College Station, Texas: Aggieland

In driving around Texas, we landed in College Station. I'd had friends that went to school in College Station but I'd never been there. In fact, I wasn't even sure where it was.

According to this map, you leave Dallas like you're going to Houston. Then around Madisonville, you hang a right. While driving there, it seemed very remote. Lots of farm land. I wasn't even sure that we were headed in the right direction but my GPS assured me that we were. Then we came out of the woods and landed in a town. A pretty big town, actually.

In 1860, The Houston and Texas Railroad came through here. Then in 1871, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was built. It was the first college in Texas. The name was eventually changed to Texas A&M. In 1877, a post office was opened near the train depot and it was called College Station. The town took it's name from the post office. Now the town is mostly the university. Here's a view of A&M from our hotel window. It's like a small city!

Initially, the town was very remote, despite the railroad. Most of the instructors at the college lived in housing provided by the university. By 1900, the town had electricity and a population of 351. In 1938, College Station was incorporated. Today it's part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area as well as part of an area called the Texas Triangle (Houston/Austin/Bryan-College Station).

As I mentioned, most of the businesses in the city cater to the students and their families. That's not to say there aren't houses and other businesses there. There are. This is the Dixie Chicken. It's a bar on University Drive, which is kind of the main drag. The Dixie Chicken is the oldest bar in the "Northgate" area. It got it's name from a song by the band Little Feat. We walked by but we were not the target audience.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites also on University Drive. There are tons of hotel options here. All the chains are represented. Our hotel was packed! There was some kind of swim meet going on and some of the teams were staying at our hotel.

Driving around the A&M Campus. So all colleges have a "saying", right? UT Austin is Hook 'em Horns. A&M is "Gig 'em".  I googled that and I still have no idea what that means. 

Kyle Field named for Edwin Jackson Kyle, who was the President of the General Athletics Association. He was also a graduate, class of 1899.  In 1904, he took land that was assigned to him for agriculture and fenced it off for a field. Then, using $650 of his own money, he bought a covered grandstand that sat about 500 people. I guess the University felt that was just pitiful and in 1929, they built a new stadium. This stadium holds about 120K people. Another fun fact, the game here in 1921 between the Aggies and their arch rivals, The University of Texas, was the first game in Texas to be broadcast live.

For us, the big draw to College Station (other than the fact we'd never been there) was the George Bush Presidential Library. It's on the A&M Campus and was opened in 1997.

Documenting the live of George H. W. Bush, the library has tons of information. There are photographs of Bush 41's life. (He was the 41st president). He lied about his age so he could enlist in the Navy during WWII. He was a pilot serving on the USS San Jacinto. During one raid, his plane was shot down. He was able to escape, though his team died. After the war, he enrolled at Yale and played baseball.

George H. W. and George W. are one of only two sets of father/son presidents, the other being John and John Quincy Adams. The senior Bush moved his family to Midland Tx where he got in the oil business. They eventually moved to Houston where Bush got into politics. He served as head of the CIA under President Gerald Ford.

George H. W. Bush's Oval Office. Bush was Vice President under Ronald Reagan for 8 years. Then President for 4. His VP was Dan Quayle. In my mind, Quayle will always be remembered as the guy who misspelled potato to a kid during a spelling bee causing the kid to lose.

Bush 41 was a one-term president. He lost to Bill Clinton. While I didn't vote for him, I thought he was a class act.

He and his wife, Barbara, and their daughter Robin are interred on the grounds of the library.

The graves of the Bush's. It's a very lovely and peaceful location, away from the library.

Today College Station has about 120K people. Their biggest employer, as you might imagine, is Texas A&M University. Other big employers are the Bryan Independent School District, St. Joseph Health Care and Sanderson Farms (it's a chicken processing plant). (A silo on the way out of College Station)

The city has all your standard fast food chains as well as all the big chain restaurants. Even with all of this, it still feels a bit remote. Having said that, A&M is the largest University in the country with 74,000 students that go here, including Lyle Lovett and Johnny Manziel, so there's something about this place...

Gig em, Aggies!

Bryan, Texas: The Good Life, Texas Style

On our tour of Texas, we had the opportunity to visit Bryan, Texas. The land around the town was originally part of the land grant given to Moses Austin by the Mexican government. Upon Moses' death, the land passed to his son, Stephen F. Austin.

The town was named for William Joel Bryan, Austin's nephew, when he donated the land for the town in 1859 due to the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. In 1866, it was voted as the county seat of Brazos County.

In 1892, the fourth courthouse was built. I found this photo on the internet. It's a beautiful structure. Unfortunately, in 1954, they (I assume the townspeople) decided it was too old fashioned and they demolished it only to rebuild a new one on the same site.

This is the "new" county courthouse. This is the only courthouse designed by this company. Personally, I find it boring. I liked the other courthouse better. The only thing that remains from the original courthouse is the cornerstone. I got this photo off the internet as well.

In 1902 the Carnegie Library of Bryan opened using funds donated by Andrew Carnegie. It is now the Carnegie History Center, open Mon - Fri 10 - 5. Unfortunately, we were here over a weekend and weren't able to go in.

In front of the library is this statue, which I think is pretty cool. It's called "Treasured Moments".

This was kind of the downtown Bryan Area. The red building with the green Howell Sign is the Howell building. It was built in 1904 by JW Howell for his wholesale grocery store. The upper floors were designed as office space with the top floor being home to the Brazos Cotton Exchange.  The building was sold and the first floor housed a furniture store until the '70's. It was vacant for a while until it was purchased by another firm that added in the modern conveniences like air conditioning. The first floor is now a Mexican restaurant. The upper floors were restored to their original grandeur and the upper floor is an event space called The Cotton Exchange.

The LaSalle Hotel opened in 1929 as the tallest building in Bryan. Travelers coming from the train station, mere steps away, would stay here or stop in the coffee shop for a bit of refreshment. It was built by Robert Wistar Howell (son of JW Howell). In 1934, the hotel became a home for Civil War survivors. In 1959, it became a nursing home. In 1975, it was an apartment building and then in 1980, it closed. In 1997, the hotel was purchased and restored to it's original glory and has been a hotel since.

The Queen Theater has reopened (after this photo was taken). It originally opened in 1939 premiering the movie "Fifth Avenue Girl" starring Ginger Rogers. The theater was owned by Edna Schulman and was the first theater west of the Mississippi to have air conditioning. It was reopened by the Schulman family in 2023.

The Palace Theater. The building was originally the town's city hall. In 1929, it was purchased by Morris Schulman (of Queen Theater fame) and converted to a theater that had live shows and motion pictures. The theater was in business for fifty years when a storm hit the town and caused severe structural damage to the theater. The Schulman family reopened the theater in 2023 as an open air amphitheater. Another part of Bryan history saved!

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church was a church in nearby Millican, Texas in 1864. In 1867, wave of yellow fever swept through the town prompting the members to relocate to Bryan. The first service held in this building was in 1914.

The Historic Hotel Bryan building on Main Street. I am assuming that this hotel was built back in the late 1800's or early 1900's for travelers that came to town by train or even for travelers that brought their cotton to the Cotton Exchange. It's located on Main Street very close to where the train depot would have been. I'm also assuming that the hotel is no more. There's a barber shop and two finance companies in the lobby. I would assume office space upstairs if it's even open. I scoured the internet for information but wasn't able to find anything.

Bryan, Texas still has that small town feel. It has tons of history. It has a population of about 65K and its main employers are Texas A&M University, Bryan ISD and A&M Health Science. The average income is about $31K. They have your standard fast food chains and a TON of Mexican restaurants and they all look really good. There's also a couple of WalMarts, an HEB and a Kroger for grocery shopping.

And finally, it's close enough to College Station for any of your big chain restaurants. Bryan seems off the beaten path but it's part of the Texas Triangle (Austin, Houston, Bryan-College Station). It's the good life, Texas style!

Sulphur Springs, Texas: The Celebration City

About 90 miles northwest of Dallas lies Sulphur Springs, the county seat of Hopkins County. Started in the 1840's, the town was originally named Bright Star. It was renamed Sulphur Springs in the 1870's when the townspeople decided to market the town as a health resort. Initially there were bubbling springs everywhere but as the population of the town grew, they were buried over. There are no active springs today.

Due to it's central location, the town was named the county seat of Hopkins County, which was named for an early settler named David Hopkins.

By the late 1870's the railway line came all the way from Jefferson, which helped stimulate the growth of the town. In 1887, the Cotton Belt came through town on its way to Sherman and then, eventually, to Ft. Worth, connecting Sulphur Springs to a major city.

As we drove into town, I found it to be much busier than the previous towns that we stopped in and that includes Texarkana. The downtown area (town square) was bustling. It appeared that there were fewer empty buildings around the square.

The original county courthouse was built in 1882 on one side of the town square. In 1884, a fire consumed the courthouse as well as other buildings such as the jail. This courthouse was built in 1895 in the center of the town square using fireproof red Texas granite. 

In the town square, they have an amazing veteran's memorial. These walls list all the veterans that have lived in or are buried in Hopkins County. Under the awning to the right is a computer where you can look up an individual to see which wall they are listed on. It's very moving.

Along the wall are benches for you to sit, reflect and remember. I thought this was a cool statue of a mourner. Someone to keep you company as you think.

The town square itself is called Celebration Park, hence the name "Celebration City". Over 300 events are held here annually. Across the square from the war memorial is a statue of a soldier from the Korean War.

Also on the square are these restrooms. They are all glass on the outside and no one can see in but when you're inside, YOU can see out! I didn't go in but that has to be a weird feeling to see people walking by you as you take care of business.

First United Methodist Church. The building was erected in 1917 for a congregation that started in the 1800's. It's right off the town square. Their first church was built in 1852 closer to the springs. They shared the building with the Baptists. Then in 1870, they sold the building to the Baptists and they moved to this location where they worshipped in small structure. In 1895, they built their first brick structure on this site.

First Baptist Church. 

I like this church and the neon sign to the left. The only information I could find was that it was built in 1954. It's right off the town square. I didn't go inside, of course. Most churches lock the doors when services are not in session.

First Presbyterian Church. The congregation formed in 1852. The original church, which they shared with another Presbyterian congregation, burned in 1873. They eventually moved a small building on this site. In 1920, this church was erected. I like the way this one looks. It's very unique.

Sulphur Springs has about 16,000 people and a median income of $42K. That's not bad compared to some of the other towns that we stopped in. The population here is about the same as in Mount Pleasant but the median income there is quite a bit less. The average home price in Sulphur Springs is just under $300K.

In the late 1880's one of the primary industries was dairy. In 1937, Carnation Milk opened a processing plant in Sulphur Springs that really helped this industry along.  At one point there were over 600 dairies in Hopkins County, naming it the Dairy Capital of Texas. Alas, by 1995, there were only about 60 of these dairies left.

This is the Southwest Dairy Museum. Huh? That's right. It's a museum that depicts the typical way of life on a dairy farm. We ran out of time so we didn't go in but it looked pretty cool. The museum is open M - F 9 - 4.

They have another museum here called the Hopkins County Historical Museum which looks really cool and worth a visit. Unfortunately, they are only open Friday and Saturday from 10 - 2. Needless to say, we weren't there during that small window.

Now, the top employers in Sulphur Springs are the Sulphur Springs Independent School District, Grocery Supply Company, Walmart and Hopkins County Hospital.  But there are other major employers there as well. Ocean Spray and Owens Sausage, for example.

As we drive through some of these smaller towns, we wonder if they are "Hampton Inn" worthy, meaning are they big enough to have a representative of one of the major chain hotels. For Hilton, Hampton Inn is the line you'd find in most smaller towns.

Well, Sulphur Springs does have a Hampton Inn. They have a Brookshire's and a Walmart but I didn't see any of the other larger grocery store chains. All of the fast food chains are represented here but as far as the big chain sit-down restaurants, we only saw a Chili's. So I guess if you wanted to celebrate at a bigger restaurant, you'd have to drive into Dallas.

Being so close to Dallas, I wouldn't mind a trip back to check out those museums. Meanwhile, enjoy the scenery!

A Tale of Three Cities...All Named Boston, Texas

Boston, New Boston and Old Boston are cities in Bowie County Texas. Not very imaginative in the area of naming cities. 

Here's what happened: The city of Boston was formed and all was good. Then, in 1876, the Missouri Pacific Railroad was coming through and the proposed depot was going to be six miles north, which was a considerable distance at the time. The city leaders knew that their business would decline if they weren't closer to the depot. So, they moved. They met with the railroad and picked a spot for their depot as close to the city as possible. Then they all moved north. This town became New Boston, making the original town Old Boston.

But wait! There's more!  In 1877, the county seat, which had been moved to Texarkana, was now being moved back to the middle of the county. The middle of the county was between Old Boston and New Boston. They wanted to name the town "Center" but that had been taken. They tried a few other names but those had been taken as well so they threw up their hands and said, let's just call it Boston. So they did.

In 1889, the courthouse was built in Boston (photo of the courthouse in 1891). 

But in 1986 a new modern courthouse was built in New Boston, even though, technically, Boston was still the county seat. Upon construction of the new courthouse, the old one was abandoned. In 1987, the courthouse was burned to the ground by an arsonist.

The Bowie County Courthouse off of I-30. You can see it from the highway. You can't tell from the photo but there's a statue of James Bowie, for whom the county was named, in front of the courthouse. The city is about 20 miles west of Texarkana just off I-30.

New Boston is about 160 miles northeast of Dallas and 25 miles from Texarkana. There's only about 5,000 people that live there. Here's a lovely mural depicting the three bostons. The old courthouse of the 1840's, the courthouse of the 1890's and the train depot of the 1870's. The mural was completed in 2023.

For all of their history, there's not much here.

This is the old Bowie County Jail. It sat on the same square as the old Bowie county courthouse. While the courthouse burnt down, the jail survived, but did it really? This could become a really cool museum if someone would invest a little time an money.

This is the New Boston visitor's center as well as the 3 Boston Museum. The museum is open Tues - Sat 10-5. We didn't have time to go in but I bet it's got some interesting stuff.

The public library.

The Red River Army Depot is located here in New Boston. It was created during World War II as an ammunition storage facility. In the review of military bases in 1995, it was scheduled to close but it hung on. In the review in 2005, it was, once again, schedule to close but it still hung on. Today it remains open as maintenance support for the Army.

We saw some of these guys when we were in Texarkana. The depot is the number one employer of Texarkana and, I would assume, New Boston as well.

While they only have about 8,000 people with a median income of $26K per year, they have a Wal-Mart and a Brookshire's. They have several fast food chains, though they are along the interstate connected to the big gas stations. Still, that counts.

If you like history, it's well worth a stop.

Texarkana, Texas: Twice as Nice

Several years ago, we drove to Little Rock and drove through this town so we thought, as part of "stop and visit the small town" theme, we'd make this a destination city. Why not? We'd never been. This is Texarkana, Texas.

Texarkana is about 180 miles northeast of Dallas off of I-30. On the Texas side there are about 36,000 people with a median income of approximately $30K. When you toss in the twin city of Texarkana, Arkansas, the population goes up to about 66,000. The top three employers of the area are: Red River Army Depot, Christus St. Michael Healthcare and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company.

Until about the 1870's, trains ran to the border of Texas. Passengers would then have to be ferried across the Red River to Fulton, Arkansas where they would continue their journey. In 1873, that changed. The Red River Bridge was built allowing trains run all the way through to St. Louis. The railroad moguls felt that this place was the perfect place for the trains to meet. This place became Texarkana.

The name Texarkana is a "portmanteau" (I had to look that word up!), which is basically a mash-up of words. Texas - Arkansas - Louisiana.

This is Union Station in Texarkana. Built in 1928 through the joint effort of  the Missouri-Pacific, Texas & Pacific, Cotton Belt and Kanas City Southern Railroad, the station was originally scheduled to have restaurant but due to the Great Depression, the most they ever had there was a snack bar and a news stand. The Amtrack still stops there.

Immediately across the street was the Hotel McCartney, Built in 1929 by W. A. McCartney, the hotel had 10 stories and a beautiful ballroom. On the first floor was a coffee house. As air travel became more populate and travel by train slowed down, the hotel eventually shut down in 1975. It's currently being renovated to house retail on the first floor and offices on the upper floors.

John on the "Texas side". Behind him is the historic federal courthouse and post office. The post office has two zip codes, one for Texas and one for Arkansas. It sits right in the center of the street, straddling the state line. The statue is the Confederate Mothers Monument, which is a monument to the confederate soldiers that fought during the Civil War and their moms.

A rare photo of both of us. A very nice lady took our photo on the state line. I'm in Texas and John is in Arkansas.

There's a fountain behind the courthouse and it, too, is divided by the state line. The trench in the middle is the actual state line. On the left is Arkansas and the right is Texas.

St. James Episcopal Church built in 1893 on the Texas side.

The neighboring Downtown First Baptist Church. Also on the Texas side, I tried to find out when it was built but I didn't see anything. 

This building (white with what looks like 4 townhomes) looked kind of cool and I wondered what it was. Townhomes? Office buildings? The building next to it is the Hotel Grim. Built in 1925, it had 8 stories and 250 rooms. It closed in 1990. It's now being refurbished into loft apartments.

I found this photo of the same building from the fifties, maybe? It looks like the building was commercial offices. I'm hoping it gets rehabbed as well. Condos maybe?

There are a ton of murals in the city. I like this one of the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Otis Williams, a native son. He was the leader of the Temptations (of "My Girl" fame).

Another native son, Scott Joplin. He was a ragtime pianist. He wrote "The Entertainer". If you google it and listen to it, you'll recognize it.

This is the Ross Perot Theatre. He, too, is a native son. This was originally called the Saenger Theater when it was built in 1924. In 1930, it was bought by Paramount and became a movie theater. By 1977, the theater closed. Perot and his family donated money to renovate the theater. Now it is home to the Texarkana symphony and hosts live performances. We could hear the symphony practicing when we were standing outside.

A view of the state line. That yellow line divides Arkansas and Texas and goes straight through the courthouse at the other end.

The Regional History Museum. Built in 1879, the building was originally a bank. Then it became the Offenhauser Insurance Building.

In 1971, the building was donated to the Texarkana Museum System. When they were remodeling, they broke through a wall and found this safe from about 1880, when the building housed a bank. Isn't that cool? I'd love to have been part of that. The museum is very cool. For $5 a person you can check out the history if the city.

It has exhibits about the town itself and some of the native sons. For example, did you know that because Texarkana is two separate cities, each city has a distinct fire department? If there was a fire in the Arkansas side, even though it was across the street from the Texas side, the Texas fire department could do nothing to help? Weird, right?

It's well worth the effort!

This was a special treat. We actually know someone who lives here. Our friend, Michael Skotnik.

He and John have been friends since they both attended St. Maria Goretti Catholic School in Arlington Tx. 

As we crossed the state line, our car would say, "Welcome to Arkansas" and we'd go, "what?" not realizing that we'd crossed the state line. But on the Arkansas side of town they had some really cool old churches. This is Beech Street Baptist Church. The building was erected in 1904 so it's over 100 years old. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's breath taking.

Right down the street (and I mean like at the end of the parking lot from Beech Street Baptist Church) is St. Edwards Catholic Church. The parish was founded in 1903 but the structure itself wasn't built until 1923. It's a beautiful church.

Morris County Courthouse. This is on the Arkansas side.

P.J. Ahern House on the left. P.J. Ahern was an immigrant from Ireland. He moved here and went into business with a friend at a dry goods store. In 1904 he married Mary Olive Landsdale and built her this house in 1906. The first floor had the central hall, the music room, parlor, library, dining room and butler pantry. The upstairs had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a nursery as well as a sleeping porch. The house next door belonged to Mary's sister, Mrs. J. P. Kline. The Ahern house is part of the Texarkana Museum System but was closed for renovations when we were there. I'm not sure what's going on with the sister's house.

The building for the Four States Auto Museum. It's the one story building in the front. It's located on a site that was previously used to build wagon and automobile bodies. The museum was created in 2004 and, at any given time, will display up to 15 different cars and motorcycles. Museum entrance is free but it's only open on Saturdays 10-4 and Sun 1- 4. Unfortunately, we weren't there during those times.

The building behind it is Buhrman-Pharr Hardware building. The business consisted of two buildings, the first built in 1914, the second build in 1923. The company was a born in the 1880's by W. H. Burhman. In 1908, F. E. Pharr joined the business. They were the largest wholesaler of hardware in Arkansas. The wholesale business closed in 2001 and the retail business closed in 2003. The buildings now house lofts.

Downtown Texarkana is in desperate need of revitalization. We had dinner and drinks down there at the Hopkins Icehouse, which was fantastic! Great food, cold drinks. But aside from that, there wasn't much going on down there. I think it has potential and there is some work being done but there's lot's more to do. So many cool old buildings to save and rehabilitate.

Lest you think there's nothing cool to do in Texarkana aside from a museum or two, check out this lake. Bringle Lake Park has lots of cool walking trails.

OH! and there's the Phantom Killer stories. Yeah. We were staying at the Hampton Inn (as we do) over by the Central Mall off I-30. Back in the day that was a "lover's lane" type area where kids would go to park and...stuff.  Well, back in the 1946, there was a lunatic going around and killing couples that were parked in this area. The first incident, both of the victims lived. But after that there were two other couples that were killed and then one guy who lived on a farm not far from this area.

They suspected one person, but I guess couldn't prove it so the murders were never solved. There was a movie made about this called "The Town That Dreaded Sundown".

So, a lot more to Texarkana than meets the eye. Check it out but remember, museums are closed on Monday.