Friday, August 10, 2012

Frozen in Time - Documenting Your Hometown in Photos

This has to be one of my most cherished photos and I didn't take this picture. I got it from a friend. It is a street scene of Crystal City, TX, the town where I grew up and it is the town pretty much as I remember it.

When I first saw this picture, it made me realize the importance of documenting your hometown. How I wish I had gone around back then taking pictures of places so that I could have a record of all the places around town as I remembered them from back then.

I can't show my children the hospital I was born in which me and other locals all affectionately called "The Pink Hospital",  because it has been long since been demolished.

I can't show pictures of the business store fronts where we used to shop or my schools as I remember them.

I can't show the old empty houses from the WWII internment camp that I used to pass by when my mom drove me to grade school, they are long gone now.

The first city pool where I learned to swim, it to is long gone. The first courthouse, also no longer there.

As with every city, Crystal City is a city of change and I am sure what it is now is nothing like it will be in the future.

My hope is that whoever is reading this, especially if you are a parent or grandparent, that you will take the time to document your town for your younger generation. It is a priceless gift they will cherish forever.

If you can at least start the process and then teach them to continue it, they will not only have a great gift, but you will be preserving history as well.

5 comments:

  1. So you were born in the ""Pink Hospital." Was there a "Blue Hospital" for little boys? :-) You're right about the need to document. Things are changing rapidly.

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  2. Unfortunately for the boys there was no blue hospital; only a pink one...kind of an adobe pink and so thus named. I think it was actually called the Winter Garden Clinic but we have called it by the other name for so long I would have to ask someone else to be sure! I have managed to gather a few other photos since getting together with some classmates but I always think about the opportunities I missed just by not having the foresight to take more pictures when I could have.

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  3. I wonder if the newspaper (Zavala Co Sentinel) has any old pics?

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  4. Good idea Frances! They may have some really good ones stashed away and not mind at all sharing some copies!

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  5. I grew up in an historic town (Marblehead, MA) and I wish I'd done that too, taken pictures of the town. There are many people from the town who did just that, though, and a Historical Commission which, I'm sure, has documented the town, but still, personal things would be nice to have on film. But back in the 1950's, who had a camera or the money to get lots of photos developed? Digital has changed all that, luckily, for the current generations.

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