“The best part of tootling around town in this 1939 pickup is all the smiles and waves,” says Jackie Hatfield, Central Texas EC, of the operating Ford her sweetie Rick Westmoreland restored.
Michael Tussy, Farmers EC, shared this photo, taken around 1915 of Karl Hooten, his wife’s grandfather, filling up a water wagon to be used for irrigation in the Cooper area. “Horsepower was measured different back then,” he says.
Fort Belknap EC’s Shanda Hope snapped this photo of a 1948 Minneapolis-Moline U tractor, the next project for her grandfather, who enjoys rebuilding old tractors.
Liz Fesczenko, Guadalupe Valley EC, rescued this 1920s Underwood typewriter from a San Antonio thrift store.
Texas native William Greenlee (1918-2008) served in World War II in the 3rd Army, 455th Battalion and is pictured here in 1944, possibly in France. Daughter Janis Greenlee Hayes, South Plains EC, says he was so close to the action that from his foxhole he saw bombs drop through bombers’ bay doors. Greenlee was awarded five Bronze Stars.
This sign hangs from Hamilton County EC’s Danna Arnold’s barn in Kempner.
‘You can smell the dust and feel the heat in a meeting with the lawyer on a hot Texas summer day,’ says South Plains EC’s Janis Greenlee Hayes of this old office in Dickens.
Weldon Kolb, Lyntegar EC, had laid this Texas flag on the hood of a 1952 Chevy farm tanker truck while he was preparing the flagpole and realized it made a good photo.
Michael Tussy, Farmers EC, shared this from a collection of Karl Hooten family photos. (Hooten was his wife’s grandmother, and because no names were written on the back, the family is unsure who is pictured.) It is a 1920s-era photo taken in Tolar.
Nueces EC’s Jacqueline Acuff shared this photo of a retired wheelbarrow resting in a burst of springtime flowers in her Robstown backyard.
Marilyn Marshall, Guadalupe Valley EC, shares this photo of her grandfather Fritz Oltmanns, who farmed with mules in Wilson County until late in the 1960s. Her mother, Mary Oltmanns, took the photo.
Joachim Rayozs, Pedernales EC, shared this photo of a clock collection taken at Downtown Antique Mall in New Braunfels.
On her way to visit the restoration efforts at Bastrop State Park, Ginger Smith, Pedernales EC, spotted this old tractor covered in weeds.
Michael Tussy, Farmers EC, shared this 1925 photo of his wife’s grandfather Karl Hooten in a shoe and harness shop in Cooper.
For many years this was the general store, post office and gas station in Izoro, says Cherokee County ECA’s Nick Bledsoe.
Yesterday is far from over when we hold in our hands the relics of the past. An old photograph might take us on a journey deep into France during World War II, or a manual typewriter might remind us of simpler times, when the world’s technology hadn’t sped life up to a lightning pace. Take a look back through time with our favorite vintage photos.
Get the Newsletters
The best of Texas delivered to your inbox every month
