A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the ongoing search for the location of what was a train stop or a “township” in Hardin County named after journalist Florence Stratton. I received some excellent historical details from a couple of folks at the Museum of Hardin County on the article that a friend and fellow researcher found on the completion of the Beaumont, Sour Lake, and Western Railway in 1907. It was assumed that the train stop was most likely in Liberty County, so our next plan was to reach out to a few friends there to see if they knew anything about the history of the railroad and its stops in the area.

Last Sunday, I was about to veg out from my recliner on yet another session of YouTube videos on the Battle of Midway when a ping on my phone alerted me that I had an email with the subject line “Florence Stratton.” It was my friend. While doing research on another subject, she saw a mention of a camp located on the Frisco Railroad near Florence Switch. The term “switch” is railroad speak, so we both began doing a search for railroad maps of Hardin County. Come to think of it, I had already searched for this before but had found nothing. This time it was different. When you type in “Texas railroad maps from 1908,” you get a lot of stuff that isn’t from that period. Some are close, but it doesn’t do me any good if the map is from 20 years before the township was founded or after it went kaput. Luckily, this time there was a link to a 1912 map for sale on some website. I’m sure it is a fine map and worth every penny of the price, but I noticed that you could enlarge the image and move to the region you wanted. Screenshot, send to paint, and voilà, we can see that the train stop along the Beaumont, Sour Lake, and Western Railway was on the border between Hardin and Liberty Counties.

Mystery solved, thanks to multiple people working together. And I appreciate every one of them! I guess I’ll have to eat crow and give kudos to Eunice, but that is all right with me. For those that don’t know, Eunice Stephens was Florence’s niece; she passed in January 1982. In her later years, she was interviewed and stated that Florence had a town named after her. According to my research, Florence in Williamson County, north of Austin, Texas, was founded in 1858, so this wasn’t it. I thought that Eunice was misinformed, but reading the article from 1907, I learned that R. C. Duff, the president of the railroad, definitely named this stop/township/switch after Florence. It wasn’t there for long, nor did it have a post office, but it was a thing. In the end, Eunice and I want the same thing. We want Florence’s history to live on.

One thing I’ve come to appreciate is the contribution of different groups of people, whether in the Jefferson County Historical Commission, Hardin County Historical Commission, Liberty County Historical Commission, Chambers County Historical Commission, or any other commission, as well as the role of independent researchers. This is the era of helping out regular people trying to find information about their history. No one has all the answers, but some of us may have a grain of knowledge to help you out in your search. I’m truly thankful for those who have helped me during my journey, and I am ready to reciprocate if possible.

I passed the Brisket Room this week, as I usually do every other week. The Brisket Room was our go-to place for chipped beef sandwiches. For those not in the know, the restaurant is gone nowadays, but the building is still there and has the sign out. I think it is a rental for parties and such. Unlike the loss of Monceaux’s, Hartman’s, and Pie Face from my Port Arthur foodie history, I still have Billy Joe’s Bar-B-Q in Port Neches to bring an epic chipped beef sandwich. Truth be told, I’ve also been enjoying the sausage links for over 40 years. It’s almost the 50th anniversary of Billy Joe’s existence, and I will say that the sauce should be labeled as a food group, just like Aunt Meg’s gravy! And if you don’t know this reference, you might want to watch that epic movie called Twister. I still miss Bill Paxton’s weather reports. He was the Extreme! He was also related to Sam Houston “somehow” and played him in the miniseries Texas Rising in 2015. Not to nitpick, but there were definitely a lot of mountain paths in what was meant to be Baytown, Texas, in that film.

This is an odd question, but I will bring it up all the same: Did we ever use the term “mixed tape” in the ‘80s? I think not, but my better half was watching Stranger Things, and someone mentioned that they made a mixed tape. I have many recordings on cassette from that time, and most were filled with music from the radio, but we never called them “mixed tapes.” What we did in 1982–83 was find a way to manipulate a walky-talky and a radio to broadcast like a radio station. The signal was weak but could be heard within a five-block radius. Of course, the music you would have heard was Rush, ACDC, or Iron Maiden, although I did have a double promotional record from Warner Brothers that I bought for two dollars at Ted’s Record Shop in Jefferson City. The only group I remember was the Whitford St. Holmes Band, and I can’t recall a single song it made. But kids do what they do, and we broadcast for mostly no one to hear our shenanigans. Well, there were a few followers and one adult, but she dug the music. Looking back, “Whiskey Woman” was a damn good song! There you go. Whitford St. Holmes Band. Rock on!

But I digress.

Until next week, you can “Exit Stage Left,” “Ride On,” or “Run to the Hills,” but think back and ask yourselves: Did we say “mixed tape”?

Texas Rising:  https://youtu.be/tUVRoQYHVAo

Aunt Megs Gravy:  https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx1iNOUuVPlnXUFL0qZYT3YfZu0DQQlOgp

Whitford St. Holmes Band:  https://youtu.be/v0f_F9ZeW5k