The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Page: 4 of 37
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Page 4, Section 1
THE SILSBEE BEE • www.silsbeebee.com
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Hardin County History
/■»
SHS yearbook — The Satsuma — has natural past
ftocy N$Dcy
is Nitty Fifty!
By GLENDA VERRETT
The Bee
Many people enjoy the aroma
of a freshly peeled satsuma
orange.
Smaller than many others in
its fruit group, it is one of the
sweetest in the family of
oranges.
What most people in Hardin
County don’t know is that the
satsuma is also a big part of
Silsbee’s history.
Silsbee once was called
Satsuma Valley because of the
many orchards of satsuma
oranges.
The thought of opening the
window to feel a spring breeze
that carried the light scent of a
satsuma would be more than
inviting to most people.
For many Silsbee residents in
the 1920s, it was not just a
thought, but something to which
they could look forward to each
year.
Not many residents are still
around who remember when
Silsbee held the many trees that
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Meet The Insurance
Professionals at
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Tfe Ice House Museum Cultural Center, Inc.
and the
CjulfCoast Living History dissociation
(Present
American Warriors
din exhibition of uniforms, flags and weaponry
from the (Revolutionary War to Iraqi (Freedom.
Opening (Reception
MemoriaC(Day, May 28
10 a.m. to noon
Members of the Gulf Coast Living History Association will be on hand in period
uniforms and will be available for questions. Representatives from each branch
of the military will also be present. For more information, please call the museum
between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
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Cravens Insurance Agency
510 North 5th St. 385-2854 or 1 -800-286-2854
Paul Georgas Carey Georgas Rob Georgas
produced the fresh fruit.
“A man named Gore had that
orchard,” says B.L. Childers.
“People would come for miles to
buy satsumas.”
Childers has been growing sat-
sumas since 1967, and like most
people in the area, Childers says
he only knows what he has been
told about the satsumas of
Silsbee.
“I’ve heard a lot about the
Satsuma Valley,” says Childers.
“He (Gore) trucked his to
Beaumont and even to Houston
to sell them. He sold them (the
trees) a dollar apiece.”
There are conflicting dates as
to when the satsumas that flour-
ished through Silsbee were
destroyed by a heavy freeze.
Some say that a freeze in the
1920s killed out the orchards.
Many say that that it was in the
1940’s.
Mrs. Lovelady points out an
article from the Silsbee Bee
dated Dec. 5, 1936, about Rufe
Cook, who owned a large
orchard where Cook Road is
located today.
In the article, Cook lost 2,300
trees from his 15 acre orchard in
a freeze in the late 1920s. He
replanted 3,000 satsumas only to
lose them again in the freeze in
the early 1940’s.
“I can remember, my Dad said
he was going to help put out the
smudge posts to help keep the
fires going so the oranges would
not freeze,” says Mrs. Lovelady
about the second freeze that
killed the satsumas. Her father
left during the night to help Mr.
Gore protect the oranges from
the bitter cold.
“I’m not sure of the year any-
more; we had moved on the cor-
ner of Willis Road in 1943,”
says Lovelady.
Even though the majority of
the satsumas have died out of
Silsbee, the memory of them
still is a part of the city.
The school’s yearbook that
was original created in 1925 was
named after the orchards.
The yearbook was discontin-
ued for many years, but in 1944
the book was published again
and is still the book of memories
the students of Silsbee High
School walk away with every
year.
Houses and businesses stand
where many of Mr Cook’s sat-
sumas bloomed in the south part
of Silsbee so long ago and the
sweet smell that came from
Arthur Gore’s orange trees no
longer floats along with the
breeze.
For those who know the histo-
ry and remember a little of the
past, the satsuma is not lost for-
ever to Silsbee.
On a hill next to the high
school lives a lone satsuma tree.
It is a mostly unnoticed mark-
er of the past which stands quiet-
ly there every day, overlooking
the building that helps produce
the fruit of our future.
Students from Read-Turrentine Elementary School gather around Silsbee Mayor H.C. Muckleroy
on Tuesday during a field trip to city hall. The group heard about how city government works, as
well as a few life lessons from Muckleroy, who is the retired former Silsbee ISD superintendent.
Kountze Library readies summer programs
Kountze Public Library, in con-
junction with Texas State
Library, will celebrate summer
reading with four special pro-
grams in June.
The programs are sponsored
locally by the Kountze Woman’s
Club and the Friends of the
Library Organization.
All programs will be presented
at the library on Tuesdays in June
from 10-11 a.m.
On June 5, Traci Turner, Story
Time Coordinator for the library,
will delight children with her spe-
cial program. On June 12, Ray
Innerarity of Huntington, Texas,
will bring his sheep and cattle dog
for a fun and amazing program,
held on the library lawn. (In case
of inclement weather on the 12th,
an alternate program will be held
inside the library).
The June 19 program will fea-
ture Raymond Eastman,
Puppeteer, doing his program,
“Book Buccaneers.”
The final program on June 26
will feature Jo Ann Dixon,
Friends Treasurer, presenting
“Rainbow Fish.”
Young readers won’t want to
miss any of these exciting pro-
grams provided free of charge by
the library.
Kids are encouraged to pre-reg-
ister at the library from Tuesday
May 29 through Friday June 1;
however, no books may be read or
counted for the competition until
June 5, day of the first program.
For further information on
these programs or the Texas
Reading Club competition guide-
lines, visit the kids’ page on the
library’s web site at kountzeli-
brary.org or call the library at 409
246-2826.
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Dickert, Gerry. The Silsbee Bee (Silsbee, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 23, 2007, newspaper, May 23, 2007; Silsbee, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1244820/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Silsbee Public Library.