I REMEMBER


by Don Chaney


Don Chaney is the former mayor and a long-time resident of Crane.

Article #41
Taken from the Crane News, published January 14, 1999.

 

     Steve Thomas was an early booster for Crane.  He and a partner Jess Russell, developed the Maxey Addition in Crane.  Lena Drive was one of their streets.  They had a lumber yard about where the North Town and Country is now.  We bought some of the first lots sold on Lena Drive in 1956.  We were told that they were not in the City Limits so we had to pay $500 a lot to help pay for the water main that was to circle the street.  This was after consultation with Ken Spencer, J. K. Price, Steve Thomas and others.  Later they decided to extend 14th Street due west, at least theoretically to stretch out the City Limits. This made Crane City Limits a few lots south of us and included our lots.  Some of the lots on Lena Drive are partly in the City Limits and part in the County.  Steve Thomas tried to get a company formed to bring railroad south through Crane to connect with the one at McCamey.  It already existed a ways south of Lubbock.  A bunch of us were busy raising the money but couldn't get enough commitments from shippers to make the line profitable.  One time Steve was flying commercial from Odessa to Ft. Worth.  The plane was a DC3 propeller aircraft.  The plane developed engine trouble and landed in a patch of cotton close to Highway 80.  He got out and walked over to the highway and hitched a ride.  They hunted him for hours before he called in.  By the way, no one was hurt.

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