building n

Building N is a prosaic name for a beautiful building. In 1973 FEMA acquired a college campus to house its Emergency Management Institute. Elizabeth Seton arrived in Emmitsburg Maryland in 1809 and established a parochial school for girls. The school grew into St. Joseph's College, a four-year liberal arts for women. In 1973 it merged with its brother school Mount Saint Mary's, a four-year men's college. Building N was built in 1870 and is an example of Second Empire architecture popular in the second half of the 19th Century. The building, which houses EMI offices, is on the National Registry.

half-mast

National Fallen Firefighters Memorial
National Emergency Training Center
Emmitsburg, Maryland

502 avenue g

from the archives:
My friend Tony Greer, proprietor of the Tornado Gallery at 1822 Buddy Holly Avenue, started out in this neon shop at 502 Avenue G. I persuaded him to join Nancy Neill, Lillie Hart and myself in a multi-dimensional exhibit of photographs and neon sculpture in an exhibit "Neon Dimensions" at the Underwood Center in 2007.

abandoned

The hand houses at the gin have been vacant at least 25 years. When occupied, they weren't all that hospitable. Hot and cold running water, a window air conditioner and no rent were about all the amenities. The original structures from the 1940s were outbuildings fitted out as residences. At least three generations of Gonzales lived there.

chair and pie pan
#7 at 503 Main
New Deal, Texas

lubbock pyramids

From the 1950s to 1990s Lubbock was known as the largest cotton seed producer in the world. There were three cotton seed oil mills in Lubbock - Lubbock Cotton Oil, Paymaster, and Plains Co-op which was touted as the largest in the world. The tons of cotton seed were stored in seed houses, which proliferated in the 30s and 40s. Lubbock Cotton Oil had 12 seed houses, each measuring 25.000 square feet with 80 feet high ceilings. Today one of those seed houses contains an indoor skate park (www.one-9.com). After learning that open air would not harm cotton seed, mills began storing seed in huge piles on the ground. These piles often equal the size of the seed house.

Southern Oil Mill (formerly Paymaster)

2300 E. 50th Street

Lubbock, Texas

window on the past

Lubbock Cotton Oil Mill
19th and Avenue A

Cotton seed oil is the most significant by-product of cotton seed and, since the 1880s, one of the first vegetable oils used for cooking. River Smith's, a local eatery, supports local agriculture by cooking their catfish and chicken in cotton seed oil. The recent trend toward zero-trans fat benefits cotton seed oil although canola, sunflower and others are more popular. In 1911 Proctor & Gamble released Crisco as a premier shortening- sold in hermetically sealed cans wrapped in white paper. The name Crisco was modified from "crystallized cotton seed oil."

February 22, 2011

demolition: cotton oil mill

Another Lubbock landmark disappears. George Albert Simmons arrived in Lubbock in 1923 to oversee the building Simmons Cotton Oil Mill, the first in the area. He became the manager of the mill at 19th and Avenue A and resided in Lubbock until his death in 1954. Lubbock's cotton production gave rise to related industries and the economic boom of the 1940-50s saw three cotton seed oil mills in Lubbock with a daily capacity of over 1,000 tons a day. By the 1960s 30% of the cotton seed crushed in Texas occurred in Lubbock. The Simmons mill, known as Lubbock Cotton Oil Mill, grew in capacity and built seed houses to store cotton seed.
.....to be continued