100 years ago
FROM JULY 1912
Pleasant Fourth party held at Blue Hole
C.F. Evans and family, W.F. Jarrell and family, V.W. Shepard and family, W.J. Hamilton and family and most of the employees of Jarrell-Evans Dry Goods Co. went out Wednesday afternoon to Blue Hole on Hickory Creek and spent the night and the Fourth. Many fish were caught on trout lines and they had all they could eat. Among the employee guests who enjoyed the pleasant respite were Misses Harwell and Coleman, Mrs. Johnson, Grady Jones and Clem Pierce.
NOTE: Blue Hole was south of the present-day Denton Municipal Airport, then part of John H. Paine’s Pilot Knob Ranch.
Glass egg found
inside chicken snake
Math Gray, living near the C.I.A., recently killed a large chicken snake in the basement of his home. Noticing a protuberance inside the snake’s body, Mr. Gray performed a surgical feat to discover its nature and got a big glass egg of the kind used for nest eggs. On it were the words “Easter Greetings” and if anybody has lost an egg of that kind Mr. Gray would like to hear from them to ascertain how far the snake had traveled.
Ad: FRECKLED GIRLS — it is an absolute fact that a 50 cent jar of Wilson’s Freckle Cream will remove or cause your freckles to fade. We will return your money without argument if your complexion is not fully restored. On sale at O.M. Curtis Drug.
County primary
for white men only
The Democratic Party primary on July 27 for Denton County will be strictly a white man’s election with neither Negroes nor Mexicans admitted, according to actions of the Denton County Executive Committee. The motion carried unanimously.
The question of admitting men who had not previously been Democrats aroused considerable discussion. It was finally determined that in case of doubtful Democrats, the pledge at the top of the ticket, reading, “I am a Democrat and pledge myself to vote for the nominee of this primary,” be read to the voter by the presiding judge. If he believes the voter subscribed to that pledge honestly, then he can vote.
NOTE: Women were excluded, too. Their right to vote in any election was still eight years away.
75 Years Ago
FROM JULY 1937
Big crowd for Denton July 4th program
A large crowd, estimated at 10,000, attended the Chamber of Commerce Independence Day celebration in Denton on Monday.
Ten fiddle bands competed for the three cash awards. The winner of the $10 first prize was the Lewisville String Band composed of Dob Powell, U.G. Powell, Fred McGraw and M.C. Cain. Dob Powell also won the individual fiddler’s contest and the $5 prize.
Other acts on the program included a tap dance by two colored boys and a special tune on the handsaw. The Stage Band from the Teachers College, led by Floyd Graham, began the evening program, followed by the Teachers College Harmonettes and an accordion and trumpet duet featuring Theo and Billy Floyd Brooks.
Rowe Meadow of the Teachers College presented a special rope number and Emmet Crosby of Lewisville gave imitations of barnyard animals. The entertainment was closed by a demonstration of fire-eating and other stunts by Millard McDaniel from the local CCC camp.
Pioneer statue at TSCW to be clothed
Selection of a design for a fully clothed woman’s figure brings to an end the controversy over the $25,000 monument to the Texas pioneer woman which will be erected on the campus at the Texas State College for Women.
Last year a model with a group of nudes was tentatively accepted, but after considerable discussion, rejected.
The statue will be either bronze or marble.
50 years ago
From JULY 1962
Center Point club plans old-fashioned party
The Center Point Home Demonstration Club is planning an old-fashioned ice cream and cake supper for July 24 at the Center Point Community Center.
Homemade ice cream and cake will be sold for club project funds and games will be provided. There will not be an admission fee and the public is invited.
Plans for the event were made during a meeting at the home of Mrs. Lela Mae Cole. Eighteen members, including two new members, Mrs. Wallace Lynch and Mrs. McGalliard were present.
38,800 residents
get polio vaccine
The drive to knock out Type 1 polio in Denton County has been declared a success.
A total of 38,800 persons registered at 16 inoculation clinics in the county on Sunday afternoon before taking doses of the Sabin oral vaccine, which consisted of three drops of vaccine on a sugar cube.
Danny Vinson, coordinator of the event, put in a call to Tarrant County when it looked like Denton might run short of vaccine. A Denton police car met a Fort Worth police car in Keller, where the vaccine was transferred, and the supply was replenished in a matter of 40 minutes.
In addition to eight locations in Denton, the vaccine was dispensed at eight other locations in the county. Those were at Roanoke, Sanger, Pilot Point, Krum, Lake Dallas, Justin and two sites in Lewisville.
25 Years Ago
From JULY 1987
Ray Roberts Lake
and Dam dedicated
A threat of rain moved the dedication of Ray Roberts Dam and Lake into the Denton Civic Center Tuesday, an occasion reminiscent of the 1982 groundbreaking for the lake. It rained that day, too.
With a regulation red-white-and-blue-bunting ceremony that included dignitaries of local, state and national importance, the lake and dam were symbolically closed to begin the filling of the lake.
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem John Evans presented a proclamation to former Congressman Roberts for his dedication in getting authorization of the project, originally named Aubrey Reservoir.
Denton Mayor Ray Stephens also presented a proclamation to Roberts and cited the local efforts of Tom Harpool, the late Joe Skiles and Homer Bly in making the lake a reality.
Former Congressman Jim Collins of Dallas told the crowd that when he first went to Washington, “they told me it’s not oil that’s going to affect the future. It’s water.”
Roberts recounted a little history of the project. “I checked and found Dallas filed on the entire watershed in 1911. I went down to Dallas to see if I could get a little of that water for Denton. They said no. But Jim Collins went to work and pretty soon we got it.”
The former U.S. Congressman also noted that President Jimmy Carter initially vetoed the bill that would make the lake possible. It was later attached to a welfare bill Carter favored and the measure passed after the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Jamie Whitten, ruled that the lake was important to the “welfare” of North Central Texas.
Roberts recalled being thrilled when he learned the name had been changed to Ray Roberts Lake. “I’m humbled to know my name is worth a dam — and a reservoir.”
Local Spanish-language TV show launched
Tomasa Garcia knows the needs of Denton’s Hispanic community and has done something to meet them.
Last year, she persuaded the local cable provider, Sammons Communications Inc., to include the Spanish-language network SIN in its programming.
But that wasn’t enough. So, in May, Garcia launched a Spanish-language talk show — the only one produced in the Denton area.
As producer and host of Para Usted: El Hispano (For You: The Hispanic), Garcia hopes to “get the Spanish-speaking community involved and informed.”
Her 14 years in the community have helped Garcia “establish credibility and rapport with [Hispanics],” she said. “They would ask me all kinds of questions — how to turn on utilities, how to get their children enrolled in school. Now I’m doing the same thing, basically, but at a different level.”
Garcia describes her audience as a very broad community. “You have everything from people with no education to those who are pursuing a degree or who are professionals,” she said, characterizing Denton’s Hispanic population.
The half-hour program airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Channel 25.
— Compiled from the files of the Denton Record-Chronicle by DJ Taylor
DJ TAYLOR resides in the Sanger/Bolivar area. He may be contacted at 940-458-4979 or djtaylortx@centurylink.net.
