Ever wonder where John Deeres go in the off season?  Must be like a spa for tractors!  The sign on the lot across the street says "Finished."

 

Hurst Farm Supply

Abernathy, Texas

2.11.2017

jam session

 

When the bowling alley was built in Abernathy in the late '50s or so, it was THE place to go.  Everybody had a bowling ball and was a member of the men's, women's, church or youth leagues (me included).  The building languished but today it houses the Texas War Veterans Thrift Store, operated by a couple of Viet Nam vets. What used to be the lanes is filled with "thrift" merchandise, but the area where the pin setting was is different.  It serves as a "club" of sorts with a bar, tables and chairs and a small stage with sound equipment, the piano and guitars.

 



 

Texas War Veterans Thrift Store

Abernathy, Texas

 



boarding house

 

This structure was the subject of a story by my dad.  It seems that in the 1940s it was a boarding house.  One of its lodgers was my great-uncle Charlie, who lived there while keeping books at my grandfather's gin in New Deal.  What attracted me was the asymmetry of the windows -- different sizes, a little patchwork, a dryer vent and a window air conditioner.  I don't know anything else about  the building, except it's been there a long time.  A history of Abernathy notes that the town was established in 1909 through an investment company owned by Dr. M. C. Overton and Monroe Abernathy.  It seems that nearby Bartonsite already had several buildings (perhaps even the Barton House currently at the Ranching Heritage Museum) and Abernathy had none except the small frame building for the investment firm. The founding fathers contracted with J.J. Barton to move some of the buildings to Abernathy. In the late summer of 1909 the seven mile move began. Buildings were placed on rollers pulled by steam-driven tractors at about three or four miles per hour. Buildings moved included a lumberyard, blacksmith shop, three or four residences and a two-story yellow hotel. I wonder if this building were that hotel -- there's not many two-storied buildings in town. Hmm.....

 

9th and Avenue E

Abernathy, Texas

11.9.2014

patriotic paint horse

 

This paint horse and rider showed their patriotic colors this morning as they rode in Abernathy's Fourth of July parade.  People lined the streets in this small town to celebrate the holiday.

 

Abernathy, Texas