Granbury News Archives | The Bridge Street History Center

Featuring Photos From:
Texas Independence Day 1923 and San Jacinto Day 1924

Well folks, if you didn’t know it already, let me share something with you! GRANBURY HAS ALWAYS KNOWN HOW TO THROW A PARADE!!! As we gather for the year’s July 4^th Parade and festivities around the Granbury, it seems a good time to share these photos I collected of past festivities during my years of research and working with the good folks at the old Hood County Jail Museum. Join me in visualizing a couple of Granbury Festivals of years gone by! We’ll have a blast! Like most of our festivals today, these were duly reported in the local newspapers and the folks who were in charge took lots of pictures! So, come with me, as we go down to the Square to wander around 1923 and 1924 to catch some glimpse of the celebrations on TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY and SAN JACINTO DAY!

On both March 2, 1923, and April 21, 1924 – It is a fine spring day on one of the state public holiday when we celebrate Texas winning her War for Independence from Mexico! As always in Granbury, the parade is set to come right down Pearl Street from the school to the square, make that turn up Crockett, and then left on Bridge right back down to the schoolhouse! We’ve got the perfect seats right here in front of the Nutt Hotel! Uncle Henry Nutt and his wife, Aunt Euna, have made us welcome, as citizens from all over Hood County crowd the limestone sidewalks! Many are jostling to get a good view of their children and classmates!

All of the schools in Hood County have signed up to participate in the parade! Assisted by their teachers and the ladies of the Granbury Parent Teacher Organization, the children have constructed an extravaganza to honor 100 years of Texas History! This Pageant of Texas is designed to give the children and all of us a greater appreciation of the wonderful history of our state! If you look at your program you will see the names of the various children and adults involved in each part of the celebration.

“Oh, look here they come now!!!” The parade is led by three pupils portraying OLD MAN TEXAS, accompanied by the ladies PROSPERITY and OPTIMISM! And following them are the six wonderful floats! Oh, look, all the children are in costumes and so are the adults, all depicting a special part of Texas history. At each school, all the students helped with researching the proper costumes and the details that needed to be shown on each float! Oh, my goodness, there is Frank Gaston, that fellow who owns the Granbury News!! Let’s look over his shoulder and see what he has to say about this scene!

“Our teachers, pupils, and the ladies of the Parent-Teacher Association have reason to feel proud of the success of the historical pageant… celebrating San Jacinto Day. We are glad to say the program was carried out exactly as advertised and in every feature was far better than the public expected! In six episodes of Texas history the costuming was historically correct, older people in the audience recognizing the true representations of costumes and manner of life in some of the episodes, especially those of the Confederacy. In this latter was a unique feature, the slave section being represented by Barney Hightower and Aunt Judy Anderson, two ex-slaves, with a number of children from the negro school, in an old-fashioned wagon and riding on a bale of cotton.

Other features were also specially attractive, and none more so than the pioneers, with the old moving wagon, even with the cow being led behind, the young ladies representing the red, white and blue, those representing the colonies and the states of the union, the boy scouts, the future citizens, and especially the little tots representing the Texas state flower, ‘The Blue Bonnet’. The individual characters listed in the program were also well represented in their costumes and actions. The parade consumed nearly an hour, being well timed so as to give the best effect, and upon returning to the school building there was a program of splendid talks, with some music and readings, all in harmony with the great historical occasion. To carry out such a program required much study of detail and all connected therewith have reason to feel a just pride in its universally pronounced success!”

PRESENT DAY — Wow, that just about says it all! It was so much fun seeing all the pictures of the children and adults involved! So many of the children became leaders in our community in the years to come. But, the truly remarkable thing about this moment in Granbury history is the shining example of its inclusiveness. In a day when segregation, Jim Crow, and the KKK were tearing nearby communities apart, in Granbury the people, young and old alike, of all colors, joined together for a day-long celebration of our common history.

The newspaper account goes on to tell in detail about the program and how ALL of the people gathered to share a meal and see the program put on by students from ALL of the schools! A point was made to show the spirit of community and fun shared by all, with anecdotes of highlights of contributions from every part of the county! The mere fact, preserved in print, of this celebration reminds us of just what a remarkable community Granbury/Hood County has always been! “Where Texas History Lives” is our motto and, when we look to our past, we are blessed to have the example set by the folks from “around here” back in those days. It’s so remarkable that they were already celebrating that history, even in those bygone days of just over 100 years ago! The tradition lives on!

Collage Caption: A collage of pictures showing some of the time period groups from each year. Featured here are: Indian Era – 1924, Texas War for Independence – 1923, Pioneers 1923, Slavery – 1923, Civil War -1924, Citizens of the Future – Boys and Girls – 1924

My mother used to say, quite wisely, that there are no new sins. And in the same vein… that people are just people, the same as they’ve always been. As a student of history, I basically agree. In my study of the contrasts between our fast-paced modern world and the slower-paced world of the past, the assumption has often been put forth that the 24-hour blow by blow news cycle and the seeming lack of privacy brought on by Cable News, Facebook, Twitter, and your neighbors’ Blog Posts are a modern issue. Likewise comes the accusation that the voracious hunger and thirst of the populace for all this juicy detail is a fallacy of the 21^st century mentality.

NOT SO! Such thinking shows a woeful disregard of the existence of those stalwart predecessors of Facebook and ALL the news, both real and fake: Community and even City NEWSPAPERS!

Frontier newspapers are a hoot to read! If your eyesight is still fairly decent and you are looking for amusement – you could do worse than checking out a website called Newspapers.com – and calling up some densely printed, usually faded microfilm images of actual copies of literally hundreds of thousands of entire newspapers from 120 or more years ago. You will be amazed at what you will find!

Most of the papers followed a particular pattern. For you avid local news junkies and readers of all the local blog posts, the fun begins right on the FRONT PAGE! Unless something REALLY major had happened, like war being declared or a Presidential assassination (or the Governor being involved in a Gunfight or Duel), the Front Page is ALL LOCAL NEWS!

Are you filled with a burning desire to know who is visiting your neighbors, what they had for dinner, how many people (and animals) came to someone’s birthday party and who they were and who they were with? — All those juicy little tidbits about our fellow citizens’ personal lives that we devour on social media sites every day…? They are all right there, on the FRONT PAGE of the local weekly or biweekly newspaper. Are you a fan of those Buy, Sell, Trade websites? Check out all those ads around the outside edges of the Front Page! Then look along the bottom of that very same page, and you will find all these notes from people around town saying things like- “I am looking to breed my prize bull. If you have a good cow, inquire at……” or “Mrs. Ben Morris says the Dr. Watkins Cherry Tonic is just the thing if you are feeling poorly. It will perk you right up!” The variety of information available is usually astounding! There is usually a whole column reporting all the goings on at all the schools and churches, all with blow-by-blow descriptions of who all were involved. And get this — The hotels published lists of the people who had checked each day, where they were from and usually what they were in town for and for how long!

Who needs privacy, eh? There was usually a similar list of all the local folks who were away traveling out of town, including the mode of transportation, where they were going, who they were going with and who they were going to see. AND how long they planned to be gone. Another nearby bit is sure to inform the curious reader who in town was sick, what they suffered from, how long they had been ill, and what the prognosis might be. Sound familiar?

Page TWO and THREE are right behind, and it is here that those Cable News junkies can find THEIR type of news! WORLD NEWS from all over the globe was duly reported in amazing detail, and feature articles described foreign cultures, history and customs. National Issues and Politics are also reported in GREAT detail with issues-oriented articles often going on at great length! Political cartoons also pop up from time to time, and there are usually some spots where local citizens are quoted – stating their often strongly felt opinions about the issues at hand! There’s a fair amount of sensationalism too. You’ll find SCANDALS in Washington like the duel between Andrew Jackson and the man who insulted his wife, and stories of violent acts of terror such as John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry abound, all illustrated by lurid drawings depicting dramatic versions of the same.

Further back – the FAKE NEWS folks could often get their jollies by checking out the SERIAL TALES where Outlaws and Famous Indian Fighters and Lost Gold Mines abound! The folks of Legend are found here — Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, the James Brothers, Wyatt Earp, and Butch Cassidy — real folk whose embellished exploits were turned into serialized cliff-hangers that were read aloud by many a fireside, as readers nationwide waited breathlessly for the next installment! Fifty years on those same stories became fodder for two new entertainment mediums: radio and the motion picture.

Further back there were market reports, sports reports and even puzzles and games for children and adults alike. The latest notable deaths, local and national and even international were reported in great detail on the Obituary page, and there was also usually a Religion page, with Bible lessons and excerpts from famous and local sermons. There were articles on history, and animals, and latest scientific discoveries. Sounds a lot like the lineup on your cable tv or Internet Media service doesn’t it?

So, we 21^st century folks think we have no privacy? We think fake news and scandal are new inventions. We think people being obsessed with other folks lives, both near and far, is something new. Not hardly! Those things are as old as time itself. It is just the media that changes. Another family saying, this one from my grandmother sums it up. “It takes all kinds of people to make the world, and they are ALL here!” It’s true! Just check out all those channels and websites from across the world. Or go online or to a local museum and browse through an 1895 edition of the Granbury Tablet or Fort Worth Star! They’re all there too! Take a look and see!

Tag: Granbury News

Festival Parades from Days Gone By: Granbury’s Texas Independence Day & San Jacinto Celebrations (1923–1924)