January 31, 2002

I thought real deep and could not answer back with an affirmative answer. I asked how he knew this and he said that he had read it some time in his lifetime and was wondering if I knew where the third bank was located.

Neither of us could come up with the location of where the third bank was located.

I did however learn from him that Aubrey had a fairly large stock yard that was located on the east side of the railroad.

He remembered when his dad was the banker in the building on the north side of the hardware store. He said that when the stock yard imported a large herd of cattle on a regular basis it meant a great deal to the economy of the business sector as it existed then.

We both commented on how bad the town and especially the downtown part of town desperately needs to locate some new business in the downtown part of Aubrey.

He could not figure out, his being a local banker’s son about how so many old historical buildings could be made into real thriving business as the town had experienced during its past 165 years.

Mr. Phillips’ family was a very prominent and industrious family in the beginnings of our settlement. They were very active in the Methodist Church and some of the full size life images in the stained glass windows in the church were donated with his family’s name.

I told Mr. Phillips that we had a Main Street Committee, and that they are working on making the downtown area more attractive.

Ida Mae has leased her buildings out to a day care center. It is really something to watch the small children jump around with their enthusiastic attitudes. My thought is to look at this new crop of citizens that will be doing the business ventures during the latter part of this century.

Mr. Phillips commented on how long Jackie’s Hardware has been in business and just what is it that allows it to continue. My immediate comment was that as far as all of the research that I have put together, we are one of a few hardware stores in Denton County that is still in existence after forty years of operation.

We also talked about economic development, since he was a banker’s son from a very congenial and pleasant family that lived in Aubrey. He lived across the street from where I currently live. I felt elated to talk to this man as he was telling me that my house still looks as it did when he was a boy back in the 1920's. He also wished me well with my business and hopes that it will continue.

You know, I am honored to have people of this caliber come in and talk of the history of the banks; it just makes me want to have this old banker back in town living across the street.

The best way I can sum up is to hope that the old buildings will somehow become used again for retail establishments and not for birds to roost in.

I want to say a few words about the economic development and the sales tax that the first quarter has yielded. Our sales tax reported and paid the last quarter of 2001 was 25 percent above previous quarters – folks that is quite an accomplishment. I would only look forward to seeing the area become more like the trades area that Lee Roy Phillips remembers.

Next week and future weeks, I will share some funny stories about the local businesses of this time period, in this muchly appreciated newspaper that Tim and Allison Leslie have embarked upon in an effort to report the increases in business.

But most of all I want to thank you the readers for all of your comments and words of encouragement.

P.S. The Downtown Main Street committee has removed the Christmas decorations and I told them that the decorations were beautiful and perhaps more attractive than I recall.

Our thanks to Dave Rounsley and his crew for the fine job both in installing and removing the decorations. It is this type of enthusiasm that will keep downtown on the map.

Jackie and I have bought new tires from Gary Starr and are ready to head to Mexico with the Cherokees next week. We will visit the Cherokees as the Mexican Cherokees have declared February 1, as the Cherokee Day in Mexico.

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