[Crazy Well]
Date: 1974
Creator: unknown
Description: This picture was taken in 1974, looking south on NW 1st Avenue from NW 4th Street, showing the metal cover, in the sidewalk corner, of the Crazy Well. It is full of Crazy water, ready to be pumped out and used. The building on the left is the west side of the present [2008] Crazy Water Retirement Hotel. This information was taken from Art Weaver's book "TIME WAS in Mineral Wells...", page 29. This wellwas the third one dug in Mineral Wells.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20415/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 1 of 21, Dec. 22, 1975]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: The fire at the Damron Hotel, December 22, 1975. The hotel was located at 109 West Hubbard Street, facing north, before the unfortunate conflagration. The fire also destroyed Davidson Hardware, located in the same block.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20222/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 2 of 21: View South/Southeast ]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: The Colonial Hotel was built in 1906 by Mr. J. T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. Mr. Holt also owned a hardware store on S. Oak at the back of the hotel. The name of the hotel was changed to The Damron Hotel around 1917 when Mr. Holt traded it to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. A hardware store, hard by, was sold to Mr. Holt's manager, John Davidson. The Damron Hotel, located at 109 W. Hubbbard, and Davidson Hardware, burned completely on December 22, 1975. Please note the Christmas decoration, symbol of the season, on the telephone pole above the fire truck. The main entrance to the hotel is faintly visible through the dense smoke to the rear of the fire truck. The Crazy Hotel can be seen at the lower left edge of the picture.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29903/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 3 of 21: Baker Hotel in Background]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: The Damron Hotel (very popular in the resort city of Mineral Wells through the periods of the Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression and World War II) was originally built as The Colonial Hotel in 1906 by J.T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. Mr. Holt also owned a hardware store at the back of the hotel facing S. Oak Ave. The hotel was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron around 1917 for a ranch, and the name was changed to reflect the new ownership. Mr. Holt sold the hardware store to his manager, John Davidson. The Damron Hotel and Davidson Hardware burned completely on December 22, 1975. This picture of the fire was taken looking east on Hubbard Street. The Baker Hotel in the left middle of the photograph is to the north of most of the smoke.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29902/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 4 of 21, Fire Inside the Structure]
Date: December 22, 1976
Creator: unknown
Description: This is another view of the spectacular fire that consumed the Damron Hotel on December 22, 1975. The hotel was built as the Colonial Hotel in 1906 by rancher J. T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. The name was changed in 1917 when the hotel was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. The fire received extensive photographic coverage. Note the height of the flames in this picture taken in the later stages of the fire.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29900/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 5 of 21: View from the Rear of the Building]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: The Damron Hotel was built in 1906 as the Colonial Hotel by J. T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. It was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron in 1917 for a ranch, and the name was changed to reflect the new ownership. Formerly located at 109 W. Hubbard Street, the hotel burned completely on December 22, 1975 in a spectacular fire that was extensively photographed. Shown here is one view of the fire.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29901/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 6 of 21: Bystanders Observing Fire]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: The Damron Hotel was destroyed (on December 22, 1975) in a spectacular fire that received extensive photographic coverage. The hotel was located at 109 W. Hubbard. This is another picture of that immense conflagration. Originally built as the Colonial Hotel in 1906 by rancher J. T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. The name was changed in 1917 when the hotel was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. Note the height of the flames in this picture taken in the later stages of the fire.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29899/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 7 of 21: The Parking Lot Behind the Hotel]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: This is another view of the spectacular fire that consumed the Damron Hotel during the 1975 Christmas Season. The Damron was originally built as the Colonial Hotel in 1906 by rancher J.T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. The name was changed in 1917 when the hotel was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. The fire was covered extensively by free-lance photographers. The hotel was formerly located on at 109 W. Hubbard Street, on the corner of the block that included SW 1st Avenue and SW 1st Street. This picture was taken during the later stages of the fire, and shows the gutted rear of the hotel, with huge flames still burning in the front portion of the building.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29898/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 8 of 21: An Early Stage of the Fire, Looking North]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: This view of the spectacular holiday fire that consumed the Damron Hotel completely on December 22, 1975, was taken from SW 1st Street at the southwest corner of the block in the early stages of the fire. The Damron Hotel was built as the Colonial Hotel in 1906 by J. T. Holt for his second wife, who would not live in the country. The name was changed in 1917 when it was traded to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. It was located at 109 W. Hubbard, and the fire received extensive photographic coverage.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29897/
[Damron Hotel Fire, 9 of 21: Firemen and a Fire Truck Near the North Side of Budiling]
Date: December 22, 1975
Creator: unknown
Description: This photograph shows another view of the early response to the holiday conflagration that consumed the Damron Hotel on December 22, 1975. The Damron was built in 1906, during Mineral Wells' heyday as a popular resort city. Originally named the Colonial Hotel by J. T. Holt, and built for his second wife because she would not live in the country. The name was changed in 1917 when Mr. Holt traded the hotel to Agnew and Bessie Damron for a ranch. The hotel was located at 109 W. Hubbard, and the spectacular fire received extensive photographic coverage.
Contributing Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
Permallink:texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29896/