The city directory for Mineral Wells, 1909, embracing a complete alphabetical list of business firms and private citizens; a directory of city and county officials, churches, public and private schools, banks, asylums, hospitals, commercial bodies, secret societies, street and avenue guide, etc.

This photograph appears to have been given to A. W. Weaver with the following information on the back of it: "Wasn't it Whittier who said 'Still stately stands the old school house, beside the babbling brook'?--well this one no longer stands. It was a firm & strong old building when they tore it down 4 years ago. I thought you would cherish this picture as a fond recollection of yours, mine & Hugh's school days & days of happy childhood, where, as we romped & played barefoot in the soft sands & green grass, we were not as yet familiar with the hidden stones & thorns that one encounters down the highway of life. "All the sheet metal contained in the top of this building including the tin roof was made & fabricated by Papa in Grandpa's store. The metal work consists of the ornamental cornice fittings, the steeples at each corner of the building, metal banisters on the roof top, pinnacles around cupolas, flag pole with large metal ball on top & all drain piping and roof ventilators. "The barren oak trees in the yard are very familiar. Far to the right, not shown in the picture were several …

A photograph of the Norwood Hospital during its completion. Note the "Parry and Spicer Architects" sign and the "Goodrum, Murphy and Croft Contractors" sign. Dr. Norwood was the first Osteopathic doctor to set up business in Mineral Wells. He departed this life at the age of 82 in 1953. The building was donated to the Mineral Wells Historic Foundation. Plans were announced to convert the clinic to a Bed and Breakfast facility, but no progress towards such a conversion has been made to date [2007]. The legend "1863" appears on the photograph, but it is not known what it signifies. It cannot possibly be the date of the building--or of its photograph.

The West Ward School is shown with "Dinky Car" tracks in foreground. The picture was taken around 1909. The first Mineral Wells School with a graduating class, built in 1902, it was located just north of Little Rock School on NW 5th Avenue. Mineral Wells' first High School graduation class, consisted of four students in 1903, as evinced by a photograph in "Time Was...", page 189. It was later named "Houston School" in 1915. The West Ward School was subsequently torn down. Another school, constructed on SW 4th Avenue, was then named "Houston School."

This photograph,labeled "A July Crowd", shows a ladies' gathering about 1920. The photograph shows what is possibly a tea party or a ladies' club meeting. Some of the ladies shown were members of prominent Mineral Wells families. Identified in a typed note - and graph - accompanying the photograph are: (starting at back left) the 4th lady is Mrs. D. G. Galbraith [wife of the owner of the Hexagon House], the 8th is Mrs. E. F. Yeager [wife of Dr. E.F. Yeager, Pharmacist/ Owner of the Lion Drug Store), 16th is Mrs. J.H. McCracken [wife Dr. J.H. McCracken, president of the Texas Medical Association], 17th may be Mrs. Raines (Mrs. McCracken's mother); (middle row, starting in front of Mrs. Yeager) the second from left is Mrs. Dr. Beeler; (first row from left) the 3rd lady may be Mrs. Coon, the 6th lady is Mrs. Paul Bock, the 8th is Mrs. Reba Williams. The children in front are Langdon Bock on the left and Elizabeth Galbraith on the right. There were forty people in total.

The Bimini Mineral Baths, at 112 NW 4th Street, was built by Goodrum, Murphy and Croft, contractors in the early 1900's. The Bimini later became the Wagley Bathhouse. Dr. Wagley was an early pharmacist in Mineral Wells. The El Paso Morning Times in 1909 states that the re-building of the Bimini (the building here illustrated) will cost "...over $35,000." What the equivalent amount could be in modern-das dollars remains unknown. Please note the utter lack of automobiles, and the horse-drawn vehicle in front of the bath house. The meaning of the white-ink number "1861" remains to be determined.

This photograph shows group of two young men and six ladies on an outing in 1905. Note the walking "canes" held by several of the ladies. They appear to be resting at the souvenir photograph stand on the mountain trail about half-way to the top of East Mountain. Hiking to the top of East Mountain was a popular pastime for health seekers in the "City Built on Water" around the turn of the century.

Written on the back of the photograph is: "Presbyterian Church & Manse N.W. 4th Ave. & [NW]2nd St. Built 1896, Burned 1908" This was the first Presbyterian Church of Mineral Wells. It was replaced, after it burned in 1908, at the same location the next year by a unique domed church that endured for some seventy years. Deterioration of the foundation of the second church building dictated its prudent replacement by a third building at this same location in the early 1980's.

The Sangcura Sprudel Wells. On back of photograph is written: "Located at 800 N.W. 2nd Avenue." The building was later moved to 314 NW 5th Street. The porches were enclosed and it was turned into a rooming house. The building burned down in 1973.

The small building seen at the right of this picture was the First Crazy Well Drinking Pavilion. The large structure in the center of the picture is an early view of the second Pavilion, which was built in 1900. This picture was taken before its first two floors were enclosed. The Carlsbad pavilion, which was built around 1895 (across NW 1st Avenue and west of the Crazy) also appears in several pictures of the area around this time. Its absence in this photograph is probably the result of a combination of perspective, angle of picture, and depth-of-view of the camera. The Second Pavilion (shown in this photograph) was replaced in 1909 by the Crazy Flats, which burned in the fire of 1925. The current Crazy Hotel opened in 1927, and occupies the entire city block. It is now [2003] a retirement home.

A note on back of this photograph states, "1902, 1st Boy Scouts in Mineral Wells, organized by Frank Creighton (L) met in old Sangcura Sprudel Well Pavilion." The picture was taken in front of Green's Transfer Building. This photograph possibly shows the youth division of a local lodge, probably Shriners. Please note that the boys shown in the picture are shouldering real rifles. The uniforms depicted look more like Zouaves (down to the fezzes that the boys are shown wearing) than Boy Scouts, while the adult frowning on the extreme left has a sword in his hand. This historic photograph captures a precursor to the Boy Scout movement, that started six years later in England. It spread to America in 1910 to generate an interest in outdoor and educational activities among teen-age boys. The first Boy Scout Troop was organized in 1914 by a Mr. Harris. World War I delayed any further development until L.H. Gross got things underway again. He served a Scoutmaster until 1925.

This photograph illustrates a view from the east of the West Ward School at the time of its completion in 1902. It was located just north of Mineral Well's first public school, the "Little Rock School", at 205 NW 5th Avenue. West Ward housed first through twelfth grades. Mineral Well's first high school graduating class (four students) graduated from here in 1905. High School classes were moved from here to the East Ward School when it was completed in 1906. Only elementary school classes were taught here at the time West Ward school was torn down, about 1930. The Lilian Peek Cottage, Texas' first free-standing Home Economics building, was built by the W.P.A. in 1937 just to the north of where the West Ward School had been located.

The Lithia Well drinking pavilion was located on the southwest corner of the Crazy block at 400 NW 1st Avenue. The roof of the second Crazy Well drinking pavilion can be seen to the left of the Lithia. The Mineral Wells Library maintained its second location in this pavilion. The First Crazy Hotel was built on this location in 1914, but burned in 1925. The rebuilt and expanded Crazy Hotel (Now [2008] a retirement home) replaced the burned hostelry in 1927. See also the following picture.

A newspaper clipping with a photograph of a Mineral Wells School. This clipping had been mounted in a scrapbook, and the legible portion of the caption says, "Mineral Wells School, Texas." The whole caption read: Mineral Wells College. [sic]--A School for Both Sexes The building, which the Weatherford Democrat of September 12, 1895 says would be built in Mineral Wells (It would have been in Romanesque architecture), was to offer "Classical, Scientific, English, Music, Elocution, and Art Courses" . Professor J. McCracken was the head of the school. The building was never built, because the state provided education up to (but not including) college. A need for further education was not felt. .

This postcard, taken around 1909, features the Mineral Wells High School football team. Please note the guards, hanging around their necks, that were used to protect the noses of the players. Those guards were held in place by means of a strap that went around the head, and were further kept in place by clenching the teeth on a rubber bit on the inside of the guard. The back of the card lists the players' names from top left: 1) Jessie Turner, 2) Tulane Smith, 3) J.C. Hayes, 4) Faburt Holmes , 5) George Oliver, 6) Blake Turner, 7) Bertram Hedrich, 8) Lamar McNew, and 9) Mr. Dinsmore. Front row 10) Carodine Hootin 11) Gordon Whatley, 12) Vernon Durham, 13) Fred McClurhin, 14) Achie Holdrige, 15) Chester Baughn, and 16) Hugh Brewster. Jess Turner(1) was later a member of Mineral Wells' only undefeated team in 1912. C.N. Turner, father of teammates Jess(1) and Blake Turner(6), purchased one of the early telephone companies in Palo Pinto County. He operated it with his sons as a family business. Jess Turner became a pioneer in the telephone business, and purchased the other family interests in 1924 to become sole owner of the family …

This rock structure is now [2008] a museum dedicated to the preservation of the history of the city. There was some construction around the school at the time of this photograph, probably due to the building of Mineral Wells' first high school, the West Ward School, on the same lot, next door to and north of the little Rock School in 1902.

Entertainment for the many visitors to Mineral Wells around the turn of the twentieth century was provided, in part, by donkey rides up a trail to the top of East Mountain. The donkey trail crossed a 1,000-step staircase, built in 1905, to the top of the mountain about half-way up. Photographers, first J.C. McClure and then J.L. Young, took souvenir photographs of the visitors at this crossing. This photograph of the Belcher family was a taken by J. D. McClure. Mr. John M. Belcher stands on the right and his son, John E. Belcher sits on a donkey at the left of the picture, with his mother standing beside him. The clothing suggests that the picture was taken in the early 1900's. The legend "19EE" in the lower left-hand part of the picture invites speculation concerning its significance.

This picture, dated September 19, 1907, shows the Carlsbad Well at 415 NW 1st Avenue, and west of the Crazy Well drinking pavilion. It was one of the first drinking pavilions in Mineral Wells, and boasted that the water "Makes a man love HIS [sic] wife, makes a wife love HER [sic] husband/ Robs the divorce court of its business/ Takes the temper out of red-headed people/ Puts ginger into ginks/ and pepper into plodders."

A 1906 seasonal advertisement, compliments Central Texas Realty Association, depicts a young lady (An Art Nouveau goddess?) half-kneeling within a frame that suggests stained glass. She is holding a water jug, from which pours a stream of healing elixir that splashes into the lowermost center of the brochure. Decorative scrolls reminiscent of wrought iron sculpture decorate the advertisement. Stars, both in the advertisement and on the lady's tiara, hint that Mineral Wells is the City of Light. What appears to be a coffee stain shows at the upper left. Someone has penciled "1905" in the upper right corner.

Shown here is a picture of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. On the back of picture is written "901 N.Oak [.] Sold to Church of Christ [.] Demolished and rebuilt." The streetcar tracks, which ran from 1907 to 1913 are visible on N. Oak in front of the church. The denomination takes its name from Cumberland Street, Philadelphia. A sub-sect of Presbyterianism--based on an Arminian interpretation of Calvinism--was begun at the church there. A Cumberland Presbyterian church is advertised as being in Newberry at the present [2014] time. The picture was taken before North Oak Avenue was paved in 1914. The Church of Christ still [2008] occupies this location on N. Oak Avenue.

A weekly newspaper from Palo Pinto, Texas that included local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Mineral Wells, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Mineral Wells, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Palo Pinto, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.