Photograph of commander Lymas Langley Jr. burning the note for Legion Hall Post 818. American Legion Post 818 was named for an African-American man, Charles Major Lytle, who was killed while in defense of his country in World War II. The late Judge James R. Dougherty, prominent Beeville attorney, oil producer and philanthropist, donated several lots on which to build a Legion Post Hall. He also donated some money to help pay for the construction work. The post was completed in 1952 on West Hefferman St. The members sold barbecue dinners and paid out the indebtedness. The post was organized in 1946 with sixteen charter members. Lymas Langley Jr. as the first commander. Son of noted cowboy, Lymas Langley, Sr., Lymas Langley, Jr. was also a charter member of the Board of Community Council in 1965. He, along with George Hodges and Willie Walker, were in charge of the 1925 "Juneteenth" celebration, and he operated a restaurant on West Corpus Christi St. After Langley died in 1971, Camp Ezell, in his book The Historical Story of Beeville, Texas noted that Lymas Langley, Jr. was the most effective peacemaker of Bee County and the seeds of wisdom, understanding and kindness he …

Photograph of Mrs. Lymas Langley, Jr. standing beside the dedication marker of her husband Lymas Langley Jr. The marker says "Beeville Volunteer Ambulance Service Building Erected 1971 Dedicated in Memory of Lymas Langley, Jr."

Print of a Bee County College in Beeville, Texas. The print depicts a quadrangle on the college campus surrounded by buildings and lined with trees. The original watercolor was created by Richard Lewis. In 1965 the voters of Bee County named the entire county as a college district and issued bonds in the amount of $1,500,000 for a junior college. One hundred acres of land was donated for the college campus by the widow of A.C. Jones, Mrs. W.M. Thompson, W.W. Jones II, and Mrs. H.B. Hause. In the fall of 1967 the first classes of Bee County College were held. Today the college is named Coastal Bend College and includes campuses in Beeville, Alice, Kingsville, and Pleasanton.

McClanahan/L.F. Roberts Dry Goods. Now located at 206 E Corpus Christi Street, the McClanahan House is the oldest business structure in Beeville. The building, the second store built in Beeville by George W. McClanahan, was erected around 1867 on the east side of the courthouse square, near Poesta Creek. The house served as general store, lodging house, and post office. It was built in the pioneer western style, with southern porches. McClanahan was Beeville’s first merchant; he was among the first to buy auctioned lots in the newly formed town of Beeville in 1859. McClanahan also served as schoolteacher, postmaster, county clerk, innkeeper, and Sunday school superintendent. After McClanahan’s death, L.F. Roberts purchased and operated the store for many years. In 1962, the building was purchased by the Historical Society for $600, and moved to its present site. The building is still the “home” of the society, and meetings are held there.

Photograph of the students that attend Saint Mary's Academy in 1916. Saint Mary’s Academy was opened in the fall of 1896 by the Sisters of Divine Providence as Beeville's first parochial school. Within a year a large two-story day and boarding school were added. Fire destroyed the academy building in December of 1930. St. Joseph’s School was built on the same location (400 N Tyler St). In 1996, Our Lady of Victory Catholic School and St. Joseph’s combined to form the new St. Mary’s Academy on the same location as the early founding school.

Photograph of Jim Ballard standing in front of his horse, Charlie. Hallettsville native, James Tiberius “Jim” Ballard took advantage of government loans after President Woodrow Wilson’s election in 1912, and purchased a drugstore in Beeville. This was the beginning of Ballard Drug, the town’s oldest drugstore. Jim Bullard was given the title of “Champion Yarn Teller” by his friends. He served as a City Councilman, Mayor of Beeville, and Vice President of First National Bank. In 1972 his daughter, Mrs. Alice Ballard Broocks of Beeville, published a collection of Mr. Ballard’s favorite stories. Jim Ballard died in 1962 at the age of 89.

Photograph of Sheriff D. A. T. Walton's home. A native of Alabama, D.A. Dalton came to Bee County in 1860. He had served with a ranger company for a while before coming to Bee County. After locating here he became engaged in cattle raising. The town of Walton, later named Normanna, was named in his honor. In 1876 he was elected sheriff and served as sheriff for sixteen years. After his defeat in 1894, he moved to Brewster County, where he again served as sheriff.

Photograph of Santos Jaramillo standing in a cotton field in the 1940's.. In 1937, Santos Jaramillo started his Jaramillo Cattle hauling with a bob-tailed truck. He soon had a fleet of big cattle trailers, taking cattle to market from ranches all over South Texas, and even by ferry from St. Joseph Island. After WWII, the railroad’s agricultural customers began to see the advantages of shipping by truck. While shipping by rail was less expensive, trucking was faster. Without the regulations of having to stop to feed and water the cattle, the truckers took cattle from the ranch to market in half the

Two photographs of Viva downs in Beeville, Texas. The top photograph is of two horses on the race track. In the bottom photograph, the winning horse, Zipolo Honey, and his jockey stand beside the horse's owner Santos Jaramillo along with the horse trainers, Pancho Garza and Pete de Luna. In 1937, Santos Jaramillo started Jaramillo Cattle hauling with a bob-tailed truck. He soon had a fleet of big cattle trailers, taking cattle to market from ranches all over South Texas, and even by ferry from St. Joseph Island. After WWII, the railroad’s agricultural customers began to see the advantages of shipping by truck. While shipping by rail was less expensive, trucking was faster. Without the regulations of having to stop to feed and water the cattle, the truckers took cattle from the ranch to market in half the time.

Photograph of a man and a woman embracing in front of the Mineral Mercantile Store. Mineral The first Anglo settlers to the Mineral area date back to 1845 when President Anson Jones granted a large track of land to the heirs of Henry Coley. After the Civil War, Refugio resident Thomas Howard and son-in-law, Lyman Blackman, begin a freight route from Saint Marys hauling lumbar and other supplies into the Mineral area. They then returned with hides and other products for export. While digging water wells a vein of hot mineral water with 16 different minerals was struck by William and Susan Sanford. Overnight Mineral became a tent city in 1877 as people came because of the healing powers they thought the mineral water contained. The Sanford Hotel, several stores, churches, a grist mill, a school in the drug store, and a post office sprang up at Mineral City. As the medicinal power of the water withered, along with the by-passing by the railroad, floods, and fires, Mineral also withered. In 1952 the South Texas Children’s Home was established near the old “city”, one store, two Baptist churches, and less than 100 residents were all that remained.

Photograph of the Mercantile Store in Mineral, Texas. The first Anglo settlers to the Mineral area date back to 1845 when President Anson Jones granted a large track of land to the heirs of Henry Coley. After the Civil War, Refugio resident Thomas Howard and son-in-law, Lyman Blackman, begin a freight route from Saint Marys hauling lumbar and other supplies into the Mineral area. They then returned with hides and other products for export. While digging water wells a vein of hot mineral water with 16 different minerals was struck by William and Susan Sanford. Overnight Mineral became a tent city in 1877 as people came because of the healing powers they thought the mineral water contained. The Sanford Hotel, several stores, churches, a grist mill, a school in the drug store, and a post office sprang up at Mineral City. As the medicinal power of the water withered, along with the by-passing by the railroad, floods, and fires, Mineral also withered. In 1952 the South Texas Children’s Home was established near the old “city”. By 1958 one store, two Baptist churches, and less than 100 residents were all that remained.

Photograph of the small, wooden San Domingo school. This schoolhouse was built by Mrs. John (Sallie) Pettus in 1859 on the west side of the Dry Medio, and moved in 1867 to between the Medio and Dry Medio Creeks. The schoolhouse was moved again in 1870 to the banks of Toro Creek. Miss Gussie Hitchens, who later married John W. Flournoy, was the first teacher. In the late 1870’s the schoolhouse was moved to the San Domingo community about two miles west of the present Normanna town site.

Photograph of an angled view of the Normanna school which is the first school in Normanna. This first school for Normanna was constructed in 1889 at the site of the present school, on the corner of Main and Live Oak Streets. Along with its function as a school, it was also used as a church, community center, and for other purposes. In the 1900's a two-story schoolhouse was erected, and in 1926 a new schoolhouse was built. In the late 1930's, the Normanna school was consolidated with the Pettus and Tuleta schools.

Photograph of a store built by R. J. Bradford in Normanna. The words "R. J. Bradford Dealer in General Merchandise" can be seen above the awning.

Postcard of the cotton gin in Normanna in 1910. Santa Domingo was the community’s first name. It was located nine miles north of Beeville where the Santa Domingo Creek joined the Medio Creek, and was settled about 1848. Jose Maria Uranga’s eleven leagues, the largest single Mexican grant in Bee County (1831), covered much of the community. In 1874 it was known as Walton Station after the sheriff of Bee County, D.A.T. Walton. In 1893 a Norwegian colony moved into the area and settled two miles east of Walton. That settlement is still called the Colony. A Walton post office was established in 1894, but another Texas town already had the name of Walton, so the town became Normanna. (Norwegian for “far north or one from the far north”.) In the early days Normanna had three churches, two doctors, two schools, a hotel, a weekly newspaper, five general stores, a drugstore, a gin, barbershop, a tin shop, a saloon, dance hall, the post office and a general store.

Photograph of a group of men of the Swan Store in Normanna. Mr. and Mrs. C.I. Swan and family moved from Illinois to Normanna in 1889. For many years they were leaders in the community, and he is known as the “father of Normanna”. Mr. Swan served as county commissioner of Precinct Two for several years. Mrs. Swan taught in the Normanna Public School. She also organized the Normanna Country Woman’s Club, the first country club to federated in Texas. He died in 1918, and she in 1935. The store in the picture was owned by John Swan. Pictured from left to right are Dayton Roberts, James W. Robinson, Jim Sheive, Jim Moore, Sam Bridge, Dolph Garner, Henry Nutt, John Swan, Kay Smith, Mr. Lawrence, and Llywelyn Roberts (barefoot boy).

Photograph of Sheive's Market in Normanna owned by Jim Sheive. The Sheive family were in Normanna by 1867.

Photograph of M. Long's grocery and general store in Papalote, Texas. The store's first owner,William B. Hatch, originally from Tennessee and a veteran of the Confederacy, was one of the earlier merchants in Papalote. In 1873, he moved his family to the present townstite of Papolate to take over the management of a branch of the mercantile store he, and a partner, S. G. Borden, owned in Sharpsburg. Later he sold his interest in the Sharpsburg store for full ownership in the Papalote business. For many years his story served as post office and voting place. W. B Hatch operated the store until 1898 when he sold it to L.N. Scofield of Sinton. Mr. Schofield then sold the store to W.M. Long in 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Long operated the store until his death in 1929. Mrs. Long, and her son, W. C. Long, continued to operate the store and service station, which has been added to the business after the advent of the automobile. In 1946 Mr. Long closed the business for about six months after her son went into the cattle business. At the insistence of friends, Mrs. Long reopened the store and operated it until 1951 when …

Photograph of J. F. Ray's home in Pettus, Texas. James F. Ray built his home long before the townsite was subdivided.

Photograph of people that attended a barbecue held by the McKinney Family in celebration of the new oil well Bee County. More than 500 people attended the event. On December 29, 1929 as the Houston Oil Company drilled for gas, the first oil well in Bee County was brought in on the JJ McKinney land east of Pettus. Humble Oil and Refining Company completed McKinney No. 1 Oil Well, Bee County, January 31, 1930.

Photograph of Robert's Store on the left and the Pettus Hotel on the right. In 1888 W.T. Roberts moved his family from San Domingo to Pettus where he bought a hotel, and on April 6, 1891 opened a store. This store burned down in 1901. He rebuilt in 1903, and the first telephone in the area was located in the store. Several years later a switchboard was installed in the Roberts Hotel with Miss Lula Roberts as operator. In 1929 or 1930, a disastrous fire burned the hotel and some seven business houses. Mr. Roberts’ store did not burn. In 1932 W.T. Roberts Company built the first brick business house in Pettus. It continue to operate until 1965,

Postcard of the John Pettus Homestead, the name sake of Pettus, Texas. Virginian, John Freeman Pettus, was one of Stephen Austin’s original “Old Three Hundred” settlers. Mr. Pettus’ land grant was in Goliad, but he bought thousands of acres near what is now Pettus in north Bee County because he needed more grazing land. He paid 25 cents to $1.25 per acre. In order to watch his stock Mr. Pettus built an adobe one-room cabin with a chimney. Here he lived for approximately twenty years, but went home on weekends to stay with his family. Over time more people moved to the area and established a community, which was named Pettus in honor or John Pettus, the first land owner. John Pettus daughter Sarah married John Sutherland Hodges, and the young couple came to live near her father. They built a five or six-room cottage. The lumber for the cottage was brought by wagon train from Saint Mary's. The wagons were pulled by oxen. The Hodges family lived here until the land was purchased by the late G.A. Ray St. in 1895. Mr. Ray built a two-story house on the same spot as the Hodge/Pettus house and used some portions …

Postcard of the 1886 Railroad Section House in Pettus. On May 17, 1886, the first passenger train backed into Pettus. A depot and a section house had been built; a well was dug, and a cedar tank had been erected just north of the depot, where the train got water. A section house was where the crew foreman and his family normally lived. Most meals and other get together would take place for all the railroad workers at the section house. There was usually a bunk house where the crews slept near the section house. A tool shed would also be nearby to store the tools used to maintain tracks along the section, and there had to be a source of water. The spacing of the camps was based on the distance a locomotive could travel on a tank of water and how far a maintenance crew could travel by handcart in one day.

Photograph of the first telephone operator of Pettus. In the early 1900's a switchboard was installed in the Roberts Hotel in Pettus with Miss Lula Roberts as operator. Gradually nearly every home in the area had a telephone. The local switchboard was discontinued in January 1969.