The Bimini
Date: c. 1900
Creator: unknown
Description: The Bimini Mineral Baths, at 112 NW 4th Street, was built by Goodrum, Murphy and Croft, contractors in the early 1900's. The Bimini later became the Wagley Bathhouse. Dr. Wagley was an early pharmacist in Mineral Wells.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20234/
[West Ward School]
Date: c. 1909
Creator: unknown
Description: This photograph appears to have been given to A. W. Weaver with the following information on the back of it: "Wasn't it Whittier who said 'Still stately stands the old school house, beside the babbling brook'?--well this one no longer stands. It was a firm & strong old building when they tore it down 4 years ago. I thought you would cherish this picture as a fond recollection of yours, mine & Hugh's school days & days of happy childhood, where, as we romped & played barefoot in the soft sands & green grass, we were not as yet familiar with the hidden stones & thorns that one encounters down the highway of life. "All the sheet metal contained in the top of this building including the tin roof was made & fabricated by Papa in Grandpa's store. The metal work consists of the ornamental cornice fittings, the steeples at each corner of the building, metal banisters on the roof top, pinnacles around cupolas, flag pole with large metal ball on top & all drain piping and roof ventilators. "The barren oak trees in the yard are very familiar. Far to the right, not shown in the picture were several ...
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20214/
[The Arch] "Welcome Ye Editors"
Date: 1908
Creator: unknown
Description: This picture of the arch, erected to welcome the members of the Texas Press Association (who held a meeting in the nearby Chautauqua auditorium) was taken from East Hubbard Street, looking North on Mesquite. The year is 1908. The Texas Press Association held its meeting on May 26. Notice the Ben Hur tracks (1905-1909) in the foreground. The Chautauqua hall was demolished in 1912. 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 [presumably the boy seated on the arch at the extreme left, and holding a sheet of paper--not an apron--with the word "WELCOME" barely legible at its head] has an Odd Fellows Apron on." Please note: Bill Cameron was a long-time editor of the Mineral Wells "Index."
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20468/
Cafe Royal
Date: c. 1900
Creator: unknown
Description: The caption on the photograph identifies it as the Cafe Royal. This building that houses it, on the NW corner of NW 1st Avenue and 3rd Streets, was known as the W.E. Mayes Building. Upstairs rooms were rented as the Carlsbad Hotel in recognition of the nearby Carlsbad Drinking Pavilion at the opposite (or NE) corner of the block: 700 NW 2nd Avenue. (The first edition of "Time Was in Mineral Wells", page 105, identifies it as the Wells Hotel.)
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20460/
[Postcard of Mosquito (Mesquite) Street]
Date: 1905-1906
Creator: unknown
Description: A postcard, reading "Mosquito Street"(actually Mesquite Street), looking North, Mineral Wells, Texas. Please note the Chautauqua Theater (1905-1912) at the end of the street. This picture was taken before street car tracks were installed in 1907. Also note the the absence of cars on the street--only horses and buggies.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20443/
[LakeWood Park Scenic Railway, Dinky Car "Esther"]
Date: 1905-1909
Creator: unknown
Description: This photograph shows the "Dinky Car", Esther, that operated on The Mineral Wells Lakewood Park Scenic Railway to Lake Pinto from 1905 to 1909. The background indicates the picture was taken near Lake Pinto. This "Dinky Car" was one of two named "Esther" and "Susie" after local banker Cicero Smith's daughters. Banker Smith and Ed Dismuke, owner of The Famous Water Co., built the Scenic Railway. These little cars, powered by gasoline engines, ran every 15 minutes from Mineral Wells, around West Mountain, to Lake Pinto. A larger version, called the "Ben Hur", was added in 1908. Round trip cost 15 cents, and the cars ran on their own steel rails from 1905 to 1909. The Scenic Railway operation to Lake Pinto differed significantly from the trolley and tracks of the Mineral Wells Electric System. The trolley company served the City and ran some two miles southwest to Elmhurst Park and Lake between 1907 and 1913.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20397/
Mineral Wells (1900)
Date: c. 1900
Creator: unknown
Description: This article and photograph from the Weaver Collection appeared in the Mineral Wells Index in the late 1960's--or possibly the early 1970's. The newspaper attributes the photograph to the "Courtesy of Tom Green," and the research to "Bill Cameron." The article states: "This is the way Mineral Wells looked at the turn of the [twentieth] Century. The Scott Livery Stable, foreground, is occupies the area the Whatley Motor Company does today. Across the street at left was the two-story Holmes Hotel. The barn in the corner, in the center of picture, was the T.J. Green Transfer Company. Mat Birdwell, who purchased horses for the government, had his headquarters in the Green barn. Other spots include the Frost Lumber Yard, next to the Green barn; [the] old Baptist Church steeples, top left; [the] Presbyterian Church, top right, that burned 60 years ago."
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20390/
[Barber Lake]
Date: c. 1900
Creator: unknown
Description: Many property owners in early Mineral Wells had their own water wells, but the city pumped water to a small standpipe on East Mountain for distribution to the city. When the wells became insufficient to supply the city's needs, Barber Lake was built in the Barber Addition - in the northeast part of town - as Mineral Wells' first city water supply lake. Around 1905, Cicero Smith and Ed Dismuke built a dam across Pollard Creek west of the city to form Lake Pinto, the city's next water supply. Barber Lake, the City's first municipal water supply, can still be found southeast of Cullen Grimes School (built in 1920 at 1800 NE 1st. Avenue as Barber School: the name was changed to Cullen Grimes in honor of a long-time principal when it was enlarged in 1942.)
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20387/
Fair Grounds and Race Track, Mineral Wells, Texas
Date: c. 1900
Creator: unknown
Description: Shown here is a picture of a dirt horse-race track and fair grounds,located southeast of town. It is not known if thoroughbred horses raced, but sulkies are known to have raced here. This course was the first of its kind in Mineral Wells. Another track was constructed at Elmhurst Park, in the southeast part of town, after this one was torn down.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20364/
[Mineral Wells Electric System Trolley Car]
Date: c. 1907 - 1913
Creator: unknown
Description: The Number 23 trolley car is illustrated here. Trolley cars operated from 1907 until 1913. The trolley cars ran east-and-west on Hubbard Street, from Elmwood Cemetery at NE 17th Avenue to NW 12th Avenue, where passengers could disembark for a short walk to Lake Pinto, southwest of the city. The trolleys also ran and north-and-south on Oak Avenue along the edge of the business district. The Trolley Company was instrumental in developing Elmhurst Park, southwest of the City. The streetcar route was extended from Oak Street west to SW 4th Avenue, to SW 21st Street, thence along 21st Street in a westerly direction some two miles to the park on Pollard Creek.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20361/