[Casino at Elmhurst Park, 3 of 3]
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: This photograph shows a view of the Casino and gazebo in Elmhurst Park, Mineral Wells, Texas. The Park was constructed by the Mineral Wells Electric System (which operated a street-car line from 1907 to 1913). The street-car was the primary transportation from downtown Mineral Wells to the park. As America became enamored with the automobile as a personal vehicle, street-car passenger traffic declined, and the street-cars went out of business for lack of passengers. When the street-cars of Mineral Wells shut down, so did Elmhurst Park. The Casino was the center point of Elmhurst Park, and a popular gaming-house until both the Park and Street-Car Line that transported its customers went out of business in 1913. This image was used in a postcard.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth16314/
Greetings from Palo Pinto, Texas
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: Shown here is the photograph of a postcard from Palo Pinto, Texas. The front has a photograph of a lake, trees, and a dirt road. The back of the card card has "Brown Road Scenes", and handwritten correspondence, that is not presented here.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth16350/
Service Club, Camp Wolters, Texas
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: An illustration of the Service Club at Camp Wolters, which was located just outside Mineral Wells, Texas is shown here. Once the largest Infantry Replacement Training Center during World War II, Camp [later Fort] Wolters was re-opened during the Korean Conflict, and again during the Vietnam War. This portrait of the service club is probably a photograph taken from an old picture postcard.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20463/
[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/
Fairfield Inn, Mineral Wells, Tex
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: Shown here is a an extensively damaged and repaired postcard of the Fairfield Inn. The inn, built by Colonel Walter H. Boykin around the turn of the twentieth century, was located at 814 N. Oak Avenue and faced west. The postcard is addressed to A. J. Ryder, Mallory Docks, Galveston, Texas. The postmark it bears dates to 1911.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20341/
[Elmhurst Park Entrance]
Date: 1907 - 1913
Creator: unknown
Description: This illustration appears to be a picture postcard of the entrance to Elmhurst Park, an amusement park on Pollard Creek, about five miles southwest of Mineral Wells. The park operated from 1907 to 1913, and was a major attraction in "the nation's most popular health spa" at that time.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20326/
Welcome Sign on East Mountain, Mineral Wells, Texas
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: This picture is taken from a postcard claiming that the "Welcome" sign on East Mountain is "reputed to be the largest non-commercial electric sign in U.S." It has been claimed that the "Hollywood" sign was inspired by the "Welcome" sign, but this is likely a folk legend. (The preceding picture is a black and white original of this tinted picture. A more complete description may be found there.)
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20260/
Crazy Hotel
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: A postcard of the first Crazy Hotel, looking west-northwest, with part of a park visible at its east side is shown here. The photograph was given to A.F. Weaver by Margaret Tompkins. The entrance to the Crazy Hotel faced south on 100 NW 3rd Street, which is on the left side in this picture.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29812/
Crazy Water Hotel
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Description: This is a photograph of a post-card showing the south (front) and west side of the Crazy "Water" Hotel in the 400 block of NW 1st Avenue--the street on the left side of this picture. There is an advertisement for Crazy Water Crystals superposed in the upper right-hand hand corner. The title at the bottom of the card reads "Crazy Water Hotel, Mineral Wells, Texas--Where America Drinks its Way to Health". (This advertisement is one of the few references to "water" in the Hotel's history, although a woman with presumed mental problems drank from the well next to the hotel, and was reported to have been healed of her affliction by the water. "Crazy Woman's Well" evolved into the "Crazy Well", and gave the generic name to the mineral waters of the area.)
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29814/
[Post Card of a Football Team]
Date: c. 1909
Creator: unknown
Description: 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 ...
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth25054/