tractor parade

 

The biggest thing happening in Hale Center today was the South Plains Antique Tractor show at the Hale County Farm Museum.  Twelve antique tractors formed an impromptu parade along the I-27 access road.  Sadly I was the only bystander.

 

Hale Center, Texas

civic improvement?

 

When I photographed this church on the main street of Hale Center in 2013, it had been long abandoned, but still had some dignity.  Some one is repurposing this old building - which is a good thing.  However, I question their color choices for a civic improvement project (and those aren't even Hale Center Owl colors!)

 

Hale Center, Texas

11-17-13 and 1-2-16



train stop

 

I am ashamed to admit that in all the time I've been BY the Hale County Farm & Ranch Museum, I've never actually visited it until today.  Here is the 1911 restored Santa Fe train depot with the 1907 Pinkerton farm house reflected in the window.  Besides the hundred pieces of rusted farm equipment, where else could one see a button collection spanning over 80 years, the first electric permanent wave machine from a Lockney beauty shop or assorted uniforms from Hale County veterans?

 

Hale County Farm & Ranch Museum

Hale Center, Texas

white on white

 

Two of my images from the "Maytag Series" were accepted in the "White on White" juried exhibition opening at the LHUCA December 4.  The show's theme is "monochromatic works, with absence of color, from the many hues and shades of white, and neutrals."  Sounds pretty lofty for photos taken at Bud's Laundromat in Hale Center, Texas!.

Opening receptions: December 4 and January 1, during the First Friday Art Trail 6 – 9 pm 

Exhibition dates: December 4, 2015 – January 23, 2016
Helen DeVitt Jones Studio Gallery 

lonely star

 

Advertising for the Dairy Queen calls its logo the Texas stop sign.  Well, no one was stopping at the Dairy Queen in Hale Center so it closed.  The place has tried to be other things -- unsuccessfully.  Even the Texas Observer has mentioned the Hale Center Dairy Queen in its article on the demise of a small town.  If you'd like to compete with the Owl Café, I think this place is available.  It has a great exterior paint job--on the south side at least.

 

Hale Center, Texas

brothers

 

The Bell Boys

Hale Center, Texas

wow

 

What? You don't think this building in Hale Center has that wow factor?  It is the home of Woodmen of the World, a "fraternal benefit society." Founded in in 1890 in  by Joseph Cullen Root after hearing a sermon about "pioneer woodsmen clearing away the forest to provide for their families". Root wanted to start a Society that "would clear away problems of financial security for its members." Today WOW offers life insurance and annuities to its members.  The organization may be best known for its tombstones.  Surely in your excursions through cemeteries you've noticed those grave markers that look like tree trunks.  Early WOW life insurance policies included a free tombstone.  That practice was discontinued in the 1920s primarily due to cost; however, the society ensures that "no Woodmen shall rest in an unmarked grave."  WOW marker design was a four to five foot high tree trunk monument and included symbols like axes, wedges and other types of tools used in woodworking.  Doves were also popular motifs.

 





Floydada Cemetery

 

 

Woodmen of the World

121 W. Stevenson

Hale Center, Texas

5.16.2014

 

ten-hut

 

Twenty-four washing machines stand at attention -- although dented and battered -- ready to wash your clothes.  Laundromats have been around since about the 1920s, first with attendants, then coin-operated and like Bud's in Hale Center "stand alone."  In Texas we often refer to these places as "wash-a-terias."  The first washateria so named was opened in 1936 in Fort Worth.  We even had a washateria in New Deal.  It was housed in the former Baptist church.  I remember, as a child, going with Mother and her friend Ruby.  It was my first experience, literally, with bluing! Laundromats may be a dying (not drying) industry due to high rents, water mitigation fees and home machines.  However, if you need to do a few loads, there doesn't appear to be any waiting at Bud's.

 

Bud's Laundry

164 W. Stevenson

Hale Center, Texas

bud's laundry 

English Nursery Rhyme, 1849

They that wash on Monday
Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
They have pretty nigh;
They that wash on Wednesday
Have half the week past;
They that wash on Thursday
Are very near the last;
They that wash on Friday
Wash for need;
They that wash on Saturday
Are sluts indeed.       

Most of my adult life, I've done laundry on Saturday -- because that seemed to be the most convenient time for a working gal.  Little did I know that I thus labeled myself!

 

There was no one washing nor drying at Bud's Laundry on Friday, so nobody must have been in need. One probably must be really in need to frequent this establishment-- the Coke machine was the newest piece of machinery in there!

Bud's Laundry
164 W. Stevenson
Hale Center, Texas

happy valentine's day

 

While skimming through archived photographs to see if I had a Valentine-themed image for today, I came across this love bug and teddy bear with red satin heart-shaped pads on her paws.  How appropriate!  When Interstate 27 (all 123 miles of it from Lubbock to Amarillo) was constructed beginning in 1975. large excavations were made along the way to provide dirt for the overpasses.  On the south side of Hale Center, one enterprising family built a cabin on the edge of the pit, which in good years, is a small lake--this year the boat dock is several feet above the dry bed.  For decades, this VW has sat on the corner of the acreage along the frontage road.  Lately the teddy bear has appeared.  Know what she's holding?  A Budweiser.  She'd toast Valentine's Day and say "here's looking at you" but sadly she has no eyes! 

 

South I-27 Service Road

Hale Center, Texas

10.26.2013

minnesota paints

 

Like a lot of enterprises in Hale Center, West Builders Supply is out of business.  One would wonder that if West had stocked Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore paint, the lumber yard would still have customers.  Why is a Minnesota Paint sold in Texas?  Good sales rep, I'd guess.  There's not much information on Minnesota Paints except for an expired trademark, a merger with Valspar in 1970 and a sign or two on eBay.  I'd venture to say the large metal sign on the lumber yard might be worth more than the building.

 

Hale Center, Texas

11.15.2013

 

 

There are more buildings closed and boarded up than are open for business in Hale Center -- a sad sign of the times for small West Texas towns.  What first caught my eye on this former church were the gothic windows --slender, pointed arches on a stucco building.  Then I noticed the small window on the upper level -- too narrow for a second story and no steeple to access.  If eyes are the windows to the soul, then these church windows, boarded and blank, reflect no soul within.

 

900 Main Street

Hale Center, Texas

11.15.2013

1984 el camino

 

Hale Center has beautified downtown with murals depicting its history--from farming and ranching to the train station and the newspaper office.  A business man also got into the spirit, asking sign painter Steven Garcia to immortalize his 1984 El Camino pickup on the front of his business.  Visit downtown Hale Center (it won't take long to do the main drag) and check out the art.

 

Main Street

Hale Center, Texas