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Sunday, September 26, 2010

The West Texas Fair, Kerrville at the turn of the last century

Warren Klein sent me this information on the West Texas Fair years ago --
"The West Texas Fair was held each year around the 4th of July." This fair took place in grand buildings built especially for the fair. The site was on the river side of the intersection of Water Street and Junction Highway, called Five Points, about where Norwest Bank is today.
"One thing I remember about the fair of 1915: a man had an airplane and he would take people up for a ride. The thing I remembered about the airplane was that it didn't have a self-starter. The propeller was at the back of the plane. In order to start it, a person had to turn the propeller by hand, but he wanted 'back up,' so he joined hands with 6 other men. One thing that still puzzles me today is where my brand new straw hat went when that plane started!"
Oddly enough I believe I have a photo of that airplane and its pilot.  I'll look for it and publish it here later.
Here are some images of the West Texas Fair grounds from my collection:

Click on any image to enlarge
West Texas Fair, Kerrville, held each July.  The fairgrounds were at Five Points
about where the Wells Fargo main bank is today.


Another view, West Texas Fair, Kerrville, turn of the last century

2 comments:

  1. Was that the start of the Texas Folklife Festival?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary, this was separate from the Folklife Festival.

    ReplyDelete

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