Downtown – Where All The Lights Are Low

My first view of Allen came from a 1995 city map that clearly marked “downtown” just two blocks from my new office.  Two weeks later as I drove into town for the first time, I realized that I may have overestimated the convenience of working in downtown Allen.

The quiet two block stretch along Main Street will never be confused with Dallas but downtown Allen helped identify the small community for over 100 years.  Buildings with names like Cundiff and Bolin housed grocers and soda fountains, dress shops, pharmacies and banks long before the highway and big boxes came to town. 

No matter how big or small, every community needs a focal point. Planners for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad were aware of that need as they built depots and storefronts along their new railway in the late 1800’s. Fortunately, Allen was one of those towns. The railroad platted Allen in 1876 and also built a row of wooden buildings facing the newly laid tracks to serve as a business district for the small town it served.  

Downtown Allen as we know it began in 1906 when J.W. Thomas, a local blacksmith, sold his downtown property to the Allen State Bank.  The bank was the town’s first brick structure and faced Main Street instead of the railroad tracks.  Over the next nine years, downtown grew from east to west along both sides of Main Street and many of those same structures stand today – at least on the south side.  A devastating fire in 1915 destroyed all but two structures on the north side of Main Street.  Volunteers bravely fought to keep embers from the south side of downtown and the year’s cotton harvest, which was stacked at the local cotton exchange.

More than 30 downtown businesses served the community with groceries, clothing, banking, farm supplies and of course, the general store.  Through the 1950’s, downtown was a convenient business destination for farm families and merchants to conduct business, play some checkers and complain about the weather.

It was the arrival of Central Expressway in 1962 that led to new housing developments and retail outside of downtown. Traffic also increased, especially on FM 2170, Allen’s major east-west road.  In 1983, the Main Street Study Committee recommended the city (and state) route traffic along McDermott rather than through downtown.   Traffic loosened up but retail downtown businesses gradually moved out. They were replaced with offices and service businesses with one big exception; Rodenbaugh’s Appliance and Flooring. The store remains as Allen’s oldest operating business. Part of the store also rests on the foundation of the 1906  Allen State Bank.

Most people who are familiar with the area agree that downtown Allen and many of the surrounding streets could use some revitalization.  In fact, a Downtown Steering Committee appointed by the mayor is currently seeking citizen input with that goal in mind.  Let’s just hope that the committee and decision-makers can make the downtown area the friendly and convenient destination it was for many, many years.  Anyone for a game of checkers?

Remembering Lois Curtis

   Lois Curtis was born in a house on McDermott Drive in Allen on December 23, 1923.  Yesterday she was laid to rest in the Allen cemetery almost directly across the street from her childhood home. The life of this much loved Allen resident had come full circle but not until she touched the lives of many along the way.

   Born Anna “Lois” Gilliland, she attended the Allen School and graduated in 1941. She married Walter Curtis shortly after he graduated from Allen in 1942 and the couple settled down on a farm near the intersection of Custer and McKinney Ranch Road in Frisco.

   During the 1950’s Lois worked part-time with Ruth Canady cooking for children in the Allen School.  According to her son Bob Curtis, the lunch menu was literally homemade.

   “The ladies brought their own recipes in from home and cooked meals that the kids loved like fried chicken, yeast rolls and hot desserts. Turkey and stuffing were her specialty and years later when she no longer cooked, she still had the cafeteria staff using the same recipe we enjoyed each Thanksgiving.”

   As the school district grew, Lois moved into a full-time position as food service manager which she held until her retirement. Walter Curtis supplemented his farm income as the school district tax assessor and bus driver. That also grew into a full-time job with the schools and the couple moved into Allen from the farm in 1962.

   An interesting story from 1963 involved Lois with her friends and co-workers Iva Mae Morrow and Bertie Davidson. The ladies tuned in each day to the popular soap opera “Days of Our Lives” in the kitchen each day until one day a news bulletin reported that President Kennedy had been shot.

  Curtis rushed to tell Principal James Griffin who at first didn’t believe the news. They then called Superintendent Le Rountree and high school principal Max Vaughan to share the news with the older students. It all began with Lois and her “Days of Our Lives” TV set.

   It wasn’t her cooking or his driving that led to a middle school being named for Walter and Lois Curtis in 1994. Outside of work, the two devoted their spare time to making Allen a better place for kids and families.

   Whether it was running the scoreboard or running one of the first school PTA groups, Walter and Lois were there to help.  Along with Pete Ford and Alvis Story, the Curtis were among the biggest Allen Eagles fans in town and rarely missed a sporting event.

   “My father devoted 34 years of service to Allen children and my mother gave 37 years,” explained Bob Curtis. “Allen was their town and the pride they showed in the schools and community was evident through every one of those years.”

   With Lois, her three children, numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren, Bob Curtis figures there has been a Curtis family member in the Allen Schools for the past 82 years. He retired as the district’s long-time facilities director in 2010 and more recently his daughter Stacey Dunston has been teaching math at the Lowery Freshman Center.

   Following Walter’s death in 1992, Lois continued to support the Allen Eagles Allen sporting events until she was sidelined by an illness in 2009.

   Whether it was an extra helping of her signature turkey stuffing or a helping hand for a child who lost his lunch, Lois Curtis was a mother and a friend and a darn good cook to thousands of Allen students. For that we all say thank you and God Bless.

Senior Wills & Junior Prophesies

1950 Allen High School Junior Senior Banquet at Sherman Hotel

   It is prom weekend in Allen, Texas and that means big business for hairdressers, restaurants and limousine services.  Like graduation, the senior prom is a high school rite of passage that most of us have experienced once or twice.

   In some ways the prom hasn’t changed a bit.  Kids still dress up, enjoy a nice dinner, go dancing and stay out much later than normal.  Then again, speaking with some former students and teachers, I would say the Allen High School prom has come a long, long way.

   For many years, Allen High School’s prom was actually called the Junior-Senior Banquet, according to Jill (Enloe) Dietz, who graduated in 1975. “The tradition was that the juniors would raise money to pay for the seniors and then both classes would attend the banquet.”

   The fundraising each year centered around a turkey dinner that was held each November.  Ella Jo Adams, former AHS home economics teacher, recalls the turkey dinner as a  big community event.

   “The mothers did most of the preparation and food service director, Lois Curtis coordinated it all. Everyone came out because they knew it supported the senior’s banquet each year. Of course the town’s population was probably less than 1,000 at the time.”

  Seniors Niki Keramat and Tyler Johnston will be attending the Allen High School prom at the Allen Event Center this Saturday. They will be joined by almost 1,000 classmates. The couple is part of a group of 20 and will be riding in a limo to a nice steakhouse and sushi restaurant before attending the prom around 9 p.m.

   In comparison, Honey (Bankhead) Gray and her date attended the 1974 junior-senior banquet at the Hilton Inn Hotel in Dallas with about 75 students. There were 41 seniors graduating that year.

   “A tradition that I remember from the banquets was the senior wills and junior prophesies,” said Gray. “Seniors would stand up and bequeath all sorts of funny things to the juniors. Then juniors would predict the future for seniors. It was meant to be in good fun but could get rough at times.”

   Allen’s lack of hotels led to proms being scheduled in Dallas and later Richardson and Plano.  Sonya (Knight) Pitcock remembers her 1997 prom being held at a downtown Dallas hotel and then everyone heading to the Swinging D Ranch for the after prom party.

  Ella Jo Adams recalled one year that the prom was almost cancelled. “We received a call from the Fairmont Hotel that our room for the prom had been taken over by secret service staff for President Gerald Ford’s overnight stay at the hotel. We were eventually allowed to use a different space at the Fairmont. We even got to see the President arrive in his limo that evening in April of 1976.

   An interesting fact about early Allen “proms” was that underclassmen were not allowed to eat dinner with the group.  A junior who took a sophomore to the banquet would eat dinner inside while the underclassmen sat outside the banquet hall.  They could join the group when the dancing began. At the same time, most of Allen ISD’s faculty and their spouses or guests attended the banquet along with the upperclassmen. Mrs. Adams helped break down the tradition in 1967 so that all guests could enjoy the banquet and the emphasis was more on the students.

   Asked why he was looking forward to the prom, 2012 senior Tyler Johnston said “it’s exciting because it’s only seniors.  It is our event – our chance to get together and start saying goodbye. It will be great.”

   In a way, the prom hasn’t changed in years.

Allen Cemetary Has Stories To Tell

   James Madison was president of the United States the day Harry Butcher was born in 1817. Teddy Roosevelt was president on the day that Harry died in Allen, Texas in 1901. Harry’s story in between is unknown but those two significant dates in his history are marked on a tombstone in the Allen Cemetery.

   Walking through the cemetery, any cemetery for that matter, is a history lesson on the community it serves. In Harry’s case, we can guess that the Butcher family came to Texas by wagon train over the Appalachians in the mid 1800’s. His family may have come to Allen shortly after the Houston-Central Railroad made Allen a relevant place in the 1870’s. Then again, he may have been a cattle driver from Kansas who met a pretty Texas lady and took up cotton farming. 

   We can only imagine his story but there were people alive in Allen at the turn of the last century who may have known Harry Butcher and some of their children are still alive today. So if you think about it, a person in Allen today could hear stories about growing up in the 1820’s. It is the ability to quickly reach back across generations and “touch history” that makes a visit to Allen’s Cemetery so interesting.

   The Allen Cemetery was created on April 15, 1884 by Lodge 254 of the International Order of Odd Fellows on land donated by the Whisenant family. The IOOF was a benevolent fraternal organization dedicated to charitable causes that was brought to the U.S. from England in 1819. The oldest and most intriguing marker in the cemetery honors Rebecca Hamilton, who died in 1883. Hamilton was related to the Wetzel family that made its name building furniture. The unusual wooden headstone was carved by a family member and has long since fallen victim to Texas weather.

   The cemetery, which sits across from the intersection of Main Street and McDermott, was maintained by the Allen Cemetery Association for many years. Three residents in particular; Dale Holt, Ed Lynge and Ted Summers, all worked to keep up the property and raise funds for its management. A lack of funding led to the cemetery falling into disrepair until the late 1980’s when the Allen City Council voted to acquire the property and operate it through the Allen Parks and Recreation Department. The rerouting of McDermott brought new attention to the cemetery, according to Sue Witkowski, who managed the property for the Parks and Recreation Department.

   “We announced we would soon be raising the price of plots and almost immediately the entire cemetery sold out at the old price of $125 per plot.” Walking through the cemetery, Witkowski pointed out that the oldest graves are set against the creek at the eastern edge. Two of Allen’s oldest family names have prominent locations in the cemetery. R.B. Whisenant (1854-1937) and G.W. Ford (1821-1904) represent two pioneering families that traveled to the area by covered wagon before the Civil War. Whisenant’s grandson Ed Lynge still lives in the area and Ford’s grandson Pete was a lifelong resident and well known businessman.

   Family plots around the cemetery with names like Miller, Summers, Curtis, Taylor, Leach and Compton all tell the stories of families that have figured in Allen’s history for over 100 years. Others tell the story of epidemics or fires that claimed the lives of family members and often small children.
   The Allen Cemetery is at first a memorial to family members but it is also a history lesson for the rest of us and a visit to Harry Butcher’s grave may just get you thinking about life in this country 200 years ago.

Time Marches On Through 1970 Parade Video

   Time travel back to 1970 and you may hardly recognize Allen as you drive north on Central Expressway. Still, just east of the highway on Main Street, downtown Allen still  resembles the downtown folks remember from 41 years ago.

   Sure the storefront names have changed but if downtown were a movie set, it would not take long to convert it back to a place where people bought groceries, ate lunch and talked about the weather. 

   Thanks to a local businessman and an 8mm camera, Allen residents can now see for themselves what downtown looked like in 1970. (see links below)

   That businessman was Don Rodenbaugh, owner of a downtown appliance store and president of the Allen Merchants Association.  The association created the Allen Christmas Parade as a promotion in 1970 and Rodenbaugh filmed the entire parade as it rolled and marched by his store.

   Watching the film today provides an insight into a community that was no longer rural but hadn’t experienced the growth that towns like Richardson and later Plano did.

   Allen’s first parade in 1970 featured 52 entries and 125 horses.  This year’s parade will likely include over 100 entries and close to 1000 people. In fact, the 1970 parade was so small in that participants circled around at the top of Main Street and then marched down the street again back to their cars.

   Again, the businesses may have changed through the years but the parade includes many of the same entries. Scouts roll by in pickup truck beds, local churches bolt nativity scenes to flatbeds and police car sirens probably wail (it’s a silent film). Compare your digital video to the old home movies and you’ll see Main Street lined with proud parents and excited children in both of them. The Allen High School Escadrille leads the parade and still represents the town’s only high school with pride. 

   The parade has always rolled up Main Street but the starting point has changed through the years. The parade first assembled behind the old WalMart (later Brookshire’s) shopping center. As the number of entries grew, the lineup extended further away until it reached behind the Hallmark store (now Jalapenos) at the opposite end of the shopping center. The parade now lines up through Allen Station Park all the way back to Allen High School.

   Watching home movies of Allen’s first parade is interesting to some but emotional to others who are able to see themselves and others in a sort of time machine. The film is especially poignant when you consider that many of the parents lining the streets are now gone and their kids or grandkids now line the same parade route.

   The Allen Christmas Parade, which is now sponsored by the two Allen Rotary Clubs, was created to highlight the downtown businesses.  Over the years it has become much more and kids of all ages anticipate it each year. 

   This year’s parade will be held on Sunday December 4 starting at 2 p.m.  Parade entries can be found at www.allenrotary.org or www.asrotary.org.

     Clips from Don Rodenbaugh’s 1970-1972 parade home movies can be found on YouTube by searching Allen Christmas Parade. Links to the parade clips can also be found below:

1970 Allen Christmas Parade Video

1971 Allen Christmas Parade Video

1972 Allen Christmas Parade Video

1981 Allen Christmas Parade Video Part 1

1981 Allen Christmas Parade Video Part 2

1981 Allen Christmas Parade Video Part 3

Old Allen Yearbook Ads Tell a Story

The next time you dust off your old yearbook, flip to the advertising section in the back of the book. There is much to learn about your community when you scan the ads for businesses and restaurants that supported their local schools “back then.”

I recently pulled out a stack of Allen High School yearbooks and compared the ads over a 15 year period. Then I cornered Ronald Rodenbaugh and Bob Curtis, two long time Allen residents, who helped me piece the yearbook ads together.
It was no surprise that many of the ads in 1959 and 1974 were for restaurants. The biggest difference was that most of the eateries in 1959 were in other towns. There was Hays Café and Motel, and the Dairy Mart in Plano. Then there was Wood’s Café, Baker’s Drive-In, and the Jiffy Dog Drive-In in McKinney. Allen did have The Café run by Ruby Ruth Masters and the Angel Drive-In.

Ten years later Allen teenagers were frequenting the Royal Drive-In and the local Dairy Queen but a run to Pizza Casa on 15th Street in Plano was not unusual. A favorite sport in Allen for many years was Gentry’s Steakhouse which was located where McDermott and Main Street now intersect. For many years McDermott ended before the cemetery and traffic came down Main Street to cross the bridge. Gentry’s was demolished when McDermott was extended to the east side of Allen. One other local option was Stuckey’s. The building’s shell can still be seen on northbound Central Expressway but the last nut roll was sold over 25 years ago.

Local grocery stores were big supporters of Allen High School. Cundiff’s ran ads for their meat and vegetable market on Main Street in the early 60’s. Bolin’s Grocery was located at the southeast end of downtown and then became Crawford and Moseley’s. A modern grocery store called the C&M Food Mart was built just east of the railroad tracks and served as the town’s main store until it burned in the 1980’s.

One of the longest running ads was sponsored by The Allen State Bank. Bank president Dudley Robertson opened the ban in the former Bank Exchange that was located in part of the Rodenbaugh’s current building. They later built a new bank at the top of Main Street where the travel agency is now housed. J.D. Goodman was another regular with ads for used cars, firewood, financial services and automotive services. It probably helped that his wife Joyce was the high school business teacher and yearbook sponsor for many years.

Since Allen was a fast growing community, it seems logical that building and construction companies showed up frequently. Businesses like J.L. Dement Builders, Lynge & Stacy Lumber, Enloe Excavation, Strong Builders, Stratton Builders and Alton Boyd –contractor all literally helped build Allen in the 1960’s and 70’s.

For such a small town, there was no shortage of gas stations. Ads for downtown service stations included Holt’s Automotive (Mobil) and Terrell’s Conoco. Annual ads also featured Bill Alexander’s Shell Station (SE corner of 75 and McDermott) and the Texaco Station that sat next to the Royal Drive-In at Allen Drive and 75.

The current C&B Barbecue helped pay for a few yearbooks over the years as Bill’s Superette, Woody’s Superette and then the Sak ‘n Pak.

Allen’s two oldest businesses were also the AHS Eagle Yearbook’s longest running advertisers. Whether they were hawking transistor radios, televisions or 8-track players, Rodenbaugh’s TV and Appliance Center sponsored ads in the yearbooks since they opened in 1962. Not far behind them in longevity was the Allen Flower and Gift Shop operated by Caroline and Jim Kerr.
As the yearbooks grew enormously in the 90’s, advertising was dropped but a trip down memory lane can still be found in those old Allen annuals.

As The Rotary Wheel Turns

Across the country and around the world travelers will find small metal signs tacked to buildings and billboards that represent service club such as Kiwanis, Lions Club and Rotary. If you are not a member of a service club, it’s easy to ignore the signs that are often dented and faded. For many years, however, traveling businessmen and tourists have sought them out to locate meetings and connect with club members far and wide.

Each service club has its unique traditions and goals but they are all more similar than different. Millions of people around the world meet regularly in service clubs for fellowship and the desire to help others. They tackle problems such as eradicating polio or providing clean drinking water or conquering the causes of blindness. They also eat a lot of food, tell a lot of bad jokes and generally have a lot of fun.

One of Allen’s oldest service groups is the Allen Noon Rotary Club, which was chartered in 1978. Allen’s first club was the Jaycees who were formed in 1968. In fact, many of the early Rotary Club members were also part of the Allen Jaycees.

A fellow who called himself Orville Fudpucker was responsible for bringing Rotary to Allen. Orville, whose real name was Terry Dobbins, was chairman of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) board in Plano and made it his personal goal to start up an Allen club. His Plano club sponsored the new Allen group and Orville attended almost every Allen meeting that first year.

He made contact with Charlie Claytor, an Allen homebuilder and Carl Gilliland, an insurance agent. Charlie’s son Mike was the club’s first president and Carl fell in as president-elect. In all, twenty-five members made up the charter group including familiar names such as ET Boon, Don Rodenbaugh, Newton Buckley, Mike Long, Don Brazeal, John Horn and John Pierce.

The club first met in the old one story cafeteria which sat on McDermott behind the old red brick school on Belmont. Both buildings were razed for construction of the new First Baptist Church in the late 1990’s.

Our lunches were catered by Tinos in Plano, according to Carl Gilliland “but we had to drive down to Plano and pick them up each week. Tino Trujillo was a big supporter of the Rotary Club and deserves some credit for helping us get on our feet financially.”

“We really had no clue what Rotary was when it started. We just listened to Terry (Dobbins) and started recruiting members,” said another charter member Buddy Camper.

Like most service clubs, the Rotary meeting space moved as the club grew and its needs changed. They first moved to St. Jude’s Catholic Church, then the First United Methodist Church, then the Allen City Hall courts building and Chase Oaks Golf Course. Today the club meets each Wednesday at noon at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Allen.

Each hour long meeting includes an informative program of about 30 minutes on almost any topic of interest to club members.

The club’s first program chairman, ET Boon, admitted that good programs in the early days were hard to come by. “We pulled in every elected official in the city and county and then brought in police and fire chiefs, football coaches and school administrators.”

One of the more memorable ones, according to Boon, was Billy Clayton, who was speaker of the house in Texas and running for governor. Several days later our Rotary speaker was indicted (but later acquitted) on bribery charges.

Charter members Carl Gilliland and Newton Buckley have remained with the Allen Noon Rotary Club for 33 years.

As Allen has grown, so have the number of service clubs. Our community now benefits from a morning and noon Rotary Club, a noon and evening Lions Club and a noon Kiwanis Club. Despite the growth, the goal of Allen’s service clubs remains the same; to benefit the community and groan at corny jokes. Some things never change.

Remembering Tom Ereckson

As part of Allen ISD’s centennial, The Flipside has been looking back at our school namesakes. This week we look back on a lifelong resident who helped guide Allen through its transition from rural to suburban community.
(Photo: Mac Curtis, Beamon Morrow and Tom Ereckson-1948)

Thomas Hugh Ereckson was born in 1929 and grew up in southwest Allen hunting and fishing along Rowlett Creek. He attended the Allen schools where he lettered in four different sports before graduating from Allen High School in 1947. Among his classmates was Margie (Boyd) Marion of Marion Elementary School fame.

Upon graduation he earned a degree from Draughon’s Business College in Dallas before entering the U.S. Army in 1951. It was that same year that Tom married Mary Lou Ledbetter of McKinney.

Before and after his military service, Ereckson worked for Western Electric (later AT&T). Upon his retirement he worked for Ericsson Telecommunications and DSC Communications.

The Ereckson family name is a familiar one in Allen history. His great grandfather Thomas Jefferson Ereckson settled in Allen around 1890. His father Gene Ereckson was involved in numerous community activities and served as a member of the first volunteer Allen Fire Department in 1953 with his brother Clifford. Ethel Ereckson Roddy was school secretary for school superintendent Pete Moseley, Alma Phelps Ereckson was the church pianist for First Baptist Church for nearly 50 years and Edwin Lee Ereckson was the first constable in Allen.

Tom was best known for his service on the Allen ISD Board of Trustees. He was first appointed to the board in 1963 and was ultimately elected for three full terms. During that time he served as school board president from 1967 – 1973.

In addition to his school involvement, Tom was a charter member of the Allen Volunteer Fire Department along with his father and served as a charter member of the Allen Lion’s Club. After his school service he served for many years on the local board of tax equalization.
Tom and Mary Lou raised three children in Allen; Thomas Jr. (Class of 73), Debra (Class of 74) and Johnny (Class of 79).

“My father was all about Allen,” explained his daughter Debra (Arledge). “I know he had opportunities outside of Allen for career advancement but he cared so much for this community that he chose to stay. It seems like he was always involved in some community project or committee.”
“He just loved this community,” said his wife Mary Lou (Ledbetter). “He was Allen’s number one cheerleader and I think we attended every sporting event in this town for many years.”

Having lived through all those years of high school sports, my father would have been thrilled at Allen’s 2008 5-A State Football Championship, said Arledge. “I looked around and saw twenty-five thousand or more fans in Reliant Stadium cheering for the Allen Eagles. It was like the stories he told of Allen emptying out for Friday night road games. He would have been so proud.”

Upon hearing that a school was being named in his honor, Tom Ereckson was speechless, said a newspaper article at the time. “A lot of good things have happened to me through my volunteer efforts in Allen,” he said “and I am overwhelmed to have a school named in my honor.”

If there is one anecdote that best describes Tom’s commitment to Allen, it would be a story from 1945. Most of Allen’s men were away at war so Tom, a high school sophomore, drove the school bus each morning and afternoon. He would also drive the drill team to away football games, then suit up, play the game and then drive the bus home. Now that’s Eagle spirit!

Tom Ereckson died in 2006 but the middle school on Tatum Drive is a testament to the community service and spirit that the farm kid from west Allen showed throughout his life.

Facebook Revealed In 1931 Newspaper

Mayor Steve Terrell and his wife Sally spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Allen Americans hockey game this past week. Mayor Terrell would agree that this is not worthy of newspaper dispatch, especially since they can be found at most Allen hockey games. 

Eighty years ago the mayor's social calendar would have made good reading for subscribers to the Daily Courier-Gazette. The McKinney newspaper devoted pages to social news around the county and once a week Allen was highlighted. 

The Daily Courier-Gazette of January 1931 included these breaking news items. "Miss Jean Boone is a guest of her aunt Mrs. Van Hill of Dallas. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Green of Plano were Allen visitors on Thursday and Mrs. Sullie Holland and Miss Leslie Ozle have returned from a visit to relatives in Justin. Mr. and Mrs. A.R. Ereckson of Texarkana were guests of J.W. Bridges and family last Wednesday." At a time when Allen was too small to support a newspaper, the column was about the only source of local news. Beyond listing the travels of local residents, the column also included important club and church news such as this: "The regular meeting of the T.E.D. class was held Tuesday at the home of J.A. Clarke. A huge crowd was present. Also, an unusally good meeting of the PTA was held Thursday afternoon. The succeeding meetings will be held in the primary room of the school building." The personals as they were called could be mailed to the newspaper or those with access to a modern telephone could call the office by dialing 65. 

 While they seem silly at first reading, the personals offer us a glimpse of how small of a town Allen was in 1931. This was the only way to keep others informed of church and farm and social happenings. How else would we know that Mr. and Mrs. Luther Bolin spent Sunday with Plano relatives or that Mr. Kent Perry and his family have returned from Colorado. There was important news mixed in with the society postings. "Masters Henry Nelson Bush and John Milton Whisenant were guests of Master Edwin Lee Ereckson of Lovejoy Tuesday and Mrs. M.F. Sims and Mr. T.C. Rose were taken to the Baptist sanitarium in Dallas for treatment." The personals also served as the obituary column. The most interesting one explains that "funeral services were held for Robert C. Armstrong at the Methodist Church on Thursday. Bob Armstrong leaves a heartbroken wife, two sisters and two brothers....The following friends served as pall bearers: M Whisenant, W.R. Taylor, E.L. Leach, Bailey Whisenant, and W.G. Cundiff." 

 Last week I used my phone to "check in" on Facebook. I posted that I was outside the Super Bowl watching my daughter Susan and the Allen HS Tallenettes perform. (No we didn't get tickets). I posted it because I was proud that my daughter was out there and wanted people to know. That is all the McKinney Courier-Gazette personals were - an early version of Facebook. Why else would the community need to know that Miss Doyce Beene is attending North Texas State teachers College in Denton or that Mr. Otis Weaver and his family have moved to the Weaver homeplace southeast of town. If you have the time, stop by the main McKinney library where newspapers dating as far back as the 1870's are available on microfiche. Until then, pass it along that "Mr. J.B. Cate lost a valuable milk cow Sunday and is seeking a suitable replacement."

Learning The Three R's With Miss Norton

As part of Allen ISD’s centennial year, The Flipside has been highlighting the people whose names appear on our school buildings. This week we feature the story of Frances Norton.

The impact that a good teacher has on students is hard to measure. That is especially true when the teacher works with small children who grow to be successful adults. Miss Norton started many of those students on that road to success.

Frances Elizabeth Norton was born in Renner, Texas on March 17, 1906. She graduated from Plano High School in 1925 and earned her permanent teacher's certificate from Denton Teachers College (now University of North Texas) in 1936.

Miss Norton began her career in Renner and then came to Allen as an elementary grade teacher in 1939. She retired from Allen in 1972 after thirty-three years of service to children.

For many years there was no mystery about who your teacher would be. Miss Norton and her colleague Gladys Watson were the only first and second grade teachers in Allen so every student, for several generations, passed through their classrooms. Norton taught a combination of first and second for many years while Watson taught second and third. A coat closet and door separated the two classrooms and students frequently changed classes through there.

I had the opportunity to speak with Miss Norton in 1996 shortly after a new elementary school was named in her honor. The following are excerpts from that interview.

Norton's entered the profession during the Great Depression and felt fortunate to have a job at all.
"I received no pay for that first month but since jobs were few and far between, I continued to teach. Today I can look back and say I loved every minute of it."

Norton felt that teaching brought her closer to the children. The more she taught them, the more she loved them. "Things may change," said Norton, "but children will always need guidelines and will always need to learn the three R's."

Looking back almost seventy years, Norton recalled her first day of teaching in Renner. "It was a four teacher school and I had the first and second grade. I wanted the day to be perfect. As students filed into the room I sat first graders on one side and second graders on the other. When things quieted down I heard a funny noise coming from a locker in the room. I opened the door and a dog jumped out. I asked the class about it and finally a little boy stood up and confessed he had found his dog on school grounds and put him in the locker."

Norton had many stories to tell figuring that she taught more than 2,000 children during her career. One year she had two sets of twins and a set of triplets in her class. To remember them all, she kept a scrapbook of every class from the 8 student class in 1932 to her last class in 1972.
One special story occurred late in Norton’s career. A farm worker and his family moved to Allen.

The family enrolled seven children in the first grade, since they had never received formal education but left an eighth child at home because she had a malformed foot. Miss Norton and a member of the PTA persuaded the father to enroll the eighth child and then she made arrangements with Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas to perform corrective surgery. During her recovery, Norton allowed the girl to stay at her own home.

“Miss Norton was strict but compassionate when necessary,” according to former student Bob Curtis. “Since there was no kindergarten, first grade was a kid’s first experience in school. Miss Norton made sure each kid was made to feel welcome and she also made sure they learned the basics.”

Like Gladys Watson, Frances Norton devoted her life to children and her church. She never married and rarely missed a day of school. For many, it was hard to think of the Allen School without thinking of Watson and Norton.

Frances passed away in 2002 at the age of 96 but there are several generations of Allen kids who will never forget their first year of school with Miss Norton.