Monday, October 24, 2011

The Cotton's Gone

William
I walked the few minutes into town this morning to go to the Post Office and met William; he's 71 and does a bit of "scrapping" though he used to work on the cotton back when that was the industry of the county. He told me how the sound of the cotton press filled the air, but that was some time ago.

County Seat
Now the cotton's gone and the town's declined from a population of 20,000 to less than 8,000. That trend looks set to continue as there aren't any jobs; a concerted attempt to turn the place into an antiques and gift shop emporium failed miserably. Fine by me.

Once a bank, now a failed gift shop
At the turn of the last century things were different, with the Square being notorious for cockfighting, drunkenness and lewd behavior of all kinds.

Bad behavior gone
I understand that things were cleaned up by the '30s. Now there doesn't seem to be much behavior of any kind, which is a shame. I'd like to see a pub, butcher, tack shop, gun shop, and a place to drink coffee and buy books.


Why cut down the trees?
Surely that's not asking for too much? As it is, Hillsboro's starting to get that deserted "turning into a ghost town" feel. Surely it doesn't have to be that way.

On a different theme, there was big commotion in my neighbor's chicken coop. I thought it was a cat until a great hawk glided up and over the fence. Wish I'd taken a picture.


It seems to me as though the place is reverting to nature and maybe that's no bad thing. Neither should it be an obstacle to getting a pub...

Cheers,

LSP

4 comments:

Teresa said...

Oh my! The town does look deserted LSP. Hopefully some ingenuitive business person will come in and open some shops and pubs.

LSP said...

It could be a really pleasant town, Teresa - there's some decent architecture and it's not too far from Dallas/Fort Worth.

But something's holding it back; you have to wonder if there's a problem with the town's governance...

Would the Baptists allow a pub?

God bless.

darlin said...

A deserted town without a pub, that's the makings of a good old fashioned country song. Naturally the song would have to have something about the church, cotton, tumbleweeds, and no gun store... might be on to something here I'm thinking LSP!

Have a blessed day!

LSP said...

Very good idea for a song, Darlin.I must get on it; interestingly enough, Willy Nelson's from around here. He helped to rebuild the courthouse when it burned in '90s.

Cheers.