The Soul of a Small Texas Town

The Soul of a Small Texas Town PDF Author: David Wharton
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806131788
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Get Book Here

Book Description
A documentary photographic study of the people of McDade. accompanied by historical text.

Nameless Towns

Nameless Towns PDF Author: Thad Sitton
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292777809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book Here

Book Description
A comprehensive history of the sawmill towns of East Texas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sawmill communities were once the thriving centers of East Texas life. Many sprang up almost overnight in a pine forest clearing, and many disappeared just as quickly after the company “cut out” its last trees. But during their heyday, these company towns made Texas the nation’s third-largest lumber producer and created a colorful way of life that lingers in the memories of the remaining former residents and their children and grandchildren. Drawing on oral history, company records, and other archival sources, Sitton and Conrad recreate the lifeways of the sawmill communities. They describe the companies that ran the mills and the different kinds of jobs involved in logging and milling. They depict the usually rough-hewn towns, with their central mill, unpainted houses, company store, and schools, churches, and community centers. And they characterize the lives of the people, from the hard, awesomely dangerous mill work to the dances, picnics, and other recreations that offered welcome diversions. Winner, T. H. Fehrenbach Award, Texas Historical Commission “After completing the book, I truly understood life in the sawmill communities, intellectually and emotionally. It was very satisfying. Conrad and Sitton write in such a manner to make one feel the hard life, smell the sawdust, and share the danger of the mills. The book is compelling and stimulating.” —Robert L. Schaadt, Director-Archivist, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center

Texas Place Names

Texas Place Names PDF Author: Edward Callary
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 1477320660
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552

Get Book Here

Book Description
“[A] linguist . . . takes readers on a tour across the state, using names and language to tell its history.” ―Alcalde Was Gasoline, Texas, named in honor of a gas station? Nope, but the name does honor the town’s original claim to fame: a gasoline-powered cotton gin. Is Paris, Texas, a reference to Paris, France? Yes: Thomas Poteet, who donated land for the town site, thought it would be an improvement over “Pin Hook,” the original name of the Lamar County seat. Ding Dong’s story has a nice ring to it; the name was derived from two store owners named Bell, who lived in Bell County, of course. Tracing the turning points, fascinating characters, and cultural crossroads that shaped Texas history, Texas Place Names provides the colorful stories behind these and more than three thousand other county, city, and community names. Drawing on in-depth research to present the facts behind the folklore, linguist Edward Callary also clarifies pronunciations (it’s NAY-chis for Neches, referring to a Caddoan people whose name was attached to the Neches River during a Spanish expedition). A great resource for road trippers and historians alike, Texas Place Names alphabetically charts centuries of humanity through the enduring words (and, occasionally, the fateful spelling gaffes) left behind by men and women from all walks of life. “[A] quite useful book.” ―Austin American-Statesman

The Handbook of Texas

The Handbook of Texas PDF Author: Walter Prescott Webb
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Texas
Languages : en
Pages : 1176

Get Book Here

Book Description
Vol. 3: A supplement, edited by Eldon Stephen Branda. Includes bibliographical references.

Texas in 1840 or, The Emigrant's Guide to the New Republic : of Observations, Enquiry and Travel in that Beautiful Country

Texas in 1840 or, The Emigrant's Guide to the New Republic : of Observations, Enquiry and Travel in that Beautiful Country PDF Author: A. B. Lawrence
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3368742566
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book Here

Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1840.

Ghost Towns of Texas

Ghost Towns of Texas PDF Author: T. Lindsay Baker
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806121895
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The indefatigable T. Lindsay Baker has now turned his enormous mental and physical energies to the subject and has brought to view - if not to life -eighty-six Texas ghost towns for the reader's pleasure. Baker lists three criteria for inclusion: tangible remains, public access, and statewide coverage. In each case Baker comments about the town's founding, its former significance, and the reasons for its decline. There are maps and instructions for reaching each site and numerous photographs showing the past and present status of each. The contemporary photos were taken, in most instances, by Baker himself, who proves as adept a photographer as he is researcher and writer....Baker has done his work thoroughly and well, within limits imposed by necessity. He obviously had fun in the process and it shows in his prose."---New Mexico Historical Review

Hometown Texas

Hometown Texas PDF Author:
Publisher: Trinity University Press
ISBN: 1595348085
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Get Book Here

Book Description
Brown and Holley are interested in place and what makes people who they are. With particular interest in how people take the hand they’ve been dealt—fate, family, circumstance, luck—and craft a life for themselves, the authors celebrate the grit and gumption of these Texas originals. Introducing quirky characters and tenacious spirits, Holley’s stories seek out the personality of the small town while Brown’s photographs capture the essence of a changing landscape. Hometown Texas aims not to be nostalgic or sentimental but rather to show readers an unknown Texas—one that, while not vanishing, is certainly on the wane. Organized into five topographical, geographic, and cultural sections—East, West, North, South, and Central—three dozen stories and more than eighty complementary images work to create a parallel narrative to reveal what Brown has described as the “collective, various, remarkably complex soul that makes Texas unique.” Hometown Texas is an exploration across miles and cultures, of well-traveled roads and forgotten byways, deep into the heart of Texas.

Texas Trilogy

Texas Trilogy PDF Author: Craig D. Hillis
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292734638
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book Here

Book Description
The history of the people of Bosque County Texas.

Springs of Texas

Springs of Texas PDF Author: Gunnar M. Brune
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441969
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 616

Get Book Here

Book Description
This text explores the natural history of Texas and more than 2900 springs in 183 Texas counties. It also includes an in-depth discussion of the general characteristics of springs - their physical and prehistoric settings, their historical significance, and their associated flora and fauna.

Freedom Colonies

Freedom Colonies PDF Author: Thad Sitton
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292706421
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the decades following the Civil War, nearly a quarter of African Americans achieved a remarkable victory—they got their own land. While other ex-slaves and many poor whites became trapped in the exploitative sharecropping system, these independence-seeking individuals settled on pockets of unclaimed land that had been deemed too poor for farming and turned them into successful family farms. In these self-sufficient rural communities, often known as "freedom colonies," African Americans created a refuge from the discrimination and violence that routinely limited the opportunities of blacks in the Jim Crow South. Freedom Colonies is the first book to tell the story of these independent African American settlements. Thad Sitton and James Conrad focus on communities in Texas, where blacks achieved a higher percentage of land ownership than in any other state of the Deep South. The authors draw on a vast reservoir of ex-slave narratives, oral histories, written memoirs, and public records to describe how the freedom colonies formed and to recreate the lifeways of African Americans who made their living by farming or in skilled trades such as milling and blacksmithing. They also uncover the forces that led to the decline of the communities from the 1930s onward, including economic hard times and the greed of whites who found legal and illegal means of taking black-owned land. And they visit some of the remaining communities to discover how their independent way of life endures into the twenty-first century.