OldSchooling on the "Lone Star Trail"

[BeerTeam]

Magnolia Petroleum Company
(pictured above the Magnolia filling Station in Gonzales, Texas)
formed in 1911 consisting of several earlier Texas oil companies. Magnolia gasoline and oils . . . made and sold in Texas and other southern states

Business grew in Texas and the Southwest, the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) began buying Magnolia stock. By 1925 Socony controlled all the Magnolia stock. . . . Magnolia became an affiliate of Socony. By 1949, Dallas-based Magnolia had 12,5000 employees in twenty states. Magnolia merged with Socony Mobil in 1959 and became part of Mobil Oil Company.

As I traveled Texas, most towns had the remains of one small gas station. Most of these remains we vandalized into antique stores, video or some other small current or defunct business. When I travel pass these pieces of road history, it brings back fond memories of the old "full service" filling station back home in Port Washington, Wisconsin . . . DeeBee's Service, where I would gas up the scooter and get a cup of joe with the latest local news. Currently, DeBee's Service is a upscale Christmas shop . . now that's progress

[firefly]

I LOVE your pictures and narrative. Keep them coming!!

[BeerTeam]

Gonzales County Courthouse
Gonzales, Texas
Built 1894-1896 of limestone and red brick of the Romanesque Revival style

The Courthouse just underwent a 3.5 million dollar restoration and now shines like a restored vintage BMW Motorcycle.

Old Jail, Courthouse and Fire Station are all on the large historic Town Square which was set-up during the original Mexican survey of 1832.

Gonzales served as the capital of Empresario Green DeWitt's colony from 1825 to 1836. Since 1837, the city of Gonzales has been the county seat of Gonzales County.

Spanish word Empresario, denoted a businessman, entrepreneur, or/and contractor. These Empresarios were granted the right to settle Mexican land in exchange for loyalty and taking responsibility for their settlers. The policy was changed in 1820, when Spanish law allowed colonists of any religion to settle in Texas. Moses Austin, then later his son, Stephen F. Austin were granted the contract under old Spanish law. Before he could begin his colony, however, Mexico achieved its independence from Spain. At this time, about 3500 people lived in Texas, mostly around San Antonio and La Bahia.

The first group of colonists, known as the Old Three Hundred, arrived in 1822 and settled along the lengthy Brazos River.

1810 - September 15, The cry of Mexico Independence from Spain
1823 - General Santa Anna declares Mexico a Republic
1824 - Texas General Colonization Law, the state government of Coahuila y Tejas had many requests to allow foreign speculators to establish colonies within the state
1836 - (March 2) The Texas Declaration of Independence
1845 - U.S. annexation of Texas. Texas gained statehood
1846 - 1848 Armed conflict between the United States and Mexico
1861 - Texas joined the Confederate States of America,

Read four history books about the Texas history and you'll have four different versions of what occurred .. . . and so the story kinda goes. . . I pick up much of the state history on the numerous Histerical Texas signposts . . .

Gonzales, Texas
The Birthplace of Texas Freedom, the intersection of the Chisholm Trail and the Old Spanish Trail.

The Texas Revolution started in Gonzales.

The settlers at Gonzales, in order to protect themselves from Indians, the Mexican government gave the settlers of Gonzales a small six pound cannon. The cannon's torch hole had been plugged with a steel rod so about all it could do was make a loud noise and scare off the Indians.

With the talk of revolution a small troop of the Mexican Army came to retrieve the cannon. The Gonzales men hide the cannon and the men involved in this incident became known as the "old eighteen". As the news spread more men for the surrounding area arrived. When that number reach approximately 150 the embolden men dug up the cannon, drilled out the touch hole and mounted the Cannon on wheels. A white flag with a emblem of the small cannon, a five point star and the battle cry "Come and Take It" .

When the morning fog lifted over the river the men waved the flag, "Come and Take It". Not waiting for a response they fired the little cannon loaded with nails and bits of horseshoes. The Mexican Troops not wanting a confrontation ordered a full retreat back to San Antonio.

The battle of Gonzales was the first battle of the Texas Revolution

Below
The Gonzales Memorial Museum
with its own reflecting pool was built in 1936 for the Texas 1836 Centennial

10,000 year old Mastodon tusk & Mammoth tooth found near Gonzales and displayed at The Gonzales Memorial Museum. I chuckled at the mural/map and the 13 colonies.

[BeerTeam]

Constructed in 1887, and used as jail till 1957
The brick structure was designed to hold 150-200 prisoners in a riot situation

hanging, which was the method used for almost all executions up until 1924, when the electric chair came into use. The only other method used at the time was execution by firing squad.

There were six legal hangings in Gonzales between 1855 and 1921. The first legal hanging took place in 1855. Another hanging took place in 1881. After the completion of the jailhouse, in 1891 the gallows were relocated inside of the jailhouse. 1921 was the last legal hanging in Gonzales County.

Below:
You cannot change history
so let the gallows and hanging tree remain
to remind us of a part of Texas past

[BeerTeam]

Above:
The J.D. Houston House
James Dunn Houston, one of GonzalesÔÇÖ early cattle barons built this Queen Anne-style house in 1898.

I took the historic home (mansion) tour
and I came to the conclusion that
Gonzales is a town of "Old Money"

Below:
The C.E. Dilworth House
C.E. Dilworth was a wealthy banker. The house construction was completed in 1912.

[BeerTeam]

"cha-cha-cha chia!"
Chisholm Trail Memorial Park
Home of Yoakum Texas full sized Chia Pets

"In Memory of the Trail Drivers of Southwest Texas who passed this way" 1867 - 1887

starting point of the Chisholm Trail and was used as a gathering ground for cattle to be driven up the Chisholm Trail. Yoakum, Texas `Leather Capital of the World,' due primarily to the economic impact of 12 leather goods manufacturing firms

The Chisholm Trail was the major route for cattle drives to Kansas from 1867 through 1884. Cheaper than shipping by rail, by the time barbed wire stopped the drives in 1885, more than 5 million head of cattle had been shipped out of Texas. After the Civil War, Texas was had strapped for cash, and the Longhorn cattle that was shipped to the beef hungry north was know as "Texas Gold"

In all, cattle drives boomed for only about 20 years, from the end of the Civil War to the mid-1880's.

Above,
Flatonia, a railroad town and the last signal tower left in Texas (1902 - 1996)
the Flatonia, Texas #3 railroad tower. Most people referred to these as "signal towers" or "switch towers", but they were formally known as "interlocking towers"
Below:
Flatonia City Jail

[BeerTeam]

The Stanzel Model Aircraft Musem
Schulenburg Texas
honoring the work of Victor and Joe Stanzel, pioneer model aircraft and model airplane toy manufacturers. Unfortunately the Schulenburg, Texas Stanzel factory closed in 2009. Two dollar admission fee

[BeerTeam]

Warrenton, Texas
Built to be reminiscent of a 1930s-era auto dealership - Sterling McCall Historic Cadillac Museum.

From the earliest car in the collection (1904) to the most recent (1979)
Museum's 100+ classic Caddies are set in a collection of automobile memorabilia

“Cadillacs were recognized as the world standard for years. There was no finer automobile made anywhere in the world. I’ve been fascinated by this car’s history and decided in 2007 to change the focus of the Museum to showcase this incredible vehicle’s journey in the American automotive industry,” says McCall.

Sterling B. McCall, Jr. began collecting the cars for the Sterling McCall Old Car Museum in 1979 when a Toyota customer drove a 1927 Ford Model T Doctors Coupe into his dealership to trade in on a new 1979 Toyota Corolla. During the two decades people traded other old cars when they bought a new Toyota or Lexus from the McCall dealerships.

Mr. Sterling B. McCall, Jr. was born and raised in Houston, Texas. In 1969 he became the first and only single-line Toyota dealer in the state of Texas. Today his dealership is the largest dealership in the state of Texas.

Texas Cadillac Museum . . . and I've been told a Texas Cadillac was a Pickup truck

[BeerTeam]

Fayetteville, Texas
McCall Historic Cadillac Museum used this gas station
the former Humble Gas Station (c. 1926)
as a model for his building

Courthouse on the Square
Built in 1880ÔÇöthe old jail still exists on the second floor complete with leg irons!ÔÇöthe first court was held on February 17, 1881. The town clock was erected in 1934 for the Texas Centennial and still strikes the hour and the half-hour, making Fayetteville (population 261) the smallest town with a four-face town clock.

[BeerTeam]

Historic Fayetteville Texas Steel Bridges
Old steel truss bridges are found on Willow Springs Road
and off Haw Creek Road

Below: E.C. Minnssen - Willow Springs

i want that truck!

Visian,
Low humidity, no winter road salt and having a long distance to the vehicle recyclers are all reasons that Texas is littered with cars and trucks similar to E.C. Minnssen's truck

[Visian]

i want that truck!

[BeerTeam]

St. Mark's Lutheran Church
- Missions Style -

Cuero, Texas

DeWitt County Courthouse
1897 Romanesque revival style
built of brown sandstone and pink granite
quarried from near Marble Falls, Texas

[BeerTeam]

2009 - Ghost Town
1854 - Boomtown
WEESATCHE, TEXAS

WEESATCHE, TEXAS
excellent example
of a real
Texas cowboy town

Below:
City Jail, Weesatche Texas

The new Weesatche post office was named in May 1860, but its designation was misspelled, "a monument to the bold, independent phonetic way that Texans often spell their place names," Quoted from the Handbook of Texas online

Tour de Texas
Texas - the 28th state of the Union
When I was in Big Bend, I made a choice to see a part of Texas most riders overlook, Namely southeast Texas. This motorcycle trip would of been the same mileage to get from Big Bend to Moab, Utah and the Canyonlands of the Southwest.

1. Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
2. Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

Most riders don't realize there is a whole 'nuther part of Texas beside the Hill Country, Big Bend and the Rio Grande Valley. Southeast Texas is mainly overlooked, the small, sleepy towns in Texas that are both rich in history and beautiful architecture. But, southeast Texas and the Panhandle over the Canyonlands of the Southwest.

[firefly]

I'm enjoying all the wonderful pictures of your adventures! Keep them coming!!

[mitchell0481]

Those are great pictures.