| |
| | The
Methodist Church
Photo courtesy Stephen & Elizabeth Taylor, December 2005 |
History on a Pinhead
The town was named after Ballingeran C. R. Crews. The town dates from the
late 1880s when the people constructed a school. In 1892 a combination store /
post office was opened but the post office closed in 1922. No figures are gven
prior to 1940 when the town had a population of 150 people and a single business.
The
school was shut down in the late 1940s and the Baptist church closed twenty years
later, leaving only the Methodist church. |
| | "The
gym is completely intact and is well-maintained. The roof is reasonably new...and
the building has tables inside. It is probably being used as a community center.
The grounds are also well-kept." - Stephen Taylor |
| | 1938-1940
WPA plaque
Photo courtesy Stephen & Elizabeth Taylor, December 2005 |
| | "1941
Board of Education"
Photo courtesy Stephen & Elizabeth Taylor,
December 2005 |
| | Photo
courtesy Stephen & Elizabeth Taylor, December 2005 |
See
also "Eighteen Ghost
Towns of Runnels County" by Alton O'Neil Jr. Crews
Texas ForumSubject:
Crews School
Dear Texas Escapes, I was raised about 16 miles from Crews, Texas and attended
school at Crews until it closed about 1949.
The building that is identified
in your photo as "The School Building" is actually the Methodist Church, which
was located adjacent to the Gymnasium. The main school building has been torn
down.
The actual school building was constructed of dark red brick and
held four rooms and a large hallway from the front entrance to the back door.
On either side of the hallway, there were large sliding doors that when opened,
converted into a fair sized auditorium and the heating was from large coal stoves
in the corner's of each room. The only other class rooms were later built in a
wood frame building to the west of the brick building. The restroom facilities
were behind the wood frame and brick building, one for the girls and the other
for the boys. The Gymnasium was a treasured feature of the school which excelled
with it's basketball teams. There was a stage at one end of the gym where the
senior students performed plays and elementary classes performed arts and entertainment.
My
Parents, Harvey G. and Julia Ioan (McCarter) Bradley lived a few miles to the
west of Crews when they were first married. They farmed a small piece of land
which was located north of the current Winters/Coleman highway.
My oldest
sister, Lorena Emazell (Bradley) Evans attended this same school and also did
her student teaching here after two years study at Howard Payne College in Brownwood,
Texas.
Many years prior to Lorena's attending the Crews School, my
maternal grandparents, Joe and Fanny (Henderson) McCarter as well as my great-great
grandmother, Aribella Henderson, who had 16 children of her own and also raised
three grandchildren, lived in Crews for many years and my uncle Elmer McCarter
ran one of the horse-drawn freight wagons between Ballinger
and Crews.
I have many fond memories of this little town. There was a
tornado that almost wiped the entire town away many years ago. When I attended
school there, some of the foundations of homes could still be seen east of the
Methodist Church.
One of my most favorite memories is of my friend "Epaw"
Pape, who had a service station and small grocery store located adjacent to the
Winters/Coleman highway, west of the school. Every school day, at noon, Epaw (his
nickname) would prepare a delicious sandwich for me. I was in elementary school
at ages 8 to 13 and I still recall how good those meals tasted and I know that
a sandwich is a sandwich, so I feel sure that it was Epaw's pleasant personality
that made such a difference.
I also recall with much pleasure, my friendship
with Avis Cummings. We were best of friends for all of our elementary days and
our voices blended quite well when we sang some of those WW2 war songs such as
"Each Night at Nine."
I enjoy your Texas Escapes magazine. Thank you for
producing it. - Rosemary B.
Davis, San Angelo, Texas,
July 12, 2007
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