I had a fun conversation with Texas Time Capsule Podcast last week. We talked about Old Rip (a famous horned toad), the lynching of Santa, and the hotel. Check it out here or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Marco and Maria Pellizzari came to Galveston from Italy in 1913, just before the first world war began in Europe. Marco’s brother, Gino, arrived the year before and found a job in the coal mines of Thurber. He wrote often, urging the couple to join him, and promising Marco that he would find good, steady … Continue reading
It’s been eight months since we moved into a one-hundred-year-old hotel. Eight months of meeting new people, and eight months of hard work. My wife and I both have our day jobs, so the cleaning and hosting and fixing happens during our time off. We make quite the team. Though I’m involved in the normal business … Continue reading
Josiah “Doc” Scurlock was a colorful character who rode with Billy the Kid and found no shortage of trouble in his younger years, including having his front teeth shot out over a card game dispute. The other man wasn’t as lucky. Scurlock was born in Alabama in 1849 but moved west as a young man. … Continue reading
By John Bird Eastland, Texas is best known for its most famous citizen of the past—a horned toad named Old Rip. Eastland County was amid a boom in the last years of the 19th century, and a larger courthouse was built in 1897. During the dedication, dignitaries placed various things in the courthouse cornerstone as … Continue reading
In 1918, Eastland County, Texas was in an oil boom. From 1910 to 1920, the population of the county more than doubled, and what had been a farming area became the tenth most populated county in Texas for a time. The growth meant new businesses, including the three-story building one block from the courthouse that … Continue reading
The Santa Claus Bank Robbery happened in Cisco, Texas on December 23, 1927 and resulted in the last public mob lynching in the state. The details are well-known in Cisco and Eastland, and the story is notorious in Texas, as it was one of the last true examples of the wild west. Readers can find … Continue reading
