Wolfe Nursery

[billyf]

On 5/17/2019 at 9:13 AM, IronTiger said:

The Wolfe Nursery at Shepherd and North Freeway was there in 1982, with 8223 North Shepherd being listed for "Wolfe Garden-Land Nursery", with the building (and the address, though changed to North Freeway later) is the same and operating as Cash America Pawn today.

Thanks for confirming this. I remember going to Wolfe and Palms Nursery frequently with my parents as a little kid in the late 70s to early 80s. I knew it was in this area as I would see the post office when we would leave. When I met up with Firebird downtown a couple of years ago to do some research, he was puzzled how I remembered that Wolfe Nursery.

I still remember the layout, look and smell of Palms. I think we went there more often. I don't remember much about Wolfe's except the location. My parents were all into fixing up our yard as they had just bought the house in 1976. Several freezes came through and killed off the things they planted. The freeze of December 1983 was the final straw and they just let the yard go for several years other than mowing and edging.

[Specwriter]

9 hours ago, billyf said:

The freeze of December 1983 was the final straw and they just let the yard go for several years other than mowing and edging.

Ah, the freeze of 1983; that's probably a subject that deserves its own thread. It got so cold the regulator on our gas meter froze (apparently a bit of moisture was in it) and stopped the natural gas from flowing into our house and, of course, the furnace. My father and I constructed a tent over the meter from a sleeping bag and put a 100 watt light bulb in a work light and placed it under the "tent." The set-up worked and the meter thawed.

[billyf]

14 hours ago, Specwriter said:

Ah, the freeze of 1983; that's probably a subject that deserves its own thread. It got so cold the regulator on our gas meter froze (apparently a bit of moisture was in it) and stopped the natural gas from flowing into our house and, of course, the furnace. My father and I constructed a tent over the meter from a sleeping bag and put a 100 watt light bulb in a work light and placed it under the "tent." The set-up worked and the meter thawed.

Yes it does, same with the 1989 freeze which was shorter.

I wonder how many people that happened to them because the same thing happened to our next door neighbor during that freeze. They had just got a new furnace with an electronic igniter which was fairly new at the time. They kept hearing it trying to start and noticed it was getting colder in the house. They checked the stove a saw there was no gas and called Entex. The technician determined the vent on the regulator had froze and he used a hair dryer I believe to thaw it. Our pipes ended up freezing that night and we had to use a hair dryer the next day to unthaw them. It stayed below freezing day and night for almost a week! Dripping the faucetsdid no good, same with the 1989 freeze. In that one we had a pipe burst in the attic.

[Retama]

A little side note about Wolfe Nursery: It was founded and owned by Hugh Wolfe. Wolfe was a football and track star at Tarleton College (when it was a junior college) in 1933 and then the University of Texas 1934-37. He was the first Longhorn ever drafted by an NFL team (Pittsburgh Pirates). He also played for the New York Giants.