New pictorial history book about Gilmer published
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GILMER, By Mary Laschinger Kirby. Images of America Series, Arcadia Publishing. $21.99. 128 pages/softcover.
This new pictorial history is the latest publication in a series that celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns and cities across the nation.
Containing a number of never-before-published photographs, it traces Gilmer’s rich and diverse history as it evolved as a county seat town from a center of cotton production to a trade center enjoying a lumbering boom at the dawn of the 20th century, through the World War I era to the great East Texas oil boom of the 1930s.
Continuing up until the modern era and ending in 1972, the book rightly features Gilmer’s unique East Texas Yamboree, now one of the oldest festivals in Texas, and the histric development of Upshur Rural Electric Co-op, Gilmer-based and now serving members in 10 counties.
The author is a Gilmer native who holds both bachelor and master of arts degrees in history from Southern Methodist University. She helped launch Gilmer’s Historic Upshur Museum and served as its professional staff for 10 years.
The author’s introductory narrative of the county’s history from prehistoric Caddoan culture to recent times is continued in picture captions.
Organized in five sections, the book is made up predominantly of pictures from the Hays Collection of Historic Upshur Museum, Gilmer Mirror photos made by R.H. Laschinger, John Hill and Ray H. Greene, and the author’s personal collection.
Beginnings, 1850-1879, includes portraits of two important pioneers, Jesse Glasco and Morgan Looney. The school Looney operated here for 10 years starting in 1854 was created by the Masonic Lodge as Gilmer’s first school.
Railroads and Lumberjacks, 1880-1899 documents that era with numerous railroad pictures, including one of the steam engines of the Tyler Tap, a narrow-gauge line that was taken over by the Cotton Belt in 1880.
No longer in existence, the Marshall & East Texas railroad is pictured along with the loads of huge trees harvested from the virgin forests of western Upshur County. The M&ET also carried passengers, as shown by a fashionably dressesd group standing in front of a car with open windows.
Entering the 20th Century 1900-1929 reflects a new era with the beginning of modernism: a portrait of the 1902 wedding party of John H. and Mary D. Pickitt, fashionable in the Victorian styles of the time, as were a group of young wasp-waisted ladies gathered for a pond-side picnic; downtown Mayfield Grocery Co. with its Farmers Union Store; one of the earliest grass lawns at the W. T. Vaughn residence on Titus St.; Judge Barney Briggs and his wife in their 1909 auto, one of Gilmer’s first; horse-drawn wagons of Gilmer Ice Co.; the W.C. Barnwell residence (now the Bell home and headquarters of Refuge International) when it was under construction starting in 1912; the 15-piece Our United Brotherhood town band; the original Gilmer High School after it became Gilmer Ward School, having been replaced in 1915 by the new Gilmer High building (now minus the second floor), the GISD School Administration Building. Pictures of downtown Gilmer crowded on Saturdays and Trade Days, the first Gilmer fire truck and various sports teams and other groups are included here. The section ends with four photos of Dickson Colored Orphanage, which was located at what is now the site of Robroy Industries.
Depression and World War II 1930-1946 recreates that historic time wth photos of downtown filled with cars on Saturday, the 1889-vintage courthouse as it appeared, remodeled; the wood derrick of Futrell No. 1 oil well; J.R. Penn’s cotton gin; Yamboree publicity pictures and photos of early Yamboree parades and the third coronation pageant; the new WPA-built swimming pool at Roosevelt Park; seven Gilmer High girl graduates leaving for college in 1939; a very young Johnny Mathis, two of his siblings and his father, Clemmie; Gilmer’s family physicians, Dr. T.S. Ragland and sons Madison and Hugh, and Dr. H. J. Childress and their respective hospitals; Gilmer’s home guard and other miltary photos and the Extension Service community canning center.
Baby Boom, New Industries, and New Challenges 1947-1972 features the arrival of Pittsburgh Standard Conduit co. (now Robroy) in an aerial photo, more Yamboree pictures; “possumology” at the Texas Folklife Festival with Jack F. Baird and Richard and Daisy Potter, construction of the new First Methodist Church in 1955, the fire that destroyed the First Baptist Church in 1966, Grady Lansdale leading the East Texas Singing Convention, and other events at the Upshur Rural Electric auditorium; Rotarians, Masons and Gilmer women’s clubs and much more.
The attractive volume, which fits the category of “trade paperback,” has an approprite cover picture of teen-age boy and girl pageant dancers from the 1951 Yamboree rehearsing, yams in hand, in a north Gilmer yard.
It will be available at area bookstores, local retailers, online bookstores or through Arcadia Publishing at 888-313-2665 of www.arcadiapublishing.com.
With its more than 200 vintage images and informative text, the book lives up to its author’s goal of providing “a glimpse into the personal lives and activities of the people of Gilmer, Upshur County and their neighbors.”
This new pictorial history is the latest publication in a series that celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns and cities across the nation.
Containing a number of never-before-published photographs, it traces Gilmer’s rich and diverse history as it evolved as a county seat town from a center of cotton production to a trade center enjoying a lumbering boom at the dawn of the 20th century, through the World War I era to the great East Texas oil boom of the 1930s.
Continuing up until the modern era and ending in 1972, the book rightly features Gilmer’s unique East Texas Yamboree, now one of the oldest festivals in Texas, and the histric development of Upshur Rural Electric Co-op, Gilmer-based and now serving members in 10 counties.
The author is a Gilmer native who holds both bachelor and master of arts degrees in history from Southern Methodist University. She helped launch Gilmer’s Historic Upshur Museum and served as its professional staff for 10 years.
The author’s introductory narrative of the county’s history from prehistoric Caddoan culture to recent times is continued in picture captions.
Organized in five sections, the book is made up predominantly of pictures from the Hays Collection of Historic Upshur Museum, Gilmer Mirror photos made by R.H. Laschinger, John Hill and Ray H. Greene, and the author’s personal collection.
Beginnings, 1850-1879, includes portraits of two important pioneers, Jesse Glasco and Morgan Looney. The school Looney operated here for 10 years starting in 1854 was created by the Masonic Lodge as Gilmer’s first school.
Railroads and Lumberjacks, 1880-1899 documents that era with numerous railroad pictures, including one of the steam engines of the Tyler Tap, a narrow-gauge line that was taken over by the Cotton Belt in 1880.
No longer in existence, the Marshall & East Texas railroad is pictured along with the loads of huge trees harvested from the virgin forests of western Upshur County. The M&ET also carried passengers, as shown by a fashionably dressesd group standing in front of a car with open windows.
Entering the 20th Century 1900-1929 reflects a new era with the beginning of modernism: a portrait of the 1902 wedding party of John H. and Mary D. Pickitt, fashionable in the Victorian styles of the time, as were a group of young wasp-waisted ladies gathered for a pond-side picnic; downtown Mayfield Grocery Co. with its Farmers Union Store; one of the earliest grass lawns at the W. T. Vaughn residence on Titus St.; Judge Barney Briggs and his wife in their 1909 auto, one of Gilmer’s first; horse-drawn wagons of Gilmer Ice Co.; the W.C. Barnwell residence (now the Bell home and headquarters of Refuge International) when it was under construction starting in 1912; the 15-piece Our United Brotherhood town band; the original Gilmer High School after it became Gilmer Ward School, having been replaced in 1915 by the new Gilmer High building (now minus the second floor), the GISD School Administration Building. Pictures of downtown Gilmer crowded on Saturdays and Trade Days, the first Gilmer fire truck and various sports teams and other groups are included here. The section ends with four photos of Dickson Colored Orphanage, which was located at what is now the site of Robroy Industries.
Depression and World War II 1930-1946 recreates that historic time wth photos of downtown filled with cars on Saturday, the 1889-vintage courthouse as it appeared, remodeled; the wood derrick of Futrell No. 1 oil well; J.R. Penn’s cotton gin; Yamboree publicity pictures and photos of early Yamboree parades and the third coronation pageant; the new WPA-built swimming pool at Roosevelt Park; seven Gilmer High girl graduates leaving for college in 1939; a very young Johnny Mathis, two of his siblings and his father, Clemmie; Gilmer’s family physicians, Dr. T.S. Ragland and sons Madison and Hugh, and Dr. H. J. Childress and their respective hospitals; Gilmer’s home guard and other miltary photos and the Extension Service community canning center.
Baby Boom, New Industries, and New Challenges 1947-1972 features the arrival of Pittsburgh Standard Conduit co. (now Robroy) in an aerial photo, more Yamboree pictures; “possumology” at the Texas Folklife Festival with Jack F. Baird and Richard and Daisy Potter, construction of the new First Methodist Church in 1955, the fire that destroyed the First Baptist Church in 1966, Grady Lansdale leading the East Texas Singing Convention, and other events at the Upshur Rural Electric auditorium; Rotarians, Masons and Gilmer women’s clubs and much more.
The attractive volume, which fits the category of “trade paperback,” has an approprite cover picture of teen-age boy and girl pageant dancers from the 1951 Yamboree rehearsing, yams in hand, in a north Gilmer yard.
It will be available at area bookstores, local retailers, online bookstores or through Arcadia Publishing at 888-313-2665 of www.arcadiapublishing.com.
With its more than 200 vintage images and informative text, the book lives up to its author’s goal of providing “a glimpse into the personal lives and activities of the people of Gilmer, Upshur County and their neighbors.”
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