Color Pictures of Daily Life in Texas in the Early 1970s

These are what Texas looked like over 40 years ago. The photographs captured industrialized waterfronts, small town daily life, impoverished neighborhoods, ranch workers, fun at the beach, and more...

Portrait of a ranch hand who works in the area near Leakey, Texas, May 1973. (Marc St. Gil/National Archives and Records Administration)

Street scene, downtown Dallas, May 1972. (Bob Smith/NARA)

A freighter moves slowly up the Houston ship channel as girls fish from the shore, September 1973. Oil derricks are visible in the background. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Customer's shadow reflected in window of New Market Cafe in the old Mexican market area of San Antonio, in November of 1972. (Bob Smith/NARA)

Galveston's West Beach on the Gulf Of Mexico draws huge crowds, July 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

At play in the waves, Galveston Bay, May 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Left: Migrant father with young son, June 1972. This man and his family follow the crops north from Texas each year, living in substandard housing, and laboring all day for $2.00 an hour. Right: End of float trip on the Rio Grande River through the Santa Elena Canyon. Mexico is on the left, U.S. on the right, May 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Off-shore oil wells in Galveston Bay, June 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Drugstore in Leakey, Texas, during the noon hour, May 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

Deer hunters drink and play poker while waiting for deer. The hunters have built a permanent camp to which they return each year, November 1972. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

In the old Mexican market section just west of downtown San Antonio, November 1972. (Bob Smith/NARA)

Expressways of Dallas, May 1972. (Bob Smith/NARA)

String quartet, the Heritage Ball, Houston, May 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Smoke from the burning of old auto batteries near Houston, April 1972. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

Stanton Street in El Paso's Second Ward, June 1972. (Danny Lyon/NARA)

A teenager in El Paso's Second Ward, June 1972. (Danny Lyon/NARA)

On a street corner in El Paso's Second Ward, June 1972. (Danny Lyon/NARA)

Street scene, El Paso's Second Ward, June 1972. (Danny Lyon/NARA)

A dog attacks an armadillo on a farm near San Antonio, December 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

West Beach, Galveston Island, May 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Teenagers in drugstore in Stockyards area of Fort Worth, October 1972. (Bob Smith/NARA)

A Texaco crude oil tank blazes against the night after being struck by lightning, near Houston, September 1972. (Jim Olive/NARA)

Motorcyclist loading his possessions onto a truck with the help of his friends in Leakey, May 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

A teenage couple embraces on the bank of the Frio Canyon River near Leakey, May 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA

A young man and woman smoke pot during an outing near Leakey, Texas, (photo taken with Permission), May 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

Dune buggy on Stewart Beach on the eastern tip of Galveston Island, July 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Stewart Beach, Galveston Island, July 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Smoke from Armco Steel on a sunny afternoon in May of 1972. (Blair Pittman/NARA)

Woodrow Wilson, one of Leakey's local characters, in his pickup, June 1972. He never works, but sits staring at the river from 7 a.m. until sunset. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

Hunter and daughter before sunset waiting for a deer. Some of the hunters leave food out for the animals before the season starts. Once the deer get into routine feeding, the hunters can shoot them without much effort. Near San Antonio, December 1973. (Marc St. Gil/NARA)

(via The Atlantic)