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June 16, 2020
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Bandera Prophet
The year 1947 was a significant one for me and my aunt Midge. That's the year I was born and she graduated from Bandera High School. Shortly thereafter my family moved to California. I was just a couple months old at the time so they didn't bother to ask my opinion. It took several years before I learned to talk well enough to convince my mom and dad to move back to Bandera. I can't even imagine how Bandera history would have played out without me in it.
Granville Speck Wright was a Judge of Bandera County, Texas up until his death in 1938. He was elected judge in 1931 and was a property owner on Medina Lake. My Aunt Midge recalled as a child going with her family to his place on the lake where the men ran trotlines using inner tubes because they had no boat. Sounds like some of my early fishing stories except most of the time I didn't even have an inner tube.
Some of the history about our old courthouse is very interesting. The records show that on Friday July 11, 1890 commissioners court accepted a bid of $19,914 by Ed Braden & sons to build the courthouse. That included labor and materials. That is comparable to nearly 6 million dollars today.
Shortly after completion the sheriff, I. W. Stevens, was instructed to rent out office space in the courthouse because there was more area than needed for county business. The upstairs courtroom was also used for social gathering events at the time. In 1893 the sheriff was renting that area for dances at $10 per night. According to local historians the bands at that time usually consisted of only a guitar and a fiddle.
I have early memories of student dances upstairs in the cafeteria/auditorium area of St. Joseph's Catholic School. I can't even venture a guess as to what song might have been playing on the small turntable but I know all the vinyl records were 45's. I had my first dancing lessons during those events courtesy of my classmate Theresa Batto.
The sights and sounds have changed dramatically throughout my Growing Up In Bandera years. The music and the venues are nothing like they were back in the day but the good news is, they are still alive and well in Bandera.
#234 2020
Granville Speck Wright was a Judge of Bandera County, Texas up until his death in 1938. He was elected judge in 1931 and was a property owner on Medina Lake. My Aunt Midge recalled as a child going with her family to his place on the lake where the men ran trotlines using inner tubes because they had no boat. Sounds like some of my early fishing stories except most of the time I didn't even have an inner tube.
Some of the history about our old courthouse is very interesting. The records show that on Friday July 11, 1890 commissioners court accepted a bid of $19,914 by Ed Braden & sons to build the courthouse. That included labor and materials. That is comparable to nearly 6 million dollars today.
Shortly after completion the sheriff, I. W. Stevens, was instructed to rent out office space in the courthouse because there was more area than needed for county business. The upstairs courtroom was also used for social gathering events at the time. In 1893 the sheriff was renting that area for dances at $10 per night. According to local historians the bands at that time usually consisted of only a guitar and a fiddle.
I have early memories of student dances upstairs in the cafeteria/auditorium area of St. Joseph's Catholic School. I can't even venture a guess as to what song might have been playing on the small turntable but I know all the vinyl records were 45's. I had my first dancing lessons during those events courtesy of my classmate Theresa Batto.
The sights and sounds have changed dramatically throughout my Growing Up In Bandera years. The music and the venues are nothing like they were back in the day but the good news is, they are still alive and well in Bandera.
#234 2020