Amazing Photographs Capture Everyday Life in the Frontier Oil Town of Freer, Texas in 1938

By 1938, the remote brush-country settlement of Freer, Texas, located deep in Duval County, had been violently transformed by one of the most classic, wild, and unregulated oil booms in American history.

What was just a lonely crossroads named Government Wells a decade prior became a sprawling, hyper-energized frontier oil town. The discovery of the Government Wells oil field in 1928, followed by the massive Loma Novia and Seven Sisters strikes in the mid-1930s, turned Freer into a roaring epicenter of black gold.

Freer’s main thoroughfares were notoriously unpaved for much of the boom. Depending on the weather, 1938 residents either choked on clouds of caliche dust kicked up by heavy oil-field trucks or watched model-T trucks and heavy drilling equipment sink axle-deep into treacherous South Texas mud.

The town was teeming with “boomers”—a nomadic army of roughnecks, wildcatters, pipeliners, lease hounds, and teamsters who traveled from field to field following the money (Johnson, n.d.). By 1938, the chaotic tent cities of the early 1930s were giving way to more permanent wooden structures, but the population remained intensely transient.

Situated in Duval County, a region dominated by the notorious South Texas political machine of Archie Parr and his son George Parr (the “Duke of Duval”), Freer operated under its own code of ethics. The town was packed with quickly built saloons, gambling dens, and dance halls to entertain weary roughnecks with cash burning holes in their pockets.

LIFE staff photographer Carl Mydans visited Freer in 1938 about found a town that was bustling but ramshackle, set up to suit the needs of roughneck mercenaries. His photographs captured a unique window into this rapid transformation, where modern industrial wealth clashed directly with rugged, lawless frontier living:

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30 Fascinating Photos Capture Austin, Texas in the Early 1970s

The early 1970s marked a pivotal transformation for Austin, Texas, establishing its identity as the world’s “Live Music Capital.” The city became a unique melting pot where hippies, rednecks, and college students coalesced around a new genre of music: the “Cosmic Cowboy” sound.

This period was characterized by a strong counterculture movement, political activism driven by the University of Texas campus, and a laid-back, inclusive atmosphere that celebrated creativity and individuality. This cultural boom, centered on music and liberal politics, set the foundation for Austin’s reputation as a progressive oasis in Texas, forever linking the city with the phrase: “Keep Austin Weird.”

These fascinating photos, taken by duckswim2, show various scenes from the University of Texas neighborhood and other corners of Austin in 1972.

Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas, 1972

Artist selling her work at the 23rd Street Market, Austin, Texas, 1972

Austin, Texas and nearby, 1972

Austin, Texas, 1972

Austin, Texas, 1972

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The Story Behind Robert Croft’s Iconic Photograph of John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, Before the First Shot Struck Kennedy

Assassination eyewitness Robert Croft took this up-close picture of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy after the limousine had made its fatal turn onto Elm Street. Jackie, probably to the photographer’s immense delight, appears to be looking directly at Mr. Croft when he clicked his camera’s shutter.

Jacqueline Kennedy looks at Robert Croft as he snaps a photo of her, her husband President John F. Kennedy, Texas Gov. John Connally, his wife Nellie Connally and two Secret Service agents in the presidential limousine just before shots rang out in Dealey Square on Nov. 22, 1963.

The photo was snapped by Croft at the equivalent of approximately Frame #161 of Abraham Zapruder’s home movie, which was almost exactly the same time that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the first of his three gunshots from the Book Depository (the first shot missed the car and its occupants completely).

Robert Earl “Bob” Croft was a 20-year-old missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

“It was the most gruesome, horrible thing I have ever seen in my life,” he told the Powell Tribune 50 years ago. “I don’t know if I will ever get over it.”

Croft decided to see Kennedy’s motorcade pass through Dallas, and he left the Union Terminal, where he was waiting for a bus to take him to Denver, to see the president pass. He walked over to Dealey Plaza in the downtown area — and took his Argus C3 35mm camera with him.

Croft told the Powell Tribune for a story published Nov. 26, 1963, that he was 30 feet from JFK’s limousine when the shots rang out at around 12:30 p.m. Central Time.

During an interview Croft did on April 20, 1988, 25 years after the assassination, with JFK researcher Richard Trask for Trask’s book “Pictures of the Pain,” Croft offered more details on what he witnessed in Dallas.

He said he was winding his camera to get as many photos as possible. He took three, and was trying to snap a fourth when he heard a shot ring out in the concrete canyon of Dealey Plaza. Croft told Trask the photo was “taken simultaneously with the shot which killed the President,” according to the book.

Then, the area was in pandemonium.

Croft also appears in some photos taken that day, as many people took cameras to capture an image of the glamorous president and his wife. He is also seen in the famed Abraham Zapruder film of the assassination.

After the fatal events of Nov. 22, 1963, Bob Croft was in contact with the Secret Service and the FBI. Both agencies examined his color slides.

Online and printed reports, based on an FBI file, state that Croft took 22 images on his roll of 36-exposure Kodachrome-X film before it was processed. Three were of the Kennedy motorcade. One was of the motorcycles in the advance guard; the other two showed the presidential limousine.

The more famous of the photos, frame 18 on the roll, shows first lady Jacqueline Kennedy looking right at Croft. He was standing on the south curb of Elm Street on the driver’s side of the limo, facing the Texas School Book Depository. President John F. Kennedy is next to his wife and is shown in profile.

Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife Nellie are in the middle of the 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible in the jump seats. The driver is Secret Service Agent William Greer, with Secret Service Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy Kellerman riding next to him in the front seat.

It’s an iconic photo, one of the most famous taken on that day. It appears on dozens of websites and has been published in books, magazines and newspapers.

According to the book, “Matrix for Assassination: The JFK Conspiracy,” Croft took a fourth photo at the scene. He believed it was snapped at the exact moment as the devastating head shot struck Kennedy. But when he received his photos back from the FBI, this slide was a complete blank. The FBI told him his camera appeared to have malfunctioned at that moment.

Croft’s photos were first examined by the FBI, according to a Secret Service memo, after he turned his film over to the Denver FBI office.

According to Trask’s book, “... frame number 18 appears to show the Presidential car on Elm Street south of Houston Street just moments before the President was shot ... Croft believed the last picture taken by him was taken simultaneously with the shot which killed the President. This no doubt refers to frame number 19 which is a complete blank which probably was occasioned by some malfunction of Mr. Croft’s camera or some other fault.”

Trask said he very much doubts the FBI tampered with the photo. Others, in the conspiracy-thick world of the JFK assassination, are not as convinced.

After the FBI returned his photos on Jan. 4, 1964, Croft mailed them to his parents in Powell. Two days later, the Secret Service office in Denver learned of the photos and asked Croft, who was living there as part of his two-year LDS mission, if they could examine them. He had his parents mail the photos back to him, and turned them over to the Secret Service, which, according to memos, was looking for its agents in the motorcade or any unusual activity which appears to be related to the attack.

Eventually, Croft called and asked for the photos, and the color slides were mailed to his Powell home, according to an April 20, 1964, Secret Service memo.

“Please accept our sincere thanks for your cooperation in making these slides available for our review,” the letter from Rolland H. Osborne, the special agent in charge of the Denver office states.

Rob Croft said he has no idea what happened to the photos, which captured a healthy, happy JFK and his wife seconds before their lives, and the fate of the nation, were forever changed.

(via Powell Tribune)

45 Vintage Snaps of the Cullen Baker Fair in 1976-77

The Cullen Baker Fair is an annual event held in Bloomburg, Texas, typically on the first Saturday of November. It features a community parade, over 150 food and craft vendors, live music, a car show, and children's activities.

The fair is named after Cullen Baker, a post-Civil War outlaw, but is a family-friendly celebration. The 50th anniversary of the fair was celebrated in 2024. These vintage snaps were taken by Gary Grogan that show the Cullen Baker Fair in 1976-77.

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The Amazing Story of Newsom Grocery, the Oldest Grocery Business to Remain So Long in One Family in Llano, Texas

In the heart of Llano, Texas, during the turn of the 20th century, a small grocery store became a cornerstone of the community—a place where locals found not just their daily necessities, but also a sense of connection and continuity. This was Newsom Grocery, a family-owned business with a story as rich as the town’s history.

The tale begins in 1893, when J.N. Newsom first opened the doors of his grocery store at 202 West Main. It was a modest establishment, but it quickly became a beloved fixture in the lives of Llano’s residents. The aroma of fresh produce, the sight of neatly stacked canned goods, and the friendly banter between Mr. Newsom and his customers created an atmosphere that made shopping at Newsom Grocery feel like a visit with a trusted friend.

Two years later, in 1895, the store relocated to a new spot—one that would later be known as the site of Buttery Hardware offices. This move marked the beginning of a new chapter for the business, as it continued to thrive and grow alongside the town itself. The new location offered more space and a better layout, allowing J.N. Newsom and his son, Allan, who had joined him in the business, to serve their customers even better.

The Newsom family’s commitment to their grocery store was evident in every detail. Father and son worked side by side, ensuring that shelves were always stocked with the freshest goods and that each customer was treated with warmth and respect. Over the years, the store became more than just a place to buy groceries—it was a gathering spot, where news was exchanged, friendships were forged, and the pulse of the town could be felt.

This legacy of service and community continued for more than half a century. From 1893 until 1945, Newsom Grocery remained under the careful stewardship of J.N. and Allan Newsom. Even as times changed and the town evolved, the store retained its charm and importance, earning its place as the oldest grocery business in Llano to remain in the same family for so long.

The significance of this small grocery store was finally recognized in a newspaper article published in the May 31, 1956, edition of the Llano News. The article highlighted the remarkable history of Newsom Grocery, celebrating its long-standing presence in the community and the dedication of the Newsom family. It was a tribute to the hard work and love that had gone into making Newsom Grocery not just a business, but a cherished part of Llano’s heritage.

Today, the memory of Newsom Grocery lives on, a reminder of a time when family-owned businesses were the heart of small towns, and the bonds between shopkeepers and their customers were as strong as the oak trees that lined Llano’s streets. The story of Newsom Grocery is one of perseverance, community, and the enduring spirit of a family that helped shape the town they called home.

Nov. 25, 1963: During the Internment of Lee Harvey Oswald, Reporters Were Enlisted to Act as Pallbearers

This black and white photograph taken by Gene Gordon, the chief photographer of the Fort Worth Press, of the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald. The funeral took place at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas on Monday, November 25, 1963. Pallbearers carry Oswald’s casket to the gravesite. Reporters were asked to serve as pallbearers because there were not enough funeral attendees. Three of the pallbearers are unidentified: the man in front in the foreground wearing glasses; the man at the back end of the casket wearing glasses, and the man concealed by the first unidentified man. The other reporters are: Mike Cochran, Associated Press (AP); Ed Horn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jerry Flemmons; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jon “Bunky” McConal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Preston McGraw, United Press International (UPI).

Due to a lack of family and friends in attendance at his funeral, the pallbearer’s of Lee Harvey Oswald’s casket were reporters. November 25, 1963

On November 25, 1963, the nation’s gaze was transfixed by the horse-drawn caisson and final burial of President John F. Kennedy. But in the shadow of this grim but stirring procession—on that same Monday—Lee Harvey Oswald was quietly buried in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oswald’s wife Marina, two daughters, brother Robert and mother Marguerite were the only mourners. The public was prohibited from Rose Hill Cemetery, and no friends or other relatives showed up. To avoid argument, the gravediggers were told they were digging a hole for “William Bobo.”

As Secret Service, FBI agents, and a heavy police guard stood watch, seven newsmen serving as volunteer pallbearers carried the pine coffin to the grave. Before the casket was lowered, the lid was opened for the family to see Oswald’s face one last time. As UPI reporter Preston McGraw noted, "One at a time, quickly, the two women bent down and kissed the corpse." 

Two Lutheran ministers had agreed to conduct the service at the request of the Reverend Louis Saunders, an interdenominational Christian minister. But both reneged after learning that the funeral would be outside by the grave rather than in a chapel, fearing the potential threat of snipers. Saunders, who came as an observer, was asked by Marguerite to officiate.

The Oswald family sit next to Lee Harvey Oswald’s casket.

Former AP reporter Mike Cochran recalled serving as pallbearer for Lee Harvey Oswald:

“With no mourners around to serve as pallbearers, it was a task that fell to me and a few other reporters covering the funeral of John F. Kennedy’s assassin. Fifty years later, I remain a reluctant and minor footnote in American history...

“I arrived to discover dozens of police and federal agents, writers and photographers, but no mourners waiting to bid Oswald goodbye or good riddance. A police escort delivered Oswald’s casket in the early afternoon. Much later, officers arrived with his family.

“No one else would follow; even the minister failed to show. Shaking his head ever so slightly, Jerry Flemmons of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram turned to me and said, ‘Cochran, if we’re gonna write a story about the burial of Lee Harvey Oswald, we’re gonna have to bury the son of a bitch ourselves.’

“Sure enough, officials asked the gathered reporters to serve as pallbearers. I was among the first they asked, my reply not just ‘No!’ but ‘Hell no!’ Then Preston McGraw of United Press International stepped forward and volunteered, and with my top competition for scoops accepting the duty, I realized my error and joined McGraw and other reporters.

“The ceremony itself was as brief as it was simple. The Rev. Louis Saunders, executive secretary of the Fort Worth Council of Churches, had been drafted to fill in for the missing minister. His words — ‘we are not here to judge, only to commit for burial Lee Harvey Oswald’ — were barely audible, mingled with muffled sobs by Oswald’s mother and widow. Her eyes red and swollen, Marina Oswald stepped beside her husband’s casket and quietly whispered something.

“Not long after the nation’s slain president was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with tearful family members and millions of television viewers around the world looking on, Oswald’s body was lowered into his grave at 4:28 p.m.”

The Famous Polaroid Photo of John F. Kennedy Taken by Mary Ann Moorman a Fraction of a Second After the Fatal Shot

This is one of the most famous (and most studied) photographs taken on November 22, 1963; the Polaroid snapshot captured by Mary Moorman. Abraham Zapruder can be seen filming the motorcade from atop the concrete pedestal on the right-hand side of the photo. The ugly thumbprint that mars the photo was left there by someone who handled it after Moorman gave the picture to the FBI.

On November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Moorman stated that her 11-year-old son had wanted to see Kennedy, but was unable to attend because of school. She said she promised to take a picture for him.

Moorman was standing on grass about 2 feet (61 cm) south of the south curb of Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, directly across from the grassy knoll and the North Pergola concrete structure that Abraham Zapruder and his assistant Marilyn Sitzman were standing on – during the assassination. Moorman stated that she stepped off the grass onto the street to take a photo with her Polaroid camera. Zapruder can be seen standing on the pergola in the Moorman photograph, with the presidential limousine already having passed through the line of sight between Zapruder and Moorman.

Both Moorman and her friend, Jean Hill, can be clearly seen in the Zapruder film. Between Zapruder frames 315 and 316, Moorman took a Polaroid photograph, her fifth that day, showing the presidential limousine with the grassy knoll area in the background.

Jean Hill and Mary Moorman on November 22, 1963.

Moorman’s photograph captured the fatal head shot that killed President Kennedy. When she took it – approximately one sixth of a second after President Kennedy was struck in the head at Zapruder frame 313, Moorman was standing behind and to the left of President Kennedy, about 15 feet (5 m) from the presidential limousine. Moorman said in a TV interview that immediately after the assassination, there were three or four shots close together, that shots were still being fired after the fatal head shot, and that she was in the line of fire. She later stated in a 2013 PBS documentary Kennedy Half Century that she was close enough to hear Jackie Kennedy exclaim that John had been shot.

In 2013, Moorman attempted to sell the original Polaroid through Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. The photo was expected to sell for between $50,000 and $75,000, but did not meet its reserve. It ultimately sold there. She had previously tried selling the photo to Sotheby’s in New York, but the auction house deemed it to be “too sensitive to auction.” That same year, she expressed her opinion on the assassination; she was convinced that Kennedy was killed as a result of a conspiracy.

Jean Hill’s affidavit

Mary Moorman’s affidavit

“I really don’t know what exactly happened, but I do know there is bound to be a lot more to the story that hasn’t been told,” she said. “I was hoping it would come out in my lifetime, but who knows. So much has been hidden by the government; anything can take place and it can be hidden. Oswald probably wasn’t a lone person, he probably had backers. I really do think it was a conspiracy.”

Whatever was captured in the background of Moorman’s photo has been a matter of contentious debate. On the grassy knoll, some have claimed to identify as many as four different human figures, while others dismiss these indistinct images as either trees or shadows. Most often, one figure has been dubbed the “Badge Man” as it seems to resemble a uniformed police officer wearing a badge. Others claim to see Gordon Arnold, a man who claimed to have filmed the assassination from that area, a man in a construction hard hat, and a hatted man behind the stockade fence.

An enlargement of the Badge Man image from the Moorman photograph.

Moorman stated she heard a shot as the limousine passed her, then heard another two shots, “pow pow,” when the president’s head exploded. She stated that she could not determine where the shots came from, and that she saw no one in the area that appeared to have possibly been the assassin. Moorman was interviewed by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. She was called by the Warren Commission to testify, but due to a sprained ankle, she was unable to be questioned. She was never contacted by them again.

Amazing Vintage Photographs of the Cadillac Ranch Before They Were Spray Painted

Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, US. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm.

The installation consists of 10 Cadillacs (1949–1963) buried nose-first in the ground. Installed in 1974, the cars were either older running, used or junk cars – together spanning the successive generations of the car line – and the defining evolution of their tailfins. The cars are inclined at the same angle as the pyramids of Giza.

Cadillac Ranch was originally located in a wheat field, but in 1997, the installation was quietly moved by a local contractor to a location two miles (three kilometers) to the west, to a cow pasture along Interstate 40, in order to place it farther from the limits of the growing city. Both sites belonged to Stanley Marsh 3. Marsh was well known in the city for his longtime patronage of artistic endeavors including the Cadillac Ranch; Floating Mesa; Amarillo Ramp, a work by land artist Robert Smithson; and a series of fake traffic signs throughout the city known collectively as the Dynamite Museum. As of 2013, Stanley Marsh 3 did not own the Cadillac Ranch; ownership appears to have been transferred to a family trust some time before his June 2014 death.

Cadillac Ranch is visible from the highway, and though located on private land, visiting it (by driving along a frontage road and entering the pasture by walking through an unlocked gate) is tacitly encouraged. In addition, writing graffiti on or otherwise spray-painting the vehicles is now encouraged, and the vehicles, which have long since lost their original colors, are wildly decorated. Ant Farm artists have encouraged this kind of public interaction with the cars.

The cars are periodically repainted various colors (once white for the filming of a television commercial, another time pink in honor of Stanley’s wife Wendy’s birthday, and again all 10 cars were painted flat black to mark the passing of Ant Farm artist Doug Michels, or simply to provide a fresh canvas for future visitors). In 2012 they were painted rainbow colors to commemorate gay pride day. The cars were briefly “restored” to their original colors by the motel chain Hampton Inn in a public relations-sponsored series of Route 66 landmark restoration projects. The new paint jobs and even the plaque commemorating the project lasted less than 24 hours without fresh graffiti. The cars were painted solid black with the words “Black Lives Matter” in June 2020 to protest police brutality and the murder of George Floyd.

Below are some photographs of the Cadillac Ranch before they were painted:

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April 18, 1934: World’s First Washateria Opened

On April 18, 1934, the first laundromat (called a “washateria”) was opened by John F. Cantrell in Fort Worth, Texas; four electric washing machines were rented to members of the public on an hourly basis.

The electric-powered washing machine, invented in 1908, was a great time- and sweat-saving device—but only for those who could afford it and had regular electricity. J.F. Cantrell noticed that many in his Fort Worth (Texas, USA) community didn’t fit that description. In 1934, Cantrell purchased four electric washing machines and installed them in the same building. He charged people by the hour to clean their clothes in his “washateria,” now better known as a “laundromat.” This marked the beginning of the laundromat industry, which was initially viewed as a luxury during the Great Depression.

The name “washateria” was inspired by the idea of washing clothes combined with cheap cafeterias where people got their meals. These early laundromats were not coin-operated and had attendants on duty at all times. By the late 1940s, the first unattended, 24-hour laundromats were opened, marking a shift towards fully automated, self-service facilities. Today, most laundromats in the U.S. are coin-operated, unstaffed, and open 24 hours a day.

Cowboys From the Matador Ranch Celebrating in Lubbock After Driving a Herd of Cattle for Shipment to the Lubbock Railyard, ca. 1910

A picture from 1910 shows cowboys celebrating the delivery of cattle to Lubbock, Texas. The fourth cowboy from the left, in clean clothes, is about to accompany Matador cattle to Kansas City.

Trail-driving movies always show the cowboys drawing their pay after reaching Abilene, Dodge City or Wichita and heading for the nearest barber shop for a shave, haircut and a bath. They they’d stop by the general store and get some new duds. After that they’d head for one of the bordellos pay their respects to the ladies or the saloons and gambling parlors.

They’d proceed to part with some of their hard-earned pay. But when all the whoopin’ and hollerin’ was done what did they do next?  Did they return to the ranch from which they started?  Go someplace else? Did they travel alone or go as group?  Go by horse, wagon, stage, or what?

After the celebrating was done most of them, along with the wagons, headed back down the trail to Texas. A few might ride the train to Kansas City or Chicago with the herd and take in the sights before heading home.

The trail boss might be carrying a large sum of money to pay off the ranchers back in Texas so it was nice to have the cowhands along to make sure it got to home safely. There were always some human jackals lying in wait between Kansas and Texas to relieve the trail boss of the loot. Later on it became possible to wire the money home.

The legendary Charlie Goodnight used his top hand Bose Ikard, a black man as his defacto banker.  Goodnight knew the outlaws would never search Bose since they wouldn’t believe a white man would trust a black man with his money. Bose was the inspiration for Josh Deets in Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.”

Once they got home they’d work through the winter and repeat the cycle the following year. The rancher might not need all his hands during the winter so some might “ride the grub line,” or stop by a ranch just about supper time and get a free meal. Folks who’d been holed up during the winter were always happy to see a new face and pick up on the latest news.

(via True West Magazine)

3 Powerful Snaps of the Final Moments of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963

In 2013, there was a story in TIME magazine, regarding previously unpublished images of President Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. The color pictures, snapped in the moments before the US president was shot dead as he rode in an open-top limousine through Dallas on November 22, 1963, were taken by H. Warner King and lay sitting in storage before being found by his daughter, Sonia King.

John and Jacqueline ride in an open-top limousine on the way to the Dallas Trade Mart, Nov. 22, 1963, where Kennedy was to give a speech later in the day.

Her father had been an amateur photographer in New Zealand during World War II, but was working as a jewelry wholesaler in Dallas when he took the snaps.

“My dad arranged to be in town the day he heard Kennedy was coming to Dallas because he wanted to take pictures. He knew Dallas really well, and he knew where to go to get close to the motorcade,” she told the magazine. “The cars passed him and he photographed John and Jackie. In one photo, they’re smiling right at him.”

Ms King, who was 10 at the time of the shooting, says her father returned to New Zealand in 1975 after retiring, taking the color slides with him. He died in 2005 and Ms King was going through his possessions recently when she came across a red box labelled November/December 1963 Kennedy.

Despite ill political winds in Texas, the Kennedys were greeted on Nov. 22nd by cheering throngs in Dallas.

“I found these pictures right away. Now, 50 years later, his photographs of the Kennedys finally see the light of day.”

But shots capturing the aftermath of the shooting with the motorcade taking the fatally injured president to hospital are missing, possibly out of respect.

“I think he may have deliberately destroyed them,” Ms King said. “The assassination was at the forefront of my father’s mind for a long time.”

Kennedy’s well-wishers crowded close to his limousine as the motorcade neared Dealey Plaza.

The photos feature on the cover of the November 25 US edition of the magazine to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination.

(All photos by H. Warner King)

President John F. Kennedy Riding in an Open Car in Dallas, Texas Before His Assassination on November 22, 1963

The most notorious political murder in recent American history occurred this day on November 22,1963, when John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president (1961–63), was shot and killed while riding in an open-car motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas.

The shocking event of 60 years ago happened near the end of JFK’s third year as president. Riding in the same car as Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy was Texas Gov. John B. Connally, as well as Connally’s wife, Nellie Connally.

That same day, the suspect in the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president that day as well as the stunned nation absorbed the blow of so suddenly and violently losing its elected president.

The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza. Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was shot in his back.

Right after the shooting, the car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the president. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Gov. Connally had been seriously wounded but later recovered.

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The Crash at Crush: A Crazy Publicity Stunt Turned Deadly in 1896

The Crash at Crush was a one-day publicity stunt in the U.S. state of Texas that took place on September 15, 1896, in which two uncrewed locomotives were crashed into each other head-on at high speed. William George Crush, general passenger agent of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, conceived the idea in order to demonstrate a staged train wreck as a public spectacle. As a result, an estimated 40,000 people attended the event. Unexpectedly, the impact caused both engine boilers to explode, resulting in a shower of flying debris that killed two people and caused numerous injuries among the spectators.

Locomotives and crews pose for photos prior to their staged wreck near Waco, Texas, in 1896.

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (popularly known as the “Katy”, from its “M-K-T” initials) had first reached the Crush area in the 1880s, during the construction of a route between Dallas and Houston. As the railroad expanded, the Katy replaced its 30-ton steam engines with newer, more powerful 60-ton engines, and subsequently a stockpile of the older units, for which the railroad now had no use, began to accumulate.

In 1896, Katy agent William Crush proposed a publicity stunt that could make use of the obsolete Katy trains to be held along the Dallas–Houston route at a site 14 miles (23 km) north of Waco and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the town of West, in McLennan County.

A locomotive crash staged by the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad at Buckeye Park near Lancaster, Ohio on May 30, 1896 had been a huge success. Buckeye Park was established and owned by the railroad to entice residents of nearby Columbus to take weekend excursions. The locomotive crash was planned for the park’s annual opening day and drew approximately 20,000 spectators. While no admission was charged, money was made on the railroad passenger traffic to and from the park.

Crush imagined a similar spectacle for which Katy could advertise to thousands of potential passengers. Crush’s superiors agreed to his proposal and put him in charge of the project. As with the crash at Buckeye Park, the event would be free of charge, instead profiting from the sale of tickets on special excursion trains that would run to and from the site. The price was US$ 3.50 in 1896 (equivalent to $125.35 in 2023) per round-trip ticket from anywhere in the state.

Two water wells were drilled at the site and a circus tent from Ringling Brothers was erected, as well as a grandstand, three speakers’ stands, a platform for reporters, two telegraph offices, and a special train depot, over which a giant sign proclaimed the new town as “Crush, Texas”. Events from the Midway Plaisance, including lemonade stands, carnival games, medicine shows, cigar vendors and other sideshows were highly anticipated, with a construction foreman saying that “This feature alone will be worth going to Crush to see.”

A separate four-mile segment of track was built for the event alongside the Katy railroad so that there was no chance a runaway train could end up on the main line; each end of the track was situated atop a low hill on opposite sides of a bowl-shaped valley in which the trains would meet. The locomotives to be used were two 35-short-ton (32 t) decommissioned Baldwin engines, No. 999 and No. 1001.

Photograph by Jervis C. Deane of two locomotives at the moment of their head-on collision as part of a publicity stunt in 1896 at Crush, Texas. Deane lost an eye from the boilers exploding.

The locomotive boilers explode during impact.

The crowd explores the wreckage.

The crowd, estimated at 40,000, for the staged wreck.

Two were killed when the locomotive boilers exploded.

On the day before the exhibition, railroad officials staged a speed test of the engines to help predict the precise point of collision. Katy engineers assured Crush that his grand idea was safe, specifically that the boilers on the steam engines had been designed to resist ruptures and that, even in a very high-speed crash, they were unlikely to explode. Each engine would pull six boxcars behind it; because the couplers used to link the cars were considered unreliable, the cars were chained together to prevent them from coming apart during the impact.

Crush insisted on restricting the general public to a minimum of 200 yards (180 m) away from the track, but allowed members of the press to be within 100 yards. Katy officials expected a crowd of between 20,000 and 25,000 people to attend, but the clever marketing ploy was an overwhelming success and the railroad sold out more than 30 special excursion trains to the event.

The crash was delayed for an hour because the crowd resisted being pressed back by the police to what was supposedly a safe distance. At about 5 pm, the two trains, pulling cars loaded with railroad ties, slowly met in the middle of the track to be photographed. They were then rolled to their starting points at the opposite ends of the track. Crush, riding a white charger, signaled the start of the main event. The engineers and crew aboard each train opened the steam to a prearranged setting, rode for exactly four turns of the driving wheels, and then jumped from the trains.

Each train reached a speed of about 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) by the time they met near the anticipated spot, though some observers believed they were traveling much faster.

Debris was blown hundreds of feet into the air. Panic quickly broke out as the crowd turned and ran. Some of the debris came down among the spectators, killing two and seriously injuring at least six others. A photographer, Jarvis “Joe” Deane of Waco, lost one eye to a flying bolt.

Impresario Crush, a disciple of P.T. Barnum, was “fired” the evening of the crash, but rehired the following day. Rumor even had it he got a bonus for all the attention he brought the railroad, which curiously saw a surge in business afterwards. He worked for the company for 57 years until his retirement.

The combustion, carnage and carnival atmosphere of the proceedings were immortalized by ragtime composer and Texas native Scott Joplin, in his “Great Crush Collision” march.

Despite the catastrophe of the Crash at Crush, the Katy Railroad Company prospered into the first half of the 20th century. Staged locomotive collisions also became an element of mass public amusement on into the twentieth century.

James Dean on Location for the Film Giant in Marfa, Texas in 1955

Marfa is a tiny town in West Texas with just 2,000 residents, about 60 miles from the Mexican border and nearly three hours by car from El Paso. But it’s been the backdrop for some of Hollywood’s most notable movies. It was the site of the 1956 epic Giant, which starred James Dean as a rancher turned oil tycoon.

Why is Hollywood so attracted to Texas? The drive-in movie critic, Joe Bob Briggs, says it’s “because evil thrives in Texas.” People seem especially drawn to West Texas, a land of limitless desolation — and possibilities — onto which they can project greed, lust and violence.

There have been other movies shot out here over the years: Andromeda Strain, Fandango and The Good Old Boys, but Marfa’s place in movie history begins in 1955 with Giant. The 3 1/2-hour epic about a clash between a rancher and an oilman starred Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.

Despite being a period piece, Giant — more than any other movie made around Marfa — features the sprawling, windblown landscape as a character. It was shot on the Ryan Ranch, west of town, a sea of rippling wheat-colored grass more than 1 1/2 times the size of Manhattan.

George Stevens, who would go on to win the Oscar for Best Director for the film, paid $20,000 to use the Ryan Ranch, cattle and horses included.

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