This photo was given to me by Skeet Smotherman about twenty-five to thirty years ago. If the photo is enlarged to about twenty-four inches, it is easier to see the details of the buildings.

The railroad station is in the foreground of the photo. Much can be said about the rail station from the time it was built in the 1880's to the time it was taken down and filed in the history of time. The railroad station was removed in the 1940's.

I am curious about where the photographer was positioned to take this photo. I am interested to see if any of you can help me speculate about the method used to get this photo.

The old station witnessed many days with the conductor’s daily yell, "All aboard," and "Fruit Jar Junction next stop" as it pulled into the station to pick up the new passengers.

The photo was taken sometime around 1907, because the Baptist Church didn’t occupy this position until after it was moved to the current location.

The well for water was built as a community project many years earlier. It was built a long time before the railroad came through. The well was an early day convenience. I recall the hand dug well as a kid. I remember that it was ten to fifteen feet in diameter. It had a plank and lumber floor and was originally built as a central supply of water. The shallow well was extra large in size and the storage capacity was extraordinary.

The Baptist church had only recently been moved to Main Street. Just south of the Baptist Church was the two-story building that housed the Aubrey Garage on the first floor. There was a meeting hall on the second floor.

The building south of the Baptist church belonged to the Lusters during the late 1930's. Next to the Lusters was Simpson Drug Store.

The house that the Ratchfords built during the early teens is not in this picture, and the highway that came through going east during the early 1920's is not in the photo. The highway came through in 1923.

Observe closely the house gables shown on the house that Billy Lanford lived in. Its gables show up directly above the Aubrey Garage Building.

At this point, we are made to wonder just where the photographer was standing when the picture was made. The gin was a rather tall structure on the east side and could have provided the point of photo snapping. And then too, the photographer could have been in one of the tall sycamore trees.

The Edwards mansion is at the top and far left of the photo. Upon close observation, one can see the windmill as its wheel blades rise up into the horizon.

It would be hard to ignore the Zumwalt Lumber yard in the lower right-hand side of the photo. The Zumwalt’s were big advertisers in the old Aubrey papers. Not shown, but to the extreme right and in front of the lumber yard was the famous Mullens Hotel.

Skeet Smotherman shared this photo with me. I think it was with the Blanks Engineering Firm. They were collectors of old photos. The Blanks were early Aubrey settlers.

[ Home ]