When fashion returned with a vengeance after World War II, women who had scaled back on their clothing during the war years now wanted what they saw in the major fashion magazines. Louis and Esther Ringler were happy to guide their customers in replenishing their closets. In the early 1950s, they put their name on the store and the old motto was revised: “Exclusive and maybe a bit Expensive.”
On September 25, 1941, Gasway followed her passion and opened her first shop in the newly renovated Binkley Hotel in Sherman. The lower floor of the hotel was subdivided into spaces for small shops with access to Travis Street. Gasway’s shop, Elinor’s, also had an entrance into the lobby of the hotel. This was an attractive feature, as husbands could pass the time in the hotel coffee shop or read the newspaper in the comfort of the lobby while their wives shopped.
It is called deltiology, from the Greek for “writing tablet.” It is the collecting of postcards, and it is one of the three most popular collecting hobbies in the world.
“We didn’t make homemade ice cream. We made Ashburn’s Ice Cream,” said Bill Ashburn in the July-August issue. Now you can make Ashburn’s Ice Cream too.
From Ashburn’s Ice Cream’s beginnings in 1907 until well after World War II, almost all ice cream was local and made in small batches to satisfy one day’s worth of customers. Its local flavor meant that local tastes became accustomed to unique offerings, not the uniformed sameness of mass-produced ice cream.
“[The state of Texas history] is strong, and it’s changing,” said Cummins. “Texas has changed a lot in the last thirty or forty years. Texas history, as an enterprise, is being revitalized, and the state has put a tremendous amount of monetary resources into advocating the study of Texas history. Right now, for example, the Texas State Archives are being remodeled with a multimillion dollar renovation.”
When the engineers closed the flood gates on Denison Dam in February 1944 and the waters of Lake Texoma began to spread out behind what was then the world’s largest rolled earth-filled dam. Soon, people were drawn to the lake for recreation as family attractions popped up around along the shores.
Near the Tulip Bend of the Red River in northwest Fannin County lies another reminder of how early Twentieth Century Texans sought relief from the blistering temperatures of the long, hot days of summer.
Halfway between Denison and Sherman was Tanyard Springs, an area heavily wooded with elms, oaks and hickories and containing a flowing spring. It became a recreational destination to lure paying customers onto his interurban railway, the first in the state of Texas.
Grayson County’s Shangri-La, a special place to escape the terrible heat of a Texas summer, may have been—at least for the privileged—a private paradise known as Chapman Park.