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.
The Taylor County Historical Commission will meet on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at Frontier Texas!, 625 North First Street at 6:00 PM.
We will meet in the back classroom for a short meeting, then Frontier Texas! Director Jeff Salmon has arranged for complimentary passes for the commission to tour the museum winding up at the Pancho Villa photo exhibit. Refreshments will be served, but not a full meal.
Agenda for May 6 meeting:
* THC meeting in Houston – Bill Minter
* Markers/web page update – Karen Turner
* Research on Judges and Commissioners – Cherry Gleason
* Wooten marker/video plans – Jay Moore
This will be the final meeting before the summer break, and we would like to have you join us for the special meeting.
If you have any questions about this month’s meeting, contact Anita Hill at toplane@taylortel.net.
2008 was a good year and we had lots of interesting projects working namely two that we carried over to 2009:
First Exploratory Oil Well In Taylor County – David Morris & Jay Moore
Research early Abilene History of Will Stith and sister Mrs. Frances Curtis.
Our Report was submitted to the State and we received a letter stating we had 2009 Certified Local Government award.
We do not meet as a group in January, except at the Archives. 2009 was a bit different in that one of our Commission Members, Jay Moore, was Guest Columnist for the Abilene Reporter News, on January 25th, 2009. The headline read:
“HISTORIC TROLLEY TRACKS TORN UP” and the story began
“Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, a small part of Abilene history was bulldozed up loaded on a dump truck and hauled away”. Out of this grew Jay Moore’s “HISTORY IN PLAIN SIGHT SERIES”. Three DVDs “Bankhead Highway”, “Streets of Abilene”. Continue Reading »
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.
The Bankhead Highway was a United States cross-country automobile highway connecting Washington, D.C. and San Diego. It was part of the National Auto Trail system. The road was named for Alabama politician John Hollis Bankhead, a leader in the early national road building movement. This road has the distinction of being the first all-paved road to stretch across the United States.
In his series of historical documentaries called, “History in Plain Sight,” Jay Moore tells about the creation of the Bankhead Highway, what it meant to the people of West Texas, particularly Abilene and Baird, Texas, and what happened to the highway that once stretched across the southern part of the United States. Parts of this road can still be found and driven on in and around Abilene and other parts of Texas.
The entire story on the Bankhead Highway will begin airing on the local access channel, Channel 7, for the Abilene, Texas viewing area on July 14th at 7PM CST.
For a DVD Copy of this presentation, contact Jay Moore at jay.moore@abileneisd.org or by writing to him at the following location: 601 Amarillo Abilene, TX 79601-5811 (325) 676-3775.
Delaware Indians shaped much of Abilene’s early history.Men like John Conner, Jim and William Shaw, Black Beaver, and Jim Ned served as scouts and interpreters for the U.S. Army, helped with diplomatic missions to the Comanches, and guided immigrant trains into the region.They left their mark on the land in other ways, as well, in the names of creeks, mountains, and springs. Continue Reading »
The early days of Abilene were filled with the names of enterprising men and women that drove the economy of the growing town and had a lasting impact on the community. The energy, drive and determination of the early businessmen and businesswomen helped the city to grow faster than most folks expected and their insight allowed them to look beyond traditional means of making a living and consider what previous generations had left for them, the bones of the mighty buffalo herds that once roamed the country. Continue Reading »
Before the advent of the railroad into West Texas there was very little in the way of a permanent house of worship. Nevertheless, Protestant ministers made their way into the area alongside many of the other settlers.
Most ranch families followed a Protestant tradition in their faith, but church attendance was not a regular occurrence. One of the first “communities” that afforded residents the opportunity to worship came during the Civil War. Ranch families gathered their homes together into “citizen forts” for protection against Indians. For many there, the closeness with other families made worship a natural. Baptist ministers from Weatherford and Fort Worth made occasional trips to the area to preach. Continue Reading »
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.
