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Bird's
eye view of Iraan
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The name has nothing to do with the country
of Iran. Oil was discovered on the ranch of Ira Yates and a contest was held to
name the town that would soon materialize. Ira's wife was named Ann. The person
who combined the two names won a town lot as a prize. (See
forum below)
Iraan today has two newspapers. But as an Iraanian
told us (in a confidential tone) "It's the same news." We bought both papers.
It was the same news. Different photos though.
Because of its semi-remote location, the school district provides its
teachers with housing.
Iraan is also the birthplace of Alley
Oop, at onetime an extremely popular syndicated comic strip. Creator V.T.
Hamlin was a newspaperman in Iraan when he came up with the idea for a caveman
who looked like he was wearing bellbottoms when he wasn't even wearing pants.
While virtually unknown now, Alley
Oop was nearly as popular as Dick Tracy and Tarzan.
Mr. Oop had a
dinosaur named Dinny and there is a likeness of both Alley Oop and Dinny
at the 7 acre Fantasyland just west of town amid mulberry trees.
Also in the park is the Iraan Archeological Museum.
Iraan Chamber
of Commerce: 915-639-2232 |
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Left
- West Texas wildlife in Iraan's Park
Right - The Better-than-nothing Car
Wash
TE photos |
Iraan,
Texas Chronicles:Alley
Oop is a Texan? by C. F. Eckhardt
Alley Oop, the cave-man character
created by Victor T. Hamlin in 1932, is a native Texan. The area around present
Iraan, Texas was a gold mine of dinosaur fossils. In the days before salvage archaeology,
the fossils were simply hauled away by the truckload. This gave Hamlin the idea
for a comic strip... more
Victor
T. Hamlin & Alley Oop by C. F. Eckhardt
The
Boy With Two Tombstones
Or Iraan's “Little Boy Lost.” by Mike Cox
A broken piece of sandstone can’t
tell a story, but Edna (Snooks) Collett sure can. Collett is curator of the museum
in the still-booming old boom town of Iraan, in the middle of the storied Yates
Field, which is well past its billionth barrel of oil and still producing. Of
course, her museum duties are only from 1-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday... |
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Where
to Stay - Iraan Area Hotels
Ozona
Hotels | Fort
Stockton Hotels Iraan
Texas ForumSubject:
Naming of Iraan, TX
Regarding Iraan, Texas and the "History in a Pecan Shell": My father, Jo Hardgrave,
told my brother and sister, that his mother named the town of Iraan by submitting
the combining of the names Ira and Ann Yates and that she won a downtown plot
of land that she sold for $1,000.00. According to the first paragrah, this is
true. I'm just wondering if you have record of the name of the person winning
the contest. My grandmother's name was Mary Louise (Lewis) Hardgrave. If you have
any information regarding this I would appreciate it. Thank you, Carol Bennett,
San Angelo, TX, October 12, 2006 |
Where
to Stay - Iraan Area Hotels
Ozona
Hotels | Fort
Stockton Hotels
Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. | |
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