BLAST FROM THE PAST
BY Marcella S. Meeks
There has been a lot of changes in Logansport and surrounding areas since I moved here in the early nineties. When I started The Logansport Tribune back in October 1993, I became acquainted with the community and knew almost everyone around town. I eventually sold the paper in October 1996 to The Timpson/Tenaha Newspaper and I then opened RiverCity X-Press that same month (October 1996 to April 2011). It was a priviledge to be a part of this town. We were more than acquaintances – we were neighbors and friends.
Back then, there were several columnists that I enjoyed reading that was publsihed in The Logansport Tribune every week. Mildred Lindsey from Haslem, Texas, Dewena Henry from Stanley, Glen C.Price from the Bethel Community here in Logansport, Tim Wheless who wrote the sports column for LHS, and Marjorie Bull from Galloway, Texas who always brought LHS school news every week, just to name a few. There were several others as well, but I can’t remember all the names.
I loved publishing The Tribune because of the columns and of course, yours truly (me!) always had a column in there, too, along it the news. My personal column was usually about my kids and school and church functions. I also covered all the news myself. I may have started out not knowing mych about newspaper publishing but after three long years, I learned a lot on my own, and with a little help from Keenan Gingles who was publisher of the Mansfield paper at the time.
The columns that was in my paper kept us connected with the community in a lot of ways. You just don’t read that kind of stuff anymore. But things changes as time passes by. Newspapers come and newspapers go.
I remember when Holiday on Main Street was a big event every November here in Logansport and people from all around came out. As well as River City Fest, when it was held in May shortly after graduation. Back then, it was a big event for my kids and they walked to town with their friends every Saturday. Things were so different back then.
I mustn’t forget the boat races along the riverfront. My boys always attended these.
Back then, we’d go to Rusty’s Diner on weekends and get Rusty’s famous fried chicken. My favorite was the chicken salad sandwiches. You just couldn’t get a sandwich like that anywhere else with onion rings and a side of pickle. (Rusty and Sissy Morris).
We’d leave there and go over to the video store and rent some movies (VHS) and go home and enjoy movie night with the kids!
Bill’s Dollar Store and Big Star was directly across the street from Rusty’s Diner.
The activities at school and church took up a lot of my time back in those days when my children were growing up. There was always things going on and kids coming to my house on weekends all the time. There was little time for too much else, especially running a business and raising kids all on your own. But we did it!
I remember going to one of the homecoming games at the old football field and the bonfire one year. That was the first one I had ever been to and it was a lot of fun.
Change has made it’s way through here over the years. A lot of the businesses are gone as well as their owners. NJ Caraway’s Hardware (B C and Janet Palmer) always seemed to have what everyone needed. Janet had a clothing store on one side and a lot of nic-nacs on the other in addition to plumbing and other hardware essentials.
These are just a few blasts from the past that I remember so well. It was things like this that made you want to live here. I wish we could bring it all back!
There was more, too!
Back then, there was Hamel’s Park in Shreveport. Some of my family from Nacogdoches, TX and Tenaha, Tx would drive to my house, and we’d load up a picnic basket, cooler and all the kids and we’d go to Hamel’s once a month. I think all the kids in the neighborhood would show up wanting to come with us!
There was a comet back then circling our atmosphere that was a big deal called Comet Hyakutake in 1996, and then one in 1997 called Hale-Bopp Comet that lit up the night sky back in that decade. Some of it thought for sure one of them was going to hit us! But they didn’t.
Then, in 2000 was the Millinnium period. This was a spooky time for everybody because they thought all computers were going to stop on December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. Everybody was buying up water and grocery supplies like there was going to be no tomorrow! Our society faced a widespread anxiety over the Y2kK bug for a long time. But nothing ever happened.
Times have changed so much since those days. People have come and gone. I wish we could have all stayed connected but as time passes, so do people. Nothing ever stays the same. New faces, new places!
And now the Internet has come into existance and Social Media pays a huge part in keeping communities connested.
Thanks for reading Blasts from the Pasts! Have a blessed day!
