OLD Port Arthur

 

These are the last of the lot that 

I have found from this source. Can 

probably finish out this page now.  Have 

many to be scanned which will go slower.  

As you can probably figure out I am kinda 

going in alphabetical order.

 

 

Page Five

 

Notation on Back of Card.....

 

Great view but pretty old.  WW is very basic with no extensions either side..  The back don't tell us much about it.  Had to work to get it to a workable size.

 

Interesting view of the ship channel being widened.  I thought it was later but they probably didn't finish until the next year.

Names on Back of Card...

 

Dated 1969, I met Euclid Hudson in 1968, Personnel Manager of Texaco.  He was always telling me I was going to be famous one day.  He was wrong.

The source said this was 1947 but there's a 50 Ford right there and a 50 Chevy across the street.  

Wow, this goes back a long way, road to PPier before canal and bridge.  Hard to make out but it does look like Pleasure Pier there.

 

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Rose Hill in the snow of 1960.  I remember it well, cousin and me were delivering morning Bmt. Enterprise and it started snowing.  Kept snowing. Sabine Pass in 1951.  With old Grangers. Zesto's was located in the 3600 block of 16th St.  Terrific malts.  This has to be the late 40s or early 50s. Schooner Restaurant, has to be the mid 50's.  Loved that 1953 Mercury. This looks to be the original of that colorized photo posted earlier or close to it.  It's dated 1947.

 

Dated 1948, one of the many car dealers located downtown.  Was this on Proctor or around on the avenue? Who can forget Spooners.  I believe this was one of the near last businesses to leave downtown.  It's in 1952. Southern Pacific wasn't as popular as KCS but it was up a ways from downtown.  Austin Ave? Standard Brass early, on Houston Ave as I recall.  They hired many a young guy as their first job. Another place in early PA.

 

St. James Church in 1941.  The church really didn't change a lot over the years.

The first St. Mary hospital.  On Lakeshore?

Back of Post Card....

 

Later the new St. Mary Hospital on 9th Ave, in the 40's?

The cars make this in the 50s.  Somehow the red bricks turned white.

A Texas Company strike dated 1945.  Anyone who ever worked at a refinery knows how nasty these were with actual shootings.  There became limits on how many could be up on that picket line.

 

A group of Texas Company employees in 1947. The Tex Beneke Band at the Pleasure Pier ballroom dated 5-16-48.  They were one of the top bands in the 40s. Tex Ritter.  As everyone should know by now he came from Nederland. This said TJ Football players 1961 but it had to be the 1960 season with 61 and 62 guys here. The source said these were 1964 Red Hussars.  That's Lloyd Hayes but not sure who the other dignitary is. These gals should be easy to name.

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Photo Enlarged For Detail ...

 

Tyrell Elementary, 1952.  The source said Janis Joplin was bottom right. The link is to the photo enlarged.

Photo Enlarged ......

 

No date but it's "Sunbonnet Opera" of Tyrell Elem.  Janis Joplin is said to be 5th from right. Don't know if they count the boy standing.

This must have been where they worked on the Trolleys.  

From the 1920s.  Trolley cars running downtown.

This must have been where they started the YMCA on 9th Ave (after it burned down on Lakeshore).  I recall when that location was "wooded" and a guy named Ronnie Lange lived there.

 

Am told this autographed photo was given to Cinda Petteway (63) and at some point JK donated it to the Museum. Ben Rogers, a Bmt. businessman, with Edie Gorme and Steve Lawrence.  Probably not too far back though Rogers is gone and I think Edie died a couple years ago. A party at PPier in 1950. Seated 2nd from right is my aunt, Dolly Formagus, photo verified by her daughter in Houston, who never saw it before. She was a Phone Operator then. Standing 7th from right is Jane Wilcox, one of her best friends.  Could this be a Phone Company party?  A different shot of the PA-Orange bridge.  Probably early. Labeled as the first Red Hussars in 1930.  Looks like Woodrow Wilson when it was the high school.

 

Have other photos of RE Lee but I just noticed this was very early and not much to the school. This was TJ in 1960, about the time it became Thomas Edison. The AJM Vuylsteke home very early. The Vuylsteke home a bit later which is preserved by Lamar PA now. This said Yellow Jacket Stadium in the 50s but if so it has to be the early 50s.

 

Saved the best for last....

 

I absolutely LOVE this aerial photo.  It's Thomas Jefferson on 12th St with a long view.  It's probably in the mid to late 40s, as the new back addition, built about 1954, is not there.  I grew up about 2 blocks to the West.  Those tennis courts, we played baseball in the one on 14th St, hitting "home runs" over the short fence.  Richard Guilbeau lived across the street.  The tennis court to the left by the gym, there was about a 12" hole under the gym where tennis balls were lost.  Some guys would crawl in there and get them, I had claustrophobia so was too scared to.

The Village Theater was there, the lot looks new, no big front marquee.  St. James Church is there, Bishop Byrne Stadium, Skips Drive In, St. Mary Hospital..

 

Probably it with  this page