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Historic Brazosport


marmer

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Southern Oaks was a jungle down where we were, at the end. There was no bridge on Willow, we had to go around and go over a one lane wooden bridge on the Old Angleton Road.

Wow, again before my time. But I can believe it was a jungle. I certainly remember motorcycle riding around Shy Pond. Talk about a jungle!

The Schwinn dealership -- was that in the big warehouse llike building where N. Parking Place dead-ends on Circle Way? That was originally (or at least earlier) a Packard dealership. They may have also carried Studebakers -- somebody did but I can't remember who. When Packards went out of production, it became an Edsel dealership and when Edsel died I think he gave up on trying to run a car dealership in LJ. There was a Nash dealership on Oyster Creek Drive about where Huisache dead-ends, later became an auto body and paint shop. They also carried Hudsons and, for the short time they were on the market, Kaisers and Fraziers. All of the other car dealerships were in Freeport and Angleton. They were both small - 2, maybe 3 cars in the showrooms at most, and no hundreds and hundreds of models sitting there to choose from.
Wow, I didn't know any of that at all, and I'm a car and history nut. The Schwinn dealership in my time was Woodrum-Duensing Hardware. My parents bought their 1962 Rambler at a Rambler dealership in Angleton and had it serviced at an American Motors dealer right on the edge of Freeport. That dealer remained until the late '70s; the building is still extant -- I think it's a construction rental place.
I must have some sort of block on Woolworth's but by the time those stores went in I wasn't tagging along with my Mother on shopping trips.

No, I haven't seen the book. I was at the museum for the 60th anny reception in '03 with my Dad and looked around and I've browsed the website several times. I'll post some of what I have when I get some time to scan them and upload them. I'll start another thread since we've pretty well hi-jacked this one.

I'm a packrat, too.

EDIT: If you're talking about the Lake Jackson Chronicles, I have that. If you're talking about some sort of photo album compiled by the Society, no, I haven't seen that. Have been flipping through the Chronicles -- hadn't looked at that in some time.

Yes, a real shame it's gone. You can have CM, I'd rather have Jamail's back. The best part was the hot food deli where you could get great lunches to go. The line was always long. Then there were their prepared foods in the freezer section.

Sounds like the Weingarten/Woolworth center went in after you were gone. Just to be sure, I'm talking about right across from Restwood Cemetery. The book I'm talking about may be the Chronicles. I don't have it here right now. Green cloth cover, fairly substantial. I'll look at home tonight.

Re: Brazosport High School.

Yes, they disabled that picture now that the school has changed so much. But yes, I was talking about the BHS you graduated from. It looked like that, with the tall folded plate breezeway and the open-air mall. Sad to see it go. The old Freeport HS, later Freeport Intermediate, on ?Second? downtown across from the Baptist church, was torn down about a year ago after local preservation attempts failed. Curiously, the first Freeport School, next to the river, is still extant, being used as a warehouse.

Google Earth still has the old BHS shown. Pretty much everything east of the auditorium (the courtyard and the classroom wings) has been replaced by that blue-roofed postmodern McSchool. It has a nice food court, gotta give it that. :) And they have several well-maintained display cases of memorabilia and pictures of every graduating class.

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marmer

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Don't know a great deal about the Brazosport area other than some friends of the family used to have a beach house in a place called Turtle Creek about a mile or two from Surfside. When we stayed there we went into Lake Jackson and Clute alot. Seemed like a really nice place to live. Probably won't ever contribute much to this thread other than that, but I hope some others who know about the area do as I'd like to learn more about Brazosport.

Good luck. I once had a thread on the Aldine area and was pleasently surprised how many people contributed to it before we pretty much exhausted the thread a few months later. There's a lot of smart folks on this board and I couldn't believe howe much they knew.

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My great Uncle owned the Root Beer stand near The Mystery.

Anybody remember the root beer stand?

Oh, yeah. Mr. Antonelli's. I remember when it was on Second Street near the shrimp boat docks. My parents had a boat when I was a kid and I remember seeing the sad-looking derelict Mystery half-sunken at the pier. Then they cleaned it up and put it on that display in the park.

marmer

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Wow, again before my time. But I can believe it was a jungle. I certainly remember motorcycle riding around Shy Pond. Talk about a jungle!

Wow, I didn't know any of that at all, and I'm a car and history nut. The Schwinn dealership in my time was Woodrum-Duensing Hardware. My parents bought their 1962 Rambler at a Rambler dealership in Angleton and had it serviced at an American Motors dealer right on the edge of Freeport. That dealer remained until the late '70s; the building is still extant -- I think it's a construction rental place.

Sounds like the Weingarten/Woolworth center went in after you were gone. Just to be sure, I'm talking about right across from Restwood Cemetery. The book I'm talking about may be the Chronicles. I don't have it here right now. Green cloth cover, fairly substantial. I'll look at home tonight.

Re: Brazosport High School.

Yes, they disabled that picture now that the school has changed so much. But yes, I was talking about the BHS you graduated from. It looked like that, with the tall folded plate breezeway and the open-air mall. Sad to see it go. The old Freeport HS, later Freeport Intermediate, on ?Second? downtown across from the Baptist church, was torn down about a year ago after local preservation attempts failed. Curiously, the first Freeport School, next to the river, is still extant, being used as a warehouse.

Google Earth still has the old BHS shown. Pretty much everything east of the auditorium (the courtyard and the classroom wings) has been replaced by that blue-roofed postmodern McSchool. It has a nice food court, gotta give it that. :) And they have several well-maintained display cases of memorabilia and pictures of every graduating class.

Brazosport.jpg

marmer

Shy Pond - that rings a bell, but I can't place it. Southern Oaks Drive was called Big John Drive when we built there and the short street parallel to Willow was Little John Drive, after John T. Suggs, owner and developer of the subdivision. EDIT: Sugg's company was Southern Materials as I recall, said to be the richest man in Brazosport.

The Packard dealership was closer to Oak than the hardware store; can't remember if they abutted. I remember the Rambler place in Freeport/Velasco - quonset hut type building as I recall. We looked at the Rambler wagon there; I really wanted one of those - I thought they were so 'cute' - and of course the Metropolitan out of curiosity. We did buy a 59 Hillman Minx there as best I recall. That would have been the first foreign car dealership in Brazosport. That was a cool little runabout. 5 speed on the floor, red leather upholstery, we had it air conditioned, 4 door sedan on a wheel base about the size of a Beetle. My brother liked to push it like a Porsche and speed shift; that car got a lot of hard use in the few years we owned it. That same year, we bought a Mercedes at Mosehart-Keller on Shepherd in Houston, the first Benz dealership here I think. Dad had always bought Olds from Wright's (Freeport, Angleton, West Columbia) but the 58 98 was an absolutely piece of garbage and he swore off American cars for years (except for Chevy pickups).

Yes, that's the Weingarten's, now HEB (last I was there). Yes, that's the Chronicles book; I hadn't looked at that for some time and was thinking that was another Bill Colegrove work so I didn't flash on your reference. A lot better pics in it than Colegrove's book about Dow, which has some LJ pics. Have you ever checked out the pics on line at the Brazoria County Historical Museum site? Kind of difficult to navigate and find what you want and not that much about LJ, but fascinating stuff, especially of old Velasco.

Have you heard of Sugar, Planters, Slaves and Convicts by Joan Few? It's about the archeological digs at the Jackson plantation. I wanted to go to her lecture at BCHM but was ill that day; got the book from amazon.com but they probably have it at the museum. Haven't read it yet. Looks like I'm going to be up all night this weekend scanning and posting.

Sorry to hear that about Freeport High; I had seen the notices they wanted to make it into a cultural center or something but hadn't heard they gave up. Of course the old Freeport Hospital on Broad @ Oak where I was born is long gone. Poor old Freeport! Has anybody ever documented those Dow houses on 2nd -- the stucco ones?, probably designed by Alden B. Dow, too. My Dad worked on those as a carpenter working for Austin Construction Co., how he first became aware of the Brazosport area. There were also the Dow apartments on Broad and the Dow Hotel in the east end, the swankiest accomodations and eatery in the area; these were built for the influx of Dow execs.

Thanks for starting this thread; this is going to be so cool. Not that I don't enjoy reading every word you post but there are quite a few HAIFers with LJ/Bpt connections and I hope they'll join in.

Edited by brucesw
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My aunt wrote a book about that place. I can't remember the name of her book right now.

Never knew it was in another location. I was born in 1969 so I just get all this info second hand ;-)

Oh YES! Keg root beer in a frosted mug. I was so glad they saved that place. On 2nd across from where On The River is now, I think. That was a real treat when I was a kid - root beer at 'Aunt Nelly's.' I have an old Facts clipping I'll scan and post.

Ca. the early 1950s there was a 'Brown Derby' on 288 where Gulf Blvd. intersects, may have been called a Dairy Queen. We went there about once a week as a family. Everyone got a brown derby and we sat in the car and licked 'em.

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Wow! I didn't think there were any foreign car dealerships in the area. By the time I was a kid, one almost never saw anything except VWs. I never saw a Hillman or a Metropolitan (I have, but didn't as a kid) One almost never saw Mercedes'. Once at Bimco marina in Surfside I saw someone's privately owned Mercedes O-class coach. That was a real kick. Pretty sure Mercedes was distributed in the USA by Studebaker Packard in the late 50s. My parents had a '58 Desoto Firedome that my older brother laid a lot of rubber in before I was born. When I came along they got the Rambler and kept it until I was in college. (along with various Chevy trucks, and a somewhat asthmatic '55 Ford pickup.)

Shy Pond was a large pond sort of in the curve of Oyster Creek. It was in the undeveloped land bordered more or less by Forest Drive, Oyster Creek Drive, FM 2004, and Oak Drive. Yaupon continues northward over Oyster Creek now and goes right through that area. There is still a small section of Shy Pond remaining, I think.

My parents both came to the area to work at Dow. My father was actually here pre-war then returned to his home of North Carolina after Navy service. He moved back to Velasco again in the early 50s. He met my mother at the bowling alley in Freeport just east of 288; they both were avid bowlers. I still have vague memories of going to that bowling alley as a very very small child. When I was an infant, my father got his name in The Brazosport Facts for bowling 290-something.

I know about Joan Few's work and I have corresponded with her by e-mail. I work at Rice and went to Rice with her daughter Alice. Her husband is a professor at Rice. But I can't say that I have actually met her in person.

Funny about the Rambler wagon. When I was in HS I really wanted the little AWD Eagle or Spirit wagon which they had at that Freeport dealer circa 1977 or so. It's still a handsome car, at least by late 70's standards, and beat Audi and Subaru to the punch for car-based AWD.

Apparently the sale and development of Dow Park (which funded the historical museum) was a cause for major controversy in the community. There was even a brief article about it in Texas Monthly at the time.

There was an article about mod buildings in Brazosport in a recent issue of Cite. The mod houses on Second Street were specifically mentioned with pictures. I'll see if I can find something that I can post or PM you. Posting entire articles, as you know, is frowned upon here.

marmer

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I couldn't find the first part of this clipping. When I find it, I'll come back and post it. I believe it had a picture of the stand in rather sad shape at it's orginal location on 2nd. I could post the article from Bill Colegrove's Episodes which I have both in book form and the serialized newspaper articles, for the benefit of those who don't have the book or a relative who knows the story.

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They shoulda put 'Antonelli's River Inn' on it.

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I've always thought this was kind of cheesy - I want to be able to climb on board and look in the wheelhouse. In fact, I was never sure it had been a real shrimp boat, maybe just a mock up. An acquaintance from hi school got into shrimping for some reason. As he said one time, if you want to make a small fortune in shrimping, start with a large one. But he loved it. I don't know much about the Mystery. I'm not sure if it was there in my time or just where it was. Was it above the Cherry Street Bridge (EDIT: this should be Velasco St. bridge)? If so, must've been there in my time. I'm not sure just when that bridge was built but I don't think you could get a shrimp boat under it. I wasn't that interested in Freeport then --- Jr. Hi rivals and all that. It galled us to have to be bussed to hi school in Freeport.

Marmer - re: your mention of the DeSoto Firedome -- I think that Rambler place in Velasco (I'll always refer to that part of Freeport as Velasco) had also been a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer earlier; I have memories of going with a friend to look at the '55 Plymouths, which I thought were cool looking.

Please do post what you think appropriate from Cite; I used to pick that up from time to time but do all my book shopping on-line now. I'll look around for back issues - which one was it?

Do you think we need separate threads for the towns? I have more on Freeport, Lake Jackson, and a little on Angleton at this time. I'll post some stuff on BHS on that thread.

Speaking of boats on the Old River (seguewaying nicely from topic to topic) - does anyone remember the boat that was being built by a Facts reporter or photographer who planned to go around the world? He was considered kind of a wacko in town; the boat was painted a horrid lime green. I don't think anyone ever thought he'd ever actually set out but he did; I saw one report from him - he had made it as far as Corpus - but never heard anything else.

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My parents both came to the area to work at Dow. My father was actually here pre-war then returned to his home of North Carolina after Navy service. He moved back to Velasco again in the early 50s. He met my mother at the bowling alley in Freeport just east of 288; they both were avid bowlers. I still have vague memories of going to that bowling alley as a very very small child. When I was an infant, my father got his name in The Brazosport Facts for bowling 290-something.

Apparently the sale and development of Dow Park (which funded the historical museum) was a cause for major controversy in the community. There was even a brief article about it in Texas Monthly at the time.

marmer

I had forgotten all about the bowling alley. It was much closer to 288 than Weingarten's/Penney's wasn't it? I'm not sure it was even there when I was at BHS.

I didn't find out about the sale of the park till many years later. A shame it's not open to the public but hopefully it's being kept up. I'll have some pics to post -- great memories of Dow company picnics and church and civic club functions. I had to spend a lot of time in LJ and the area closing my Dad's estate - I have the impression Lake Jacksonites (and Brazosportians - ?) are about as dedicated to preserving their heritage as Houstonians.

Edited by brucesw
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A few random replies. Sorry if I don't bother to quote.

There's a small pic of Antonelli's River Inn at the Second Street location in the link I posted above from the Museum newsletter.

The Mystery was definitely a real, albeit, mostly sunken and derelict, shrimp boat. I clearly remember seeing it at the dock about 1971 or so and I'm pretty sure it was past the Cherry Street bridge. It was not the only one that looked abandoned and sunk. I suspect the reason they chose that one was because either it was abandoned or a total loss, but structurally not too deteriorated. Upon a closer look at your photo, the sealing of the deck and the wheelhouse windows is fairly new. I don't actually remember seeing that before.

Yes, the bowling alley was in (north) Velasco (actually just across 288 from the Rambler dealership.) It burned down about 1967 or so.

The Dow Park land is completely developed with houses now, except for the plantation archeological site. Here's a Google Earth cap:

LJ.jpg

I don't remember the weird green boat at all. I do remember a rotting derelict wooden sailboat and a Korean War fighter jet both on display in Jasmine Park. The boat was for kids to play on, but it was full of wasp nests and rusty nails. It was a different time.

There is a nice article in the Summer 2004 Cite by Ben Koush about the early buildings in Lake Jackson and Freeport. It's too big to scan, and since it's fairly recent you should be able to find it. There are some pictures of the Ben Franklin building and some duplexes, and this picture with plans (from Architectural Record, May 1942) of the Second Street houses we discussed earlier (that your Dad worked on)

Cite.jpg

Yes, LJ thinks they have done their historical duty by building a museum, though there are starting to be some vestiges of interest in architectural preservation. By the way, the new McSchool Lake Jackson Intermediate has been built on the site of the former Little League fields at the corner of Oyster Creek Drive and Oak Drive. Some of the old Lake Jackson Jr. High buildings were still there last time I was there, but not all.

I don't think there need to be separate threads/topics/forums for the cities. Between you, me and MidtownCoog I don't know that anyone else is that interested. Maybe BenH?

marmer

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Okay I know the bowling alley; I thought you were talking about one across from BHS which I had totally forgotten. My parents were regulars at those lanes in the 50s, Wed or Thur night as I recall. I only went a couple of times.

Next time I'm in Fpt I'll get some pics of the houses. I have meant to in the past but usually have so many errands to run when I go down there I run out of time or forget. I didn't know they'd torn down parts of LJJH - I'll have to go by and look.

Agreed on the separate threads; I gave it some more thought. I have quite a bit of stuff I've been wanting to put somewhere in hopes of generating some interest and discussion (since I don't know of a similar forum for Brazoria Co.) but not enough to do my own website.

Here's part of the Colegrove article on The River Inn for others interested. Episodes was published as a limited edition book and was so popular the Facts publisher negotiated for the rights to serialize it in the paper. So as to not risk breaking the spine of the book, this is from the paper:

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The article goes on to mention Antonelli would put up extra shade covers and barrels filled with iced watermelons in season. Early 'drive-ins' were practically curbside. I can remember pulling up to the curb on 2nd and getting out and standing under the flaps; Mr. Antonelli would come out from the back, take a mug out of a cooler, put it under the tap and fill it to the brim as described. Sometimes we got Root Beer floats but I don't remember ever having any of the other food items. It was a real treat.

I found this is Creighton's A Narrative History of Brazoria County. I didn't remember reading that Dow had built a replica of the plantation house. I wonder what one has to do to see it?

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Yes, that's the bowling alley. I actually think it was one street east of Brazosport Blvd. (288) or on a cross street. My parents were also frequent bowlers in the 50s and that's where they met. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew/ran into your folks.

I too would like to do some photography in Freeport. There's a lovely little Art Deco pharmacy building in the Downtown, and a few other neat things.

Dow built the plantation house in 1974. You could see it across the lake from Dow Park; it was near Dr. Beutel's house. I went to a couple of honors dinners/receptions there in high school. I don't know if it's still there; probably is. It would probably only be open for events and stuff.

I knew Bill Colegrove, he published a folksy weekly called "The Brazorian News."

Were you there during the Lanier High School years? I suspect that the Brazosport area has an unpleasant racial history, since the original inhabitants were mostly black farmers and the surrounding plantations depended on convict labor from the nearby prison farms. I know there were black schools in Brazoria and Angleton, and the black Lanier High School, but there weren't any other black schools as far as I know.

marmer

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Forgotten Freeport --- I came across this first photo while perusing my old high school annual.

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That's the 100 block of W. 2nd, I think. Anyone who's been to Freeport in recent years realizes how astonishing that photo is. In 1960, Freeport was still the commercial and retail hub of Brazosport and may have still had more residents than Lake Jackson but now that has completely reversed. You can drive that stretch of downtown Freeport during the middle of the day now and not see a single car or person. Everything on the left side of the street has been razed (to make way for Intermedics, I suppose, which later abandoned Freeport for a campus north of Angleton, then got bought out by a competitor in 1999 and shut down). Everything on the right hand side of the street is closed and boarded up, as I recall from my last visit. There are still 3 businesses in the next block, though.

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The Showboat theater, 219 W. 2nd Street, Freeport. The man looking at me taking the picture turned out to be the owner; he came over to talk to me and told me the Showboat opened ca. 1940-41 and closed in 1970. He said they're getting ready to put a jewelry store in there -- I didn't ask if Lee's Credit Jewelers is moving from the corner. It's sad to see the marquee and sign gone; I hope they don't remove the ticket booth. I have looked extensively for a picture from the 50s or 60s but haven't found one.

I went to the Showboat only a handful of times. We had our own theater in my hometown, Lake Jackson, the Lake. I remember thinking the first time I went there it was quite luxurious compared to the Lake, which was rather spartan. I saw Bwana Devil there, the first 3-D movie, and, fittingly enough, Showboat. By the time I was old enough to go to movies on my own with my friends, we mostly went to the two drive-ins in the area, the Surf and Tradewind (or Tradewinds). The former was where the movies featuring Bridget Bardot, Gina Lollabrigida and Sophia Loren played, anyway.

Marmer - is the pharmacy the one on the corner of Oak and Broad next to the former Wright Chevy-Olds-GMC (Bat-Wing Mowers in it's last incarnation) - I seem to remember that, a lawyer's office now, I think. Used to be a grocery across from that which was a local operation. I have a photo of another old movie house I'll post soon.

I was away from the area for most of the 60s except for the first 2 summers when I came home and worked summer jobs; from 63-70, I was in Austin. I remember some harrumphing and snorting in the halls of BHS when the first talk of integrating the schools there began, even a couple of teachers who were quick to add they'd obey the law, though. I imagine there were others who had stronger feelings but kept them to themselves but I never heard of any incidents. I remember reading of the first sit-ins in Houston but never anything about Brazosport that I can remember.

Lanier - was that the one on the old Angleton-Velasco road, now called FM 523? It was pretty contemporary with BHS as I recall, but I never went inside. I can't even remember if that was just a hi school or where all Blacks went to school. I remember reading once about the first Black family to move into Lake Jackson but I don't remember when it was or any particulars. I just wasn't that involved at all with Brazosport for the whole decade.

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Yes, during my time in the area (1961-1985, more or less) the commercial shift from Freeport to Lake Jackson happened. Of course, things like boating and fishing supplies were still found in Freeport. But when I was a little kid we had to go to Freeport for everything. By the time I was in high school, my Freeport/Brazosport High girlfriend really resented the fact that we had to go to Lake Jackson for movies, shopping, restaurants, etc.

I remember the Showboat and the Beacon in Angleton. Both of them finished their lives by showing pretty seedy movies. I never went to either of them but I remember the Showboat looked pretty nice. I think there was another theatre, maybe called Freeport or Velasco? I thought the Showboat lasted longer than 1970 because I thought I remembered some friends about my age talking about rats running around the seats when they went to movies there.

Lee's Credit Jewelers may very well be moving in there. They had a devastating fire in their building on the corner but they plan to re-open. I think the little Art Deco pharmacy with its Rx ornamentation is the one that is near there, and I think it is a law office.

Lanier High School was the building on the east side of town, on 523. It was the first campus for Brazosport College and now is a training center for Dow. Yes, it was for blacks only until approximately 1966. I'm pretty sure they were a state football champion in the Prairie View Interscholastic League in the early '60s. -- probably the Brazosport area's first state championship! I've been able to find out almost nothing other than that -- it's though the culture of that high school has completely disappered. The Davis family moved to LJ about that time. Their daughter graduated from Brazoswood a year before me in 1979! Yes, LJ was basically lily-white in the '60s

I remember Krause Office Supply and I'm pretty sure that that's the Grant's store I mentioned earlier that is barely visible across the street on the far left of the picture.

MidtownCoog -- yes, there are several excellent mods, especially along Oyster Creek Drive. One of those days I need to go take pictures.

marmer

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The Beacon - now that rings a bell. On the Brazoria Co. Historical Museum website there are some pics of the Angleton Theater, opened in 1935. The tag says it was on S. Mulberry but of course Mullberry runs east/west (Hwy 35). I found a building on Velasco, right around the corner, which resembles the pictures. I'll upload it when I get time. I do not remember the Angleton but 'Beacon' rings a bell. We would have passed right by that every time we went to Houston.

Yes there was a Velasco theater, on Ave B in the 100 or 200 block. I went there only once, to see Days of Wine and Roses just after it was released. It was a small place, dark red brick building, as I recall, not seedy but not in good shape. Threre were only a handful of other people in the auditorium that night; at least there were no parking problems. Just about all of that in those 2 blocks has been razed. There is a pic on the BCHM site purporting to be the back of the Velasco after a snowfall but I can't even tell if it's looking at the theater or out the back door.

I agree the date 1970 seems rather early for the closing of the Showboat but I have no way of knowing. Perhaps it was known as something else in its seedier days?

While browsing the BCHM site looking for old pictures I came across this, identified as the Ora Theater in Freeport:

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The listing says it was Freeport's first movie theater and opened in 1949 - bull! No way Freeport didn't have a theater until 1949 (plus the claim of the owner of the Showboat that it opened in 40/41). In fact the BCHM has another pic on line of a much earlier theater, although it may not have been a movie theater. The movie on the marquee was released in 1947 I think. The thing is, I don't remember this at all. I went looking for it my last trip there and found this:

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This is in the 200 block of E. Park. All the businesses along there were closed and only one had a street address so I can't pin it down more than that. I was on Park street many times -- we sometimes shopped at the Tobey Hardware on the corner, Griff's Men's Wear across the street; the Facts was located in the 300 block (as was a Pontiac dealership) and the photographer who took many photos for school annuals had a studio there, but I just don't remember this at all so I have no idea of the actual dates. Looks like it might have been a nightclub in another incarnation.

I did not remember the Black school was named Lanier. I've tried to think of another Black school in the area but can't come up with one. The Black population of Bpt was quite small, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Hispanics than Blacks back then. I didn't know it had been the BCC campus.

We shopped at Krause's; I went to hi school with the son of the owner of Willenberg's Pharmacy -- can't remember his name right now. Everybody talks about Grant's and Woolworth's on HAIF. Fie! Nothing will ever beat Ben Franklin's for me -- of course I knew Ernie Rea who owned the LJ Ben Franklin.

Midtown Coog - do you perhaps mean the Episcopal Church at the corner of Oyster Creek Drive and Circle Way? Behind the Methodist Church would be Hwy 332 and across from that a newer portion of town where I can't think of any mods. There are mods along Circle Way and OCD as I recall.

Also, what's the pronunciation of Antonelli? We always understood it was pronounced as a 3 syllable word, hence the Aunt Nelly above. Was it pronounced as a 4 syllable word, i.e., was the 'o' elided or not?

Edited by brucesw
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Awesome thread. My grandparents lived in Oyster Creek, my dad & aunt went to Brazosport HS. I stayed many a time with them and have many fond memories. My granny would always take me to Antonelli's for a root beer float........YUMMY! I was down there a couple of times when something blew up at Dow (my grandfather's employer).......Thanks for this memory jogging thread!!

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Brazosport/Quintana Folklore

BZZPORT on the Llano

On slab road near kingsland, Mr. Bee built what looked like it was meant to be a small outdoor concession stand and picknic tables on the banks of the llano river. The sign said "BZZPORT" and the rumor was that he moved here from Brazosport. He was eccentric and died over 10 years ago. Last time I drove down slab road the BZZPORT sign still hung over the gate of the property.

Missing bar patrons found in canal

In the 1970s I heard a piece of folklore about the Freeport/brazosport area. There was a road to quintana beach that made a sharp turn before a canal. There was a bar up the road. Many people dissapeared from the bar never to be seen again. A fisherman snagged the roof of a car in the canal and it was discovered that the many missing people were in cars that sank in the canal when they could not make the turn on the way home from the bar.

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Yes, I seem to remember that theatre building downtown being a nightclub when I was in college. Nice to see it looking so good.

I don't remember the name ORA, but it may have changed later.

I remember the Rea and Suggs families, just barely. As far as I know, the root beer place was always called An-to-nel-li's, though it could have been elided to three syllables by some folks.

Yes, I heard the urban legend about the canal on the way to Quintana, and it's probably true that there were some accidents there. There was indeed a deep canal and a sharp turn in the road on the way to Quintana up until the '80s but the new bridge and Hwy 36 to Jones Creek fixed that. As far as several people disappearing and several cars missing, I find that a little difficult to believe.

Of course in 1971 the hijacked airliner made an emergency landing at the old Lake Jackson airport, and young Houston TV reporter Jessica Savitch got thrown in jail for trying to get too close after the sheriff's deputies/Lake Jackson police told her not to.

The "big explosion" of a tank car happened in December 1967, I believe it killed about ten people but I'm not sure.

A couple of very credible unexplained UFO sightings took place in the area but are almost forgotten now. One, in 1959, occurred as a group of women were driving from Freeport to Jones Creek (probably Hwy. 36). A bright light crossed in front of them and disappeared into the heavily wooded area beside the road. The car engine died temporarily and the frightened women called the sheriff's office. According to the sheriff's report, there was a light visible back in the woods but the brush was too thick to allow searching. The better known one happened near Damon or Bailey's Prairie between Angleton and Brazoria in September 1966.

Two sheriff's deputies chased a gigantic craft at speeds exceeding 100 mph on the country roads in the area. One of the deputies had an alligator(!) bite he had received earlier in the day which was apparently healed by purple light beams from the craft.

marmer

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Re: Quintana, right at the mouth of the old Brazos, across from Surfiside, where Stephen F. Austin's first colonists sailed in. AIR, some people tried to ride out Carla in a shed there and didn't make it. The canal was the Intracoastal Waterway.

4fvedyh.jpg

This was at Surfside but there were 2 bridges south of Freeport, one for Bryan Beach and one for Quintana. Quintana was just about the most remote place there was and there was a bar there. I can remember when all three bridges were one-way. When the bridges had to open for barge traffic on the canal, which always had priority, the wait could be quite lengthy. When the bridge was just one way, traffic on the beach was allowed off before anyone was allowed to cross in the other direction. The Surfside bridge was just down from the entrance to Dow Plant A and is now dead-end. You went out Gulf Blvd. in Velasco to get there. The two bridges south of Freeport were accessed by going out the same road past the Port of Freeport as you use now; they were replaced by one two-way bridge eventually but it's only been in the last 15 years or so that a span replaced that.

I never heard of anyone driving off into the canal and not being found but there were (urban) legends of the bridge tenders drinking heavily to while the time away, especially south of town where hours might pass without any traffic, and failing to take all the steps necessary to safely allow auto traffic over the bridges before raising the crossarms, leading to some plunging into the canal.

Just a couple hundred yards or less from the Surfside bridge in the direction of the old river was what I think we called the Freeport or Velasco light.

2hcp8ns.jpg

It still stood in my childhood but I never saw it in operation because we never went to the beach at night. The turret and Fresnel lens from the light are on display at the Brazoria Co. Historical Museum in Angleton along with a history.

These pictures are from James Creighton's A Narrative History of Brazoria Co. but I believe they, and more like them, can be found on the BCHM website. Pictures there are small, so I chose to scan the book.

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In 1950 the Houston Chronicle discovered Lake Jackson and their Sunday Rotogravure magazine did a feature.

2vw9wlf.jpg

The big building lower left is the Lake Theater, apparently one of the first buildings completed. It faces Circle Way; along the side of the theater is North Parking Place. Marmer, looks like this might be before Nowlin's and the Lavelle shop were there. The baseball field at top left is where the state champ Lake Jackon Gators played. The short esplanade just below center is Other Way Street; the two streets approaching it are, from the bottom center, That Way, and from the right, This Way. The intersection of This Way, That Way and Other Way made Ripley's Believe it or Not. Architect and city designer Alden B. Dow's office was in the strip on South Parking Place, on the other side of Other Way from N. Parking Place. The strip along This Way included a Humble station, Lake Drug, Ben Franklin Store, Style Mart and and early grocery store that became a Piggly Wiggly.

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I have so many fond memories of picnics at the lake. The covered area included large pits. Dow held company picnics here as did churches and civic groups. Many times volunteers prepared the food, but sometimes Dow hired Lennox BBQ of Houston. The street scene is taken from North Parking Place looking across the Other Way esplanade. I didn't remember the building on the right, which I think was an appliance store at first but Marmer remembers as a washateria, was there as early as 1950. Between the oak in the foreground and the light pole, you can see the entrance to the Ben Franklin.

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And we all went out and played in the DDT fog. Between that, all the pollution Dow released in the early days, working one summer at Ethyl Dow checking the bromine cleansers everday (and getting a real strong blast of fumes every time you opened one) and the radium treatments I received as a child for sinusitis, it's a wonder I'm alive and don't glow in the dark.

Edited by brucesw
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You made me curious so yesterday I had my Mom say "Antonelli". They definetly don't say the 'o'.

But she sure has a way with the "elli". You should have heard my grandmother say "Italian".

Like a Native Texan.

Anyway...

Related to DOW, my grandfather worked there of course. My Mom said they'd go crabbing in the canals near DOW in an area only the employees had access to.

That sounds kinda toxic but no real health problems on that side of the family other than getting old.

They rode out Carla in a DOW building and kept having to move up floors becuase of the water.

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Yes, that's the washateria. Now Domino's pizza, and across from it when I was a kid, Lake Drug and Sportville. The area by the esplanade was never called Other Way to my knowledge, always a continuation of Center Way. Here's a cap from a Sanborn map from 1951 that seems to confirm it.

LJ-1.jpg

The Lavelle building is not there either on the map or in the picture. Now that I think of it, it is a beautiful rendition of what would later be called a strip center. The stores are several feet above the street level and there is a continuous set of steps up to a covered arcade in front of the stores. I've never seen anything like that anywhere else.

No DDT spraying when I was a kid, thanks to Rachel Carson. Maybe the later sprays didn't work as well, or we were just used to a comparatively lower skeeter population, but we always thought there were lots of the damn things.

I wasn't quite born yet for Carla, my parents evacuated to Central Texas and their house on Acacia had little damage. A few downed limbs, a few shingles blown off, the aluminum awnings torn up. No significant water or wind damage.

Of course I well remember the draw bridge to Quintana but not a separate bridge to Bryan Beach. We always turned left at the end of the drawbridge to go to Quintana or right to go to Bryan.

I'm pretty sure I remember the Freeport light. A new one went in when I was pretty small, though. The picture caption says 1967 and that sounds about right.

I thought there was a significant resort area in the late nineteenth century at what is now called Surfside, but don't remember the name. Maybe Quintana? Apparently the whole town was a total loss after the 1900 hurricane, sorta like Indianola farther up the coast.

WRT toxicity, I don't know anything specific; I know my former high school girlfriend died of cancer at thirty and she spent a lot of her growing-up years drinking well water from her grandmother's place on 36 between Freeport and Jones Creek. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a connection but there's no way to prove anything. On the other hand her grandmother lived there for fifty years, smoked like a chimney, and lived past seventy.

I remember when the intersection of 288 and 332 was a stop sign, right there by the Surf drive in. It was replaced with the area's first cloverleaf in about 1968.

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I rememer the water in Jones Creek stunk when I was a kid.

So speaking of death one has to mention Gulf Prarie Cemetary in Jones Creek. That's where my grandparents are burried.

It was the original burial site of SFA until the moved his remains to Austin. Neat old plots on the side by the church.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online...s/GG/hvgnj.html

http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTown...rairieTexas.htm

Edited by MidtownCoog
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So speaking of death one has to mention Gulf Prarie Cemetary in Jones Creek. That's where my grandparents are burried.

It was the original burial site of SFA until the moved his remains to Austin. Neat old plots on the side by the church.

She is too. Seems appropriate, since she spent so many happy hours so near there. And, yes, there are lots of neat old plots there, the Perry family for one. I knew some Perrys when I was growing up and they were related to some of the original settlers.

marmer

Edit: "She" meaning the high school girlfriend mentioned in Post #27 above. May she rest in peace.

Edited by marmer
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  • 2 weeks later...

I just found this thread. It is very fascinating to me as I grew up in Brazoria but practically lived in Lake Jackson during my formative years of the 70's and 80's. Unfortunately, I went to high school in West Columbia (poorest school in the county) although I lived closer to Brazoswood HS. I always resented that. I loved the root bear stand in Freeport. I used to go to Quintana beach all the time. It was nicer than Bryan beach but not as expensive as Surfside.

I saw many a movie at the old Lake I and II theaters in Lake Jackson. Does anyone remember the old drive in between Angleton and Freeport on the old 288? I saw 9 to 5 there back in the day.

My dad worked for Dow for 30 years before retiring. He stills lives down in Brazoria. Ever time I visit it seems nothing ever changes. I love living in Houston but my roots are in the love it or hate it little area known as Brazosport.

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