The Soul of a Small Texas Town: Photographs, Memories, and History from McDadeThirty-five miles east of Austin, McDade, Texas is quintessential small-town America. McDade’s colorful history, from its founding in 1871 as a Wild West boomtown and continuing to the much quieter present day, comes to life in The Soul of a Small Texas Town. David Wharton’s contemporary photographs of the community and its residents and his accompanying narrative reveal growth and decline, shared family histories, traditions, crises, and celebrations. The book explores the impact of local issues, discusses how regional, national, and international events affect the community, and speculates about the town’s uncertain future. A fascinating story, it is also an important reflection of life in small rural towns throughout the nation. |
Contents
Introduction U S 290 Old Highway 20 and Uptown | 3 |
The Place and the People | 10 |
Individuals | 26 |
Social Life | 46 |
The Watermelon Festival | 60 |
Family Life | 74 |
Men and Women | 88 |
Old and Young | 106 |
Decline and the Search for Respectability | 135 |
The Germans at Siloah | 141 |
Imagining the Past Remembering the Present | 153 |
Great Expectations | 173 |
The Decline of Community | 193 |
Of Change and Resistance | 225 |
Epilogue McDade 1998 | 257 |
Notes | 279 |
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The Soul of a Small Texas Town: The Photographs, Memories, and History from ... David G. Wharton No preview available - 2022 |
Common terms and phrases
Adeline Eschberger African Americans April April 21 attended August Austin American Baca's Bastrop Advertiser Bastrop County beer Billingsley Buddy Lewis building Camp Swift cattle Cayton citizens Clyde column committee community's congregation cotton Dan Wolf dance David Carson Debbie district Dungan early Elgin Courier Erhard Goerlitz Faith Lutheran Church farm farmers Farris February German Haverland High School highway Houston Hudler Ibid January July June June 20 Kastner land late Laura Lewis Lexington High School live in McDade March March 29 McDade Baptist Church McDade community McDade Rural Neighborhood McDade School Board miles mother moved Neighborhood Progress Association newcomers night November November 9 Oak Hill Paige parents past photographs picture ranch reunion Rural Neighborhood Progress seemed Seigmund Siloah social sometimes Texas Thomas Baca town's voted wanted Watermelon Festival Association Watermelon queens weeks Wolf World War II