Bathing beauties at the Bayou Club swimming pool in Houston, 1946. I wonder if they actually ever got in the water. It might wreck their hairdos!
Traces of Texas
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Purveyor of Texas history and culture. Cowboy boots junkie and chronicler of all things Lone Star. 100% organic, free-range Texas content. A politics-free feed. DON'T get political! Buy me a coffee? Click here: https://buymeacoffee.com/tracesoftexas
April Roche shared this photo of grandmother, Sammijeanne (Nunn) Cowden, who passed away this past March at the age of 95. Per April, she was a beautiful soul inside and out, and this pic was her as the elected 1948 Amarillo High School Band Queen. She played French horn, trumpet, and piano.
Stephen Hudgins shared this great snapshot of his dad (far right) and his dad's siblings in 1927 near Forney, Texas. They were 3 of 13 children, all of whom started working on the farm and picking cotton when they began to walk. This is the only photo Stephen's family has of his father as a boy.
43 years ago today, on August 3, 1983, actress Carolyn Jones aka Morticia Adams died of colon cancer. She was 53 years old. Carolyn was a Texan, of course, having been born and raised in Amarillo, where she graduated from Amarillo High School in 1947. I had such a crush on her as a kid!
Corwin Trammel shared this undated photo of the Whataburger on South Staples in Corpus Christi. Corwin says that this was his "home Whataburger" while growing up in the 1960s and his Little League baseball team ate there all the time after games. The first A-frame Whataburger was built in 1961.
Some great news. With all the rain in Texas over the last few weeks, the drought situation has improved dramatically. That's the end of April on the left and the end of July on the right.
Two contestants at an all-female rodeo in Fort Stockton, Texas, 1949. Some pretty nice boots there, y'all agree? Taken by Joe Scherschel for LIFE magazine.
A haunting song from Austin's Band of Heathens. youtu.be/A8bRlF9bZws?... 30 miles on the Gulf Stream I hear the south wind moan The bridges getting lower The shrimp boats coming home The old man down in the Quarter Slowly turns his head Takes a sip from his whiskey bottle And this is what he said
The Band of Heathens - "Hurricane" | Concerts from Blue Rock LIVE
YouTube video by Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio
youtu.be
A 4.5-foot tall fossil oyster found in Big Bend National Park circa 1940. The oyster was found near the hot springs there, in what's called the Boquillas formation, famous for its huge fossils. Probably 100 million years old. All I know is that I'd hate to have to eat this thing on the half shell!
Milton M. Holland had a unique life: he was born a slave in the Republic of Texas and ended up receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions as a Union Soldier at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm during the Civil War. He was also the first Texas native to receive that honor. Si[er interesting life!
May, 1950: Elizabeth Taylor, left, is shown with Mrs. Mack Saxon, mother of Conrad N. Hilton Jr., of El Paso and her mother, Mrs. Francis Taylor, prior to Elizabeth and Conrad's wedding. Elizabeth was 18 years old. Eight months later, she and Conrad divorced. Photo courtesy the El Paso Times
Verda Freeman's 1930 yearbook photo from Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) in San Marcos. Verda was born in 1911 and grew up in Coryell County. . She married Therman Maxwell in 1939. Verda died in 1990 at the age of 78. Wasn't she a lovely Texas young lady?
A view of the West Texas town of Terlingua in 1936. It's harsh, unforgiving --- and beautiful. This was taken by George Grant for the National Park Service.
South Staples St. Whataburger in Corpus Christi missing letters after Hurricane Celia struck 56 years ago tomorrow, on August 3, 1970. It's kind of funny that the remaining letters spell out "Hata Urge." Celia served up the biggest wind gusts ever recorded in Texas: 180 MPH in Aransas Pass.
I made a mental note to post this yesterday, on the 62nd anniversary of Jim Reeves' death, then let it slip away. The greatest male voice in country music history? www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4nP...
PUT YOUR SWEET LIPS ... SINGER, JIM REEVES (1959)
YouTube video by Sundaresan Srinivasan
youtube.com
Three year old Ethel Foster and her siblings (presumably) in San Antonio on August 3, 189? I think Ethel must be the one in the swing. The photo gets blurry toward the bottom, but there's a dog at their feet. From the El Power Museum of History. Check out "Digie." www.digie.org/en/media?sor...
Traces of Texas reader Peggy Summers was so nice as to send in this DYNAMITE 1950s photo of Eddie Burger in Midland, Texas. Peggy's husband's parents owned the place. Root beer is 5 cents or 10 cents and parfait root beers are 15 cents and 30 cents. I'll bet those parfait root beers were tasty!
Van Cliburn's take on Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is beyond sublime. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRy0...
Sonata No. 2 "Moonlight" in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27: Adagio sostenuto
YouTube video by Van Cliburn - Topic
youtube.com
Sam, a five-year-old newspaper boy in Beaumont, 1913. He told photographer Lewis Wickes Hine that he got up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to do his job.
"I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me and he said: 'Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren't any good.'" ---- Walt Garrison, former running back for the Dallas Cowboys. Walt was born in Denton and graduated from Lewisville High School. He's #32.
youtu.be/narXa5kKB74?... About 26 years ago Los Lobos and Los Super Seven and some other artists from Texas (Rick Trevino, Tish Hinojosa, Joe Ely) did a show of Mexican traditional music. I've got it queued up to where Flaco Jimenez comes up on stage. Freddy Fender follows. The whole show is super!
LOS SUPER 7 LOS LOBOS MEXICAN ROOTS MUSIC CELEBRATION JOE ELY FREDDY FENDER AUSTIN CITY LIMITS PBS99
YouTube video by MEKONMESSIN
youtu.be
About 11 miles southeast of Atlanta on TX-77, where Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana meet, there's a small three-sided concrete survey marker, visible next to the tree on the far left in the photo. If you put one foot in Texas, one in Arkansas, and sit on the marker, are in all three states at once.
A spectator at a rodeo in Utopia, Texas, 1946. I'm guessing he was born right around the time of the Civil War. What a shot! Taken by Esther Bubley.
Young Willie in a mock turtleneck is too cool for school! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OQc...
Willie Nelson - The Party Is Over
YouTube video by WillieNelsonVEVO
youtube.com
Deputy sheriffs in the Brownsville/RGV area circa 1915. ? I just LOVE the look of the man on the right. I think I may adopt it for as I drive around Texas. A hat like that AND a skinny tie? Wouldn't I be stylin'? The women would throw themselves at me, I just know it! 😃 From the Briscoe Center.
Joseph Granger of Fort Davis, Texas circa 1900. He was born in 1827, married Sarah Jane Forrester (1836-1883) on March 2nd, 1854 in San Antonio, they had 9 children, she died in Bandera, and he died in Fort Davis in 1908. I ask y'all: does he look like he might have some stories to tell you?
Corpus Christi is the U.S.' "birdiest" city, so designated because more than 500 species of birds have been spotted within city limits. This is actually an annual competition and, at one point, Corpus had won more than 10 years in a row. This Roseate Spoonbill was seen in Corpus by Steve Miller.
"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it." ------ Early Texas Congressional candidate, name lost, possibly mythical