Feeling restless this morning, I grabbed my keys and headed for a road trip to my old “stomping grounds” in Cooke County. In my mind, although I adore living in Denton, the town of Gainesville, Texas has been “home” because it was where I spent my young adulthood. Cooke County was where I started my own family. I just had the desire to see it … but I found out that you can’t go “home” again.

The first thing I noticed was that the courthouse was not nearly as lovely as I had remembered … but then I am now accustomed to the very ornate courthouse in Denton (it’s hard to beat the Denton courthouse for beauty). I shrugged away my negativity.

Expecting to eat at a restaurant on the square that I had sampled a few years earlier, I was disappointed to find that it was closed on Sunday. And, on Monday. Bummer. In fact, the whole downtown area was closed for business, and some of the buildings on California Street (which is a main thoroughfare) didn’t look as if they were in very good repair. Look at these beautiful old windows all covered in plywood!

I decided to just walk down the red brick streets, and see where my feet took me. I used to know those streets very well, but they seemed unfamiliar now. Gainesville is such a beautiful town … and it has so much potential. There are some fun shops on the main streets and some good restaurants, too. I can’t for the life of me figure out why more hasn’t been done with that town … or what they could do, for that matter. If they could find the right tourist lure, they good get traffic from Interstate 35 in a heartbeat. But, right now it just seems so forlorn.

Put some of these buildings in Denton and entrepreneurs would be snapping them up to put in some funky shops and bars.

I started getting an eerie feeling and wondered if there had been a Zombie Apocalypse while I wasn’t looking. Several downtown churches had no cars at all at 11:30 on a Sunday morning! They should have been bustling, because this is the Bible Belt. It’s not football season, is it?

Then I saw the house. For years it had been the house of my dreams. I had spent countless hours in my youth daydreaming of buying it and restoring it to its former glory as it was in the days of the Cattle Barons. I never got a chance to do that, because the dadgum lottery wouldn’t pick my numbers … and evidently no one else has gotten the chance to restore it either.

Gainesville has some wonderful older homes on the other side of town from this one. In fact, I believe they still have a tour of those homes … and it would be well worth the trip to see them. I always wondered about the one above, because it is all off on it’s lonesome.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the hamburger stand. Long ago (okay, forty years ago) this place served the best chili cheeseburger ON THE PLANET. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I hopped on my bicycle and navigated the bumpy brick streets to grab a bag of burgers for our supper (because they were delicious, and because I was too lazy to cook).

My heart cracked just a little bit at the memory, and my stomach growled. It was time to move on down the road.

I still love Gainesville, but now I realize it is my former home. That little town still tugs at my heart, but I guess Denton has really got a hold on me now.

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Post tags: Memories, MY NECK OF THE WOODS, photos

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“Do you know how to search cemetery records?” he asked. Captain Chuck Howell was giving me a tour of the Denton Firefighter’s Museum at the time. Puzzled, I answered, “I do, but why?”

He showed me two memorials on the wall. “These men died fighting a fire over a hundred years ago and I can’t find out where they are buried. I think they are at Oakwood Cemetery, but I can’t figure out where. They don’t have markers.”

Determined to find some information for him, I jotted down the following information about that fire:

On Friday, June 23, 1911 a raging fire broke out at the Rich Blacksmith Shop on Mulberry Street. Flames spread to the Arkansas Mill at the corner of Mulberry and South Elm, and from there to the Craddock Building, at 115 S. Elm Street, where Sweetwater Grill & Tavern now stands. Denton’s brave firefighters raced to the scene to battle the blaze.

Joe Turpin (a thirty-year-old father of four daughters) and Ernest Bushey (who was only seventeen years old) died trying to protect the citizens of Denton. Joe Turpin was buried the same day, and Ernest Bushey was buried the next day. Mayor Poe requested that businesses close at 5 o’clock in their honor.

I told Captain Howell that I would try to help, because I had a “secret weapon.” That would be Laura Douglas, my favorite super-hero librarian at Emily Fowler Library. She can find anything in Denton history … if it can be found.

Unfortunately, it probably can’t. I took this information to Laura, and she searched thoroughly. Their names are not listed in the records of Oakwood Cemetery, which was called “City Cemetery” at the time. Laura found their death certificates (which the museum did not have). The certificates told us which funeral homes buried them — Shepard and J.B. Schmitz. They told us that Ernest was the son of S. A. Bushey, whose grave is listed at Oakwood. They told us that Joe was married to “Mrs. Joe Turpin.” But, the lots where the two men are buried are not recorded on the death certificates or the funeral home records. We hit a “dead end,” so to speak.

Captain Howell said that he wished that a large marker could be erected at Oakwood Cemetery to memorialize the men, since their graves might never be found. He said that the museum has been hoping for several years to find them with no results and it saddened him that they had missed honoring them on the 100th anniversary of the deaths.

Ernest Bushey and Joe Turpin have memorial plaques at the Firefighter’s Museum, and their names are engraved on the base of the memorial to our fallen firefighters that is in front of the Bayless-Selby House Museum … but, somehow I want more.

What do I want?

• I want to make sure that these men had a formal “last alarm.” [Note: I wrote a description of that in the post about the Denton Firefighter's Museum, linked in the first paragraph.] Somehow, closing businesses at 5:00 doesn’t seem like enough recognition.
• If they didn’t get a last alarm, I’m hoping that they can be honored in the festivities during Fire Prevention Week in October.
• Pete Kamp, our local Mayor Pro Tem, has agreed to help me to try to get that done. She knows everyone in town, and can guide me on what to do. Perhaps we can get Captain Howell’s wish granted and have a memorial put at Oakwood Cemetery (although I would love to see one outside of Sweetwater Grill & Tavern, where the men gave their lives in service to the citizens of Denton).
• I would like to find living relatives of the men and invite them to attend any ceremonies. If you are skilled at genealogy, and inclined to help, I would welcome it. I’ve been on Ancestry.com today researching Joe Turpin, and have found a little information. It isn’t going to be easy!

Is that asking for too much? I don’t think so. Ernest Bushey and Joe Turpin were heroes. They deserve high honor in the history of our town.

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Post tags: Denton, History

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I keep getting distracted. As I search for historical tidbits about Denton, I change paths constantly, but I don’t suppose that’s a bad thing. I find articles I would have never thought to seek — for instance, this morning I was looking for information about Acme Brick and then took a slight bend in the path when I found a copy of the Texas Parade from November of 1951. It had an article called “Diversified Denton” by Hugh Williamson. In it, I found another intriguing tidbit about our public library instead.

You know the one I mean … the haunted one. The Emily Fowler Public Library. If I heard correctly when I visited the library today, it started life as the City/County Library.

Now, I’ve written a little bit about Emily Fowler, who was a champion of the Denton Library system. Sometimes I tell stories about her haunting of the library on my weekly ghost tours (she liked her job so much she didn’t want to check out). But, I couldn’t believe what I read about the City/County library in that magazine. It is stranger than fiction. I think most librarians that I know would flat out faint to think of how libraries were managed in 1951 and I cannot believe that Emily Fowler put up with this type of behavior in her library!

They showed a picture of the library back then.

And, this is what Mr. Williamson wrote:

If you like your entertainment indoors, then you’ll be at home in Denton, too. Readers, for example, will find 400,000 volumes in the college libraries and in the county-city library. The latter is somewhat unusual in that you don’t have to hush. You can talk out loud, smoke, pick up magazines without signing anything and take them home. The management trusts you to bring them back, along with a few more from your home collection. There is a children’s room, where the youngsters are left to their own devices, and if they swipe a few guppies from the goldfish bowl, who cares? There are plenty more guppies.

Do what? You could whip out a Viceroy and light up in the library? Did they have a cigarette vending machine by the checkout counter? Why didn’t they just have a full bar, so you could drink a whiskey sour while you smoked and read the paper? Was there a magazine rack by the toilet?

I’m sure this relaxed atmosphere was simply to draw patrons into the library, and I realize that it was a different world sixty-two years ago. However, this sounds a bit over the top.

What haunts me, however, is that line about the guppies. Why in Thunder would children swipe guppies? What did they do with them? It makes me reluctant to pick up one of the older volumes and open it … in case the kids used the guppies as bookmarks.

And, are those guppies still haunting the library?

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Post tags: Denton, History, humor

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Perhaps you have seen the magnificent art deco marquee that peeps out from the building on Hickory Street (just west of the downtown square)? At night, the colorful neon of The Campus Theater brightens the sky and beckons one to visit and enjoy a good time. They say that, aside from being hauntingly beautiful, the Campus Theater is haunted!

It doesn’t show first run movies anymore, but instead is a permanent home for all performing arts organizations in the city. In the 1990s, the Denton Community Theater (DCT), the Greater Denton Arts Council (GDAC), the City of Denton and many interested citizens worked to save this beautiful relic of the past. These days, you are most likely to find the newest production from the DCT there, although other performing arts groups (and the Thin Line Film Festival) utilize the facilities as well.

Don’t let the term “community” theater frighten you away! Mike Barrow, the Managing Director for the last six years, assured me that DCT productions are a “cut above” what most people think of when they hear that term used. He said it was because our community has so many talented people with acting skills that would qualify them to be professionals!

Mr. Barrow kindly took some time out his day to give me a bit of information on the history of The Campus Theater, and to share some pictures that most of the public doesn’t see. Some of them hang in the anteroom to the men’s restroom … where I would never have found them.

That lovely sign is the original one that has adorned the building since it opened in October of 1949 with a showing of “I Was A Male War Bride.” The film starred the heart-throb actor Cary Grant and a lovely actress named Ann Sheridan, who grew up right here in Denton, Texas. What better way to draw a crowd than to offer a movie with a “local girl” in it?

From 1949 until it closed its doors as a movie theater in 1985 (overshadowed by the multiplex theater at the mall), The Campus Theater was a Denton hotspot where families went to enjoy first run movies and teenagers gathered on their dates in state-of-the-art comfort. Locals remember enjoying classic movies like Gone With The Wind, The Sound of Music, Dr. Zhivago, The King and I, Giant, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Camelot, Cleopatra, M*A*S*H, West Side Story, The Exorcist, True Grit, Blue Hawaii, Wizard of Oz, The Love Bug, White Christmas, From Here to Eternity, High Noon, and many, many more.

Folks around here flocked to The Campus for their entertainment. It would have looked a bit like the picture above (shared by the Portal to Texas History) in 1956, when “Jubal” came out. Possibly the fact that The Campus was the first theater in Denton to have air conditioning drew the crowds, but more likely it was the elaborate promotion for the movies (orchestrated by the manager, Mr. J.P. Harrison) that caught their attention. I liked the photograph below showing the promotion for “Gunfight at the OK Corral.” Yes, this was one of the pictures hidden in the men’s room.

The promo below for “Stranger With A Gun,” starring Glenn Ford, is also hidden in the bathroom. That is a live sheep in the pen outside the theater! Do you think that is extravagant? That’s nothing…I’m told there was an elephant to advertise another production, but I couldn’t find any pictures.

The movie stars came out to The Campus Theater, too! Imagine back in those days getting to see big name stars like John Wayne, Fabian, or Sandra Dee in your own tiny hometown. One local man, Steve Yount, remembers the thrill of going to The Campus to see Tonto! Yes, Kemosabe, Jay Silverheels, the actor who played the character of Tonto in The Lone Ranger, actually came to Denton back in the 1960s. Steve couldn’t remember what movie was playing, but he vividly remembered gathering the caps from Pepsi bottles (out of the soda machines) to turn in for a free ticket to the show.

Perhaps the biggest coup for The Campus Theater was in October of 1967, when it hosted the world premier of the movie “Bonnie and Clyde,” starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Movie critics came from all over the United States, and the film stars were there, too! Unfortunately, The Campus doesn’t have any photographs from that eventful night. However, George Boutwell, who was the 2006 State Artist of Texas, agreed to let me show you his amazing depiction which is available as a print.

I have to tell you that I had an ulterior motive for wanting to find out more about The Campus Theater — that reason is Mr. Harrison! I wasn’t just fascinated by the fact that he was such a showman. Although he passed away many years ago, it is said that his ghost lingers at the theater! Many people have stories about encountering him, and it is said that a sighting of Mr. Harrison during a rehearsal is “good luck” for the production underway. I’m busily collecting those stories to share on haunted tours of Denton for Ghosts of Denton (join me one weekend and I will share what I find). However, I’m excited to show you the picture below! That is indeed Mr. J. P. Harrison outside of the movie theater that he loved so well. I scoured the internet to find a photo of him and couldn’t find “hide nor hair” of him. When I mentioned that to Mr. Barrow, he showed me the framed picture that was hanging in the conference room all along. He even let me leave the theater with it, so I could make a copy to show you.

Next time you get the chance, you must see a production at the theater. The Campus is definitely one of the “best” entertainment sources in Denton. The full schedule and ticket information can be found at the DCT website. The summer lineup is amazing! When you go to see a production, keep your eyes peeled … you might get lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Mr. Harrison himself. Of course, then you have to tell me the story!

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Post tags: Denton, Ghostly--Mostly, History

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When I performed the first of 1,000 mitzvahs that I have pledged to do by next December, I posted it on Facebook. A Jewish friend commented, “A goyisha mitzvah! Da best!” So, you might wonder why in Thunder a non-Jew is performing “mitzvahs” and, for that matter, what the heck is a “mitzvah?”

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word thusly:

mitz·vah noun \ˈmits-və\

1. a commandment of the Jewish law
2. a meritorious or charitable act

I don’t know if that is how a rabbi would define it, but it will suffice for my purpose here. In popular culture, the word mitzvah has come to mean simply an act of kindness. I use the word mitzvah, because it’s easier to say — and I enjoy the sound of it.

We all perform simple acts of kindness every day (at least we do if our Mommas brought us up right!): we smile at people we don’t even know, we open doors for people, we throw our change in the charity jars at the checkout counters … and those are all good things to do. In my personal definition, though, I don’t get to count those acts as a mitzvah.

Here is the definition that I use to determine if I get to count the mitzvah for my project:

mitz·vah noun \ˈmits-və\
an intentional act of kindness

What’s the difference? It’s very subtle, but let me see if I can explain it by example:

• When I throw my change in the charity jar at the checkout, that is a kind thing to do … and a mindless thing to do. It’s just an easy, natural reaction (and it’s possibly because I am too lzay to put it away properly). But, if I dig in my purse and grab all my change for the jar, it becomes a mitzvah by my definition.
• Throwing my trash into the trash bin when I walk around downtown is a good and responsible thing to do. I can turn it into a mitzvah by picking up litter other people left behind and throwing it away, too.
• If I see you walking behind me when I open a door, and I hold the door open for you, it is a kind and polite action. However, when I hold the door while you walk up a whole flight of steps, or if you are in front of me and I rush ahead to open it for you … it becomes a mitzvah.
• Giving those crocheted squares that I never used (and just stuffed in a drawer) to a charitable project to make blankets for the needy is kind … but if these arthritic hands intentionally crochet squares for a charity project, it’s a mitzvah!
• Smiling at you when we accidentally make eye contact is being polite. If I intentionally make eye contact in order to smile at you, it’s a mitzvah.
• Sometimes I throw bread crusts out to the birds and it is kindness — if I buy birdseed then it becomes a mitzvah.
• If I take my shopping cart to the cart holder at the grocery store, it is just being responsible. It becomes a mitzvah when I take other carts and put them away, as well.
• Donating cans that are already in my pantry (and that I probably won’t use anyway) is kind, but going to the grocery store to buy cans for charity is a mitzvah.
• Any time I let YOU merge ahead of ME in traffic … it is a dadgum mitzvah!

“Be the
change
that you
wish to see
in the
world.” ~Mahatma Ghandi
That answers the question of “what is a mitzvah.” But, why have I chosen to do them? It’s simple: it makes me feel good to be kind.

I had read a book, by Linda Cohen, called 1,000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire, and Change Your Life. She used the act of performing mitzvahs to heal her grief at her father’s death, and she said,

“We create or tap into a connection with God, each other, ourselves, and our history when we engage in a mitzvah.”

I am not trying to heal any grief, except perhaps the grief from watching the nightly news. If all of our information comes from just what the news media feeds us, then the world seems like a horrible place. But, it doesn’t have to be! I decided that by performing intentional acts of kindness, I could be the change I wanted to see in the world. So I began my personal mitzvah project.

Today, I performed my 500th mitzvah when I stopped my car to move a tortoise out of the traffic (I figure he is going to tell all his friends a story about how he was abducted by an alien!). I have a loooong way to go to get to 1,000.

You can join me, if you would like. Start your own personal mitzvah project, and see how good it makes you feel. You don’t have to use my strict definition … and you certainly don’t have to aim for 1,000. Maybe, just promise yourself, “This month, I will do 10 kind things.” See how that works for you, and then make the pledge again.

I’ve only named a few acts of kindness. To get ideas, I’m following 1,000 Mitzvahs and Random Acts of Kindness on Facebook. Do you have anything to suggest? I may need help to come up with another 500 mitzvahs to finish this project, and if you intentionally gave me ideas, you could call it a mitzvah!!

© Shelly for This Eclectic Life, 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: kindness, ONLY THE GOOD

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I put my foot to the floorboard to get around Austin so I could get home to have a meal at The Bowllery. People, if I will forgo the culinary delights of The People’s Republic of Austin to come home to Denton to eat, you know I think it’s good food.

And, I am correct. Don’t even think you can argue with me … I dye my hair red for a warning.

If I were a vegetarian, I would eat at The Bowllery every single day … heck, I could do that anyway. Now, let me tell you right off the bat that I am NOT a vegetarian (not that there is anything wrong with that). I figure that the Good Lord made me an omnivore for a reason (that reason is probably bacon), but if the food is served up right, I can happily eat what my Daddy called “rabbit food.” I like most vegetables. Let me tell you that at The Bowllery they serve it up right.

They say that they “serve bowls of freshness.” Darn tootin’ they do. The first time I ate there, I decided to try the “raw pad thai.” They said it seemed to be one of the favorites. It was filled with vegetables I might never think to eat together (or alone, for that matter): jicama, cucumber, romaine lettuce, spiralized beet and carrot noodles, mung bean sprouts, cilantro, and peanuts. It had a specially made lime peanut dressing with shredded coconut, sesame oil, grapeseed oil, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and chili pepper. In fact, all of their dressings are specially made … and I think I want to try every last one.

I will admit that when I drove over to try out this restaurant, I didn’t expect much in the way of ambiance. It’s located in a strip mall (I did not take off my clothes!) at 901 Avenue C, Suite 101, Denton, TX. — where Katz’ Deli used to be. Since it is over by the college, I figured the decor would be only functional at best.

I was pleasantly surprised!

The above is MY table … so clear out if I come in the room. I just decided it was a charming little corner designed especially for me, but actually the owners have mixed an eclectic arrangement of chairs and benches to create a charming space anywhere you look.

Vegans and vegetarians can have a field day at The Bowllery with this “Asian Fusion food.” I think they could eat a different concoction every day for a month (except Mondays, when it is closed). Carnivores, don’t shy away! They serve “Ninja Bowls” with Teriyaki steak or chicken, and you can add meat to any dish.

The bowl above began as “the denton,” which is a vegan dish. I fixed that in a hurry! I added chicken to the mix.

I think The Bowllery is my new favorite restaurant (but I say that about many of them). The only thing that I would change … is that I would add bacon to the menu. Wait, there is one more thing … I would make them cook for me on Mondays, too. Give The Bowllery a try! Just be sure to leave me “my” table, in case I go out Dentoning.

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Post tags: Denton, restaurant

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“Dentoning.” My friend, Scott Campbell coined the word, and it’s starting to get a lot of use. He has begun a new WordPress blog by that name (although it hasn’t officially launched) to tell you all about it. Dentoning is what we do here in our town, and if you have to ask for a definition … you might not get it anyway.

Oh, that’s a lie. Probably, if you live in a small town, you “get it,” but you don’t know what to call it. After all, “Fort Worthing” doesn’t have the same charm. “Grapevining” doesn’t cut it either. However, if you live in Bug Tussle, Texas I suppose you could be Bug Tussling … although that just sounds a little perverse!

Recently, Mr. Tucker and I joined Scott for some serious Dentoning at a chili cook-off between friends (one that has been going on for years). It is called: The Quest for the Golden Jesus. I trust that Scott will give you more detail in a few days.

These folks were serious about their chili cooking. It might look like it was all in fun, but I assure you the contestants were cut-throat about it all. Everyone wanted that Golden Jesus statue that was covered in googly eyes.

I had already posted these pictures on Facebook(and I don’t mind if you join me there). Then, when helping Scott set up his WordPress blog … we were dentoning … I discovered how to make a photo gallery and tell a story with pictures! Click on one of those pictures, and it should give you a slide show. Lordy, now I have a new toy!

I’m off to photograph more of my town. I will be dentoning!

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Post tags: Denton, MY NECK OF THE WOODS, photographs

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