In The Good Old Days
Date: 1920
Creator: unknown
Description: This picture is accompanied by a newspaper article that chronicles the activities of a group of men repairing the public highway between Mineral Wells and Palo Pinto in the year 1920--before the Texas Highway Department was created. Pictured are the following people: Harold Guinn on left with spade. J. L. Miller on truck fender. Standing, left to right: Red Taylor, George Oliver, Johnnie Liveley; Irl Preston and W. T. Tygrett shaking hands, with Joe Dillon standing between them. Also standing in the background are Clarence Wewerkka, W. C. Caldwell, W. I. Smith, and Lawrence Davis. The photograph is listed as courtesy of W. T. Tygrett.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth16289/
Milling's Sanitarium
Date: 1920's
Creator: unknown
Description: Milling's Sanitarium was built H.H. Milling, son of Roscoe Gorman Milling (a/k/a "The Indian Adept", a/k/a "The Long-haired Doctor"), about 1929 on the Old Millsap Highway. It was later renamed Irvine Sanitarium. The building (at 1400 SE VFW Highway--a branch of SE 6th Avenue, at about the 2500 block) now [2011] houses Post 2399 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Some of the information about this picture was taken from taken from A. F. Weaver's book "Time Was in Mineral Wells", second edition, page 129.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth60947/
[Milling's Sanitarium and Water Well ]
Date: 1920's
Creator: unknown
Description: The gazebo-like structure shown in the picture protects a water pump in front of the Milling Sanitarium. The sanitarium was built about 1929 on what was then the 2500 block of SE Sixth Avenue. It later became the Irvine Sanitarium. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (Post 2399) occupies the building as of 2010. The fate of the structure shown here is unknown.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth60948/
[Burning of the First Crazy Hotel]
Date: 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: The first Crazy Hotel burned in 1925. This photograph shows the fire as it is burning out, and only a few pieces of the structure still stand. The sign seen in the left part of the photo says "Crazy Drug Co." which was the pharmacy inside the hotel. The hotel was rebuilt and claims to be fire proof.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39218/
[Crazy Flats Fire]
Date: 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: A note on back of photograph states,"Crazy Water flats fire 1925, March 15th. Picture taken from NE Corner on Oak". Thelma Hart's name appears on back of the picture, which was possibly taken by her husband, as his name, Lawrence, also appears. The picture is included in A. F. Weaver's book, "TIME WAS in Mineral Wells," on page 18.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29445/
[First Mineral Wells Golf Country Club]
Date: 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: The first clubhouse of The Mineral Wells Golf and Country Club is shown here. This picture comes from Knights of Pythias Album, 1925. The swimming area and lifeguard station can be seen at the far left of the picture.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20348/
[Hexagon Hotel]
Date: 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: A picture of the Hexagon Hotel. See also "Hexagon Hotel [with history]." This picture was taken in 1925. Note the construction of the Convention Hall beside the Hexagon Hotel on the right. The Convention Hall was built in 1925.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20479/
[The Burning of Crazy Flats]
Date: March 15, 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: The "Crazy Flats" drinking pavilion, with rooms for rent, replaced a two-story Crazy Water drinking pavilion in 1909. The first Crazy Hotel was built in 1912, and an annex was added to it in 1914. A fire in the Drug Store of the "Crazy Flats" (SE corner of the Crazy Flats building) on March 15, 1925, destroyed the entire Crazy block. The "New", completely rebuilt, Crazy Hotel was enlarged to cover the entire block. It opened in 1927, and replaced all of the burned buildings. The new building was promoted as fireproof, since it was built with solid cement walls and ceilings. The former "new Crazy Hotel" is now a Retirement Home, after a colorful past that included; a daily radio show originating in its Lobby and broadcast nationally over TQN (the Texas Quality Network), the Great Depression of the 'thirties, World War II, the Korean "Police Action", and The Viet Nam War. (Compliance with current Building Codes applying to residential rental property, is creating some problems for the present owners of the 80+ year-old structure.)
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth25068/
[Crazy Hotel after the Fire of 1925]
Date: March 15, 1925
Creator: unknown
Description: A handwritten note on the back of the photograph identifies the picture as "Crazy Hotel southside after fire of March 15, 1925." This was the skeleton of the first Crazy Hotel, after a fire destroyed the entire Crazy "complex." The original hotel complex consisted of the two adjoined hotel sections with a common lobby, the Crazy Flats (a drinking pavilion with rooms for rent), a Bath House, and a drugstore (where the fire started). The second Crazy Hotel opened two years later, in 1927. It covers the entire city block formerly occupied by the complex which it replaced. The famous second Crazy Hotel of the booming 1930's and 1940's is now [2008] a retirement hotel.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29446/
Convention, West Texas Chamber of Commerce
Date: [1925-05]
Creator: unknown
Description: This photograph shows a view of Mineral Wells from East Mountain, inscribed "Convention West Texas Chamber of Commerce." A companion picture is dated "May 4-5-6, 1925". The train depot is in the left middle background. The church in the middle foreground is the First Methodist Church, and immediately behind and above it is the Lamar Bath House and Hotel. The home to the left (east) of the Methodist Church was the home of Pharmacist C. Y. Yeager.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20344/