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Memories of Ennis

Spanish gold buried in Ennis 200 years ago?

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“The Secret of Raphael Ranch.” Sounds like a Nancy Drew title. but there really is a mystery at the site of the former estate of one of Ennis’ pioneer families. Legend has it that Spanish gold was buried under a pecan tree on the property 200 years ago.

Memories of Ennis

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Rev. R. P. Campbell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ennis, was asked to lead the revival at the 8th Street Baptist Church in Grand Prairie in February 1954. His program was advertised as providing “soul-stirring, God-honoring messages for the young and old.”

Scrapbook of Cerf house preserved

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A scrapbook on the long-razed Cerf mansion, prepared the year the house was willed to the city of Ennis, is being conserved by interested parties with hopes of donating high-resolution color copies of the pages to the Ennis Heritage Society’s archive at the Ennis Public Library.

Memories of Ennis

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Ennis native Martha Jane McBrierty was one good looking young lady. She was not only crowned Redbud Queen while a senior at Texas State College for Women (TSCW) in 1954 but she reigned as queen of Texas A&M’s Cotton Ball the previous year. McBrierty was a secretarial major who was also active as a cheerleader, was a member of the campus’s tap dancing group and the school’s literary club.

“Her outdoor hobbies are golf and swimming,” according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Memories of Ennis

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Vladimir Matskevich, minister of agriculture for the Soviet Union, visited farms in Ennis and surrounding communities in August 1955 during a tour of Texas in which he was studying cotton production. The farm of Bill Bozek near Ennis was one of the properties visited.

Memories of Ennis - Funny Column

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Amusing comments from an editorial published in the Ennis Daily News in 1922 was syndicated in several other Texas and regional papers. One of the funny remarks was: “You can’t judge a man by his clothes, but as a rule you can judge him by his wife’s clothes.”

Memories of Ennis - Radio Fan

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Radio was just starting to happen in the early 1920s and one fan of the new-fangled device was an Ennis man named N. Brunson who had developed a state of the art set with a signal that was strong enough to pick up international broadcasts. In 1923 Brunson was able to intercept a speech by former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George that was being broadcast over Station 2LO in London.

Memories of Ennis - Movies at School

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The Parent Teacher Association in Ennis in 1922 approved the purchase of a motion picture projector for use in the public schools and also announced that a radio connection would be installed for the schools.

Memories of Ennis - Pioneer Citizen Mrs. SS Chambers

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Pioneer citizen

The obituary of a well-known and revered Ennis pioneer was featured in the Statesville Record and Monitor on August 13, 1923. Mrs. S. S. Chambers was described as one of the city’s “most beloved citizens.” She was 85 years old, having been born in North Carolina in 1837. She came to Ennis in 1882 as the widow of Dr. James P. Howard, and resided here for 41 years until her death on Aug. 6.

Memories of Ennis - Fatal Car Wreck

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A story that was picked up by the wire services in May 1924 told of a car accident between Ennis and Palmer that killed all three in the automobile when it was struck by an Interurban train. The victims were Perry E. Thomas, operator of an oil well in Corsicana, and Kathleen McKnight and Geddis Manning, local school teachers.