This postcard, taken around 1909, features the Mineral Wells High School football team. Please note the guards, hanging around their necks, that were used to protect the noses of the players. Those guards were held in place by means of a strap that went around the head, and were further kept in place by clenching the teeth on a rubber bit on the inside of the guard. The back of the card lists the players' names from top left: 1) Jessie Turner, 2) Tulane Smith, 3) J.C. Hayes, 4) Faburt Holmes , 5) George Oliver, 6) Blake Turner, 7) Bertram Hedrich, 8) Lamar McNew, and 9) Mr. Dinsmore. Front row 10) Carodine Hootin 11) Gordon Whatley, 12) Vernon Durham, 13) Fred McClurhin, 14) Achie Holdrige, 15) Chester Baughn, and 16) Hugh Brewster. Jess Turner(1) was later a member of Mineral Wells' only undefeated team in 1912. C.N. Turner, father of teammates Jess(1) and Blake Turner(6), purchased one of the early telephone companies in Palo Pinto County. He operated it with his sons as a family business. Jess Turner became a pioneer in the telephone business, and purchased the other family interests in 1924 to become sole owner of the family enterprise. His son, Jess Turner, Jr., operated the telephone company following World war II, relinquishing his position in October of 1975. A modern viewer of this picture might be startled by the lack of body armor, but it must be remembered that during the early decades of the twentieth century football was a blood sport. Injuries--even fatalities--on the field were an expected event. Many university presidents had disbanded teams (after numerous fatalities on the field) and banned the sport from their campuses. The first Rose Bowl game (Stamford versus. Ann Arbor) in 1903 was such a brutal rout that the …
The city directory for Mineral Wells, 1909, embracing a complete alphabetical list of business firms and private citizens; a directory of city and county officials, churches, public and private schools, banks, asylums, hospitals, commercial bodies, secret societies, street and avenue guide, etc.
This picture of the arch, erected to welcome the members of the Texas Press Association (who held a meeting in the nearby Chautauqua auditorium--visible in the background), was taken from East Hubbard Street, looking North on Mesquite Street. The Texas Press Association held its meeting on May 21-23, 1908. A note with the photograph states "The group of people were attending the Odd Fellows Convention and/or Press Convention." The note also states that "Bill Cameron (Who was an editor of the Mineral Wells Newspaper. He was about 21 at this time) has an Odd Fellows Apron [sic] on. Aprons, however, are not in evidence in the picture. The men are shown assembled under the standard of a lodge (on the right-hand side, whose legend is barely legible), and they are wearing variously-decorated tippets (except, of course, for the man in the center, who is wearing a sash, and the men at the ends, three of whom wear sashes; and the others, who are wearing uniforms, bandoleers and plumed fore-and-aft hats). The organization has been tentatively identified as the Eagles, whose lodge was said to be organized in Mineral Wells in 1906.
The original Carlsbad water pavilion, a two-story wooden building at 415 NW 1st Avenue (directly across the street and west of the Crazy pavilion) was built in the mid-1890's. This second pavilion, a red-brick building, replaced the original one at the same location. The Mineral Wells Scenic Railway ran its gasoline-powered "Dinky Cars" from 1905 to 1909 each quarter-hour on tracks that led north on N.W. 1st Avenue, and turned west on NW 6th Street. The Ben Hur was the last and largest of the "Dinky Cars". This picture was taken before the stained glass windows were installed in the pavilion, and before the Dinky Car tracks were removed. The pavilion was taken over by the Crazy Hotel for its laundry and dry cleaning in the 1930's after the Carlsbad closed.
The first Crazy drinking pavilion was a small wooden building (in the center foreground of the picture) built over the well that supplied the water. The large two-story wooden structure in the picture was opened on April 14, 1900. This picture, however, was taken in 1908. The wooden pavilion was torn down around 1909, and replaced by a brick structure, commonly called "Crazy Flats", with rooms to rent. The building on the right of the picture (which would be across the street to the west of the Crazy Well) was the Carlsbad drinking pavilion. The tracks in the foreground of the picture were for the Mineral Wells Electric Railway trolley (1907-1913) that ran north-south on Oak Avenue. A second rail system, the Lakewood Park Scenic Railway ("Dinky Cars"), ran parallel to the trolley in this neighborhood but one block west, between the Crazy and Carlsbad pavilions. This picture is from A. F. Weaver, "TIME WAS in Mineral Wells", First Edition, page 10.
Shown here is the Crazy Well drinking pavilion, as it appeared around 1908, looking at the North and East (back) sides, after remodeling and the removal of a residence. The house was removed still stands at 715 NW 1st Avenue. The photograph was taken across Oak Avenue. Note the top of the first Texas Carlsbad Well in the background.
Shown here is an early picture of the Gibson Well drinking pavilion, located in the 700 block of NW 2nd Avenue. Note the horse and buggy. Note also the condition of the (unpaved) street. Finally, please note the "Dinky Car" track in the lower right corner of the picture. The gasoline-powered motor cars traveled at fifteen-minute intervals between the city and Lake Pinto from 1905 to 1909. The tracks remained in place some years after. The Gibson Well pavilion was expanded and a park was added on its west. The Christian Church (built of limestone rocks from the historic cattle pens on Dillingham Prairie) now occupies the entire city block on which the Gibson Well was formerly located.
The Lithia Wells and Drinking Pavilion was located on the southwest corner of the "Crazy Block." (400 NW 1st Avenue, the current [2008]location of the Crazy Retirement Home). The second Crazy Well Pavilion is the large building the upper left of the photograph. Note the three burros next to the horse. Riding burros up a trail on East Mountain was a popular tourist pastime, in addition to drinking and bathing in the mineral waters. The Mineral Wells Public Library was located in the Lithia Pavilion at one time. See also the preceding picture.
The Texas Carlsbad Well, 415 N.W. 1st Avenue is illustrated, this picture taken about around 1908. This first Carlsbad pavilion was directly across N.W. 1st Avenue, west of the second Crazy well pavilion. The Mineral Wells Lakewood Park Scenic Railway ran down N.W. 1st Avenue between the two pavilions from 1905 to 1909 providing service each 1/4 hour to Lake Pinto. The "Ben Hur" gasoline-powered motor cars were the last and largest of the "Dinky Cars" in service on the tracks that are visible in this picture. This picture can be found on page 82 of A.F. Weaver's "TIME WAS ... ", first edition. A second pavilion, a modern brick structure, was added in 1909 and the original wooden building was later removed. The second pavilion was taken over by the Crazy Hotel for its Laundry and Dry Cleaning during World War II.
This picture, dated September 19, 1907, shows the Carlsbad Well at 415 NW 1st Avenue, and west of the Crazy Well drinking pavilion. It was one of the first drinking pavilions in Mineral Wells, and boasted that the water "Makes a man love HIS [sic] wife, makes a wife love HER [sic] husband/ Robs the divorce court of its business/ Takes the temper out of red-headed people/ Puts ginger into ginks/ and pepper into plodders."
The Carlsbad (also known as the Texas Carlsbad Well), one of the early drinking pavilions in Mineral Wells, was located at 415 NW 1st Avenue, directly across the street and west of the first Crazy Well pavilion. It was openled in 1901 by Lycurgus Smith, one of the people who claimed improvement of his health by drinking the mineral water. . The Carlsbad slogan was: "Makes a man love HIS [sic] wife/ Makes a wife love HER [sic] husband/ Robs the divorce court of its business/ Takes the temper out of red-headed people/ Puts ginger into ginks/ And pepper into plodders." The pavilion was prominent in several pictures around the turn of the century; this picture--labeled "Sept. 19/07" in ink--was from an advertisement by the Yeager Drug Company. This early pavilion had been demolished by 1911, and replaced by a larger brick structure.
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