14 replies to this topic

[Mark S]

In the early '70s, before Hulen Mall and all the other retail development, Hulen St. was just a two-lane blacktop between 820 and Granbury Rd. Anyone remember the large pond that was right off Hulen on the east side of the street? It was close to Granbury Rd, and probably somewhere near where Ledgestone Dr. now meets Hulen. (not far from the Chesapeake Apts. and the Krispy Kreme) The area around that pond was a haven for dirt bike riders, and I found that I could ride there without ever getting on public roads: Down the alley behind Buddie's on Trail Lake, then head towards Granbury road by going behind Kentucky Fried Chicken and Southwestern Bell, and then through the parking lot by Wolfe Nursery, Pancho's etc. After crossing Granbury I could follow the railroad tracks all the way to a turn-off that would cut through were I believe a storage place is today.
That pond was always buzzing with would-be motocrossers, as well as kids fishing for crawdads, using a piece of bacon tied to the end a string for bait. I seem to remember an old house of some sort nearby to the south, perhaps an old farmhouse. Does any of this ring a bell?

[headlinesman]

I graduated from high school in 1965 and worked that summer for a brick layer. Many of the houses in that area were built that summer. I remember the pond because I ran out of gas in the company pickup very near there one afternoon.

[Papaw]

In the fifties there was a dirt air field just West of there called TCU airstrip. They had on old wooden shack which was their office and we often stopped in to get a frozen ice cream bar and put our money in a honor system box, as there was hardly ever anyone there. Hiking from South Hills to Benbrook you passed right through their field. I think they were renting J3 Cubs, or something like that, at $5.00/hr wet dual (including the instructor and fuel).

[cbellomy]

I believe you'll find the pond in question here...

[Giraffe]

I don't remember the pond, but I do remember the rough ride that Hulen was as a two-lane blacktop road back then... more potholes than pavement. There was a dilapidated farmhouse out there, as I recall, and some sort of "Indian mound" hill a bit behind where that old Target building is now. Our Boy Scout troop would take hikes from St. Matthews Lutheran Church (at Old Grandbury & Welch Ave.), down the railroad tracks across Hulen, down to Dirks Road, which of course leads to Benbrook Lake. I remember when Hulen Mall was being built in 1977, as they used dynamite a few times during construction. I never heard any of the blasts, but sometimes a few things on our what-not shelf would dance a little.

I do remember when we would drive down that old stretch of Hulen during the summer, because way off in that field I would look at those high-voltage transmission lines that marched across the countryside. Those cables would get longer and longer as they heated up in the sun, and from Hulen it always appeared to me that those cables would get dangerously close to the ground.

We have some family photographs of playing miniature golf at the intersection of Old Grandbury Road and Hulen at a place called "Putt 'n Par." It's looooong gone now. This would have been 1971 or so. I recall it had a tiny front building that resembled a Dutch windmill. When the miniature golf business closed the building stayed there, used as a real estate office or something like that for a while. Some of the concrete mounds used as obstacles on the putting greens remained in place for ages; as a kid I used to ride my bike around them. There was a Dairy Queen right next to it, and that has since been hideously remodeled into a Mexican restaurant. All of this is right next to Fire Station #26 on Hulen.

[Mark S]

I believe you'll find the pond in question here...

Thanks cbellomy, that's it!

[Mark S]

We have some family photographs of playing miniature golf at the intersection of Old Grandbury Road and Hulen at a place called "Putt 'n Par." It's looooong gone now. This would have been 1971 or so. I recall it had a tiny front building that resembled a Dutch windmill. When the miniature golf business closed the building stayed there, used as a real estate office or something like that for a while. Some of the concrete mounds used as obstacles on the putting greens remained in place for ages; as a kid I used to ride my bike around them. There was a Dairy Queen right next to it, and that has since been hideously remodeled into a Mexican restaurant. All of this is right next to Fire Station #26 on Hulen.

I hadn't thought of it in years, but I remember the miniature golf place as well as the Dairy Queen. I also recall an 84 lumber across Granbury Road. And just down Granbury a bit, at what is now the intersection with Altamesa and Dirks Rd., their used to be a bait shop, the Silver Minnow (the building painted with yellow and blue stripes!) and one or more fireworks stands. That was way out in the boonies!

[bailey]

We have some family photographs of playing miniature golf at the intersection of Old Grandbury Road and Hulen at a place called "Putt 'n Par." It's looooong gone now. This would have been 1971 or so. I recall it had a tiny front building that resembled a Dutch windmill. When the miniature golf business closed the building stayed there, used as a real estate office or something like that for a while. Some of the concrete mounds used as obstacles on the putting greens remained in place for ages; as a kid I used to ride my bike around them. There was a Dairy Queen right next to it, and that has since been hideously remodeled into a Mexican restaurant. All of this is right next to Fire Station #26 on Hulen.
[/quote]

Actually, the windmill building you mentioned was one of the Zuider Zee fast food restaurants originally and was next door to the Dairy Queen toward the shopping center. It was converted to an office.

[cajunmike]

The Old Zuider Zee's and there were several throughout the area at that time. Did not Bill Martin of Bill Martin's seafood own and operate them?
Bill Martin's had great homemade hush puppies and great key lime pie

[Giraffe]

I hadn't thought of it in years, but I remember the miniature golf place as well as the Dairy Queen. I also recall an 84 lumber across Granbury Road. And just down Granbury a bit, at what is now the intersection with Altamesa and Dirks Rd., their used to be a bait shop, the Silver Minnow (the building painted with yellow and blue stripes!) and one or more fireworks stands. That was way out in the boonies!

Yep, I remember the 84 Lumber! It even had its own railroad siding. I think I went in there all of once; I can't remember if 84 Lumber burned down or what. Not a single trace of it is left, and it was in a BIG metal building. A shopping center sits there now. There was another 84 Lumber on Division in Arlington, just west of SH360, and today that's a boat shop and I think it's using the original 84 building.

I don't remember that bait shop being open, but I think I remember what was left of it after it closed. It was at the intersection of Grandbury Road and Dirks (Alta Mesa didn't reach all the way to Old Grandbury Road back then). Drive west down Dirks Road and there wasn't a solitary metal road sign that didn't have a dozen bullet holes in it.

[Giraffe]

Actually, the windmill building you mentioned was one of the Zuider Zee fast food restaurants originally and was next door to the Dairy Queen toward the shopping center. It was converted to an office.

No kidding! I never knew about the Zuider Zee! Any idea when it came and went? Was there more of a building behind it, or what? Shows you how young I was at the time!

[bailey]

Actually, the windmill building you mentioned was one of the Zuider Zee fast food restaurants originally and was next door to the Dairy Queen toward the shopping center. It was converted to an office.

No kidding! I never knew about the Zuider Zee! Any idea when it came and went? Was there more of a building behind it, or what? Shows you how young I was at the time!

There were several of the Zuider Zee take out restaurants around town. There was another over on West Seminary. I don't recall the year it was built but it was sometime around the time the Dairy Queen and the shopping center there was built. I believe the shopping center with the Buddies supermarket was built around 1968 or thereabout. I used to cash checks there when I was in high school which I finished in 1970. I remember when it closed and they put a real estate office in there. It was a pretty small place with basically takeout.

[Giraffe]

There were several of the Zuider Zee take out restaurants around town. There was another over on West Seminary. I don't recall the year it was built but it was sometime around the time the Dairy Queen and the shopping center there was built. I believe the shopping center with the Buddies supermarket was built around 1968 or thereabout. I used to cash checks there when I was in high school which I finished in 1970. I remember when it closed and they put a real estate office in there. It was a pretty small place with basically takeout.

I've got a couple of more items about that part of town.

Was there really a Buddies grocery store in that shopping center at Hulen and Old Grandbury Road? I don't remember it being there, but I don't doubt it. It couldn't have lasted very long... Today it's a Goodwill thrift store. If it wasn't a Buddies, what chain was it?

There used to be a Mott's 5-and-10 store in that shopping center, but I think the chain as a whole is gone. As a kid I'd go shopping for school supplies there after the first day of school each year. In its place now is a Dollar General.

In the early 1980s there was a computer store in one of those buildings in the middle of the parking lot; I think it was called "ComputerLand." This was back when IBM PCs were brand-new and cost a fortune.

There's still a liquor store in that shopping center. (Some businesses never fail!)

My mother recently moved into an assisted-living facility at the intersection of Alta Mesa and Grandbury Road, very close to the "mushroom-on-stilts" water tank that's been there for decades. While Mom and I were driving by that water tower recently, she remarked how, years ago, Paul and Gayle (a friend of my brother's, and the woman Paul eventually married) would park underneath that water tower on a date. (I'm sure plenty of couples did this at the time.) Way back then, the area was secluded and remote. It's far more built up today.

[John T Roberts]

Yes, there really was a Buddie's Super Market in that shopping center. I remember riding out there on bicycle and stopping at the store when I was in high school (1972-1976). I can't remember when the store closed, but the construction date of c.1968 sounds about right. My architectural firm designed the last cosmetic remodel for that center. That project was completed a couple of years ago.

[mbdalton1]

I remember visiting 84 Lumber on Grandbury Rd. with my grandmother back in the mid-70's, when I was just a little kid. My grandparents lived on Inwood Road. My mom grew up there from 1950.

It's fun to go to the historic aerial maps website (mentioned above) and view Inwood Road in 1963 when my mom would have been a senior at Paschal High School! (gosh, I guess this is the closet thing to time travel, eh?!)

Mary Bess