Boyce Ditto Public Library - 3,206 Matching Results

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[Children With Bicycle and Hoop,]

Description: Dated "Jan 10, 1919", this picture was contained in an envelope postmarked "Aug. 4 '75", and addressed to A. F. Weaver Photography from Charles W. [Windell] Simonds. Handwriting on the envelope indicates it was from a short-wave "Ham' radio operator correspondent and friend of Mr. Weaver. Notes on the envelope indicate the picture was probably taken by the correspondent's father, Clarence Winfield Simonds. The sign on the tree at the left edge of the picture indicates this was th… more
Date: January 10, 1919

[A Christmas Card from Boyce Ditto]

Description: Christmas card sent to Mrs. Weaver, signed "Boyce Ditto." The front cover has a picture of greenery decorated with red bells and silver balls; at the top it says "To A Special Friend." The inside has a similar illustration in the center with text on either side. The text on the left says, "Friends as fine/ as you are/ Don't often come/ one's way./ And special times/ like Christmas/ Don't happen every day." The text on the right continues: "And so this/ Christmas greeting/ Is coming to exten… more
Date: unknown

[The Christmas Rush With the First Airmail]

Description: The sorting room of the "old post office" at Christmas time is ilustrated here. Airmail had just arrived in Mineral Wells. The caption "1916" is written in the top margin of photograph. Air Mail arrived in Mineral Wells in two distinct eras. The first was from the 1916 date on this photograph to about the beginning of World War II. The mail route of that era was marked by rotating signal beacons for night flight, and low frequency radio directional beams with "A" (dot-dash) and "N" (… more
Date: unknown

City Meat Market

Description: The City Meat Market was located south of the Oxford Hotel. It faced SE 1st Street, where the entrance to the First National (Bank?) was located. Please observe the horse-drawn wagon at the right of the photograph. Modern [2016] viewers might be appalled at the sight of sides of meat hanging in the open air; but when this photograph was taken, it was standard procedure. The gentleman holding the carcasses of poultry probably does so only for the sake of the picture. The clean aprons of all … more
Date: unknown

[The City Nestled Among the Hills]

Description: This picture was taken from East Mountain, from a site above and left (south) of the former Chautauqua (1905-1912.) Note the Crazy Water Hotel at the left edge of the picture (which opened in 1927 on the corner of North Oak and NW 3rd Streets.) Note also the Nazareth Hospital built by the Crazy Corporation, behind and right of the Crazy. The back of the "WELCOME" (1921 vintage) sign on the south end of this mountain and facing south, is at the immediate middle foreground. This sign was… more
Date: 1927

Cliff Home

Description: The Cliff Home, an early Mineral Wells hotel, stood on Northeast 2nd Street (formerly Coke Street) just east of the head of NE 1st Avenue (formerly Mesquite Street), and the site of the 1912 "Old Post Office" (now the Women's Club.) The hotel burned down in 1899, and the Plateau Hotel was built in its place. That hotel, in time, became The Exchange Hotel, which lasted until 1900, at which time it was demolished, and the Plateau Hotel was built in its place. It was touted as the only bric… more
Date: 1900?

[ A Close-up of Calvary Baptist Parsonage]

Description: This home was the parsonage of Calvary Baptist Church in 1975, according to a note on back of the picture. Note the brick crosses worked into the stone-work above the front door and on the chimney. The picture also shows some structural cracks in the native sandstone rockery above the entrance and window, probably indicating foundation damage. There are also some weathered holes in the structurally-sound, but odd, limestone rocks used in construction.
Date: 1975

Co-Operative Market

Description: This photograph appears in A.F. Weaver's book, "Time Was...", second Edition, on page 189. The Co-operative Market was located on the lot in the 200 block of S. Oak Street, where the present [2010] Fire and Police Departments are located. The sign indicates that women and girls were the market's anticipated customers. The street is paved and curbed, so the photograph was taken sometime after city streets were paved in 1914. The facade of a building behind the CO-OP sign bears a … more
Date: unknown

[Col. and Mrs. W. Riess (W. R.) Austin]

Description: Colonel and Mrs. W. Riess (W. R.) Austin are depicted here, from an image taken from a 1902 photograph. Colonel Austin is mentioned on page 54 of "Time Was..." second edition. A. F. Weaver says, "...the Austin Well, established by Col. W. R. Austin, who came from Kentucky to Palo Pinto County about 1880. Austin settled on Staggs Prairie, where he farmed and ranched. Then he became interested in mineral waters when he had an eye infection that affected his sight. So he moved to Mineral Wells… more
Date: unknown

[The Colonel Boykin Home - 1301 SE 4th Avenue]

Description: The Colonel Boykin Home, at 1301 SE 4th Avenue, Mineral Wells, Texas appears to show neo-classical elements, along with evidence of later remodeling. This home was built in 1905 by Colonel Walter H. Boykin, owner of the Fairfield Inn. It was later purchased by William Whipple Johnson who, with his brother, Harvey, originally developed the coal mines in Thurber, Texas. Johnson opened the Rock Creek Mine in far western Parker County (after selling the mines at Thurber) and lived in this home w… more
Date: June 1974

Colonial Hotel

Description: The Colonial Hotel at 115 W. Hubbard Street was built by rancher J.T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country, despite the fact that he had bought a ranch (near Mineral wells) of five thousand acres about the year 1900. The hotel was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch about 1917, and its name was changed to The Damron Hotel. The popular hotel burned down December 22, 1975 along with several other adjoining businesses.
Date: unknown

The Commercial Hotel

Description: The Commercial Hotel, one of the early hotels in Mineral Wells, was located on South Oak Avenue, where the Mineral Wells Fire Department is now [2014] located. The Cutter Guide of 1893 states that the hotel was recently completed. It is listed as being "[T]wo blocks from the depot [and] 1 block [away] from the post-office [sic]." This picture may be found on page 101 of A.F. Weaver's book "TIME WAS In Mineral Wells."
Date: 1900?

Company 1, 4th Texas Infantry

Description: Typed under this picture is the legend: "FIFTY YEARS AGO -- Co. 1, 4th Texas Infantry, was patrolling the Mexican Border. The company's home base was in Mineral Wells. Later it was called into federal service and designated as Co. 144th Infantry, 36th Division, with combat duty in France on the Meuse-Argonne Campaign and the Argonne Forest. In the picture is the company pet donkey, about to consume a copy of the Daily Index, on the left is Bill Cameron and right is Spencer Heath. The pictur… more
Date: 1916

[Confiscated Whiskey Stills]

Description: Nick Chandler & Gib Abernathy, officials of the government, have detected (and presumably are about to destroy) illegal whiskey distilling apparatus confiscated during the Great Depression of the 1930's, when Prohibition was regnant. The lack of a "Thumper" barrel between the distilling apparatus and the worm suggests that these "Stills" were probably amateur operations. Abernathy was the Palo Pinto County Sheriff at the time, and also the father of Bill Ray Abernathy.
Date: unknown

[Construction of Oxford Hotel]

Description: Pictured here is the construction of the foundation of the Oxford Hotel (including the First State Bank & Trust Company) in 1906. The hotel was located at Oak and Hubbard Streets. H. N. Frost, father of Cleo T. Bowman and grandfather of Frost Bowman, built the Oxford and founded the bank, which was located on the west side of the building. Some few of the buildings pictured are still [2014] standing. The hotel was owned by the estate until the late 1920's. The Oxford Hotel met its doom by… more
Date: unknown

[Construction of the Malsby Dairy]

Description: Construction of the Malsby Dairy is shown here, going on apace. Steel girders are being put in place, presumably to support a future roof. It was located at 300 SE 1st Street. Construction began (it is conjectured) in the late 1940's. The building once housed a newspaper (in the 1960's) called "The Advance", and then the "Mineral Wells Index." The "Index" still [2007] occupies the building. Please note that only half of the men in the picture are shown wearing hard hats. Please note al… more
Date: unknown

[The Construction of the Post Office]

Description: Written on front of picture is the partial holograph legend: ".ade from the North east ...ner looking Southwest made May the 3rd 1912" It shows the construction of what would eventually be the third Post Office at 201 N.E. 2nd Street. A shear-legs is shown on the extreme left. The workers have clearly stopped work for the taking of the photograph, which is featured in "Time… more
Date: May 3, 1912

[The Construction Site of the Mineral Wells Savings and Loan, 1 of 3, The Baker Hotel is in the Background]

Description: This series of photographs was taken in 1975, during the construction of the Mineral Wells Savings and Loan at 101 SE 1st Avenue. The Howard Brothers Department Store was an early occupant of the site. Demolition of the Howard Building began March 17, 1975 to make room for the Savings and Loan. A new First State Bank currently [2011] occupies this entire city block. A good view of the south side of the Baker Hotel is visible in the background.
Date: 1975

[The Construction Site of the Mineral Wells Savings and Loan, 2 of 3: A Piggy Wiggly Is in the Background]

Description: The construction of the Mineral Wells Savings and Loan, at 101 SE 1st Avenue in 1975, was documented in this series of photographs. The Howard Building, the first of the complex of Howard Brothers Department Stores, had been built on this location in the early 1900's. Demolition of the Howard Building began March 17, 1975, to make room for the Savings and Loan. The Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store (at the site of Mineral Wells' first Post Office) and the Green Stamp Store are visible… more
Date: 1975

[The Construction Site of the Mineral Wells Savings and Loan, 3 of 3: The East Side of the Construction]

Description: This series of photographs of the construction of Mineral Wells Savings and Loan was taken in 1975. Demolition of the Howard Building began March 17, 1975, to make room for the Savings and Loan. D.M. Howard was the first of five brothers to arrive from North Carolina. He later sent for his other brothers to establish the Howard Brothers Department Stores complex in the early 1900's. The Baker Hotel, directly across E. Hubbard north of the Savings and Loan, is seen to the left of the pi… more
Date: 1975

Convention Hall

Description: The Convention Hall, built in 1925 to accommodate the 1925 West Texas Chamber of Commerce Convention. An ice plant and electric plant built by Galbraith (owner of the Hexagon Hotel) had burned, and the rock foundation was used to build the Convention Hall. Demolition of the building began in 1975. A spokesman for the company tearing down the hall stated that the man who imported the London Bridge to Havasu City, Lake Havasu, Arizona, was interested in purchasing the rock foundation to r… more
Date: unknown
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