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Memories of Ennis

Local cameraman recorded history as it happened

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An aerial photographer in World War II, James Ford Curry returned to Ennis to share his love for the visual with his hometown, opening a popular studio that flourished for over 30 years.

Monkey business

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Local photographer Henry (H. A.) Maresh made his mark with a popular W. Ennis Ave. studio that served this city for nearly 50 years, from 1916 to 1963. But he also provided unexpected entertainment for hundreds of townspeople who crowded around the backyard fence of his home at the corner of E. Crockett and Kaufman streets to see the family’s special pet – a monkey named Buddy.

Dr. Abraham Sophian

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A trip skipped

On a January morning in 1912, a group of leading local physicians gathered at the Ennis Depot to attend a lecture in Dallas on meningitis by Dr. Abraham Sophian, a top expert on treatment of the condition. But when their train, No. 3, was discovered to have no engine and was delayed in the yards until 10 a.m., the men decided to nix the trip.

A photo of these doctors at a celebratory dinner, believed to have been taken around the time of their cancelled excursion, is in the Ennis Historical Society’s archives at the Ennis Public Library.

Happy Start, Happy End

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Happy start, happy end

In 1923 EISD superintendent J.W. O’Bannion addressed a large and enthusiastic audience of African-American citizens who decided by meeting’s end to raise $2,000 to purchase a site off Gilmer St. for the proposed Ennis Colored High School, building bonds for which had been voted on the previous year.

Memories of Ennis

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Turning the lights down

Former Mayor Russell Thomas’s forbear Mayor E.M. Thomas, was also a tireless citizens’ advocate. In August 1920, the mayor vowed to fight a rate increase proposed by Texas Power & Light. Thomas ordered the company to “discontinue all street lights except in the White Way downtown.” He also requested the public to ease service “as much as possible to the extent of 100 percent.”

Aircraft carrier named for Dorie Miller

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The World War II Pearl Harbor hero Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919- 1943), the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross for valor, was honored earlier this year by the U.S. Navy with an aircraft carrier named for him.

Locals know the name of Miller well as Ennis has had a school named for him since the 1950s. During segregation, the black community’s school was first named in his honor and when a new Ennis ISD intermediate school was built over a decade ago, the school board approved the hero’s name for that facility located on Lampasas St.

Close Call

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Close call

A tornado struck the nearby community of Garrett in 1971, injuring 25 people, four of them seriously. The Ennis Municipal Hospital (now ERMC) received most of those hurt, but Director of Nursing Kathryn Housley said no one sustained life-threatening injuries. The tornado also touched down in Ennis, two miles south of the city proper, destroying garages, barns, automobiles, trees and signs, but no one was hurt.

Tidbits of local history

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Sam Houston’s secretary was pioneering Ennis citizen

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Although his name isn’t on the Texas Historical Commission marker erected at Myrtle Cemetery in 1980, a well-known player in our state’s history is among distinguished citizens interred there.

Infamous gunslinger's family settled in Ennis

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Details are sketchy about the Old West outlaws believed to have plied their trade in Ennis’ early days but the family of one famous gunslinger was among this city’s pioneer residents.

John Wesley Hardin, the legendary gunfighter, never set his spurs –– or waved his .44-caliber –– in Ennis but an uncle and aunt lived in the burgeoning railroad town, and in 1885 his mother died here while visiting relatives.