H.O. Wooten was an early pioneer and business leader in Abilene, Texas. History In Plain Sight host Jay Moore and videographer and editor David Gibson have create a video about the story of his life as he lived through some of the best and worst times this country has ever seen and continued to build and grow the city of Abilene.
Join us at the Paramount Theater, Thursday, September 9th at 7PM for the premier showing of this video.
Join History In Plain Sight host Jay Moore as he unfolds the history of Fair Park in Abilene, Texas. This story tells about the beginnings, events and the end of the Fair Park as the premier destination for Abilene and the surrounding area.
History In Plain Sight – a film series by Jay Moore created in cooperation with the Abilene Preservation League – presents “Who Is That Street?” – a program detailing the lives of people for whom some of Abilene’s streets are named. The first part of this story covers the reasons behind the naming of Abilene’s original streets. The story then turns its attention to showing how some of those street names were changed to honor the men and women that had a significant impact on the development and growth of Abilene. In this first part, Jay Moore covers Treadaway, Merchant, Parramore and Willis streets.
A copy of this DVD can be purchased by clicking on the link above: “History in Plain Sight DVDs” or by sending email to historyinplainsight@gmail.com.
I was downtown Abilene the other day at a business meeting. At a break in that meeting, I ventured outside for a breath of fresh air and took note of a building I had seen many times in the past but had paid little attention to. My eye was drawn to the name of the building that was just above the front entrance. It read, “Pfeifer.” Being the curious type that I am, I pulled out my iPhone and did a quick Google search to see what this building might be. I was able to find some information about the building and then went to the local library to find out more.
Sitting at 101 Walnut street is the building you see in this picture. This structure, which was built in 1906, served as the headquarters for the H. O. Wooten grocery business. The business, originally established in 1896, had a significant impact on Abilene’s early economy and employed generations of Abilenians. Mr. Wooten was a very successful businessman and community leader and was connected to Abilene’s early economic development. A fire destroyed much of the building the business was housed in 1911 and was rebuilt in its current configuration the following year.
By 1948, the H. O. Wooten Wholesale Grocery business had fourteen branch warehouses throughout West Texas and occupied this site into the 1950′s.
The building was purchased in the 1950′s by T. S. Langford and housed his business T. S. Langford and Sons in the 1950′s and 1960′s. They operated more than 150 sewing machines, sewing uniforms and working clothes for distribution in all parts of the United States.
In 1952, Walter Pfeifer, Jr., entered into the wholesale business and gained a great deal of success manufacturing evaporative coolers for the dry West Texas heat. Pfeifer bought the Wooten Building in 1967 and the Pfeifer family still owns the location to this day, hence the current name for the building.
Frazier, Don and Robert Pace, Abilene Landmarks: An Illustrated Tour, State House Press, p.71.
As a child growing up in the Abilene area, I saw my share of locally generated commercials on the television. One series of commercials that has never left my mind were those with “Charles Long of Middlebrook Ford in Anson,” as was always stated at the end of the commercial. I remember Mr. Long with his Levi pants and western-styled shirt claiming the virtues of purchasing your next vehicle from him. Continue Reading »
While researching the episode “Trouble in Buffalo Gap” on this website, I found a reference to Floyd Earl on another web page. I was interested in how Floyd ended up in a story on a website that allows authors to share their stories over the internet so I went in search of this author. Her name is Mary Milstead and she wrote a short-story titled “Ruined” in which the main character takes to spending time at the grave site of Floyd Earl, meditating on her own life. After nearly six months of searching, I was finally able to track down the author, Mary Milstead, and have a conversation with her through email about how she ended up having Floyd Earl in her story and whether or not there was a family connection between her and Mr. Earl. Unfortunately, I have to report that the inclusion of Floyd Earl in her story is purely coincidental. While Mary has family in the Buffalo Gap, Texas area, she merely picked the name Floyd Earl from the cemetery list of Buffalo Gap because she liked the way it sounded. I don’t mind saying that was a real bummer for me. Be that as it may, I found Mary’s story, “Ruined,” to be a well written story and a pleasure to read. As the story does include a real-life historical character from Taylor County’s rich historical heritage, I would encourage you to read this story and some of the Ms. Milstead’s other works. You can link to the story “Ruined” at the this web site and can see all her stories at her personal blog.
This episode is a recreation of a Time magazine article published September 12, 1960, titled, “Trouble in Buffalo Gap.” Join us for this lighthearted look at the life of the Marshall of Buffalo Gap during this time.
