A hundred and twenty-two photographs of Blooming Grove: the original seventeen from the root of an earlier Blooming Grove website's own image folder, plus a hundred and five more from "BG Oldies," a folder of individually named historical photographs inside the same archive -- storefronts, churches, schools, parades, portraits, and a scattering of team and community-night pictures old enough to sit alongside them.
The town, as it was
J. E. Walker Hardware Store, 1910Captioned on the print: "Blooming Grove, Texas."Hardware store interior, 1912Captioned on the print; the man in the center is named as John Everett Walker.Group portrait outside a buildingCaptioned on the print "Campbell, Carpenter, Ferris Sts." -- meaning not confirmed, possibly a photographer's or studio credit. Undated.School class, June 1927Captioned on the print; the rest of the handwriting is not fully legible, so the school and grade are not confirmed.A woman at the Blooming Grove city limit signUndated. A second export of the same photograph, resized, is not published separately.
The town, as it is now
The water tower and a grain elevatorTwo smaller crops of this same photograph are not published separately.Blooming Grove Fire Department, Engine 2Reads "Blooming Grove Fire Dept., Engine-2" on the truck. Found filed in a neighboring Rice, Texas subfolder of the same archive tree; it belongs to Blooming Grove, not Rice, and Rice's own manifest excludes it for that reason.Peggy's Place -- store, cafe and baithouseRoadside sign; the exact location is not confirmed from the photograph alone.
Downtown, building by building
A barbershop, customers in the chairsUndated. Which shop is not confirmed.J. A. King's barbershopName as captioned in the source folder's filename.Barbershop interior, a second shopWhich shop is not confirmed.Bank interior, teller windows and staffA butcher shop, meat on displayByrd's grocery storeCarroll Brothers MarketA domed downtown buildingBuilding not identified.A drugstoreWhich drugstore is not confirmed; a second, named drugstore photograph is published separately below.Reid's DrugstoreFurniture store interiorFirst of three views of the same store; the store is not named on the print.Furniture store interior, a second viewFurniture store interior, a third viewA furniture store storefrontWhether this is the same store as the three interior views above is not confirmed.A gas station, pumps out frontGeorge's storeName as captioned in the source folder's filename.A grocery store, exteriorA grocery store, a second storeGrocery interior, two men behind the counterThe source filename names them as John, Dorsey and George; which name belongs to which man is not confirmed.The Hill BuildingName as captioned in the source folder's filename; the business inside is not identified.Holditch's groceryA hotelWhich hotel is not confirmed.Jordan-Gillen, exteriorFirm name as captioned in the source folder's filename; not otherwise confirmed.Jordan-Gillen, interiorA mercantile storeSaloon interiorWhich saloon is not confirmed.A man at a desk in an officeBusiness and name not confirmed.Tillman's groceryThe train depotTurk Brothers and WebbFirm name as captioned in the source folder's filename.The post officeA cotton ginSpires Market, horses and wagons out frontNewspaper delivery boxes on a postA newspaper officeThe water tower, close upConverted from a TIFF scan in the source folder.
Schools and churches
A school group photographWhich school and what grade are not confirmed.Carroll schoolhouse, 1928Date as captioned in the source folder's filename.Christian ChurchA horse-drawn wagon parked outside a schoolChurch of ChristA school class, 1960Year as captioned in the source folder's filename.Central Texas CollegeWhether this institution operated in Blooming Grove itself, or the region, is not confirmed from the photograph alone.An early, one-room schoolhouseSchool faculty, group portraitNames and year not confirmed.First Baptist ChurchFirst Methodist ChurchA second, near-identical export of this photograph is not published separately.The grade school buildingThe school, side viewMount Olive ChurchPresbyterian ChurchThe school, 1930Year as captioned in the source folder's filename.A church buildingDenomination not confirmed; the source filename abbreviates the name.Tyree churchCommunity or congregation name as captioned in the source folder's filename, not otherwise confirmed.The high school, as a postcard imageIsbell HallGirls outside Isbell HallIdentifiable individuals, undated -- flagged for Bob's judgment, the same call standing on Kerens's school photographs.
Parade day
A parade floatA parade passes downtownThe parade, a second viewThe parade, a third viewThe parade, a fourth viewThe parade, a fifth viewThe parade, a sixth viewThe parade, a seventh viewWhich parade, and what year, is not confirmed for any of the eight parade photographs above; they read as the same event.
Friday nights
Blooming Grove Lions players before an inflatable mascot tunnelCredited "clp" in the corner.Blooming Grove Lions players celebrate on the sidelineCredited "clp" in the corner.Blooming Grove Lions volleyball teamTwo Blooming Grove Lions cheerleadersBackground removed by whoever built the original site graphic. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment, the same call Kerens's school and sports photographs are waiting on.Football team, 1933Year as captioned in the source folder's filename. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.Football practiceUndated. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.A group of lettermenUndated. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.Girls basketball teamUndated. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.Girls basketball team, a second squadUndated. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.Girls basketball team, a third squadUndated. Identifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.Boys playing hockey on a frozen pondIce on a pond is unusual for this part of Texas; whether this was made locally is not confirmed.Pond hockey, a second viewSame note as above -- locality not confirmed.A rodeoUndated; which rodeo grounds is not confirmed.The rodeo, a second viewConverted from a TIFF scan in the source folder.
Independence Day
A man sells American flags at a Fourth of July eventNo name given; his sign reads "American Flags $5."A woman in patriotic dress at a Fourth of July event
Around town
A Victorian home behind an ornate iron fenceThe same home, further down the fence lineA horse-drawn wagon outside Spires's storeA crowd gathers on the downtown streetAn ice-delivery wagonA covered wagonHeflin's mule teamA downtown street cornerThe cotton yard, 1900Date as captioned in the source folder's filename.Picking cotton in a fieldIdentifiable individuals -- flagged for Bob's judgment.
Faces of Blooming Grove
A visit to Blooming Grove, said to be by Harry TrumanLabeled as Truman in the source archive; not independently confirmed here. Flagged for Bob to verify before this claim is repeated in public copy.The Huffstutler familyName as captioned in the source folder's filename.The Huffstutlers, a second photographA group portrait, said to be from the Forgey studioConverted from a TIFF scan in the source folder; studio name not independently confirmed.Mel Deason beside a railroad cabooseName as captioned in the source folder's filename.A women's social club, group portraitA crowd gathered at a pavilion or grandstandPortrait of a womanName not recorded. From a Blooming Grove Historical Society photograph album.Portrait of a woman, a second photographName not recorded.Portrait of a woman, a third photographName not recorded.A man holding a babyNames not recorded.Children, portraitNames not recorded. Identifiable children -- flagged for Bob's judgment, the reason a similar portrait was pulled from Frost's gallery.A group of teenagers, portraitNames not recorded.Children in front of a buildingNames and building not recorded. Identifiable children -- flagged for Bob's judgment.A man posed beside automobilesName not recorded.A woman, tintype-style portraitName not recorded.A serviceman, portraitName and service not recorded.A young man, portraitName not recorded.A young man, a second portraitName not recorded.Veterans, group portraitNames and conflict not recorded.Servicemen, group portraitNames and service not recorded.Women, group portraitNames not recorded.
The original seventeen come from the root of "01 BG WEB," a folder inside Blooming Grove's own archive material, plus one fire truck photograph recovered from a neighboring town's subfolder in the same archive tree. The hundred and five added here come from "BG Oldies," a subfolder of the same archive: eighty-one from its own root and twenty-four more from a "BGHS" subfolder inside it, whose long numeric filenames read as saved from a Facebook photo album, apparently the Blooming Grove Historical Society's own.
Sponsor
Blue Sky Country Real Estate
Farm and ranch, land, homes and commercial in Navarro, Hill and Ellis counties. Blooming Grove, Texas, established 2005.