The Levelland Daily Sun News (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 232, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 24, 1957 Page: 12 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hockley County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the South Plains College.
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Anniversary
in the entertainment field
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SPADE DRIVE-IN — The Spade Drive-In, later enlarged for wide screen, was opened by Wallace Theatres in 1948
creation for Early Day People
Area Was Strictly 'Home Made
the men seined the tanks. The
J little ones were thrown back while
1 the big ones were kept for eating.
Ice cream suppers became pop-
i ular after ice became available at
! Plainview. It was freighted in 100
1 pound blocks, carefully wrapped in
was made
sirup buckets
gcreation was “home made and j cooked beans, coffee and son-of-a- doughballs. If the fish did not bite j
incStr'ed all who would Come and1 gun in ■'he wash pots and served
partake of it' in the early days j the meal outdoors,
of-Hockley County.’ j Dances attracted whole families.
•This is the way the late Mrs. They would last until 2 or 3 a m.
A.-W. Blankenship, mother of Wal-j with breakfast sometimes served
lag© Blankenship, described it in1 before the guests departed,
her recollections, taken down by j The children bedded down on
het daughter in note form and ! pallets and the adults waltzed and|tarps.
transcribed as a family record. j two-stepped to the fiddle, french; -phe jce cream was made by
the loundup was the best of the harp and a man pedaled playerj packing gallon sirup buckets full
get-fogethors, according to M r s. piano. | Qf the milk mixture into wash tubs
Bl*t>kenship. j Another big occasion was the fish full of ice. The buckets were
Everyone knew about the oc- fry. Some settlers had brought a turned to and fro by the handles un-
cajipn and all came. Men and start of carp and catfish and scat-J til the mixture was frozen. One
hordes matched wits and speed tered them in the stock tanks. j man turned two buckets and four
With the cows and calves while the! On an appointed day, the set-f buckets wre placed in each tub.
children looked on from the top tiers crowded around the tanks One such party at the Blanken-
rail of the corral fence. The women with hooks baited with worms and ship house attracted 300 people.
I The school'house box supper was
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i he-
a good place for match-making,
the Blankenship’s memoirs say.
There the cowboys bid on the gaily
wrapped boxes prepared by the
few young ladies in the territory.
After the bidding the box suppers
were eaten and there would b e
singing or games.
Men and boys pitched horse
shoes, silver dollars or washers.
The children sat ed string and
made their own balls for baseball
or ante-over.
Mumble peg. hide and seek and
tag were popular with the chil-
dren. The girls cut paper dolls
from catalogs and made corn silk
dolls in season. And there was al-
ways horseriding or a bronc to
“bust" for the boys.
When the Blankenships built a
new house on their place, the kit-
chen was built large enough to ac-
commodate the family, ranch
hands and visitors. Rainy days
were spent around the k i tchen
stove dipping ashes, stoking the
fire, playing dominoes, parching
peanuts, cording cotton batts, quil-
ting, patching and tall tale swap-
ping.
And with the coming of the tele-
phone life picked up momentum
and entertainment. News traveled
faster than the once a week Sun-
day gathering and the Cappers
Farmer semi-weekly paper w-hich
the Blankenships said they were
lucky to get once a month.
Every time the phone jingled
everyone along the line answered
whether the ring was theirs or not
and a three or four part conver-
sation often took place.
Whenever the wires became
grounded on the barbed wire fence
all hands were anxious to repair
it as there was no control point
for the wires were just strung up
between homes. Everyone always
kept extra batteries on hand.
1
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Paper Notes-
(Continued from page four!
from Erath to come and buy a sec-
tion or so. and settle down as far-
mers. Jarrot was later rather mys-
teriously killed at a windmill and
watering tank within a few- miles
of home, as he returned from the
railroad at Plainview with ranch
supplies.
So far as we know, the murderer
of Jarrot was never caught, but
such men as Lee Cowan, Andrew
Blankenship, Hope and Hershell
Timmons. Lee Walker, Noah Bell,
Jim Smith. Sam Marrows, the
Copelands and others settled o n
this strip or near it. It was here
that some of the first cotton pro-
duced in these counties was grown,
and carried to Colorado City to be
ginned and marketed. It was these
men and their families that really
made a, start on settling and mak-
ing this a desirable farming area,
and a good place to rear their
families. A bit later, our pa-in-law,
the late J. F. Holden brought in his j
sizeable family to swell the colony j
popuation.
One man and family that did!
much tow-ard making this commu-|
nity, was Andy Blankenship, who
passed away at Lubbock recently.
Of late, Andy had been a sufferer
with a heart ailment, and was
confined to his home in Lubbock.
There was a leak in a gas outlet,!
and finally an explosion and fire.
Mr. Blankenship was badly burned,
and his death hastened in a hospi-
tal a few hours later.
We never saw anyone who did
not like Andrew Blankenship. That
tall, gaunt man in his younger day,
with the unfailing smile, and a
welcome to his home. What one
of these pioneer families had was
shared with all as long as it lasted, j
or until some one came in from the j
railroad, by freight wagon, some
100 or more miles in those days.
He leaves his wife, a son, Wallace,
a chain theatre man, and a daugh-
ter, Mrs. J. G. (Doyle) Thornhill,
to mourn iu* passing.’
NEW ROSE THEATER—-Shown hero is the New Rose theater, the third Wallace
theater opened in Levelland.
ORIGINAL WALLACE THEATER—This is Hie Wallace Theater as it looked upon
Opening. Note the absence of a marquee and the unpaved streets. The C. W. Post
Estate* office and the W. T. Thaxton land office are iioused in the office at left,
which now is occupied by the Wallace entrance-way.
We are proud to be a part of the tradition which
Wallace Blankenship —a true pioneer in Hockley Co.
and in the entertainment industry on the South Plains
— has built through 34 years of furnishing top-notch
entertainment to the people of this area.
It's a tradition in which hecan justlytakepride.
Our pledge is to work to continue this fine tradition
Wallace Theatres Employees
Wallace and Rose Theatres and Spade,Drive-In
Levelland, Texas
THE LEVELLANP DAILY SUN NEWS, Levelland, Texae, Wednesday, July 24, 1997
PAOE EIGHT
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Brewer, Orlin. The Levelland Daily Sun News (Levelland, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 232, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 24, 1957, newspaper, July 24, 1957; Levelland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1129573/m1/12/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting South Plains College.