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| Jodey Arrington at the Lumberyard last April. |
This will be Rep. Arrington’s first visit to Roscoe since last April when he and Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller were at the Lumberyard in an event sponsored by Richard Kemp’s Farm and Ranch Report of KGLD.FM radio of Abilene.
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DR. AND MRS. YOUNG MEMORIAL DEDICATION TUESDAY
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| Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Young, Sr., in 1950. |
The couple served the community for a half-century, and Dr. Young was assisted at one time or another by all his children at the Young Hospital in Roscoe.
Descendants of the couple will be on hand at the ceremony, and the public is invited to attend. Mayor Pete Porter will also formally proclaim Tuesday as Dr. J. W. Young, Sr., and Iona Kearse Young day.
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EDU-VET HOSTS FUN AND GAMES AT OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY
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| Dr. Betsy Oesch. |
The resident vets, Dr. Betsy Oesch and Dr. John Dedwyler, will meet attendees and provide pet care information.
There will also be a raffle and a Student DC Trip Bake Sale. The event will run from 11am to 2pm. For more information, consult the Edu-Vet website at Edu-VetRoscoe.com.
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TxDOT TO HOST OPEN HOUSE MARCH 6 ABOUT PROPOSED I-20 & US 84 INTERCHANGE
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will host a meeting at the RCHS Cafeteria on March 6 from 5-7pm for public comment on alternatives for proposed improvements to the I-20 and US 84 interchange in Roscoe. The interchange limits along I-20 are from Main Street (FM 608) to Loop 170 and along US 84 from Union Pacific Railroad to I-20.
The meeting will be in an open house format for the public to meet the project team, learn about the proposed project, review the proposed alternatives, ask questions, and provide comments on the proposed project.
This project is being considered to improve safety and traffic flow through the interchange. The proposed project would potentially re-align a portion of I-20 main lanes and frontage roads, provide direct connections between I-20 and US 84 mainlanes, and update ramp configurations along I-20. Maps showing the proposed project's location will be available for review at the open house.
Special accommodations: TxDOT makes every reasonable effort to accommodate the needs of the public. The open house will be in English. If you have a special communication, accommodation or need for an interpreter, a request can be made. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can also be made to accommodate most needs. Please call (325) 676-6817 at least five working days prior to the meeting. Please be aware that advance notice is requested as some accommodations may require time for TxDOT to arrange.
The environmental review, consultation and other actions required by applicable federal environmental laws for this project are being, or have been carried-out by TxDOT pursuant to 23 U.S.C 327 and a Memorandum of Understanding dated December 16, 2014, and executed by the Federal Highway Administration and TxDOT.
For more information, contact TxDOT Abilene District, 4250 Clack St., Abilene, TX 79601. (325) 676-6800.
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ROSCOE IN YEARS GONE BY:
Editor’s note: Herschel Whittington (1925-2004) moved from Arkansas to Roscoe with his family in 1927 when he was two years old and grew up in and around Roscoe, not leaving until January 1944, when he quit school to join the Army Air Force 36 days after his eighteenth birthday. His oldest brother was Hillman Whittington, a bomber pilot killed at the Battle of Midway in 1942, whose name is part of the title of Roscoe’s Frost-Whittington American Legion Post 227.
In 1993, Herschel finished his book of memoirs, Smiles and Tears of Boyhood Years, a 187-page Xerox-copied account of growing up in and around Roscoe. He gave a copy to Mary Edna Worthy, which wound up in a cardboard box stored in her garage. The box was recently found and given to Main Street Antiques whose owner, Vickie Haynes, then donated to the Roscoe Historical Museum. Despite the fact that Whittington is sometimes an unreliable witness—especially when it comes to dates—his accounts of those years captured many aspects of old Roscoe that would otherwise be gone forever. This excerpt about washing machines and ice boxes is just one of them.
Washing Machines and Ice Boxes in 1930s and ‘40s Roscoe
by Herschel Whittington
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| Site of the old Southland Ice House on East Broadway. |
The leading wash-day appliances were a No. 3 tub made of galvanized iron, a scrub board, a line on which to hang the items washed (so they might dry in the sunshine and wind), and a flat iron (cast from tempered iron) with which to press the clean, dry items. Wash tubs came in three sizes: Nos. 1, 2 and 3. I have no idea how these sizes evolved; however, as I think about it, the No. 1 was about the size of a bushel basket, the No. 2 was about twice the size, and the No. 3 about three times as big.
The first "washing machine" I ever saw was a Speed Queen that belonged to Ora Cooper. It was a single unit that had a small tub with an agitator for washing clothes on one end, and a smaller tub-within-a-tub on the other end which spun the clothes hard enough to wring out much of the water, but they still had to be hung out on a line to dry.
We never owned a refrigerator until after the War. Some did, and they worked well enough as refrigerators. But many did not have built-in freezer units, and there were no home freezers.
Instead, there were "frozen lockers." These were large buildings the entire interiors of which were kept at below-freezing temperatures and were lined with large lockers with lockable doors. Anyone who wished to could rent one or more lockers in which to keep meat, specially prepared vegetables, or anything else preservable by freezing. I don't remember when the "locker plant" was built in Roscoe, but I do remember where: on the southwest corner of Bois d'Arc and Broadway [i.e., where the Community Center is now].
We did have an "ice box" after about 1939. Mr. Fitts operated the Banner Ice Company which sat catawampus across the northeast corner of Broadway and Laurel. He delivered block ice to folks in town, or folks could take advantage of his drive-through service. Country people like us had to haul our own ice from his establishment. I'm indebted, once more, to Dowl Wilson for this recollection of the "ice man cometh:"
The now deceased Banner Ice Company was operated in Roscoe by Elmer Fitts. Early on we had no refrigerator in our house on Hickory near the school. We had one of those oak ice boxes that I'd give my other eye-tooth for now. Mr. Fitts made regular home deliveries of ice in a bob-tailed truck with a tarp over the ice in back. Ice-box people had a yellow card with 25, 50, 75 and 100 pounds printed thereon. Placed in a window with a number up, the card told Mr. Fitts how much ice to take from the truck and place in the customer’s ice box. I don’t know how Mr. Fitts got his money. I never did see any change hands.
Kenneth Winn, former Roscoe grocery store owner and mayor from 1970-72, also worked earlier for Southland Ice Co. In First 100 Years: Nolan County, he explains that customers “left their door open and he put the ice in the box, and they left the money on top of the box.”
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“Hold
your horses! It’s not spring yet!” That seemed to be the message from
Mother Nature at about 2:30 yesterday afternoon as a cold, strong wind
from the northeast struck and turned what had been a warm 75° afternoon
into a return to wintry conditions with temperatures steadily falling
throughout the afternoon and evening.
Up until the cold front hit, temperatures had been above average for this time of year. Last Wednesday and Thursday peaked at 80° and 81°. Friday and Saturday dropped somewhat with highs of 62° and 66°. Then Sunday, Monday, and yesterday topped out at 76°, 75°, and 76° before the cold front hit. The entire week was marked by dry weather and strong wind, although we did get .1” of rain on Saturday. It wasn’t enough to make any difference, but it was welcomed nevertheless because it was the first precipitation we’d got in a long time.
Today’s high is projected to rise only to 30° with a 100% chance of freezing rain along with a strong breeze, which has brought the wind chill factor down to 8° as I write this at 9:00am. TxDOT is warning of possible ice on the roadways and is cautioning people to drive carefully and to check weather conditions before they get out on the road. Tomorrow should be warmer with a high of 46° and low of 36° with a 40% chance of precipitation, and Friday should continue the trend with a high of around 58° and a low of 46°. Thunderstorms are also in Friday’s forecast with an 80% chance of rain. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday should see highs return to the mid-sixties to low seventies under sunny skies and lows to the forties.
DEATH NOTICE: Dennis Brawley passed away at Hendrick Hospice in Abilene last night. Funeral arrangements are pending.
The first "washing machine" I ever saw was a Speed Queen that belonged to Ora Cooper. It was a single unit that had a small tub with an agitator for washing clothes on one end, and a smaller tub-within-a-tub on the other end which spun the clothes hard enough to wring out much of the water, but they still had to be hung out on a line to dry.
We never owned a refrigerator until after the War. Some did, and they worked well enough as refrigerators. But many did not have built-in freezer units, and there were no home freezers.
Instead, there were "frozen lockers." These were large buildings the entire interiors of which were kept at below-freezing temperatures and were lined with large lockers with lockable doors. Anyone who wished to could rent one or more lockers in which to keep meat, specially prepared vegetables, or anything else preservable by freezing. I don't remember when the "locker plant" was built in Roscoe, but I do remember where: on the southwest corner of Bois d'Arc and Broadway [i.e., where the Community Center is now].
We did have an "ice box" after about 1939. Mr. Fitts operated the Banner Ice Company which sat catawampus across the northeast corner of Broadway and Laurel. He delivered block ice to folks in town, or folks could take advantage of his drive-through service. Country people like us had to haul our own ice from his establishment. I'm indebted, once more, to Dowl Wilson for this recollection of the "ice man cometh:"
The now deceased Banner Ice Company was operated in Roscoe by Elmer Fitts. Early on we had no refrigerator in our house on Hickory near the school. We had one of those oak ice boxes that I'd give my other eye-tooth for now. Mr. Fitts made regular home deliveries of ice in a bob-tailed truck with a tarp over the ice in back. Ice-box people had a yellow card with 25, 50, 75 and 100 pounds printed thereon. Placed in a window with a number up, the card told Mr. Fitts how much ice to take from the truck and place in the customer’s ice box. I don’t know how Mr. Fitts got his money. I never did see any change hands.
Kenneth Winn, former Roscoe grocery store owner and mayor from 1970-72, also worked earlier for Southland Ice Co. In First 100 Years: Nolan County, he explains that customers “left their door open and he put the ice in the box, and they left the money on top of the box.”
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WEATHER REPORT: WINTRY BLAST REVERSES WARMING TREND
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| Freezing rain on the ground at 8:00 this morning. |
Up until the cold front hit, temperatures had been above average for this time of year. Last Wednesday and Thursday peaked at 80° and 81°. Friday and Saturday dropped somewhat with highs of 62° and 66°. Then Sunday, Monday, and yesterday topped out at 76°, 75°, and 76° before the cold front hit. The entire week was marked by dry weather and strong wind, although we did get .1” of rain on Saturday. It wasn’t enough to make any difference, but it was welcomed nevertheless because it was the first precipitation we’d got in a long time.
Today’s high is projected to rise only to 30° with a 100% chance of freezing rain along with a strong breeze, which has brought the wind chill factor down to 8° as I write this at 9:00am. TxDOT is warning of possible ice on the roadways and is cautioning people to drive carefully and to check weather conditions before they get out on the road. Tomorrow should be warmer with a high of 46° and low of 36° with a 40% chance of precipitation, and Friday should continue the trend with a high of around 58° and a low of 46°. Thunderstorms are also in Friday’s forecast with an 80% chance of rain. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday should see highs return to the mid-sixties to low seventies under sunny skies and lows to the forties.
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