Clay County, TXGenWeb
Project
Clay County 50 Years
Ago Page 5
Each week the Clay County Leader
is publishing an exert from the newspaper of 50 years ago. Thanks
to the Leader for allowing us to use these tidbits of Clay County's
past. Judy
Davidson sends the articles each week. Many thanks
to Judy!
January 4
County office candidates include
Ewell Taylor for Prec. 4 commissioner, F.F. Greer for justice
of the peace and Jim H. Mitchell for county treasurer.
Clay County Farm Bureau announces
a meeting at the Hut. Families are invited to bring cookies and
games.
Winners of the Kiwanis Club
Christmas decorating contest are Cecil Donnell, Felix Watson
and Tim Chadwick.
About 105 attend a dance
held at the Hut for college students home for the holidays.
Blackeyed peas with bacon,
two for 25 cents at City Food Store.
January 10
FM 1197 will be extended 10.5 miles
from Hurnville to Standfield.
Following numerous complaints,
the city police department asks residents to call with the identify
of persons shooting air rifles in the city limits.
McDonald brothers stage show,
one night only at the Dorothy Theater, featuring Egg Head and
Stinky from the KSWO-TV Southwest Jamboree.
Henrietta voters head to
the polls for a $50,000 bond election to buy a new fire truck,
remodel the fire station and city hall and retire $10,000 in
bonds with a higher interest rate.
Philco 21-inch TV at Bob
Meeks Service Station, $199.95 with free demonstration.
January 17
Complete remodeling of the First
Christian Church auditorium is under way, the first step
in a two-year building program.
The chamber of commerce is
investigating the possibility of making a sound movie about Henrietta
and Clay County.
Dedication for the new Henrietta
pump station from the Little Wichita River to the city reservoir
is held. The station cost $28,000 and pumps 6.5 million gallons
per day.
24-ounce Bema grape jelly,
33 cents at Nolen's Grocery and market.
January 23
Bad weather postpones the annual
Henrietta Kiwanis Club banquet. Bill Womack is to be the new
president, and Earl Hoggard, former pastor of the Henrietta First
United Methodist Church, is scheduled guest speaker.
The Vashti committee for
the community center meets to make plans to raise funds and construct
a facility.
New slides ae being installed at
the playground at Petrolia School to go with the new swings.
Some 1,454 bales of cotton
are ginned at Byers, up from 668 bales the previous year.
Johnson's Baby Lotion, in
a new unbreakable bottle, 59 cents at City Drug.
January 30
With the Jan. 31 poll tax deadline
approaching, only 1,800 of about 3, 000 permits have been issued.
The county tax office announces it will be open on Saturday for
payment of poll taxes, plus substations in Bellevue, Byers and
Petrolia.
The Mothers March on Polio
announces it will call upon all Henrietta residences with porch
lights on from 7-8p.m. to aid in the discovery of a polio vaccine.
Hamburgers, 20 cents at the
Dairy Maiden, open on Sundays.
February 6
Bellevue voters face a bond election
to build a home economical cottage and vocational agriculture
shop. No tax increase is anticipated.
The 97th District Court handles
406 cases during 1953, most ever for the court, including 92
criminal cases. In addition 24 grand juries were commissioned
and $34,881 in child support payments was collected.
Continental Trailways announces
it will locate a 24-hour bus station at the St. Elmo Hotel in
Henrietta.
The Mother March against
polio raises $740.00 in Henrietta.
Sliced bologna, 41 cents
a pound at the A & P.
February 15
Bellevue voters approve $30,000
in school bonds 138-37 and two related items by similar margins.
Yates Motor Co. receives
a highway safety award for the loan of an automobile to Henrietta
High School for drivers training.
Jiggs Mayo purchases the
Petrolia Gulf Station formerly owned by Harold Gee.
1951 Chevrolet four-door,
really clean, good tires, $225.00 at Moore-Crisp.
February 22
Henrietta girls face Springtown
at Alvord to decide which will go to the regional basketball
tournament.
A special election is called April 6 to replace Carmon Shaw on
the Henrietta City Council, following his resignation.
A new Magnolia service station nears completion at Omega and
Graham Streets in Henrietta, adjacent to the old station, which
will be razed.
A box supper is planned at Thornberry, with proceeds to be split
by the Boy Scouts and Red Cross.
Sixteen-inch tricycle, $14.95 at Claude B. Gates Stores
February 28
Henrietta girls receive the District
9-A district basketball championship trophy after defeating Chillicothe
76-42
Paula Hawkins is named Henrietta basketball queen.
Henrietta Frozen Food Locker dresses out an 807-pound carcass
from the Hammond Ranch, largest steer of the year.
Five new mercury street lights are installed in Bellevue, three
on the main street and one each at the corners of the Baptist
and Methodist church buildings.
Fountain specials, banana splits two for 30 cents at Henrietta
Pharmacy.............................
March 4
Henrietta girls nose out Springtown
44-42 to advance to the regional basketball tournament.
F.W. Richardson resigns as Henrietta school superintendent after
20 years. High School Principal Tyra Roper is named superintendent,
and band director and assistant principal Jimmie Settle is named
principal.
Annual dues of $5 per family are due for the Bluegrove Cemetery
Association, according to Mrs. W.C. Fields, president.
Lillian Gates is elected president of the Business Women, with
Verna Shadden vice president and Yolande Mayo secretary.
Service special at Yates Motor Co., $1.98 to pack front wheels,
check brake linings, adjust brakes and add brake fluid.
March 14
The Lo Boy announces it has served
more than 30,000 hamburgers since opening 6 months ago.
A new in door dining room has been added.
Mrs. Robert Brown hosts an all-day quilting at her home in Deer
Creek, with 35 ladies attending.
The highway patrol lists one fatal accident and two personal
injury accidents in Clay County for 1954 compared to one fatal
and four personal injury accidents in 1953
Some Henrietta City Hall offices are temporarily relocated
to the Edwards building while the office ir remodeled.
Borden's mellorine, 49 cents a half gallon at Park's Grocery
and Market.
March 19
Oil producer and prominent Wichita
Falls citizen Bobby Burns is killed in a car crash near Henrietta
after returning from a well near Bluegrove.
Construction starts on an addition to the Henrietta Church of
Christ building, an 18X58 classroom annex costing $3,200.00.
Mrs. J.W. Douthitt is honored with an open house on her 80th
birthday. Special guests are members of the 1890 Club, formed
by members of the Riverland School in 1890.
The pet skunk of Chuck Erringer escapes, and residents are advised
not to shoot it, it is deoderized.
Pancake supper, Henrietta VFW, all you can eat for 50 cents.
March 27
The Vashti community center committee
announces it has secured enough funds to purchase the Lum Lovett
building, which will be moved just north of the Baptist Church.
An airplane makes a safe landing ner the Bill Womach place during
a storm. Highway patrol Bill Nobles helps to locate it.
Fire breaks out in the rear of the Sid Copher grocery in Petrolia.
The Cophers announce they will not reopen the business.
Pawnee brand boxer jeans, 98 cents at Wacker's.
April 5
Mrs. G.E. Lumpkin is elected president
of the Clay County Federation of Women's Clubs.
Pancake supper in Byers for school improvements in 50cents for
all-you-can eat pancakes, sausage, bacon, butter syrup and coffee.
Men of the Vashti community pour a 23X45 foundation for the community
center.
In a column from Texas Agriculture Commissioner John White: "
It is obvious that a vast water conservation project is needed
if our water supply is to meet demand."
April 15
Clay County youth plan for the
annual project show. Entries include beef, and daily cattle,
rabbits and poultry, including special exhibits of parakeets,
pheasants, fancy chickens and chinchillas, and a show for sheep
and hogs. Events will be held in the Agriculture Building (now
the senior citizens center).
Dr. Robert Hurn is elected president
of the Henrietta School Board, succeeding Beckham Guthrie.
John Bevering and J.H. Mayo
are elected to the Petrolia School Board.
Hoover Aerodyne vacuum, $69.50
at Moore's.
April 23
Grand Champions in the county project
show include Bobby Zachry of Stanfield in beef, Don Lawrence
of Byers in swine, Gabe Davis of Bellevue in dairy, Lauren Daniel
of Henrietta in rabbits and Bobby Lee of Standfield in poultry.
Melba Walker heads for Dallas to compete in the region tennis
tournament in singles after qualifying in doubles the past two
years.
State officials plan to meet with the city cleanup committee
to formulate plans. Main target of the cleanup will be the elimination
of outdoor toilets. An estimated 75-100 remain in the city.
Three cash prizes and an electric iron are awarded as prizes
at Byers trades only.
First National Bank of Byers reports assets of $1,022,583.
Among the recommendations for the
city cleanup effort, a mobile unit with loud speaker to encourage
residents, and spray with DDT after the cleanup.
Henrietta School Supt. Frank Richardson announces he is accepting
a position with a school-related business after 20 years
with the the district.
The county Red Cross drive comes up just $54.00 short of its
$2,265.00 goal.
The Leader has to curtail its news output when its hot metal
Linotype machine goes on the blink.
An Oklahoma woman working as a
waitress of the Henrietta Cafe dies when a fire guts a 15-unit
rooming house. Other residents evacuate safely.
Petrolia 7th and 8th grade girls defeat Bellevue in district
softball finals.
Several barns and farm buildings are destroyed by twisters
in the Bluegrove area. Damage is also reported
in the Vashti area.
Charlie no longer has a post office. Residents will get their
mail at Rt. 4, Wichita Falls, Texas.
All-weather Goodyear car batteries, $13.60 at Claude B. Gates
store.
May 13
Top graduates for the Henrietta
Class of 1954 are Evelyn Graves and Betty Petrie. Midway top
grads are Nedra Crump and Shirley Shores. Victor Allen and Joe
Edd Collins lead the Petrolia grads.
A pen of 10 bred heifers from the Edgar Boddy ranch are judged
best at the Texas Roundup Sale in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Mr. and Mrs. Vernon J. Ford purchase the Henrietta Cafe.
Jim Koethe is named Gulf distributor for Clay County.
Ewell Madera is elected chief of the Henrietta fire department.
Lettuce, two heads for 25 cents at City Food Store.
May 27
Byers Boy Scout Troop 96 participates
in the area camporee.
Contracts are awarded to R.M. McDonald of Vashti and E. C. Boutwell
of Bellevue to construct the school home economics building and
ag shop.
The president of the National Farmers Union plans a speech in
Henrietta. Musical entertainment will be provided by Nat Fleming
and his band.
Henrietta ballet pupils of Delta Fern Wisdom plan a recital at
Wichita Falls Memorial Auditorium.
Acme flour, $1.89 for 25 pounds at Park's Grocery and Market.
June 2
T.D. Chapman of Petrolia announces
he is reopening the Petrolia Variety Store and adding a cash
grocery.
The Pioneer Association and National Cutting Horse Association
announces the second annual cutting horse competition will be
held at the Rodeo Bowl.
Ruben Loftin, a former Clay County judge, returns to Henrietta
to open a law practice.
Passenger trains leaving Henrietta at 1:23 p.m. will arrive in
Galveston at 10:45 p.m., leaving Henrietta an hour earlier.
Bedding plants, five cents each at Henrietta Floral Co.
June 9
Ronnie Hughes, 11, of Byers is
honored with a Boy Scout certificate of merit for walking four
and a half miles in the dark to summon help for an automobile
accident which seriously injured his mother, father, brother
and grandfather.
Open house is held for the Lee Tyson cafe on the highway in Bellevue.
Harold Reynolds of Petrolia accepts a coaching position in Belleuve
after studying for his masters in Denton.
The Sewell Grocery in Ringgold burns. The year-old building replaced
another structure that burned.
"Prisoner of War" starring Ronald Reagan and Steve
Forrest showing at the Rietta Drive-In.
June 21
Plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of Byers are made. Pioneers who were
in Byers when the town was founded in 1904 will be honored. A
crowd of 2,500
is expected.
Bellevue City Council sells its water bonds. Work on laying water
mains is
expected to begin in 2-3 months.
B.J. Bradley is named vocational agriculture teacher for Henrietta.
Vernon Snider is new pastor of Methodist churches at Bluegrove
and Deer
Creek.
Meal lawn chairs $3.55 at Claude B. Gates Store.
June 27
Researchers looking for the first
gas well in Texas near Petrolia in 1907
find the location they first thought was incorrect.
The chamber of commerce movie on Clay County took six months
to film and
cost $15,000.00.
Henrietta youth Robert and David Waggoner complete a training
course at
Southwestern Publishing Co. in Nashville.
Mrs. Harry Olsen is names county chairman for a tuberculosis
fact finding
survey.
Steak, 59 cents a pound at City Food. Yum Yum
on the cheap steak!
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