SAN ANGELO IS
STILL IN THE
WINDMILL BUSINESS 
Pictures Of The Rodeo Parade
SEE IT NOW
There was a
time when the
Concho
Valley was known for its
windmills. An old cowboy once told
of driving
cattle
through this country and
being impressed with the large number of
windmills. "The Concho River
ran clear and it was great to fish in
those waters,
he
said." The
North, West, and Middle Conchos
converged in the area
and provided an
oasis in
the desert of West Texas.
San Angelo was a congregating place for
cattlemen.
Famous hotels were built to accommodate
those who
came to trade for
cattle, horses,
sheep and
goats.It
quickly became the largest wool and
mohair producing
area in the
country. Due to its relatively isolated
location, San
Angelo developed into a thriving trade
center for
this section of the state
following the frontier days of
Fort
Concho.
(San Angelo
Standard Times
Picture)
I live
on the edge of the Red Arroyo which was
an early
camping ground for the Indians and
artifacts are
still in evidence as I discovered
in the colorful spring flora of the
region.The
Jumanos Indians lived in this vicinity
and the legend
of "The Lady In Blue" and her
teachings of
Christianity apparently led to the
establishment of
the first mission to the Indians in
Texas near the
location of this artifact.
One of the most noted personalities of
present day
Concho Valley Country is the author, Elmer
Kelton. His movie,"The Good Ol'
Boys" was shown
on
T.V recently.
Another well-known author from San
Angelo is Turk Pipkin. He has been a
regular contributor to the Texas
Monthly, in additon to his books and his
co-authoring with celebrities, such as
Harry Anderson,as
this American Chronicle article
explains.
"Armadillo Sam Lewis" was internationally known breeder and racer of armadillos. He was also noted for his Jalipino Suckers which he sold for advertizing purposes. Sam received wide coverage in the nation's leading newsapers when he died. You can read them by checking Google Search.
The
Standard Times
reported on the probability that the
famous actress
Joan Crawford lived
in San Angelo
at one time.
The same edition reported
on other famous folks with
a San Angelo
Connection.
Here's a link to read about Bring "Em Back Alive, Frank Buck
One of the greats of
jazz music was
Jack Teagarden. In his late
teens he
moved to San Angelo to live with his
uncle.
A
rocket shot skyward briefly in
popular music whenJ.
Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers made
the charts
big with "last Kiss" in the 1960's.
John Boles,
famous film star and classical
vocalist of the
1930's
lived in San Angelo during the 1960's
and died here
of a heart attack.
Grandpa Jonesvisited his brother,an
ASU
professor, on occasion
Cliff and
Nancy Richey,
nationally known tennis players.
The
Texas Tennis
Hall Of Fame includes Tut Bartzen of
TCU
There have been
some nationally prominent
football coaches who worked in San
Angelo on their
way to prominence. They includeEmory Bellard,who
led the
Bobcats to a state title while he
developed the
wish-bone offense that he took to Texas
University as
an assistant and then to Texas A&M as
head coach and
later to Mississippi State. Spike Dykes
who is head
coach at Texas Tech also worked in the
Bellard system
for awhile. The present Director of The
American
Football Coaches Association,Grant Teaff, led the Angelo State
Rams to
prominence before going to Baylor
University where he
became a legend.
Mr.
Houston Harte
was an outstanding contributor to the
development of
San Angelo and became
prominent,nationally, in the
newspaper publishing business. There
are others and
I need your
input,
please.
Th
e City Of San
Angelo has just put up a
comprehensive web page
of interesting and useful information
about the city
and city services.
One
of
the things that make a people
great is their educational institutions.
We have
several of note. Check out
Angelo State
University Campus.There is also
the Howard
College of
San
Angelo available for higher
education
studies.
A web
page is in the
processof being developed for
all of the
Concho
Valley High School
reunions.
Construction is
progressing on a
beautiful art center in the new
El Paseo de Santa Angela area for the
San Angelo
Museum
of Fine Arts.
San Angelo is a medical
center for
the
Concho Valley and beyond. San Angelo
Community
Medical
Center and
Shannon
Medical Center are the major medical
institutions
in the community.
The Tom Green
Library is on line with a webpage
that may be of
interest to you.
Television Station KLST recently added
a Tower Cam
The
National Weather
Service at Mathis Field has a great
webpage with
doppler radar images of San Angelo and
Abilene, as
well as related weather
information.
The exotic International lily pond at Civic
League Park,(pictures by author) attract many
visitors.
Professional baseball
returned to San Angelo after many years with the
arrival of the
Colts baseball team and the building of a
new, "state of the art stadium"
