Llano’s Badu Park will take a westward turn once again this weekend, as authentic chuck wagons and their competitive crews assemble for the town’s annual Chuck Wagon Cook-Off. A “Cobbler Contest” will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and a “chuck wagon meal” will be served at noon after the results of the cooking have been judged. Llano will be very busy all day on Saturday; see more “Upcoming Events” (in Llano and in other Highland Lakes towns) in the article beginning on page 2.
Scatterthought - October 20, 2017
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- Written by John Hallowell
I am really glad that I decided last week to add those four black-and-white pages; even though there were definite signs of haste and carelessness, there was still enough good material in that paper to make me proud of it.
Not everyone agreed with me. I missed several events and earned several rebukes, ranging from a polite “We missed you,” to a quite abrupt “Where were you?” I want my readers to know that I am always disappointed to miss a Highland Lakes area event that fits my “good news” qualification, and that I am always embarrassed when it’s just because I got distracted (or too tired) and forgot to go. That has happened too many times in the past month, and I’m really upset about it. I hope I’ll do better in the future (but I won’t feel obligated to give a report on my whereabouts!)
I put a couple of items in last week’s “Upcoming Events” article that may have been (unintentionally) misleading. Weakday Ministry will NOT host a Worship Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, October 21; they have postponed it until December, when they hope to have a bigger and better event. I’ll try to keep you updated as I learn more.
And Llano will not be holding its regular “Heritage Weekend” in the downtown area this weekend, but there WILL be a chuck wagon cook-off and several other events going on (see page 2).
Lisa Moore will be holding a Re-Grand Opening Celebration for her Oma’s Attic antique shop (formerly in Buchanan Dam) this weekend (Friday through Sunday) in the former Lake Fun Creations building, on Hwy 1431 in Kingsland (see ad on page 12). There will be bake sales, raffles, and door prizes. She is hoping to have a few outdoor vendors as well.
Scatterthought - October 13, 2017
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- Written by John Hallowell
It’s been quite a while since I added to my normal 16 pages, but I really felt that this week’s paper deserved a little extra. For one thing, I’d had some extra ads the past two weeks, a mixed blessing which gave me some extra spending money but also left me with less space for the pictures and stories I’d hoped to be able to share. Also, I’ve made so many mistakes these past few weeks that I thought I’d better let everyone know that I still am interested in doing a really good job. And I think that this week I really needed to put together a paper that I’d be proud of. You know what they say about the “best-laid plans.” Even though I got off to a great start, several things came up during the week, and I’m here at the last minute once again, trying to put the finishing touches on another hurry-up job (and just hoping that it won’t look too sloppy when it’s finished). I hope the extra stories and pictures will make up for the inevitable mistakes!
Because of the way the printing presses work, the only incremental change I can afford is to add four black-and-white pages. Since I have very few black-and-white ads, that means I need seven or eight extra pages worth of editorial content, none of which can be accompanied by color pictures. That gave me the rare opportunity to include two fascinating (to me, at least!) history stories and several press releases about good events in the near future (usually, I just don’t have enough space).
So the jury’s still out, but all-in-all, I think it’s a positive thing. I hope you’ll agree when you read the finished product.
I do have a few things that may not get proper coverage elsewhere in this paper, so I’ll mention them here.
Euel Moore helped shape Kingsland history
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- Written by John Hallowell
Everyone in Kingsland is familiar with Euel Moore Drive; not so many know anything about the man who gave his name to the road, which leads from “downtown” Kingsland along the Llano River arm of Lake LBJ. But Euel Moore played a major role in the re-birth of Kingsland after the lake was formed, and a history of Kingsland would not be complete without his story.
Euel Moore’s father was Luke Moore, the grandson of an Irish immigrant, who was born in Missouri in 1830. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, arrived in Texas in the early 1850s, and settled in southern Llano County in 1856. They raised nine children in a log cabin near Honey Creek. Luke served with the Texas Rangers in the 1860s, then became a cattleman with a ranch of 1,800 acres. In 1876, he became the postmaster in the town of Packsaddle (also known as Gainesville or Buzzard’s Roost, across the Llano River from Kingsland near the Slab).
Mary Ellen died in 1882, and four years later, Luke married a widow from Kingsland, named Nancy J. Bragg Hickey, who had three children of her own. Four more children were born to Luke and Nancy; Euel was the first, born in 1887. When Luke Moore died in 1919, he left 17 children, 73 grandchildren, 65 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild!
Euel Moore grew up on his father’s ranch, and lived all his life in Llano County. He was five years old when the railroad came through Kingsland and already a teenager when the Antlers Hotel was built. He married Rina Coursey, who had grown up on her family’s ranch nearby, on January 7, 1912. Although he was “just” a rancher and blacksmith’s helper (who earned a little cash eradicating mesquite and cedar on the side), he became a respected leader in Llano County, and was elected County Commissioner for Precinct #3 in November of 1950.
Llano in 1917 - Part 8
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- Written by John Hallowell
The August 2 edition of The Llano News (in 1917) was dominated by state, national and international news, with just a few local news items at the bottom of the front page.
A special session of the state legislature had been called to debate the possible impeachment of Governor James C. “Pa” Ferguson (whose “crimes” included vetoing funding for the University of Texas to punish political rivals).
The U.S. Senate voted 65-20 in favor of a constitutional amendment (authored by Senator Sheppard, of Texas) to ban “the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors” (including beer and wine) in the United States and its territories.
And the Allies (England, France and the U.S.) launched one of the biggest offensives of “the great war” in Flanders. A front-page article reported that the Allied armies had advanced about a mile across a 20-mile front, and that many Germans had been captured in the “terrific drive.”
Scatterthought - October 6, 2017
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- Written by John Hallowell
I have all kinds of things that need mentioning, and not much space to mention them. I’ll see what I can do.
The first thing I want to mention is the production of “Hamlet” at Marble Falls High School. There will be 7 p.m. shows on Friday and Saturday, then a 2 p.m. show on Sunday. The students always do a great job; I’m looking forward to seeing it.
The Highland Lakes United Methodist Church, on Hwy 1431 in Buchanan Dam, will host a flu shot clinic and blood drive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday. There will be a Retirement Party at 5 p.m. this Saturday for Horace and Myrtle Oestreich, who have operated Inman’s Kitchen in Llano for 50 years! I’ve known them for the past 20 of those years; I delivered bread there beginning in 1997. Inman's Kitchen will remain open under the management of their grandson, Grant Morgan, and his wife, Kayla, who will keep up the Oestreichs’ tradition there.
Those are probably the most urgent items, since they are coming up this weekend and I had not mentioned them before. Now I’ll tell you about the picture at the top of this page.
Scatterthought - September 29, 2017
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- Written by John Hallowell
It was another great week around the Highland Lakes, and the only slight disappointment that I have as this paper takes shape is that I don’t have space for as many pictures as I had hoped. Of course, that’s the product of a big week for ad sales, and after several “slow” weeks in a row, I certainly don’t feel like complaining! It wasn’t just this week’s activities that made my week so interesting. After several months of writing about history from other towns, I made progress on three great Kingsland history stories. Two of the stories are about remarkable people who had the same last name (but were not related). Euel Moore presided over much of Kingsland’s re-birth as county commissioner from 1951 through 1967 (he was first elected in November of 1950, and he died while still in office, in January of 1968). Eron Moore was the manager of the Anchor Restaurant (where Subway is now) in the 1970s, and served as Kingsland’s unofficial ski coach before the arrival of David and Pat Enloe. The other story is the (former) Longhorn Resort (soon to be a BoatTown dealership, marina and family-style restaurant). I had not realized how long the cabins (originally Bray’s Lodge) had been there, but they were apparently there before the 2900 bridge was built in 1968. I hope to be able to publish more details about all three in the near future.
Also, in pursuit of details from Euel Moore’s career, I read through the minutes of the Llano County commissioners court meetings from 1950 to 1958. They weren’t particularly focused on Kingsland, but I learned quite a bit about early subdivisions and roads in Kingsland (as near as I could tell, Euel Moore Drive was probably built in 1952).
Some more current Kingsland news came from the album that I posted last week on Facebook, showing several construction projects going on in Kingsland now. John Corcorran, who brought his family from Lubbock to Llano about two years ago and has several projects going on all at once, sent me a picture from Cypress Shores, an eight-lot gated subdivision off Williams Lakeshore Drive on the Colorado River Arm of Lake LBJ. I met him on Tuesday morning and toured the first of the eight amazing homes he’s planning to build (see photo on page 4). He and his wife, Rachel, just opened a 3-unit B&B (“Mustard Seed”) in a beautifully-restored historic home on the river in Llano.
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