Michelle C

When I was a kid of probably about ten or twelve there was a man that lived a block south of Washington Ave on Lillian street at Leverkhun. He was an old timer then and he build stage coaches from the ground up. Mr. Knepples had learned the trade from his father.

There were stage stops about every twenty miles or so. I know of two hear in the Smithville area that are closer than that. Probably about 12 to 15 miles apart. He may well be right. My grandpa rode to Houston on horseback in 1890 From Mississippi. I remember him talking about Houston when I was about 16 or 18 years old. He said When he first come to Houston that you could walk across City in less than thirty minutes.

Nope. They were not smoking grass, only the store bought stuff.

When I was about twelve years of age I was at that very same drive in one cold rainy night with my older cousin and her husband and another married couple that were friends of theirs. My cousin had a 55 Oldsmobile with electric windows. They decided to let all the windows up and have a smoke out. With all four of them puffing and no way to let out the smoke I was choking and coughing, they finally decided to let the windows down, I hung my entire upper body our of the car to get some fresh air. I think they were trying to give me a hint not to ask to go with them the next time. BTW, my cousin quit smoking about twenty years ago but now suffers from COPD. I guess she should have quit sooner.

Bill Bodenheimer was few grades behind me in school. I didn't know him but had a friend that did. I remember the murder and all the publicity that surronded it very well. We lived on Sul Ross one block south of W. Alabama about a mile south of where Bill lived.

Your correct, the weather ball was on the Conoco building, I think my mind is beginning to slip.

If all the houses in Houston where murders have taken place were torn down, there would be a lot of vacant lots all over the city and a serious housing shortage. Bump that up to all the houses where murders and natural deaths have occurred and there would only be a half dozen houses left in the city.

I never knew there was anything but white bread until I was an adult.

On top of Bank of the Southwest, I not only remember the large revolving sign but also the infamous weather ball. There used to be jingle that was played o the radio that explained what the different colors indicated. The only part of the jingle I remember is the Last few words of it. "Blinking light, rain is due".

I don't think David was a close friend by any means. He told me that would see Fred as he walked past his house on Driscoll. He said one day that he spoke to him and they got introduced. He said from time to time that they would exchange a few words in passing. I have a question for you. Did Fred have a car? David seemed to think that was going to and from the bus stop on Westheimer when he would see him.

I had a friend that lived on the next block down toward Westheimer from the Rogers'. He was a friend of Fred Rogers.

Do you remember her name? I graduated from San Jac in 1963 and we too made the trail ride.

Indeed I do remember. My first year for the Salt Grass trail was 1956, I will never forget the first year. As usual it turns really cold when the trail rides began. In Branham we were parked next to a gentleman in a 55 Buick. He ran his car all night sleeping in the back seat to keep warm. The next morning about six as we were getting up his car ran out of gas. When we were leaving that morning we saw him and a couple of his friends pushing the big Buick toward the road. later when I got older I belonged to the Go Texan Trail Riders Assoc. We rode the Salt Grass a couple of times with them. I have also rode the Southern trail ride and the Brazoria County ride. I might add that we eat good too.

I mentioned in an earlier post that a lot of dealerships were located on Milam. I did a little checking and found that there were as many as eleven different dealership locations on Milam. Many of those locations were recycled over the years with different names like Central Pontiac later became Frank Gillman. 900 Milam Dow Chevrolet 1315 Meador Packard 1320 Jacoby Lincoln Mercury 1410 A. C. Burton Chrysler Plymouth 1613 Great Southwest Dodge and Plymouth 1621 Central Pontiac 1701 Southwest Chevrolet 1920 Douglas Nash 2120 Russell Smith Ford 2200 North Buick 2215 Al Parker Buick

I don't remember that one but I do remember Champions Ball Room on Hwy. 149 now called 249 from the same time period. Also the Texas Ball Room at Stubner Airline and I-45 at Shepherd.

I remember Carla well. I was still in high school. We rode it out in our house at 1525 Sul Ross. We survived with little or no damage to our house. We had lots of limbs and twigs strewn all over the yard. My cousin's dad decided to load up his family and head for Smithville where It would be a little safer. They left Houston for Smithville and Carla went straight through Houston and straight to Smithville spawning several tornados in the Smithville area. When It was all over Smithville had more damage per capita than Houston.

What I miss more than anything was the slower pace Houston had in the late fifties and early sixties when I was a teen. At the time I guess we thought the city was fast paced but not compared to now. It was much easier to get around even without all the freeways we have now. It was not near as spread out then. I miss all the usual places my Prince's drive in and of course my favorite Bill Williams, the place to go to meet all the cool guys. I miss the soda fountains of Madding's drug stores, I miss that great little burger joint called Prices, they had 15 cent hamburgers, 12 cent French fries and nickel Cokes. I miss the mom and pop family café where my husband and I could go and eat a good meal for a buck fifty each. I miss the dollar for all you could drink beer night at the Texas Ball Room at I-45 and Stubner Airline. I miss the Sunday afternoon dancing at Magnolia Gardens. As a kid I miss the ride to downtown Houston on the bus to see the Houston Fat Stock show and rodeo parade. I miss the serial at the Alabama theatre every Saturday. I could go on here all day long. It was just a simpler time of life in the fifties and sixties, I wish I could go back. Like Bill Murray was stuck in time in Groundhog day, I wish I could be stuck in the fifties as a kid.

Early in the history of Houston the dealer ships seemed to be not only in the downtown area but were strung along Washington Ave. and Harrisburg and on around the curve onto Broadway. Washington Ave was old Hwy. 90 and continued on to Preston in the downtown area. Milam seemed to be heavily vested with dealerships in the downtown area, I can think of about a half dozen that was on Milam just off the top of my head.

The Texas Ballroom used to be right in the V just below the building you have pictured. BTW that was Stubner Airline before it became Veterans Memorial.

No it came from the factory with the bucket seats and console. As stated above the truck is a Ranger and in 1965 the Ranger package was introduced and consisted of the bucket seats, floor carpeting and a carpet type curtain behind the seats to conceal the fuel tank. The console was another option. The early Rangers were full sized trucks. The Ranger models are serial numbered as such. If you find one of these trucks with bucket seats you only need to check the VIN plate to find our if it is a clone or the real thing. The real ones are very far and few between. I have enclosed a couple of brochures from 1965 and 1966.

Thank you for the kind words about my truck. The vent windows are push open. Here is another picture of everything loaded up for the truck show in Springfield MO.

The Ranger package could only be bought with the Custom Cab option. The console was yet another option.

In 1965 the Ranger was a full sized pick up. It was also the first year that Ford used the Ranger designation on a pick up. For 1965 and 1966 the Ranger designation indicated the truck had the bucket seats which was very rare for those two years. Only about a thousand for 65 and fifteen hundred for 66 as best as we can figure based on the current information, regardless of the exact number built they are very rare. They have a special trim code that indicates they have bucket seats so they would be hard to clone. Here are a few pictures of my 65 for your viewing.

Quote "Bill Bennett’s Grill. Thanks to fellow St. Thomas High School Class of 1956 classmate A.J. Garney for opening the memory door on this favorite haunt. Wow! How could I have forgotten. In our trip up South Main, we turn right on Pierce and head to LaBranch. At LaBranch near St. Joseph Hospital, we turn right again and take another right at Jefferson (now St. Joseph Parkway) and there it is on the left: Bill Bennett’s Grill. As A.J. so fondly recalls, Bill Bennett’s served these great homemade all-you-can-eat biscuits and practically everything else that could be grilled or fried – and at the modest prices we could all afford as high school guys out there on the original rock-n-roll boogie trail. I’m not sure when Bill Bennett’s closed, but it came down when TXDOT acted to use that space for that section of the downtown freeway we now call the Pierce Elevator." Those directions are incorrect. Bill Bennett's sat between Pierce and Gray. The Pierce elevated now sits right on top of where Bill Bennett's used to be. St Joseph Parkway used to be Calhoun street. Mecom oil exploration was across the street from Bennett's on gray street. Both Mecom and Bill Bennett's would have been about the 1500 block.

When I was a teen my mom, dad and I would sometimes go to Bill Bennett's grill to eat. One night I was with dad as we were coming back from Galveston, it was late about midnight when we stopped in for some breakfast. I was amazed at the crowd that was there that time of night. Dad said it would be crowded like that just about all night, especially on weekends. Bill Bennett's was located near St joseph hospital downtown. Hopefully someone besides myself remembers it.