Corsicana -- Then and Now: CHS/Drane Intermediate

What was once the "new" Corsicana High School (see old postcards) is a great building still in use today. Now it's Drane Intermediate. I've gone by several times to try to get photos for this "Then and Now" series, but it's always been so congested that I couldn't get a good shot. The street in front of the school is closed during school days. So, I went by on Memorial Day when the campus was closed! You can see that the building and campus are still well-maintained and fully functional.

Sky Watch Friday -- UFO Over Corsicana?

Is that a UFO coming up (or going down) behind the Cook Planetarium building???

There it is again behind the clock tower!

Just having some fun with a cleverly painted water tower on the campus of Navarro College!
Hope everyone has a Fabulous Friday! Be sure to go to Wigger's World to see more Sky Watch Friday posts!

Corsicana--Then and Now: Merchants Opera/Beckett

Veering a little off of my Then and Now themes used before.....this building is the NEW building on this block. As you can see from the Historical Marker, there was originally an Opera House on this site. I've read that there was never any opera there, though. They just used the word Opera rather than Theater because it had a better connotation at the time!

ABC Wednesday -- S for STAR

Out of town and unprepared, so I'm SCROUNGING for SCRAPS and SEEKING SHOTS STORED on my camera chip or flash drive. Here's a SHOT of Cook SCIENCE and Technology Center on the Navarro College Campus , which houses Cook Planetarium....where you can SEE the STARS! SEE this link for more STATISTICS: http://cookplanetarium.us/


If you're SEEKING a SPOT for that SPECIAL occasion, here's a SHOUT OUT for STAR Hall at American RV in Corsicana. SEE this link for more SPECIFICS: http://americanrvcorsicana.com/starhall
OK, I'm going to SHUT up and get some SLEEP now as I SET up this post for SOMETIME tomorrow morning! Remember to go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place to SEE more ABC Wednesday posts that will probably make more SENSE of the theme SUBJECT of the day!

Corsicana Vistors Center

Memorial To Capt Q.L. McDonald

When I first spotted this monument, I assumed this young man had been killed in war. According to information I've found so far, the 4th Texas Regiment of the Spanish American War never left Texas. It was mustered in just a few months before the short war ended in late 1898. Capt McDonald died on October 22, 1899 not long before his 28th birthday. His parents were apparently quite proud of his service (their stone is to the left of his and they passed in 1910 and 1921) and I would assume by the elaborate stone that they were "prominent citizens" of Mexia. However, I've been unsuccessful in finding anything about them on the internet. So, let your imaginations fill in the blanks.......

Camera Critters Sunday -- Hawk on fencepost

One more example of a day that I suddenly whipped the car off the road and the camera out of the bag! This was outside Corsicana, going toward Waco. There are farms and ranches and open fields all along that highway. Some of the old fences are disappearing daily, as the highway department is preparing to widen the highway from 2 to 4 lanes very soon. This was shot out the passenger window, probably with a little zoom involved!
Looking to give you a little more information on this bird, I've discovered that I don't know what type it is! Can anyone help me out here? This was taken on 9/22/05 so it could have been in migration from summer to winter grounds. See more Camera Critters at Misty Dawn's.

Memorial Weekend --- Back to Mexia

I found another intriguing monument at the Mexia City Cemetery this past week (see my Thursday post below for my first one). Since this is Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I would use some photos of it. I will post more tomorrow and Monday. I've been trying to research the story of this Spanish American War veteran, but am having no luck so far. I will share a question begging for an answer in another post over the weekend.

Look up....QUICK! Sky Watch Friday

Tuesday as I was on the outskirts of Corsicana (and near the shores of Richland-Chambers Lake) I happened to glance up and see these American White Pelicans circling gracefully above. I literally had to whip my car off the side of the road and grab my camera and stick it out the window to grab two quick shots before they were gone. Check this site for more details on these wonderful creatures. We only get a chance to see them briefly as they pass to and from their winter retreats each year. And be sure to head on over to Wiggers World for more SkyWatch Friday shots!

Road trip ....

I stopped in Mexia....a nice town near Corsicana....on Tuesday and stopped by their cemetery (a friend is buried there) and came across this eye-catching monument. A little Google-ing turned up information on a song writer named Cindy Walker. Check this link to find some songs you probably know (at least in the US) but I wonder if you knew who wrote them. I certainly didn't. I've lived in this area since 1977 and don't ever remember hearing of Ms. Walker. And yet she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame!

ABC Wednesday---R for Rainbow

If you enlarge this, you may notice the beginning of a double-rainbow on the left edge of the photo. This was taken in the country just NW of Corsicana several years ago. Click over to Mrs Nesbitt's place to enjoy more ABC Wednesday posts.

Odd Shots Monday

Anybody guess what it is? On the eastern edge of Corsicana, in the industrial district, I've noticed acres of these iron wheels/axles and long thought it might make a good odd shot. I kept looking for a time when I was passing through with good weather and no trucks rushing in and out. I gave up on that! So Friday, I grabbed just a couple of quick shots and still got in the way of an 18-wheeler! There are more photos below that show you the full perspective.
See other odd shots at Katney's Kaboodle and read more if you'd like about the railroad wheel repair business below. Apparently, this facility does repair work primarily for Union Pacific.

The following is an excerpt from a 8-K SEC Filing, filed by GREENBRIER COMPANIES INC on 10/16/2006.With over 25 years of experience in the rail industry, Meridian Rail Services

supplies both new and reconditioned wheel sets to railroads, maintenance centers

and repair shops across the U.S. and Mexico. Headquartered in Birmingham,

Alabama, Meridian operates six full service freight car wheel facilities in

Chicago Heights, IL; Corsicana, TX; Kansas City, KS; Lewistown, PA; San

Bernardino, CA; and Mexico City, Mexico. Meridian also operates a coupler

reconditioning facility in Chicago, IL and a car repair facility in Mexico City,

Mexico. Greenbrier operates four full service freight car wheel facilities in

Tacoma, WA; Pine Bluff, AR; Portland, OR; and Sahagun, Mexico.

The Greenbrier Companies (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, OR, is

a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad

industry. The Company builds new railroad freight cars in its manufacturing

facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and marine barges at its U.S.

facility. It also repairs and refurbishes freight cars and provides wheels and

railcar parts at 30 locations (post Meridian acquisition) across North America.

Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the

European market through both its operations in Poland and various subcontractor

facilities throughout Europe. Greenbrier owns approximately 9,000 railcars, and

performs management services for approximately 136,000 railcars.

A founding father....

Taken from RootsGenWeb:

David Reed Mitchell

David Reed Mitchell, born in 1797 in North Carolina, arrived in Robertson County, Texas. In 1845 he was a surveyor by trade, and had surveyed the upper Trinity and Brazos river areas in 1844. He became surveyor of the Robertson County land district, as well as the original land of Navarro County and Corsicana. Mitchell was also a land speculator of sorts, and by 1847 he owned a large amount of land in Navarro County. With two partners, Thomas I. Smith and James C. Neill, he donated one hundred acres on which the town of Corsicana was founded. For a time he operated an inn in the town, sometimes referred to as the "lower hotel" because of its location in proximity to another hotel run by pioneer Hampton McKinney.

David Reed Mitchell married Mary Ann Higgins, and they were the parents of five children. Mitchell continued to live in Corsicana until his death on Oct. 7, 1863. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, and the citizens of Corsicana erected a monument at his grave in 1899. Of the three partners who donated land for the city of Corsicana, Mitchell is the only one buried here.

Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1996

The Arts -- Palace Theater

From their website:

Built in 1921, the first film shown at The Palace was Cecil B. DeMille's Something to Think About starring Gloria Swanson, plus a Max Sennett comedy Salome vs. Shenandoah . This theatre has been completely restored and updated with the latest lighting and sound equipment.

Coming Events

The Spinners -- Sept 20

Michael Martin Murphey – Dec 16

Please click on the link above if you are interested in more photos and history. There are photos of the inside, too. This theater is on one of our brick side streets downtown, half a block from the Warehouse Living Arts Center and across from the WLAC Children's arts building. There are posts below about those two.

ABC Wednesday: Q

I've been away for a couple of days and am admittedly grasping for ideas today! It's raining like crazy here, so new photos are impossible. Here's one of a QUIET spot at the Navarro County Courthouse. Be heartened...there are many more talented and imaginative photographers participating in ABC Wednesday posts at Mrs Nesbitt's Place. Please go see their work!

Camera Critters Sunday/Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day and in participation with the Camera Critters Sunday meme, here's a scene sure to make you go "awwwwwww.....". There's still lots of open country around here and spring is a great time for a drive.

Children and the Arts

This is an extension of the Warehouse Living Arts Center that I posted on Thursday. If the inside is as colorful as the outside, the kids must have a great time!

Sky Watch Friday

Clear skies, quite blue....click to enlarge to see the real subject in the sky. This was taken last month when I did the post on Smith's General Store. This building is across the alley from Smith's. The brick building in the left edge of the photo is Smith's.

Thanks to Wigger's World for hosting the Sky Watch Friday theme!

Arts in Corsicana, Part II

Celebrating over thirty years of excellence in entertainment. Showcasing performing arts, visual arts, children's theatre and classes
(according to EastTexasGuide.com), this building is kitty-corner to the Post Office in yesterday's post. Now there's a word that might need explaining!

Adverb

kitty-corner

1. (with to:) located diagonally across from something, especially across an intersection
   • The library is kitty-corner to the supermarket.

(From Wiktionary)

The theater offers rotating art shows and occasional plays, as well as other forms of entertainment.

ABC Wednesday: P for Post Office, Then and Now

My ABC Wednesday Photo is of the Post Office in Corsicana. Our cars have sure changed more than this building has! Click the icon below to see more ABC Wednesday photos linked to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Corsicana -- Then and Now: Carnegie Library

The "then" shot is a postcard from 1906. The "now" shots are of a mural painted in 1998 by Brad Smith (who also did the Malakoff mural I posted on my other CDB blog). I took these April 21 of this year. If you check out the story below (link: 32 Carnegie libraries) you'll see photos of the mural that someone else took in 2000. The mural is on an outside wall of the current library.

Corsicana had a literary magazine in the early 1880s and a Carnegie Library in 1904. The library was originally built at a cost of $25,000, which put it in the middle range of the 32 Carnegie libraries that were originally built in Texas. Of these, 13 remain with only 4 serving their original purpose.

While the Carnegie library in Corsicana was razed in 1967, it still lives in the 1998 mural by Brad Smith. This mural is a fine example of a forgotten building brought back to life in an affordable manner.

Odd Shots Monday

This one made me hit my brakes and back up! You may need to click it and enlarge it to appreciate it! It's outside the door of the Capehart Telephone Museum.

If you have any interest at all in the history of communications, you must visit the website if not the museum. I must confess that I've never been inside the museum, but just taking a peek at the website while preparing this post has certainly convinced me that I must check it out!

See more Odd Shots at Katney's Kaboodle.

Camera Critters Sunday -- Corsicana Tigers

This may be a stretch, but I couldn't resist! The Tiger is the Corsicana ISD's mascot. This is painted on the side of a business right on Highway 31 through town. See other Camera Critters Sunday participants.

Corsicana, Then and Now: Oakwood Fountain

TnChick hosts a Theme Day called Photo Hunt. Today's theme is TIME. Since this blogsite is mostly about time...Corsicana Then and Now....I decided the whole blog is applicable today! I hope TnChick agrees. Please click her link to see more.

For more information about the history and restoration of this fountain, please click here. You'll see where I found the old postcard photo above, posted in 1906. I took the new shots on Monday of this week. My ABC Wednesday post below is the gate to this cemetery. Your comments indicated an interest in old cemeteries, so I will be going back to find some more interesting shots to share.

Here's a teaser from the story in the Corsicana Daily Sun linked above:

By JOAN SHERROUSE/Daily Sun Staff

A skeptical parks department employee initially dismissed an elderly resident's claim that a turn-of-the-century fountain in Oakwood Cemetery once overflowed into a large pool beneath it.

"An elderly fellow came out here after this thing had been knocked down and he said there used to be a pool there about three feet deep," Tim Roop said.

Curious, however, Roop decided to investigate. After all, the cast-iron bowl and base of the fountain were pushed over by vandals at Christmas time and the city was thinking of raising money to restore the structure.

Sky Watch Friday

These were taken on April 20 within 1 minute. Things change so quickly in the sky that we miss a lot, don't we? Thanks to Wigger's World, we stop and look at least once a week! Click on Wigger's link to see some great sky shots today!