|
Abilenians don't know their landmarks like
they should
By Bill Whitaker
Abilenians may support preserving historic buildings around
town, but they're not always able to identify them.
Such is the conclusion drawn by Hal Pender of Pender Company/Office
Plus, 442 Cedar, following the first installment of a contest
the business mounted commemorating its 75th anniversary.
The contest was simple: Display a close-up photo of some landmark
around Abilene, in the paper and at the store, then invite people
to guess its identity, then stage a drawing from the correct answers
with the winner getting a handy-dandy $400 office chair.
Easy part was supposed to be identifying the Abilene landmark.
Not so.
During the September contest to identify what was actually
the distinctive roof of the old Texas & Pacific Railway Depot
at North 1st and Cypress, many folks flat missed out.
"We got some wild ideas about what was what," Hal
said. "Some thought wed gone out and taken a picture of the
Guitar Mansion. Of course, the Guitar Mansion has been torn down
and gone for, well, I dont know how many years!"
Other guesses included the Swenson House, the old St. Paul
United Methodist Church (also torn down) and First Presbyterian
Church.
For October, the close-up photo of another landmark includes
even a sign all but identifying the building. Still, Hal wont
be surprised if someone again guesses the Guitar Mansion. Or,
better yet, the long-gone Carnegie Library.
Some folks just haven't been downtown in a while.
THE SNOW DONT MELT
All this talk of photos of old historic structures -- and,
in specific, the roof of the old Texas & Pacific Railway Depot
-- brings to mind a photo we took of the depot back in the 1970s.
The photo was taken on the order of one of the Reporter-News
editors and duly printed on Page One of the afternoon edition.
Reason: Despite the fact Abilene was by then experiencing warm
temperatures, the old T&P Railway Depot roof was still white
with snow that stubbornly refused to melt, even in the afternoon
sun.
Or so the caption claimed.
Only later did staffers realize the snow wasn't snow at all.
ONLY YESTERDAY
Speaking of photos, Miss Opal Hunt, 95-year-old proprietor
of relic-filled Audra Mercantile in Bradshaw, has put in a great
place of honor my recent photo of her. Its a time-exposure shot
of her sitting out front of her creaky country store at dusk with
Comet Hale-Bopp soaring overhead.
The photo is now on exhibit with about 200 other photos, including:
-- A curious color snapshot of somebody's washing machine and
dryer, kindly dispatched to Miss Opal after she gave a decades-old
box of "Washo" granulated soap to someone who wanted
it to decorate a utility room.
-- An old black and white photo of "Jinks," Miss
Opal's beloved horse, named for early-Abilene historical figure
Jinks McGee and now buried in her back yard (the horse, that is,
not Jinks McGee!) along with 11 cats, two sheep and now two dogs.
-- A photo of somebody's guitar-shaped swimming pool, sent
by a former Runnels County lass who went and married a guitarist
and apparently thought Miss Opal would get a kick out of it. Incidentally,
when Miss Opal -- whose country store is more museum than mercantile
-- pulled out a photo of Bradshaw's 1914 baseball team, columnist
Mayes Whitt of The Journal casually mentioned he was born the
very year that photo was taken.
"Hon," Miss Opal said, "that was just yesterday
to me!"
Incidentally, Miss Opal said she had enjoyed the year's big
celestial event, Comet Hale-Bopp's fly-by over her tiny ghost
town this past spring. But she still insisted Halley's Comet was
a far better show back in 1910.
When the Taylor County Courthouse sent her a jury summons a
while back, she got out a pen, scrawled on the flip side of the
jury summons card, "I've seen Halleys Comet -- twice,"
then signed her name and sent it back to the judicial powers that
be.
"I didnt hear anything more out of em!"
Bill Whitaker, who thinks he knows snow from Shinola, can be
reached at 676-6732. You can e-mail Bill at WTWARN@aol.com.
Send a Letter to the Editor about This
Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
|