's a long time ago. WB - So now. 21 Claude - She must have been prettly old when she passed away. Allie - She was. WB - Allie, when did you enter Consolidated School? I mean you were a baby when you moved here. Allie - 3 years old. WB - 3 years old. And your mother and father moved here in what, 1919? Allie - 1919. WB - O.k. And that school was constructed in about 20 or 21. Allie - Yes, because Bill went to his first year. He went to school on campus, in the electrical engineering building. WB - I guess. Claude - If you, while I've got in on my mind, I'd like to ask her a question. Do you remember a family that lived right where the old Ramada. WB - Yes. Claude - Who was that family? WB - Bariski, Guriski? Claude - It was a girl, about our same age, that don't sound like Guriski, but it might have been. There was a girl there about near my age. WB - The two boys are still, well, Raymond lives in Bryan now, Raymond Guriski, he has an older brother, no now that's a grandson, Harry Guruski, Harry was the son of that man on the corner and his son is Raymond Guriski that lives on the corner. 22 Claude - Did they have a two story? WB - A big old house. Allie - I'm trying to think of that girl's name, but I can't think Claude - I'm trying to think of her name. WB - You're talking about, the father was a barber, am I right? Claude - Yes, well, his brother was a barber... WB - Now that's the son of the man that owns the house on the hill. Claude - Right. WB - Harry Goriski, Raymond's father, is that right? Claude - I think that's right. But his brother was here...brother by the name of Lewis... WB - Harry Goriski has cut my hair many a times. Claude - Yeah, well that sucker would hardly ever charged me for a hair cut. WB - He wouldn't. Claude - He stole my clippers to clip me bald with and very seldom would he charge me. he was a good barber too, I sure missed him when he quit. WB - He had about 4 or 5 chairs in that ting. Claude - He was over here... WB - Around in a circle in the YMCA. Ed - They had about 4 or 5 chairs in there. Claude - And a swimming pool. I like to drowned in that swimming pool. 23 WB - That swimming pool is still there. Claude - It's still in there? WB - It's covered up, but it's still under that flooring. Claude - They put the bowling alley on top of it. WB - yeah they did, put the bowling alley right on top of it, but you go to the back of the building, way back to the back in the air conditioning room, you can see the steps that go down into that tile and the pool underneath there. Claude - Yeah, we use to have a lot of fun in there. WB - That's where I learned to swim. Claude - We didn't have to pay to go in there. Did you ever go swimming in there? Allie - No. WB - You didn't, why not? Allie - Well, you know Richard Fraps was an... on the Campus Kids and he died the year we were in the second grade. Claude - You remember Fraps? Allie - His name was Richard Fraps and he had gotten pneumonia that summer and they said he got it in the swimming pool, so I never would go. WB - Did you ever go swimming in what we call the new pool? Downs? But I can remember going from the, moving from the YMCA pool over to the other one. That was something wasn't it ?... daylight to dar, dark to daylight or something. Allie - That was in the early 30's or something. WB - I think it was built in 32 or 33. 24 Mary Lancaster - I picture Downs having built it a foot wider that the Texas University pool so it would be bigger. Ed - ...Mr. Ham because it was too long. WB - It was too long. Claude - It was too long, so they had to barricade it... WB - To make it... Claude - To make it standard length. Allie - Is that right. WB - Claude, what do you remember about the North Gate? Claude - You know the main thing I remember about North Gate, I used to live out by the airport, back when it was just a dirt road and I had one horse and wagon and I'd go up there to the North Gate to Charlie Opersteny's and buy my groceries. Ed - About everybody bought their groceries there. WB - You bought groceries, you bought... Ed - Well there was a grocery store on the campus, right across the street from the exchange store, Bud Mousner worked there. Claude - Bud Mousner worked in there. Ed - Sure did. Claude - Mr. Ivey, I remember, sold out and liked to go in there... he was such a fine gentleman, everybody liked him. That was the most memory I have at this, going up there in a little wagon, because a lot of people went horseback, buggies and things, but I had this little rubbertired wagon... during the war and the tires were bad on my car, so 25 I took them tires off of my car and put them on that little wagon and put the wagon on my cart and that how I got by. And then I wore them out... didn't have no permit. WB - And you got it from John Brown. Claude - Got it form John Brown, technically I got two of them, I think, but that was the main thing I remember of Norgh Gate, was Mr. Ivy cut my haer, going to Charlie Opersteny's variety store there. Albert and Charlie both like to drink a lot. I remember sometimes Charlie would go in the back and take a big swallow, but you couldn't hardly tell on Charlie, but now you could tell it on Albert, he got to drinking otoo much his tongue would get pretty loose... We got to talking one day and he said "You could come in here and work for me and I would kill you in a year in this grocery store, and I could go out there and you could kill me out there with that beer. "But I really enjoyed Charlie, he was, I had just gotten married and went in there, bought some groceries on the credit and one day I went in there he said, "Son, I'll make a deal with you." I think I owed him 25 or 26 dollars, something like that. He said "Let's just put this aside and when you come in to buy groceries pay cash for them... He done me a great favor right there, kept me out of being in debt. WB - $25 was a healthy sum. Claude - Yeah, that was lot of money back in those days. Two pounds of hamburgers... WB - What did a haircut cost at the A & M barbershop? 26 Claude - I thought it was about a quarteer. Ed - Yeah, I got them for 25 cents. WB - Paying 50 cents must have been later. Ed - Probably was. Claude - Well then it jumped to 35 and I jsut thought that was terrible. WB - But that was a big shop up at the North Gate. Claude - Oh yeah. WB - Do you remember who was in there besides Mr. Ivy? Claude - Old Joe was in there some. WB - The fella by the name of Dutch something, Dutch Harper? Allie - Huebner. WB - Heebner, Hibbner, Hibbner. Allie - He was the first chair. WB - He was the first chair, o.k., that was my barber. Claude - He was kinned to... WB - Kinned to who? Claude - Beedner. WB - Oh, I didn't know that. Allie - Mr. Ivy had a bench in there, bench of wood. Ed - Where you could sit down and wait your turn. Allie - And it had black leather on there. A & M football players sat on there and I guess carved their initials... Mr. ... who took that. Ed - Moon, Moon. Claude - No, Bill Moon, he bought the barber shop. 27 Allie - He sat the bench out on the sidewalk. Ed walked up there one day to the post office and asked him what he was hoing to do with it and he said if you want it take it, so Ed took it. WB - You've got that bench now? Ed - My daughter's got it. WB - Is that right? Ed - That's a treasure. WB - I'll bet it is. Allie - I had it recovered and... Ed - We had a double sink out in the middle of that thing where two people could get their head washed at the same time. And a lavatory, and I've got that. WB - Man, well I'll be. Ed - And Candi has still got that. She had it redone. WB - Didn't that have a tile floor, a white tile floor in there? It was a nice looking place, I remeber. Ed - It was a good barbershop. WB - Who owned all that property up there? Ed - I have no idea who owned that. I assume it's Sparks. WB - I would think so with Casey and Sparks must have owned that. Allie - But the Waldrops built that building. WB - Now the Waldrop building was a separate building wasn't it? It may have been attached but it, that building... Ed - It was being built, I think when I was is school. 28 WB - I would guess that, yeah, but the main building though where the drugstore... Ed - There was a little add a deal between that building and the Waldrop building because there's a stairway going up... WB - It's probably still there. Ed - The barbershop's up there now. WB - Yeah, is it still called the Aggieland Barbershop? Ed = I dont' know, some mexican guy I think it is. WB - Is it? And then in behind that going north, in behind the building would be Hornecks and Holick's. Allie - Opersteny's, I think. Ed - In behind the drugstore? WB - Going north on, do you remember what Lauderstein's telephone number was? Number 1. Allie - And do you know who has box 1 at that post office? WB - Do you? Allie - We inherited it from Hickman when we bought this place. WB - Is that right? Do you still have it? Ed - Still have it. WB - Box 1 Allie - We're not giving it up. WB - Why no, don't do that. You've got box #1. Ed - It's about $30 some odd a year, and we get in there about once or twice a year, clean it out. Allie - Jackie Sherrill came here - he wanted box 1 WB - You wouldn't let go of it. 29 Ed - Well called and said "You're going to have to let go of box 1." I said "why ?" He said, "Jackie Sherrill asked me to get it from you." Allie - The box was about this big. He said, "Well he just wants the number." But we didn't give it up. WB - Well good, I'm glad you didn't, that's good. Ed - And we've had it for 50 years. Allie - I paid it a while ago and he said, the man at the post office said, "the Holick's had had his box longer than we'd had ours. WB - But it wasn't, he had a bigger box? Allie - I don't know what his number was. WB - So now that was in that, where that building was built. Alright now, where was the post office before that one was built? Ed - You know where that was, it was down on the highway. Allie - The railroad tracks. Ed - When we was freshmen these upperclassmen would yell, "Freshmen" and then you had to run down to the road. If you were the last one there you had to make the detail, you know? Every once in a while you had to go down there and check their mail whether it had anything in it or not. Ed - Well, we did it once or twice a year. WB - I want to ask you something, something I remember my daddy said. Now I don't know whether I misunderstood him or whether it's the truth or what, but you know when they 30 developed College Park down there, they didn't have any gas - no gas line down there. Ed - They didn't have anything. WB - Now I can remember him saying they somehow got the permit or something for a post office and I don't know what you do to get, a franchise or whatever it is for a post office, and A & M didn't have a, the official, whatever it took to get a post office. And they swapped that post office permit for a gas line to come down to College Parks. Have you ever heard that? Allie - ...I'11 have to ask him that. WB - Well I can remember my daddy saying that or somebody saying it. They swapped. Allie - I bet your daddy knew. WB - They swapped the post office permit for a gas line. So the University dug a gap from the campus your know, down to the College Park and put in a gap and I've never confirmed that with anybody anywhere. Allie - I'll have to ask Bill because he would have helped put that gas line in. WB - Ask Bill if he remembers anything about that because there was a post office, you know the one right at the end of Joe Routt Boulevard. Ed - Little of bitty building. WB - Little of bitty building. I remember the train jumped the track right there and nearly ran through that thing. The train came off the track right there. 31 Ed - They tore that down not too long ago, didn't they? WB - I don't know. Ed - I'd say about probably 2 years maybe. WB - Well now the building I'm thinking of would be right in the roadway, you know, the roadway crosses the track. Ed - I don't remember that. I'm talking about this was over there by the railroad track. Claude - The old stucko building. WB - Well that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. Ed - Yeah, the stucko building. WB - Well it would be right in the path of that Allie - Kind of across from where Cain Hall is now. WB - Yeah, just a little bit south, I think it would be... Ed - A little bit south is right. WB - Yes because as you left the campus and you drove in front of what's now G. Rollie White and the swimming pool e your headlights would almost shine right into that building. Ed - It was a long way down there when it was cold. When I was a freshman it was cold. Ed - Sweep the train, get a broom and sweep the train, everytime it would come in. Ed - Well the freshmen sure did. Ed - Well that's what I mean. WB - Were you ever a part of stopping the train? Ed - Huh? WB - Were you ever a part of stopping the train? 32 Ed - Well it stopped anyway. WB - No I mean on the hill, oiling the tracks where it couldn't go. I've heard stories. Ed - I've never heard that one. WB - As the trains coming south, going south, there's an incline from about that, Boyett's service station, up at the station there. I don't know if that incline's there or not where it's built up, but it took some power to get up the hill to the station going north. The boys would get up there and stack railroad baggage things on the track down there about where the filling station is and stop the train, then they put oil all over the tracks wherever they couldn't get up the hill and use up all of their sands, you know, trying to get up the hill. Ed - I know that during WWII we lived there on Grove street which was just a block from the highway there and those trains would come there from way down from Wellborn on up there's an incline. And those trains coming through there with those tanks, they'd be loaded down with tanks. WB - Hard to get up the hill? Ed - Couldn't get up the hill. It'd chug and it'd chug. Then it'd back down to about Navasota and then it'd try again, and sometimes it wouldn't make it and then it'd try it again. We've seen that a lots and lots of time. Mary Lancaster - Well there are several questions here about the store you have down. WB - O.k., what was the name? 33 Woman - On page 2 here there are some real good questions. Describe a good work day or describe a bad work day. Where did you eat lunch. WB - Those are all good questions. What was a good work day? Allie - Well, the beginning of the semester when everyone bought their books. Ed - The day before classes started. WB - Hm? Ed - The day before classes started. WB - That's right. Allie - They'd be lined up down the street. WB - Where'd you get your books? Ed - Well, we got them through the book companies, like Morrow Hill and Prentice Hall and ... WB - Salesmen. Ed - And we bought books back from the students and traded books and sold used books and new books. WB - Back then they'd last a little longer. Ed - Well, some did, Opinions and Attitudes, they sold that English book I'll bet you for 20 years. So we never had to worry about that book. Ed - I'll tell you a story about that... sold out of them and they weren't getting any more, so they just had some photocopies made and got some. And he went through it and found all the mistakes then he came down there... and the 34 thing you'll put out has all these mistakes. Summey said this is a photocopy of the original book. WB - And they said it had mistakes in it? Ed - He found all the mistakes after they had copied it, he thought they had... WB - Thought the photocopying made the mistakes. Ed - ... WB - Was that Summey's book? Claude - That was his book. WB - George Summey. Ed - Sure was. Allie - Bet you couldn't find one of those now. WB - I believe I have one, I'm not sure. Ed - Opinions and Attitudes was the name of that book. WB- I think I have one. Ed - It was just about that thick. Pretty good book. WB - Well, I'm thinking of a thicker book, I may be... but I remember George Summey. Ed - But that was the way, I don't know if it was anybody in here, but anyways, talking about the bookstore that campus over there has now. WB - The Exchange, well yeah, I don't know what it's called...is that what they call it? Ed - Well that's the one that bought it. WB - In the MSC. Ed - In the MSC. That's the ... bookstore... 35 Ed - Well I remember when, I sure wish, they didn't ask us but we sure could have... WB - Really, well they may learn. They may have already learned. Mary Lancaster - Excuse me, where did you all eat lunch? Did you come home for lunch? Ed - Then, yes, I came home for, wife that had those two little kids and we came home, or I came home for lunch for a long time, and finally sometimes she'd have to bring them down there to the store for help and they lived up around down in there in the store. Allie - The cafe up there...Martin's cafe. WB - Who's, Martin's? At the Northgate? Allie - A pretty good cafe. WB - Right next to... Allie - It was in the Waldrop building. Ed - Waldrop building, right next to where Waldrop's was. WB - I don't remember that. Ed - See, there were 2 stores there. That cafe and then Waldrop's, and now Martha's got, tore the whole kitchen out and made it in to one big store. Allie - It was a pretty nice cafe. Ed - And they had a, well they had another little store, they had Livy, little shop in there and then they had. WB - A jewelry store on the corner. Ed - Varner's jewelry store there on the corner. WB - Is it still there? 36 Allie - No, ... WB - I mean it wouldn't be, the jewelry store, there is a jewelry store? Ed - I guess so. Allie - It was a pretty nice cafe. You'd here the whistle blow every morning at 8 and at 12. WB - Well that's right. Sure did. Mary Lancaster - I wonder when the whistle, when they discontinued... WB - Jack Williams did away with it. Ed - He was the one that did away with that, oh really? WB - He said it sounded like a - uh, oh - is that the end of the tape? Mary Lancaster - It soon will be. Allie - But the fire whistle Mary Lancaster - That's right, that was the fire whistle. WB - You remember the fire whistle before we got the siren. Ed - ...You knew about where that fire was ... WB - They used the 8 o'clock whistle, that thing, do you remember that thing, and later they got the siren that sounded better. And you heard that thing in the middle of the night and man. Claude - It scared the life out of some of the kids that heard that thing for the first time. WB - That was the wierdest sounding thing there ever was. Well, I guess he wasn't here all enough, I don't know. Mary Lancaster - Maybe Ed knows. 37 WB - What do you remember about Chet? Ed - I remember he was here for awhile. WB - ...here for awhile. Claude - I know but I don't think...good enough for A & M. Ed - Who are you talking about? WB - Jack Williams. Ed - I've seen him out there, he and his wife, out there playing golf. And if there were, the two of you playing and he came up on me and ... stopped him, they went through. WB - Did she stop? I can remember him saying one time, you heard him say I guess I remember he was telling us one time that some woman called him about all the noise of the bonfire. You know, building the bonfire and they'd stay up all night and hoot and holler and carry on, you know and this lady who lived nearby, I don't know who it was, it might have been you, I don't know. Somebody called up here fussing about all the noise and he said lady, if you think that's bad, you ought to live where I live. Right across the street from it, so she didn't say much about it, I don't know. Woman - ...to be interviewed. WB - No, Ed was one of the interviewers. You can probably think of things to ask, or whatever. Woman - To add. WB - To add or whatever, so, what do you think we need to get on tape here? Ed - Well one of the things...we've been talking about. 38 WB - Well, you got here in '39. That's 55 years ago. Claude - That was a long time ago too, wasn't it? WB - Where'd you come from? Claude - I came from Tennessee, then Austin. Ed - Is that your home in Austin? Claude - yes. WB - I heard you say where you grew up, in some little town. Ed - Well Vernon is where I came from. WB - Vernon? Ed - Yes. WB - Well, I've heard you say...where you were born. Ed - Born, I was born in Chatfield. WB - Chatfield, where is that? Ed - It's about 8 or 9 miles out in the country from Corsicana. WB - But you came to A & M though from Vernon. Ed - Yep. Mary Lancaster - Well I was born in Teague. That can't be too far from... Ed - ... You know the amazing thing about Chetfield, I take the Vernon record, still. I don't know anybody, I just see how many has passed on, see if I know any of them, but anyway. The other day I was reading about some lady who had passed on and she lived in little bones community out of Vernon there and she was born in Chetfield, Texas, said 1912 I think and moved to Vernon. Well we moved to Vernon in 1919 and my dad was a blacksmith and my mother's two brothers 39 moved up there and opened a blacksmith shop they got us to come up there and run a business with them. That's how we.got to run it. But we were, had been in END OF TAPE 40 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. wt 4 �4 4 Q ikc t r/l._ In rv'ewer (Please Print) C i ... .iA. 6 1 c 'l1 Si tune of Interviewer i 4A/ ill Place of Interview List of photos, documents. mans. etc. Interviewee (Please print) Signature of Interviewee C SC? I 1 A.4,4 . L , Address Name ' '3d i Telephone Date of Birth .3 Place of Birth INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed 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. In progress - 73� S 7 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. r lag L fik e Intern fewer (Please Print) Sign ure of Interviewer /`( Z✓ Place of Interview List of photos, documents, maps. etc. Interviewee (Please print) Signature of Interviewee Name ) Addres /4 7) 6 c4 A:4 �G' 4 ( Telephone 776 _ 2 ` Date of Birth .2 _ i k �� R Place of Birth fe 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- 9 4/ Date ��^ )'L-e-o Initial