Coincidence in Denison

I have shared this story on Facebook before, but I thought I would put it in my blog, so here goes...

A number of years ago I was looking around in an antique mall in Denison when I found this:

It was a little grubby and worn, but it held a very special meaning for me. You see, my family went here! In fact, here we are!

Here are my folks again:

Yep, my dad was the music director, and my mom played the piano! By the way, this is where we lived:

1223 Woodlawn Circle. We were the first family to live in that house. It actually looks pretty much the same as it did when lived there...on the outside anyway. I have a feeling the inside might have been updated over the years. By the way, my phone number isn't HO5-3879 any more...

So, I was pretty excited to find this little item! I didn't notice the coincidence until a little later. You see, Dick and Marian Ringgold and their kids were our next door neighbors and good friends. They also went to church with us. That's why it was a shock to see this on the inside cover:

Yep, Richard T. Ringgold. After about 45 years, the directory found it's next door neighbor. Pretty wild, huh?

They say that once you've lived in Denison, Denison will always remember you. I think this kind of makes that point.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Bottled History- Part Two

Last week I shared a bottle from my collection from the Waldron Drug Store in Denison, Tx (owned by J. F. Tinsman). Denison historian, Jim Sears, was able to answer many questions about the store and it's owner. Mr. Sears states,

     "When John F. Tinsman bought the Waldron Drug Store in 1906, it was at 223 W. Main Street. He had been working there as a clerk. T. B. Waldron and F. R. Guiteau arrived at the Alamo Hotel from Freeport, Illinois, in February of 1878. The following month they opened the Guiteau & Waldron Drug Store at 309 W. Main. Guiteau sold his interest in the business a few years before Waldron sold out to Tinsman. For more on the store's history:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txgrayso/ANewLand/Towns/Denison/WaldonDrugStore/WaldronDrugStore.html"

He also shared an article that shows that Mr. Tinsman passed away in 1935, and was a illustrious member of the Denison community. Thank you for the help, Jim!

     This week, I have another Denison bottle. Here it is!

The text reads, "Red River Mfg Bottling Denison Tex"

The bottom features a big "R."

I think I picked this one up at Main Street Mall a few years ago. If you're downtown, be sure to drop in and say "hi" to Jay and Cindy!

     Anyway, using Google I found an article from the Herald Democrat about the Red River Bottling Company by Donna Hunt. Here is some of it;

     "The Red River Bottling Works opened in 1901 by Cass Cameron and possibly is the most remembered early day soda company. It was located in a historic site at the northeast corner of East Woodard Street and Houston Avenue. That site later became the location for the Southern Ice Company.

John Clark bought the Red River in the early 19-teen years and moved it into the old City Bottling building at 209 West Woodard. Denison Crystal Ice that owned the entire block of East Woodard, decided to expand operations and needed the Red River building for that project. The old original Red River Bottling building was kept intact with new structures built up around it. That structure survived until 1993 when Ready Ice demolished the old ice company." 

She also stated that the company lasted until 1928, when it merged with other companies to become the Dr. Pepper Bottling Company. 

This fact was actually a little surprising to me, as I thought this bottle was newer than the drug store bottle. As it turns out, they were contemporaries! 

The bottle is a good, heavy example and it sits proudly on my kitchen window sill with the drug store bottle.

So there you go! Denison is always a good place to keep searching for treasure!

Bottled History

Sometimes items that I pick up remain complete mysteries to me, and other times I can (usually by way of Google) actually find some information about them. The item I'm featuring this week falls in the latter category.

A while back I found a bottle online that featured the Waldron Drug Store from Denison, Tx. The owner was a certain "J.F. Tinsman." Here are a couple of pictures...

As it turns out, this was enough information for Google to do it's magic. For example, I know that the store was open in 1906 because of an article explaining how Mr. Tinsman was pushing toothpaste at that point. It was also open in 1911, because that was the year that Tinsman got in a bit of trouble for selling a medicine for purposes that it was not intended for. This was actually pretty common back then, when advertising pushed the envelope on what medicines could actually do... Here are the articles:

So now we know quite a bit more about Mr. Tinsman. However, whenever you find out more answers, you get more questions. For example, we don't know where in Denison the drug store was. We don't really know when it opened or when it closed, or whatever happened to its owner. If anyone knows, feel free to comment!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!