The 1970's

Where has it all gone?

Dad move us here to ___ in 1973.

___ was a nice, independant little town.

We had the only little red Valient station wagon around.
Everyone knew mom from her car...

The bank was on the square.
As was the movie theater.

Chevy claims to be the "heartbeat" of America.
Chevy is full of crap.

For ____ the town square was the heart.

The post office?
behind the square.

Church(es)?
just off the square.

The bakery?
on the square.

Department store?
on the square.

Police department?
Next to the square.

Fire department?
On the square.

Need a quick burger and a hand made shake?
Next door to the department store.

News paper?
Town square.

Library?
Just down from the square.

Entrance to the City Park?
Just 1/2 mile from the square on Main.
(just past the Library)

Grocery store?
Next to the bank,
on the town square.

Football stadium?
Down from the square.
(past the Park)

Lions Center?
Two blocks from the square.
(past the grocer)

Back in those days ___ had a M.E. Moses five and dime.
A Safeway.
A Hallmark store and an Eckerd's drug.
Those were the days of the "Blue Laws" in Texas.
You could shop on a Sunday, but only for certain things.

Wow...
My brother and I shop lifted flashlights from the Eckerds.
(Later we were caught by my sister and made to return the items...)

Dad worked at the Gibsons Hardware store next to the department store.

One Saturday a month there was a flea market.
Where?
Why across from the
square!

And when the carnival came to town, it was of course,
set up on...
the square...
***

In the late '70s the bank moved down the road.
The drive through blocked trafic in the square and the local merchants asked if they would move.

Being good neighbors, the bank said, "yes".

People no longer made the trip down town and businesses started to move away or fade.

In mid '90s, the square was struck by a natural disaster that took still more businesses.
And worse yet, the homes and families who had lived closest to the city center.

___ has never recovered...
***
Today we have a "super" WalMart out by the freeway.
The locally owned five and dimes went out of business. (see WalMart above)
The locally owned halmark had to close. (see WalMart above)
The Town Square burger joint (which was run by the same two women for over 20 years, having a single bar with a simple grill) was destroyed in a storm.
Safeway pulled out of north Texas (after a hostle take over bid out of Canada.)

(The grocery by the square later moved into Safeway's space. I stopped in after being away from ___ for many years and I'll be darned if the new grocer hadn't put everything they had in the same place Safeway had had their's. I didn't have to hunt all over for what I was looking for because the marketing department had decided that moving items periodically helped boost impulse purchases.)

Today, the square grocer is still around, in yet a new location.
But all the other grocers have closed down. (see WalMart above)

the police station move away to newer digs.
as has the firestation...

And so has the Library and the civic center.

Ironically,
the police station,
fire station,
library,
and civic center

followed...

the bank

up the road

with in 1/4 mile of each other...
***
Unfortunately,

you can't walk to all of them as you once could,

across the square and up the road,

passing the movie theater,
barber shop,
department store,
furniture store,
gas station,
burger joint,
drug store,
and a number of homes

in only 3 minutes...