TEX, REDBIRD AND SUGAR     Installed at Dorsey Station - TEX Series

Well then that's great!  I'll be writing.  I'll remember to tell you about Tex, who used to ride his horse and and tow the other along, from way on the other side of Apache Highway, from somewhere behind the old Oxbow Tavern, to our field of wild oats wedged between Cedar Street and the train tracks.  My girlfriends and I would run to visit with him while the horses, Redbird and Sugar? grazed in the tall plants.  We had our secret tunnels running through the high oats, hiding our little nests.  However, one day Tex and his horses found my brother's secret underground fort, which he and his friend had dug out to quite a depth, covered with 2x4's, and replaced the sod for the roof.  No one knew it was there, except us girls of course!  And of course we girls had sneaked in a few times to look at the little wooden table and stools the boys had built, and handle with relish the cards and the candles!  Luckily, very luckily, as Tex and his horse fell through the roof of the hideout, neither he nor his horse were injured.  That was the end of the secret club house, filled back in with the dirt, apologies given with remorse.  I have such wonderful memories of that field of oats, full of dreams, it was "ours”.        1950s

WONDERFUL HAMBURGERS

    My parents owned the SE corner of Apache Blvd. and Rural Road where the Chamber of Commerce building is now[2007]. The first building on that property was the College Drive Inn. Oh! They had wonderful hamburgers! In the 1958 the name was changed to the University Drive Inn to reflect the ASC name change to ASU. We lived across the street from this property on Spence Ave. 1950

TEMPE HIGH FIRE  Adapted and installed at Smith/Martin Station

    I remember when the original Tempe High School Burned [My mother graduated from this school in 1936]. We were in school across the street at Tempe Grammar School. We all stood on the street watching, never thinking we would go to a brand new school Tempe Union High School. 1954-1955.

WIGWAM MOTEL DANCE     Installed at Dorsey Station - Youth Series

    The Barth family owned the Wigwam Motel on Apache between Rural Road and College on the North side of the street. The Wigwams were built to look like Native American structures but the construction was stucco not animal skins. The inside was furnished with beds and modern convenience. I went to a dance in the largest wigwam when I was 12 years old. 1954

RITTER SCHOOL

    When I was a little girl going to grade school I remember walking down Rural Road, which was a dirt road then, across Apache Blvd. To Ritter school which is now a part of ASU. 1952

1ST COMPUTER  Adapted and installed at Smith/Martin Station 

    I remember when the first huge computer was installed at ASU near the Curve at Mill and Apache. It took the whole large building to house this computer. 1950s