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[West Ward School]

Description: This photograph appears to have been given to A. W. Weaver with the following information on the back of it: "Wasn't it Whittier who said 'Still stately stands the old school house, beside the babbling brook'?--well this one no longer stands. It was a firm & strong old building when they tore it down 4 years ago. I thought you would cherish this picture as a fond recollection of yours, mine & Hugh's school days & days of happy childhood, where, as we romped & played barefoot in the soft sa… more
Date: 1909?
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Norwood Hospital]

Description: A photograph of the Norwood Hospital during its completion. Note the "Parry and Spicer Architects" sign and the "Goodrum, Murphy and Croft Contractors" sign. Dr. Norwood was the first Osteopathic doctor to set up business in Mineral Wells. He departed this life at the age of 82 in 1953. The building was donated to the Mineral Wells Historic Foundation. Plans were announced to convert the clinic to a Bed and Breakfast facility, but no progress towards such a conversion has been made to … more
Date: 1900?
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The East Ward School]

Description: This photograph, taken around 1909, shows the East Ward School. Built in 1906, and located at 400 NE 9th Avenue, this served as Mineral Wells' first High School as well as an elementary school. It was closed in 1930, and Murphy and Murphy Concrete is now at this location.
Date: unknown
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Murphy Home]

Description: A picture taken of the Murphy home, taken about the turn of the twentieth century is shown here. The home underwent several renovations during Mr. Murphy's residency. The family at the time of this photograph consisted of two adults and three children. The home is located on East Mountain, and can be seen from most of North Oak Avenue. It was later known as the Brewer home. Mr. Murphy, a contractor, built many buildings in Mineral Wells, including the Mineral Wells High School and the… more
Date: unknown
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Brewer Home]

Description: The Brewer home on East Mountain is shown here, from a picture taken April 4, 1976. It is visible from most of North Oak Avenue. Originally the Murphy Home, the building underwent many renovations during the period of Mr. Murphy's residence. Mr. Murphy was a contractor who built many buildings in Mineral Wells, including the Mineral Wells High School (1914) and the third First Baptist Church. It is a good example of (re-modeled) Neo-classical architecture.
Date: April 4, 1976
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[Photograph of View from West Mountain]

Description: Photograph taken after the Chautauqua was demolished (that is, about 1912). The foundation can be seen in the upper right quadrant. The Post Office, completed in 1913, is visible to the right of the Chautauqua ruins. The old viewing tower on the top of the hill, destroyed by a tornado in 1930, is just barely visible in the trees on top of the hill. The first Crazy Hotel and Crazy Flats drinking pavilion, which burned in 1925, are seen one block northwest of the Post Office. The Murphy home is o… more
Date: 1914?
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

The Welcome Sign on East Mountain, Mineral Wells, Texas

Description: This picture is taken from a postcard claiming that the "Welcome" sign on East Mountain is "reputed to be the largest non-commercial electric sign in U.S." It has been claimed that the "Hollywood" sign was inspired by the "Welcome" sign, but this is likely a folk legend. (The preceding picture is a black and white original of this tinted picture. A more complete description may be found there.)
Date: unknown
Location: None
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[A Home at 401 N. W. 6th Street]

Description: This photograph is found on page 115 of the "Mini Edition, 'Time Was'..." and on page 140 of "Time Was..." by A. F. Weaver. J. S. Murphy (seen on the left) built this home in 1914 for L. E. Seaman (on the right). The style appears to be eclectic, with Prairie and Mission elements. Please note the unusual double porte-cochere and the shaped parapet of the front dormer.
Date: unknown
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Baker Hotel Entrance]

Description: Shown here is the main entrance to the Baker Hotel, which went directly into the hotel lobby. The hotel had twelve stories, of which all rooms were outside ones. They were reached by an elevator with the Baker Crest on it. The building was steam-heated, and hollow-tile partitions made each room quiet. There were no exterior fire escapes--just fire-proof stairwells. … more
Date: 1936?
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The R. B. Preston Building]

Description: Written on back of the photograph is: "R.B. Preston Building[,] Corner of Mesquite & Wall." A 1909 City Directory lists the address of the Preston Building as 110-116 North Mesquite, currently the location of the Baker Hotel, built at this location in 1929. The back of a duplicate picture indicates that the building was the Masonic Building; the 1909 directory lists the Masonic Hall at 113 S. Mesquite--the next block south.
Date: unknown
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Hexagon Hotel], Southside

Description: This photograph is a cleaned-up version, by A.F. Weaver, of the Hexagon Hotel, at approximately the time of its completion. (The site has been cleaned, and the trash removed.) Construction of the Hexagon Hotel started in 1895, and it opened for business in 1897, to ameliorate Mineral Wells' torrid summertime heat years before air-conditioning became available, its design was such that it could catch every vagrant breeze, and cool the hotel. … more
Date: 1897/1959
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Demolition of the Convention Hall, 2 of 5: From a Block Away]

Description: This photograph was taken at an early stage of the demolition of the Mineral Wells Convention Hall on N. Oak Avenue. Built in 1925 to accommodate the West Texas Chamber of Commerce Convention, it was constructed on the rock foundation of the electric power plant built by the owner of the Hexagon Hotel to light the city (presumably with DC electricity). The Hexagon Hotel, Mineral Wells' first electrically-lighted hotel, stood on the vacant corner lot in the foreground of this picture. I… more
Date: 1975
Creator: Weaver, A. F.
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Welcome Sign]

Description: The WELCOME Sign (shown here) was fostered in 1922 by George Holmgren, the Texas Rotary Club's Governor, following a convention of the Rotary Club in Mineral Wells. The twelve-foot letters were built in Mr. Holmgren's San Antonio iron works by Mr. James Calvert, who was 17 years old when he and his father were commissioned to forge the letters. Mr. Calvert had played trumpet in the "F" troop cavalry as well as playing in the Frank Bird Orchestra in the Baker Hotel. Mr. Holmgren then gave the… more
Date: 1972
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Demolition of the Convention Hall--1 of 5: Front View]

Description: The metal framework of the Mineral Wells Convention Hall is all that it readily visible during its demolition in 1975/1976. Built on the rock foundation of the Electric Plant that Galbraith had erected in order (Unsuccessfully, it is guessed) to light the city. The Convention Hall was built for the West Texas Chamber of Commerce Convention in 1925. It served as the site of numerous local functions including High School Graduation Exercises. The landmark Hexagon Hotel, Mineral Wells' f… more
Date: 1975
Creator: Weaver, A. F.
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Crazy Hotel After the Fire of 1925]

Description: A handwritten note on the back of the photograph identifies the picture as "Crazy Hotel southside [sic] after fire of March 15, 1925." Shown is the skeleton of the first Crazy Hotel, after a fire destroyed the entire Crazy "complex." The original hotel complex consisted of the two adjoined hotel sections with a common lobby, the Crazy Flats (a drinking pavilion with rooms for rent), a Bath House, and a drugstore (in which the fire started). The second Crazy Hotel opened two years … more
Date: March 15, 1925
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

Presbyterian Church of Mineral Wells

Description: Written on the back of the photograph is: "Presbyterian Church & Manse N.W. 4th Ave. & [NW]2nd St. Built 1896, Burned 1908" This was the first Presbyterian Church of Mineral Wells. It was replaced, after it burned in 1908, at the same location the next year by a unique domed church that endured for some seventy years. Deterioration of the foundation of the second church building dictated its prudent replacement by a third building at this same location in the early 1980's.
Date: 1900?
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[A Panoramic View of Mineral Wells, 1925]

Description: A picture taken in 1925, two months after the Crazy burned. Please note no Crazy Hotel in this picture, but the Crazy Well building in the street did not perish in the flames. Also,please note, across the city on West Mountain, the two buildings owned by the Cavalry, where their horses were kept. The old High School, the "Little Rock School", and the West Ward School are visible in the upper left of the picture at the south end of West Mountain.
Date: May 4, 1925
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[The Crazy Hotel Pavilion]

Description: A handwritten note on the back of the picture identifies this as "Crazy Hotel Pavilion 1940 Cigar Stand and Shine Stand." Please notice Leon Cross, the "Shoe-shine boy", who operated the stand for years, in the white shirt to the left of the Shine Stand. This pavilion is off the hotel lobby, behind and west of the elevators of the second Crazy Hotel. A fire started March 15, 1925, in the drugstore next to the bath house of the first Crazy Hotel which adjoined the Crazy Flat… more
Date: 1940
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[Time Was, 1st Edition, Auction, 5 of 8, Mr. & Mrs. Jack Dickens purchased 1st Book]

Description: The auction of copies of the first Edition of "Time Was in Mineral Wells," by A. F. Weaver, held at the "Little Rock Schoolhouse." Pictured here are auctioneer, the Reverend Mr. Bobby Moore, and successful bidders on Copy No. 1: Mr. and Mrs. Jack Dickens. The author, A.F. Weaver, stands in the background, and Mrs. Bea Harris is in the corner to the right of the picture.
Date: August 1975
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library

[Time Was, 1st Edition, Auction, 6 of 8, Community Leaders]

Description: The auction of the first ten numbered copies of the First Edition of "Time Was in Mineral Wells...", was held in the "Little Rock Schoolhouse." The auctioneer, the Reverend Mr. Bobby Moore, stands with Mayor H. Arthur Zappe, successful bidder for copy Number 2 in this picture. Author A. F. Weaver stands to the rear of Reverend Mr. Moore and Mayor Zappe. Banker Frost Bowman, successful bidder for Copy Number 4, is in the corner at right of the picture.
Date: August 1975
Partner: Boyce Ditto Public Library
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