BLOCK 2 - Main Street Tour Locate on map
Let's not wander down
any of the side streets
just yet but cross Marston
to what else, the Marston
Building. Some say that
during the Depression there
was a grocery store in the
first floor of this building.
On the upper floors were
apartments. Originally built
during the height of the boom,
it was thought of as a very
elegant edifice and housed
many offices of professionals
on the upper floors.
In this block at one time was a retail merchants association, sort of
an equivalent of a modern day Better Business Bureau. Then came a beauty
shop known as Luella's. These places are only vaguely recalled. In the
Halbert Building were the city hall and jail, though his was not their
original location. Children of this generation most likely recall a long
line winding down the hallway of this building right after the Christmas
parade so that they could briefly see Santa Claus and get some candy.
Next came what would
have been one of the
most beautiful buildings
of this time frame--the
Arcadia Movie Theater
built in 1927 and owned
by Brann Garner. Some
have described it as having
been the best such place
between Fort Worth and El
Paso. In March 1952 it
burned on a Saturday
afternoon shortly before
it was scheduled to open for the Saturday matinee.
Next to the theater and before the bowling alley was a small, almost kiosk-
like, confectionary.
The A. C. Bowling Lanes must have seen lots of
activity at its peak. There were six lanes, and
young boys were paid a dime to reset pins. A
line cost a quarter; shoes were a dime. You
could sit in the gallery and watch others bowl
or perhaps you could play a game of pinball.
Next to the A.C. Bowling Alley
was the P & Q Realty Building, the
oldest commercial building still
standing in Ranger when it burned
in June, 2003. For the purposes
of our walking tour of Ranger in
the 1950's, it seems that this
location was mostly vacant,
although some can remember that
the corner portion was occupied
much earlier by Jigg's Cafe and
just west of the cafe was a
barbershop owned and operated
by Oscar Bunton’s barbershop. End Tour