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History of my block
08/29/2008

Edited a bit for privacy.

Someone asked about the XX Grocery: I learned about it from the original owners of my home, the XXX Family. They owned the lot since 1936 and built my front house in 1937. I bought the property from them in 1998-99 from Ester who grew up here with her brother Johnny. She, Johnny and I spent many hours talking and they had great stories about the neighborhood. They planted the pecan trees that surround my property with their father.

Ms. R. had the store in her back yard, the corner of XX Street. When there used to be one house on the lot, the long concrete garage facing XX Street was the store. They would sell milk, bread, eggs and vegetables from the gardens. This was when the street was a dirt road and didn't connect with XX Street. The city limit was just north of here I don't have the old maps handy this morning but I do have them.

My granny flat, the old barn, was a working structure. It used to house the chickens, there were cows in the field where the apartments are now. My old cedar post fence kept the cows out of the garden in the back yards. The neighbors: Ms. R., Mrs. B., Mrs. R. and a few others had a co-operative effort for the store.

The other side of the street, Mrs. R. rented the house on the large lot that now houses the X condos. The open lot with the small house, XX used to have a church on it. It was burned one night; there was some suspicions about arson. I am not sure who originally owned the land where city housing is but it was also a working farm at one point that also sold from the grocery.

These original neighbors were quite upset when that lot was sold to the housing authority. That in turn caused the other lots to be sold for the apartments. The remnants of the Razor Wire speak to the quality of the renters that were in the apartments years ago. This used to be a very rough part of town. Johnny and Ester would tell me about furnature being thrown over the fence into the yard during some of the disputes including a couch one time.

Now, in the last few years, the XX Lot has been sold and is currently being developed into a concrete something. There has been a lot of change in this corner of the neighborhood, thank goodness I was able to get some of the history before these neighbors passed.


	back \| up \| next History of my block 08/29/2008 Edited a bit for privacy. Someone asked about the XX Grocery: I learned about it from the original owners of my home, the XXX Family. They owned the lot since 1936 and built my front house in 1937. I bought the property from them in 1998-99 from Ester who grew up here with her brother Johnny. She, Johnny and I spent many hours talking and they had great stories about the neighborhood. They planted the pecan trees that surround my property with their father. Ms. R. had the store in her back yard, the corner of XX Street. When there used to be one house on the lot, the long concrete garage facing XX Street was the store. They would sell milk, bread, eggs and vegetables from the gardens. This was when the street was a dirt road and didn't connect with XX Street. The city limit was just north of here I don't have the old maps handy this morning but I do have them. My granny flat, the old barn, was a working structure. It used to house the chickens, there were cows in the field where the apartments are now. My old cedar post fence kept the cows out of the garden in the back yards. The neighbors: Ms. R., Mrs. B., Mrs. R. and a few others had a co-operative effort for the store. The other side of the street, Mrs. R. rented the house on the large lot that now houses the X condos. The open lot with the small house, XX used to have a church on it. It was burned one night; there was some suspicions about arson. I am not sure who originally owned the land where city housing is but it was also a working farm at one point that also sold from the grocery. These original neighbors were quite upset when that lot was sold to the housing authority. That in turn caused the other lots to be sold for the apartments. The remnants of the Razor Wire speak to the quality of the renters that were in the apartments years ago. This used to be a very rough part of town. Johnny and Ester would tell me about furnature being thrown over the fence into the yard during some of the disputes including a couch one time. Now, in the last few years, the XX Lot has been sold and is currently being developed into a concrete something. There has been a lot of change in this corner of the neighborhood, thank goodness I was able to get some of the history before these neighbors passed.