Terrell Heritage Museum at night

HAPPY LEAP YEAR DAY!!

I had several questions about the exposure that I used on the photo of the Artesia lodge from a couple days ago. I always crop/edit my photos in Paint Shop Pro by Corel - it also has an option to change photos to black and white, infrared or sepia tone. I took a night-time photo and changed it to 'infrared', which made the edges glow. I like to play around in the editing software, but have kept the photos intact aside from the coloring. =)

Since the Carnegie Library/Museum is one of my favorite buildings in town, I changed my post from last Thursday to Infrared for today's photo...

First National Bank Basement Window

I thought the circular bricks they used to cover the basement windows of the old bank building were kind of cool. These are visible in the street lamp photo from Tuesday in the bottom right corner through the railing... but thought they deserved a closer view =)....

Today is my niece Kesley's birthday also - happy birthday kesley!!!

Artesia Lodge - Terrell Texas

This is a photo of the Artesia Lodge, a Masonic lodge, located on Frances street just north of the downtown area of Terrell.

Catherine Street Lamp Post

As a follow up to yesterday's post, here is the whole gargoyle lamp post as seen where it resides on Catherine street next to the old First National Bank. I live in (remodeling) a money pit an older frame house just a few blocks up the street from this spot.

Terrell Gargoyle Lamp post

Today's photo is an old gas lamp post located in downtown Terrell. It looks like it's been around for a long time, and doesn't appear operational any longer....

Ideal Truck Accessories

This is a neat building located on Moore Street right past downtown Terrell. The other side of the roof is painted like a Texas Flag. The business is Ideal Truck Accessories, and they sell everything from bed liners to tool boxes and every other little 'extra' you can think of to trick out your truck.

Guess Who?

This isn't a political blog normally, but we'll make an exception for one day. I attended my first-ever political rally today in downtown Dallas with my boss, Kim. Kim and I have been co-workers and friends for over 10 years and have both voted in primaries and elections through the years but never actually attended a rally.

So, today we decided to go see Hillary Clinton in her 'get out and early vote' rally. Texas voting is a little bit strange, in that 2/3rds of our delegates will be pledged during the primary voting on March 4th; but the remaining 1/3rd of our delegates will be allotted by caucuses held after the voting ends at 7pm on March 4th.

Tragically, on the way to the rally that started at 9am today, one of the motorcycle policemen in her motorcade had a horrific accident. The officer hit a concrete barrier on the Houston Street viaduct, and was thrown about 30 feet from his motorcycle. He died later after being rushed to the hospital.

It was an awful thing to learn about when we returned to work, and prayers go out to this officer's family. This reminds us of all that police do for us, as they encounter dangerous situations every day on the job....

In her appearance later, Hillary spoke of her appreciation for the police and everything they do for her and all of us. She also called her 2nd rally short in order to go to the hospital and visit with his family. You can see some of the Secret Service travelling to protect her in the photos... an unfortunate necessity in today's world, especially in Dallas....

Fire Hydrant Forney Texas

I happened across this fire hydrant in the downtown area of Forney on my recent trip, and really liked the colors....

Carnegie Library - Terrell Heritage Museum

Today's photo is of the historic Carnegie library in downtown Terrell, just a few blocks from my house. I took this one a few nights ago when there were some low clouds in the sky....

Poplar Bluff Train Depot

Today's photo is the old train depot building located at the bottom of the stairs from yesterday's photo. Half of the building appears to be boarded up, and is somewhat in disrepair. The very far end of the building is still being used as the local Amtrak station and is in a little better shape.

Train Depot Steps - Poplar Bluff Missouri

This is a photo of the historic train depot steps in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. I was born in Poplar Bluff, and used to take the train up to visit when I was younger and always loved the way these looked (or how they did back in their day). The depot is located right near the downtown area of Poplar Bluff, and also near Black River that runs through town. The downtown area of Poplar Bluff and surrounding river area was a big 'happening' place back in the early part of the 1900s...

A photo of the historical marker located at the top of the steps is below, and here is the text from the sign:

"Historic Depot Steps

This stairway was built in 1910 by the St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad to serve its new depot. The depot and stairway were financed by a $50,000 bond subscription from Poplar Bluffians. Thousands used the steps as the gateway to and from Downtown Poplar Bluff during the era of passenger train travel. The railroad became Missouri Pacific in 1917 and Union Pacific in 1983.

Marker presented by: Butler County Historical Society; Retired Railroad Employees (NARVRE); Mercantile Bank; Rotary Club; Commerce Bank; Mr. & Mrs. J.T.Edwards; Kiwanis Club; Downtown Dev. Corp. and Missouri Pacific Women's Club."

Clinton Library Little Rock Arkansas

Here is another photo from my weekend trip. This is a shot of President Bill Clinton's library located right on the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock. This is taken from the car as I was driving about 60mph across a bridge, so forgive the blurry-ness... =)

Dog rounding up the horses

I went out of town this weekend to visit family in Missouri, and today's photo is taken at my dad's house. I went to take a photo of the horses, and Shawnee the dog thought I wanted him to round 'em up. He was barking and running under their legs and I was sure he was going to get stepped on, but luckily after I walked away from the fence he followed me back...

Murray Cotton Gin

Today is a follow up to the Murray Gin from Wednesday. This photo was taken just to the left of Wednesday's photo. I left the word 'cotton' out of cotton gin, which may have confused the purpose of the building. The area around Forney and Terrell were large cotton producers back in the late 19th century and into the 1900s. This photo and Wednesday's are both taken at one of the few remaining cotton gins in Forney.

Fiery Terrell Sunset

I pulled off the side of the road this afternoon to capture this sunset... the picture doesn't capture exactly what I saw, but it's pretty close... the yellows and oranges in the sunset looked like a fire over the tops of the trees. The colors change so quickly though, by the time I got about 2 more miles down the street it had changed to a pinkish/blue color - below:

Murray Gin - Forney Texas

This is an old gin, 'Murray Gin', located right off the downtown area of Forney by the railroad tracks. It doesn't appear the building is being used as a business any longer, but it looks like it's seen a lot of action in its time.

Old Red Caboose - Forney Texas

This is an old red caboose located right near the downtown Forney historical area, by the train tracks (duh). This is the caboose that the red 'Missouri Pacific Lines' sign came from on Saturday's post...

Water drainage pipe

Here is a 'manhole' cover for a water drainage pipe in Forney, Texas. I thought the color was striking against the drab gray concrete.

Forney Office Building (and undertakers)

Today's photo is a side of an old building in the old downtown area of Forney. It still shows the old tenant, Stewart Wilhoite who apparently did picture frames, furniture and undertakers... one of the offices now houses Tom Hipsher, an agent for Texas Farmer's Insurance. Tom is a former co-worker who left to start this agency and seems to be doing pretty well...

or at least, to me, selling insurance must be better than being an undertaker.

Missouri Pacific

Today's shot is a sign on the side of an old red caboose off the old downtown area of Forney. The caboose is in a small park located right next to the railroad tracks. Forney is located about 7 miles west of Terrell off highway 80.

First National Bank Building - Terrell Texas

My post for today is a night photo of the old First National Bank building in downtown Terrell, Texas. I believe our building here in Terrell is currently being used by a local law office, as the bank itself closed years ago. Both this and the building in Kaufman are nearly identical, except the one in Terrell seems to rise slightly higher up from the ground.... you can see a few streaks across the pic from passing cars... =)

First National Bank Building - Kaufman Texas

Today's photo is the old First National Bank building in Kaufman, Texas. The bank has been closed for quite a while, and there is currently a Tea Room and Gift shop located inside...

Old Cemetery Tree

Today's photo is an old tree located near the entrance to the Lebanon cemetery in Commerce, Texas. This is an area where I've mentioned in a previous post that I was stranded late at night when I was in college. It was scary back then and it still seems kind of creepy now even during the day....

Cabbage Plant

Today's photo is another common winter flowerbed item around Texas. Not sure of the exact name, but we call it a cabbage plant. The rich deep purple colors are really attractive in landscaping....

Winter pansies

Here is a pic of about the only winter flower we have around here....

terrell state hospital sign

This is one of the signs around town pointing people in the direction of the state hospital. I've altered it a little in Paint Shop Pro, which I think adds a little mystery to it..... =)

Old hospital house

I'll have to go find a map of the grounds of the mental hospital to identify all the pics I've taken, but for now we'll call this a 'house'. This is located about 50 feet away from the main building photo I posted yesterday. If you look closely, you can see where the mortar around the bricks has been patched over the years....

theme day - when people think of Terrell...

Today's photo is the entrance to the Terrell State Hospital - originally opened in 1885 as 'The North Texas Lunatic Asylum', which was known for treating the insane. We can go more into treatments later...

I want to start out by saying that I grew up south of Dallas, about 40 miles away from Terrell, Texas. When I was growing up, Terrell was often used as a joke against somebody or a threat; such as, "you're crazy, we're gonna drop you off in Terrell", or maybe "is there something wrong with you? do we need to take you to the insane asylum in Terrell?" I'm not sure how much people still think about Terrell in this way, but it's certainly what Terrell brought to mind since I was a kid. (for anyone from southern Missouri, I'm sure you've heard of Farmington?)

I moved to Terrell about 11 years ago and even though the hospital is an important part of the community and its history, it certainly shouldn't and doesn't define the town. Terrell has a long history, and I guess the image of the 'crazy hospital' is hard to overcome. I'll be posting a few more pics from the grounds of the hospital in coming days. Here's one more photo of the main building.
I believe Jim over at Terrell Daily Photo may be posting on the same subject. For a brief history of the hospital, here is a link to The Handbook of Texas Online.

Please take the time to visit all of the other City Daily Photo Blog members participating in today's theme day:

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