The Leonard Graphic (Leonard, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 15, 2003 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2 - The LEONARD Graphic - Thursday, May 15, 2003
lewpoints
FADING MEMORIES
Outhouses: Just a few remain
to remind us how life used to be
By Joe T. Sudderth
Special to the Graphic
simple. Get a couple of buckets and a long
handle shovel. Scoop the buckets full and
take them to the pasture and scatter the load
out for mother nature to take care of. This
was not a job that anyone liked and being
the oldest boy, guess who did it most of the
time?
My uncle, Claude Preddy, had the neat-
est way to clean his toilet that I ever saw.
The outhouse was backed up over a small
drainage ditch that flushed it clean every
time it rained and scattered it over the pas-
ture. One time, when I was about six years
old, we went to James Ewing Sudderth’s
house just southeast of Bonham on the state
park road. Their outhouse was a nice tight
flyproof building setting on a concrete floor
with a tank of water buried under it for the
This outhouse is at Buster and wastes to go into and then it had lines go-
Donna Sudderth’s house two miles ing away from it, similar to present day
north of Leonard. septic systems. This was truly the fanciest
Er ever
What ever happened to all of those i
outhouses? If you are not 40 to 50 years of |
age, you may never have used an outhouse, |
seen one, or even know what one is. There 1
are still a few standing and even fewer be- |
ing used unless on a deer lease or some-
thingsimilar.
The City of Leonard started putting
sewer pipe down in the roaring ’20s and
most of Leonard had sewer in their house
and businesses in the ’30s. However, it
wasn’t until the mid ’60s that virtually all
of Leonard had sewer facilities to offer its
residents. In the mid ’50s, and I would as-
sume earlier, there were a lot of outhouses
in the west side of town and it was a fun
thing to do on Halloween to turn these out
houses over, however sometimes the owner
Above, this old three-holer is located behind “The Atteberry
House” at the corner of Parmele and Hunt Streets in Leonard.
The building on the right side of it is a stable where horses were
kept and the building to the left is a carriagehouse. This old
home is largely intact as it was built around 1920. Bill and Marie
Renfro have recently bought the property and plan to restore
it. Right, this is from Claude Preddy’s farm (Sudderth’s uncle)
about five miles north of Leonard. “I have known of this
outhouse for more than 50 years. It is probably more than 75
years old,” Sudderth said.
LETTERS to THE EDITOR
would be inside the outhouse to protect it winter, hot in the summer and always hav- 0 .W
from such trick-or-treaters. There are sto- ing a bad odor. On either wall to the side of The City o Leon a tter way
ries of these being turned over with the the seats, always hung on a piece of wire, toclean their outhouses an hoseofus in
owner still inside. was the old Sears and Roebuck catalog, or the countrydid. The city employedaman
Before sewer, there were outhouses, in a pinch, a J.C. Penny catalog. Old news- and paid him $40 per moni 111 to
Outhouses—or closets as they were some- papers or any old magazine would suffice take care of all the outhouses m onard.
times referred to, depending on what circle until another catalog could be obtained. This His job title was City cavenge an e
you were in — were built in many dimen- was before toilet paper was available. had a horse and wagon that was called the
sions and types of material. Most of them My family always had an outhouse Honey Wagon. He would cean le out-
were about 4-foot by 5-foot and about 7 or until I went into the Navy in 1962. There houses, throw on a scoop of lime and go
8 feet tall. Some of them had one hole, some was a path out the back door and then a on his way.
had two, and even three holers for larger turn right after you went past the chicken There must have been as ortageo
families. They had a back door built low to house for about 50 more feet. If there was outhouses around the square ause e
the ground for the purpose of cleaning, and someone in there when you needed to go, city council on Feb. 3,1919, or red that
some had a quarter moon cut in the front then you made a left turn and continued on closets be placed at the rear o eac si-
for the purpose of ventilation, or to see if to the barn and did the best you could do. ness as per city ordinance, and that city
someone was in there. Inside the building . However, when you got to the barn there scavenger Dallas Neale instructed to
there was a board about 18" wide across was not a Sears catalog so you had to look collect the sanitary fee from each business
thebackwith 1,2, or 3 holes cut out. Ifyou around for corn cobs to use. house beginning from this date.
were lucky, these holes would have lids over We had a board walk most of the way Things were surely a lot different en
them to help keep out the odor, draft, and to use in muddy weather and a two holer than they are now. I heard one person say
flies. Can you still remember the flies tick- with no lids, no moon in the door, and one that things are backwards - we used to
ling? catalog. It had to be cleaned several times a eat in the house and go to the bathroom
These old outhouses were cold in the year and the way it was done was quite outside.
Thank you
businesses for
erience
ounts
Allecia Booher is Senior VP and Branch Manager
at American Bank of Texas in Leonard and Bonham.
That’s a big job and Allecia can handle it. She is just one of many /
American Bank employees with the kind of experience that counts when
you need a bank that supports your dreams at home, or in business.
AMERICAN BANK
OF TEXAS
200 W. Collin, Leonard, TX 75452 • (903) 587-3314
www.abtexas.com
. Equal Housing Lender. Member FDIC
your support
Many Leonard Indepen-
dent School District teachers
received prizes during
Teacher Appreciation Week
last week.
Area businesses donated
the prizes, which were
divvied up by drawing. The
businesses donating for the
drawings were as follows:
Applebee’s in McKinney,
B&B Grocery, Benny’s Pasta
and Pizza, Brookshire’s in
Bonham, Chili’s in
McKinney, Family Dollar,
First National Bank of Tren-
ton, Furniture Gallery, IHOP
in McKinney, Joe’s Crab
Shack, Lea’s Restaurant,
Leonard Pharmacy, Movie
Gallery, Rolando’s in
Bonham, Ruby’s Chicken
and Subs, Saltgrass
Steakhouse in McKinney,
Summer House, Total Image
Nails and Tan and Wal-Mart
in Bonham and McKinney.
Thank you,
Leonard ISD teachers
I want to thank
everyone who
voted for me
for City
Councilman.
Your support is
really
appreciated.
- Ronnie Cooper
Superintendent thankful for
caring, professional response
On behalf of the employees, par- is heartwarming to realize that if any-
ents and students of the Leonard ISD, one had needed medical attention, •
I extend my personal thank you for there were enough emergency person- •
the response to the school bus acci- nel on hand to deal with each child
dent that occurred on Friday after- individually. The combined presence
noon, May 9th. As I reviewed the of volunteer firemen, police officers
scene, the Leonard Police Department and LISD employees exceeded the
and the Leonard Volunteer Fire De- total number of potential victims at
partment arrived almost instantly, this scene. It is good to recognize that
Special commendations go to LISD in our community, individuals will
employees Lee Fry, Noel Nixon, cooperatively respond at an instant,
Nancy Zachary, Jerome Edwards and. without hesitation, to assist when a
Wayne Barbee for their professional crisis occurs,
actions and assistance.
There were no student or driver
injuries at this accident. However, it
Sincerely,
T. G. Walker
LISD Superintendent of Schools’
Teachers felt appreciated by parents
Thank you, thank you, thank special treatment that our teachers re- . •
you!!!
ceived this week made it a smooth and ,
Leonard Elementary School would enjoyable week • • •. .
like to give a huge thanks to all the par- Leonard Elementary is fortunate to
ents who organized and provided meals have such fantastic parents!!!
for the elementary teachers and staff the
. week of May 5-9 in recognition of T . , 41 ,
teacher appreciation week. We would Junior High thanks
also like to thank the businesses their notente
donations of gift baskets, gift certifi- Pal CALEB 101 4000 But
cates, food and other items that were The junior high teachers at
donated for this occasion. Leonard Junior High wish to say a big
The week of May 5-9 was also ITBS thank you to the parents who brought
Testing (achievement test) for many food for Teacher Appreciation Week
grade levels throughout the district. The during May 5-9. -
Pol. Adv. Paid For By Ronnie Copper, Leonard, TX 75452
The Leonard Graphic
Open Monday through Friday
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
903-587-3303
FAX 903-587-9893
24-hour drop box
South Side of Leonard Square
LeonardGraphic@netexas.net
Hair Central
A
el
th
Qu
pass
Wil
She
Fnc
eter
Her
We're the
talk of
the town!
(Well, we’re
Have you heard the
newaFieonara
Barber Shop has a
, new name were now
J Hair Central.
• have the dust flying
at our shop on e
square. So for now
meet its at our
too*
formerly
Leonard Barber Shop
Open Tues.-Sat.
Open late Tues. & Thurs.
903-587-2294
Temporarily between DQ & Benny's
Hwy. 69, next to
cumplonamma
Benny's.
see you and you
family there.
The Zeonard Graphic
Charles Russell, Publisher
Bethany Russell, Editor & Publisher
Beth Anderson, Assistant Editor
MEMBER
2003
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
The Leonard Graphic (ISSN: 1048-0013) is published weekly by Russell Community Newspapers Inc., The Leonard
Graphic, 121 W. Fannin Street (P.O. Box 1108), Leonard, TX 75452, (903) 587-3303, FAX (903) 587- *
9893, LeonardGraphic@netexas.net Subscriptions: Fannin and Hunt counties $21, outside this are
$28, outside USA available. Periodicals postage paid at Leonard, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to The Leonard Graphic , P.O. Box 1108, Leonard, TX 75452-1108. -----
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The Leonard Graphic (Leonard, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 15, 2003, newspaper, May 15, 2003; Leonard, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1660200/m1/2/?q=wichita+falls: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Leonard Public Library.