Harrison Magazine Winter 2024

a r t s & c u lt u r e | b a c k ya r d s u r p r i s e s | b u s i n e s s s p o t l i g h t | & M O R E !

Backyard Surprises:

Fe a t u r e :

REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN

Property investors make revitalizing downtown Marshall a family business

Paying homage to history Marshall Depot honors the history of the railway while looking towards a bright future

winter 2024 ISSUE

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LETTER

Winter 2024 ISSUE

M

indset has a great deal to do with your success and failure. Those that feel they are going to fail most likely will, as they have already created that outcome in their mind. Those that believe they will succeed often do, as they have created that outcome in their mind and lean into the work that it will take to accomplish it.

Each time we publish an edition of Harrison Magazine, I am inspired by how many people and organizations have a positive attitude towards growing their impact in this community. Some are building Harrison County through their work via philanthropic means, while others are providing services and products that the community wants and needs.

The cover story for this edition of Harrison Magazine is about a family business that is working towards the continual improvement of downtown Marshall. If one person with a positive mindset can be impactful, an entire family with shared mindset and vision is even greater.

Family businesses are driving forces in our economy. Give a pause and think about how many family businesses you interact with on a regular basis. Your support of these businesses do not just help the family running the business, but all the individuals they employ and the vendors and suppliers they contract with to provide you a finished product or service. Supporting a locally owned family business has tremendous ripples of economic impact.

We at Harrison Magazine want to continue to celebrate Harrison County and all the people with positive mindsets making this a better place to live, work and play. If you are aware of someone or some organization we should include in an upcoming issue, please reach out to me. Perhaps there is someone who is inspiring you with their work that could inspire even more people if we gave them a broader platform?

For all those of you continuing to strive ahead because of your positive mindsets, keep doing what you’re doing. The world needs more people with can do attitudes, who are not willing to give into the all too alluring negativity of the world. Harrison Magazine will continue to be proud to share your stories with the community.

Publisher Alexander Gould

agould@mrobertsmedia.com

Editor Meredith Shamburger

mshamburger@marshallnewsmessenger.com

Advertising Sales Johnnie Fancher

jfancher@marshallnewsmessenger.com

Amy Strong

astrong@marshallnewsmessenger.com

Marquisia Wright

mwright@marshallnewsmessenger.com

contributing Writers Jessica Harker Nicholas Osborn Robin Y. Richardson

contributing Photographers Jessica Harker Les Hassell

Graphic Designer Kimberley Bailey

on the cover

The Avelar Family in downtown Marshall.

Photo by Jessica Harker

published by Alexander Gould

agould@mrobertsmedia.com

4 | HARRISON MAGAZINE

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REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN

Property investors make revitalizing downtown Marshall a family business

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

THIS COURT RULES

Marshall’s federal courthouse draws niche patent business CULINARY DELIGHTS

DINING EXCELLENCE

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REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN

8 | HARRISON MAGAZINE

Marcial Avelar.

1

Property investors make revitalizing downtown Marshall a family business story by Jessica Harker photos by Jessica Harker and Les Hassell

F 2

or the Avelar family, which includes Marcial Avelar, his wife Evelyn and his 21 year old son Jackson, investing in and revitalizing old buildings in Marshall has become the family business.

“I really want to bring businesses into the downtown area, and have these buildings filled with retail and other businesses that can make money and bring them back on the tax roll,” Marcial said.

Marcial Avelar said that he has been working on bringing old buildings back to life in Marshall for years, starting with his own home which he purchased and renovated.

The family has been focused mainly on the revitalization of the old Elks Lodge building on Washington Street in downtown Marshall, which Marcial plans to turn into a luxury boutique hotel called the Avelar Suites.

The family has been working on the project for over a year, revitalizing the old space, installing new walls to separate the rooms, a fire suppression system and a new elevator and much more.

Marcial Avelar said that they aimed to keep as much of the original structure of the Elks Lodge as possible, redoing the façade to maintain the original history of the exterior of the building.

1. Marcial Avelar is renovating older buildings and injecting new life into the city’s heart.

2 and 3 Avelar Suites, a former Elk’s Lodge being converted into a seven-room hotel.

3

The project also reuses many pieces of the lodge that couldn’t be kept to their original purpose, including old pocket doors being reused as headboards. The project also includes the repurposing of the original Elks Lodge chandelier that hung in the building, which Avelar is having cleaned and fixed before rehanging it in the hotel.

“These old buildings, they are built strong, they’re built to last,” Avelar said, “This building has stood for 120 years and it’ll be here in the next 120.”

The finished project will have seven rooms that will be listed on AirBNB for the community to rent out. However, the main use for the new boutique hotel is aimed at catering to the lawyers who travel to Marshall for cases at the Harrison County courthouse right down the street.

Avelar said that through working with Connect Litigation in Marshall, who also own a number of buildings downtown and operate war rooms out of them for traveling attorneys, they have a built-in market for the new hotel due to its close location to the courthouse.

The plan is for the hotel to be opened and operational by March 2024.

But this is not the only project that the Avelar family has been working on for the past year, with the purchase of a number of adjacent buildings to the planned Avelar Suites downtown as well.

Marcial Avelar said that the plan for the building next door to the Elks Lodge, which now houses Penelope Rose Boutique, is to create a rooftop lounge on the building which has an entrance inside of WINTER 2024 ISSUE | 9

1 and 2 Marcial Avelar renovated this building for his wife’s business in downtown Marshall.

3. One of Marcial Avelar’s renovated spaces is now home to Penelope Rose Boutique and Hat Bar.

1 the new Avelar Suites hotel.

The new rooftop lounge would also be open to the two apartments Avelar is working on at the building that houses the Blue Frog, which he also owns. Avelar brought the boutique into the downtown area from farther out in Marshall, something that he said is very important to him.

“We want to have something in every building, and to really use them to their best purpose,” Avelar said.

This past January, Marcial and Evelyn were joined by Marcial’s son Jackson, who now assists his father in running the many projects going on in the downtown area.

“I don’t know what I would do without Jackson,” Marcial Avelar said.

Jackson said that he began working on the construction side of the projects, shadowing his father and his crew members as they worked on revitalizing the buildings owned by Avelar.

Marcial said that Jackson quickly moved from one responsibility to another though, and has made himself an integral part of the family business.

“I am really appreciative, not everyone has the opportunity to take a job like this and learn from their family, and I am very grateful,” Jackson said.

Evelyn Avelar has also opened her own business in one of the revitalized buildings in downtown Marshall: The Skin Room on North Bolivar Street.

The business offers luxury skin and hair care services unavailable in this area before, with Marcial stating that the building was revitalized and renovated to suit the needs of the Skin Room.

“We like to make sure the remodels of all of our buildings suit the clients that we work with,” he said, “Everything should be set up the way that works best for them.”

The next big project on the horizon is the Bradbury building, which Avelar purchased and plans to rehab into a similar boutique hotel to the Avelar Suites, planning eight rooms for the building.

The family also purchased the old Chase Bank building, which Avelar said they already have a client interested in renting out.

10 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

2

3 “These old buildings, they can be tricky,” he said, “Renovating them takes time, and getting them up to code is always the main hurdle we have.”

However, he added that the treasures that they can uncover within the old structures make the rehab projects well worth it.

“You do get more of a challenge with these old buildings, with a remodel it moves slow unlike a new build,” Avelar said.

He added that both the Harrison County Historical Preservation Board and the City of Marshall have been hugely supportive of the projects he works on, and easy to work with on the projects.

“I am very grateful for everyone, they are always so supportive of everything that we have planned and they go out of their way to help us out,” he said.

Avelar added that he is also very thankful for his crew of workers, all of which offer unique and specialized skills that make the rehabilitation projects of these old buildings possible.

“It’s become addictive in a way, working like this to really try to help Marshall become a better place,” Marcial Avelar said.

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BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

THIS COURT RULES

Pictured is the Sam B. Hall Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse in downtown Marshall.

Micro-economy springs up around Marshall’s famed-for-speed-trials federal courthouse story by Robin Y. Richardson | photos by Les Hassell

M

arshall has been celebrated with many coveted titles, from Pottery Capital of the World to the Birthplace of Boogie Woogie. But the one that’s continuing to gain traction across the globe is its home as the renowned “Rocket Docket.”

Marshall’s federal courthouse continues to lead the nation in hearing hundreds of high profile intellectual property or patent cases each year. On any given day, dozens of visiting legal teams, donned in conservative dark suits, can be seen trailing to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Marshall Division, also known as the Sam B. Hall Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse, for their weeklong trials.

The active docket has not only drawn hundreds of visiting

12 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

trial teams, their high profile tech clients and expert witnesses to the local court for trial, but has also added to the economical growth and revitalization of the city, bringing more exposure, in particular, to downtown Marshall and its offerings.

“It’s done a lot for the economy,” said local pioneer patent attorney Carl Roth, of the Roth Law Firm.

“I don’t know if it’s done anything amazing, but I know it has brought in foreign money. That’s the big difference,” he said.

“It’s brought in foreign money that was not here before.”

Roth was the first to try a patent infringement case in Marshall as he represented as local counsel for the plaintiff, Texas Instruments, against Micron Technologies and Korean conglomerate Hyundai, in 1992. That started the ball rolling with hundreds of others following suit. And as the federal patent

docket grew, the activity created a welcomed boon.

“No. 1, it turned out to be good for the community because the amount of money that these patent lawyers charge, and their clients are willing to pay it,” said Roth. “They come blowing into town. They would rent the whole hotel — 45 rooms — for six weeks — three weeks ahead of the trial, for the week of trial and then two weeks afterward. But there were hotels booming, restaurants booming. People started catering.

So, they have three meals a day brought in. They have a war room, a couple of real estate people got started. People started setting up litigation centers where they all gather. They’re there working and they get three meals a day catered. It was a boon to the food industry, it was a boon to the hotels and to people renting office space, and so forth. And that was good to the community.”

The global exposure that the patent docket has brought to downtown Marshall, in particular, has been both exciting and refreshing as the Marshall federal docket continues to remain strong today.

“When I was a law clerk 32 years ago, downtown was completely dead,” shared local patent lawyer Michael Smith of the Scheef & Stone law firm and creator of two blogs: EDTexweblog.com and TEXIPLAWBLOG, which are devoted exclusively to pertinent IP cases.

“Not only were there no restaurants there, but when my coclerk left the building, if it was after dark, she was worried about leaving a building in the dark downtown. And so I called the police and they said, ‘Hey, we’re happy to have a squad car swing by to make sure she gets her car. But, you know, nobody’s downtown.’ That has changed completely,” Smith shared.

civil docket, was also appealing. The venue statute was attractive, too, and the case came here.

“Because we had that success with Micron, well TI said, well, (shoot), that’s where we’re going to be from now on,” added Roth. “And we filed all those lawsuits. There were no other patent cases being filed. The other patent cases came along when we got the million dollar settlements. And that got national attention to Marshall, and everybody starts looking at it.”

When then Judge T. John Ward adopted some special local patent rules, making trials more structured, it made the venue even more appealing to litigators wanting a fast and efficient trial.

“They were important cases. They weren’t fender benders at the Walmart parking lot. They had importance, and importance for outside of the local area,” said Roth. “They have national and sometimes international importance, the results that come out of here.”

That was something that Ward, who had trial experience prior to his 1999 appointment as federal judge, understood. And the judges who followed Ward continued that understanding.

“The reason people file here is because over the years, Judge Gilstrap is like the third generation of judges now, they know how to work patent cases,” said Smith. “They’re not intimidated by them. And instead of hiring law clerks straight out of law school like most judges do, they’ll have one of the law clerks that’ll be straight out of law school. They’ll hire four or five year patent lawyers for a year. They already know how this stuff works. So he’s got professional trained staff working the stuff. They know what they’re doing because they see so much of this stuff and they’re not intimidated by it.”

Rocket Docket’s Beginnings

Housing and War Rooms

Smith noted that renowned “Rocket Docket” began 30 years ago when Carl Roth, who was initially a personal injury lawyer, accepted the challenge to assist global law firm Jones Day in bringing a speedy trial to Marshall for their client, Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments was disputing with Micron Technology Inc. at the time. The Jones Day firm wanted Roth as their local co-counsel.

“I get a phone call. The guy introduced himself as the vice president in charge of litigation for Texas Instruments,” said Roth. “He said another law firm suggested I call you. I’m thinking about filing a patent case, and I’m wondering how long it would take to get to trial in Marshall. I told him nine months, maybe 10. And he said: ‘No, no, Sonny, I said it was a patent case.’ And I said it makes no difference. There are judges in this district who’ve got procedures down where you’ll get within a month a firm trial date, and you will be bound by it.”

A possible speedy resolution, along with the fact that the federal court had few criminal cases, at the time under the Speedy Trial Act, that would get precedence in the court and delay the

The opportunity has been an exciting one for local landlord and downtown developer Marcial Avelar, owner of real estate investment firms Avelar Ventures LLC and Avelar Properties LLC. Through cooperation with the federal courthouse staff as well as a war room litigation company, Avelar has been able to offer rental and leasing opportunities to accommodate what’s notably become a seemingly boomtown for patent cases.

Avelar leases two of the war rooms, one of which is located at 103 E. Houston St., and one at 301 North Washington Ave. Avelar partners with Dianna Case, a principal at Connect Litigation, which offers housing accommodations, as well as war rooms and office space for trial preparation. Connect Litigation prides itself on offering premier war room facilities, designed for trial teams in the heart of downtown Marshall.

According to the website, the flexible workspace allows teams “turnkey” space within walking distance to the courthouse.

The company also assists with hotel planning, equipment and catering needs.

W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 I S S U E | 13

The war rooms and housing rentals are perfectly situated, allowing the visiting attorneys to be within walking distance of nearly everything they need, from the federal courthouse to downtown coffee shops and downtown eateries. Avelar said he’s also had the pleasure of providing housing for interns during their tenure of work for the federal courthouse.

The interns, mainly young attorneys, oftentimes move in with their families. He said the tenants hail from everywhere, including New York, Florida and California.

“They come to this town in Marshall. They want an internship for the judges here, and they learn about patent law and things like that,” said Avelar. “Some also do internships for federal criminal law. It’s really nice to have them.”

Avelar said, in fact, his latest project, the Avelar Suites, located at the former three-story Elks lodge building, is being transformed with the attorneys in mind. He said the Bradbury building, at 301 North Washington Ave., is also being renovated to accommodate the guests. The building will boast eight suites, once completed.

Avelar said accommodating the trial teams has been a team effort. He acknowledged Dianna Case for her leadership in spearheading the collaborative efforts. Avelar finds the exposure to Marshall’s downtown to be a great thing, attracting guests globally. The federal patent docket presents an opportunity for more downtown growth, he believes.

“That’s something that we are trying to do — bring people to downtown — to live work, shop, everything here in town … and new business,” he said, sharing he leases several spaces for new general businesses to operate downtown.

Restaurants and Catering

For Shawne Somerford, owner of the downtown eatery and catering company Blue Frog Grill, it’s been a joy to see the guests appreciate their time in Marshall.

“It’s important for us to represent Marshall the way we want them to carry it back to their local community — everybody they come in contact, whether from the dry cleaner to the hoteliers, to the restaurateurs,” said Somerford. “I think more often than not they walk away with a good experience of how personal and pleasant Marshall really is.”

Somerford said the global exposure is also great for downtown businesses. It’s been exciting for her to be able to introduce and share her specialty menu through not only her restaurant, but also her catering business.

“When we do catering for visiting people who are here because of our court system it’s a little different than restaurant exposure; it’s more focused on our catering,” she shared.

“It’s kind of a concierge catering service. Because where we don’t do breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week in the restaurant, sometimes we will have calls for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 people for seven days a week. So it’s a little different, but also very exciting.”

14 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

“It keeps us fresh; it keeps us always looking for innovative and new ways to feed people — not just to feed them, but to feed them representing our local producers,” said Somerford, later adding “It’s an opportunity for us to showcase that Marshall and its restaurant community and its catering community are working on sustainability and supporting local, which is what we (have) on the restaurant side. So, it all works together.”

Hometown Pride As a practicing patent attorney raised in Marshall, Smith and many other colleagues find it rewarding to be able to have the unique opportunity to not only have a front row seat to some of the most high profile intellectual property cases in the nation, but also try the complex cases right in their hometown.

Jennifer Truelove is a leading attorney at the McKool Smith Marshall office and has been recognized globally as an “IP Star” for her superior trial work in matters related to intellectual property and patents. McKool Smith prides itself as being one of the nation’s preeminent litigation and trial firms with more than 130 trial lawyers across seven offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York City and Washington, DC. Realizing the increased activity with Marshall’s federal patent docket, the firm opened its Marshall office in 1996.

“The legal environment in Marshall is poised for continual growth, positively impacting the local economy, as evidenced over the years,” she said. “It is truly exciting to actively participate in these impactful cases in the place I proudly call home.”

Michael Smith, who has been named by The National Law Journal as an “Intellectual Property Trailblazer,” echoed her sentiments.

“I just feel very fortunate to have been able to spend my career doing this work in my home court that I was a law clerk in,” said Smith with Scheef & Stone. “I was sworn into the practice of law in that courtroom in front of my parents before jury selection by Judge (Sam B) Hall one day.”

The Marshall federal patent docket has also given local lawyers the opportunity to partner with big city lawyers, affectionately called “tall building lawyers,” on cases.

“It’s a lot of fun because they don’t get to trial as often as we do,” said Smith. “So I really enjoy being able to help them figure out how to present something to a lay jury, because the people in these law firms are brilliant people often with engineering backgrounds, and they tend to see the complexity in a case.The tradition in Marshall handed down from (veteran) lawyers, is that a trial lawyer sees you find the simplicity in the case. And more importantly, we had judges who had tried cases as lawyers and who understood how valuable the jury system is and what a good job juries do.”

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CULINARY DELIGHTS

Dining Excellence The Ginocchio’s bar is pictured.

The Ginocchio honors building history by keeping high standards story by Jessica Harker | photos by Les Hassell

F

or Ginocchio restaurant owner Alan Loudermilk, it was a love of history that first drew him to the building his restaurant has occupied for the last seven years in Marshall, the original home of the historic Ginocchio Hotel.

Loudermilk said that the building itself was in need of major upgrades and repairs when he first began the project, and that it took four times longer and was four times more expensive than originally planned.

“This project is one of those that if you put it down on paper, people would look at you like you were crazy,” he said.

But Loudmilk had a vision, and a passion to bring a piece of Marshall’s history back to life through the renovation and official opening of the Ginocchio restaurant. The project pays honor to the high-class hotel that the building originally housed.

18 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

Owner Allen Loudermilk of The Ginocchio.

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2 3

1. Dining area at The Ginocchio. 2. Detail of tile work at restaurant. 3. Curly pine staircase at the restaurant adds character and charm to historical architecture.

“The hotel was very high end; it was always a very upscale establishment,” Loudermilk said.

The original Ginocchio Hotel was constructed in 1896 as a luxury hotel connected to the T&P railway station, housing a wide range of famous guests, including American presidents and celebrities.

Today, the restaurant works to maintain the beauty of the historic building by the renovation of the original wood finishing of the building, as well as original stained glass and the hotel’s original bar.

Additional time-appropriate details were added throughout the restaurant to create and maintain the luxury feel of the hotel, which customers of the Ginocchio now enjoy during their dining experiences.

“It’s important to me to maintain the history of the building, and really to do as little as possible to the original work done, more to repair it,” Loudermilk said.

Restaurant Executive Chef Reynaldo Jandres pays particular care to each dish he creates in the kitchen, with Loudermilk saying that Jandres is well known for his seafood.

“Everything that he makes is amazing,” Loudermilk said, “People come in here just for the steaks, the seafood, the pasta, everything.”

Jandres makes sauce by hand for each order of pasta at the restaurant, finishes every chicken and steak with a special pan sauce, and always takes great care to ensure only the highest quality food comes out of the Ginocchio’s kitchen.

Along with the menu, the restaurant is also known for its cocktails available to customers. Loudermilk said that the bartenders are very customer focused, with an aim to accommodate requests and even go so far as to order special drinks when they are requested.

The restaurant itself even honors the history of the city with menu items named after Boogie Woogie, the musical style that was created in Marshall through connection to the railway.

Loudermilk is part of a group working to create a Boogie Woogie festival in Marshall, as well as a nonprofit honoring the history of the music and the people behind that legacy.

To continue to honor that work, Loudermilk said that the restaurant decided to name food and drink items after the musical style, adding another way the restaurant works to pay homage to the history of Marshall.

“I have always really had a love for history and really a deep love for Marshall,” Loudermilk said, “Anything I can do to bring that history to life and bring something here for the people of Marshall is well worth it.”

The restaurant is open at 707 N. Washington Ave. in Marshall every Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. For more information on what the restaurant has to offer or to reserve a table, visit www.theginocchio.com.

W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 I S S U E | 19

BACKYARD SURPRISES

Paying Homage to HISTORY

The Ginocchio, left, and the Texas and Pacific Depot and Museum.

Marshall Depot honors the history of the railway while looking towards a bright future story by Jessica Harker | photos by Les Hassell

F

or decades Marshall was known as the gateway to Texas, with the railway line that starts at the T&P Depot in town connecting the state to the rest of the country.

Today, the people of the railway’s board of directors look to keep that legacy alive while driving the railway station into the future.

“We really do have something special here,” said Christina Anderson with the Depot. “A lot of people don’t even realize how important the railway has been to our little community.”

Marshall’s railroad was originally built in 1858, connecting the city to Caddo Lake before it expanded over the years — 20 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

Above - One of many photos on display in th room dedicated to the birth of Boogie Woogie.

Below - Items on display in the room dedicated to the birth of Boogie Woogie.

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including in 1871 when a connecting line was built through to San Diego, California.

At its peak, the railway in Marshall drew people from all over the country into East Texas on its lines, with the railway still running to this day bringing people from all over to visit here in Marshall.

“Sometimes people are even surprised that they can ride a train here,” Anderson said, “We are a working railway;, you can come and buy a ticket and get on a train to whereever you’d like to visit right here in Marshall.”

For over 100 years, the T&P railway station in Marshall has served travelers, and still serves as a crew change stop for employees of the railway line. This means that annually, the railway still brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in tourism money to the city, benefitting the tax roll and the City of Marshall as a whole.

However, not only does the railway operate as a working train station, but it also houses a museum honoring the history of the railway here in East Texas.

The railway museum sits on the top floors of the historical train depot on Washington Street, and features a wide ranging collection of items and historical artifacts all linked to the train station and Marshall’s history.

The museum recently has gone through expansions and mild renovations, adding a range of newly donated items along with a brand new section honoring the legacy of Boogie Woogie music, which developed in Marshall.

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1 “They don’t want their family’s items to end up in a yard sale or forgotten,” Anderson said, “So they gift them to the museum.”

Boogie Woogie’s beginnings and Marshall’s railroads are intrinsically linked; When the railway was originally built, a huge wave of African American workers came to the area to get work on the trains.

With this group came a large crowd of hard working people who also needed entertainment, and with just a piano and the sounds of the railway as the trains go past, a new style of music was born.

“It really needs a permanent home,” said museum board member Alan Loudermilk regarding the new Boogie Woogie exhibit at the museum, “It deserves a permanent place in this community.”

The new exhibit is phase one of the museum’s plans regarding Boogie Woogie, with Loudermilk stating that the plans are to grow both sections of the museum as they go.

“I fell in love with the history, the history of the railway and the music, and it is just mind boggling that people in this community aren’t aware of that,” Loudermilk said.

Anderson said that not only has the nonprofit donated time and money to keep the depot and the museum running and renovated, but that Amtrak and Union Pacific have also organized various updates for the depot this year.

This includes renovations to the façade, track changes and updates, and even upgrades to the crew waiting area for the employees of the station to enjoy.

“This year has been a great year for us,” Anderson said, “The railway is such a huge part of our past, but we also are making it a huge and continued part of our future.”

1. Merchandise on display in the gift shop 2. Christina Anderson, left, talks with a visitor at the Museum. 3.

Historical items on display. 4. Watches and a pair of glasses belonging to a conductor were recently donated to the Texas and Pacific Depot and Museum.

22 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

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SHOW Farm City Week has been a Harrison County tradition for more than 50 years story by Nicholas Osborn photos special to Harrison Magazine

F

or over 50 years, Farm City Week has brought generations of Harrison County students together to do more than just showcase their FFA and 4-H projects. The event has become a tradition for communities throughout the county.

Whether the competition was held in downtown Marshall on the square decades ago, or at the more modern Marshall City Arena, the Harrison County Agri-Business Association’s Farm City Week has been a foundational component of agricultural advocacy in the county.

The history of Farm City Week is made up of the students, family and friends who have attended and participated in the event throughout the years. Some of the event’s earliest roots can be found in the livestock competition that began in downtown Marshall on the square. Jack Dillard Jr. – a retired Marshall ISD ag teacher and son of longtime Farm City Week auctioneer and agricultural advocate Jack Dillard Sr. – recalled his own memories of the event in the late 1960s and described it as one that brought out the best in the county.

“You’re working towards a goal and when you get done, you’re either going to be a success or you’re going to learn that you will become successful,” said Dillard Jr. “You always go back and say, well I could’ve done this better, but it builds in a sense of resiliency.”

24 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

The earliest competitions for Farm City Week, as described

by Ray Swindell in the Sunday edition of the Marshall News Messenger in March 1964, sought to spotlight farmers and livestockmen in the county and stress their importance to the economy of the area. The livestock show initially focused on steers for competitors, all of which had to be bred within Harrison County. Dillard Jr. detailed his own participation in the livestock show tracing back to Spring 1968, where the square in downtown Marshall served as the venue for the event.

“The show moved around; we didn’t have the city arena and we really didn’t have any arena. We showed on the square and we tied our calves to the parking meters,” explained Dillard Jr. “A lot of times, guys that had long gooseneck trailers would block the streets, like on Washington or Austin Street, just in case something got away.”

At the time, the county was in the middle of a transition from farming to livestock production, and the competitions at Farm City Week reflected this shift in the economy. As early as 1965, the event was welcoming more than a thousand people across the county to participate in the week-long celebration. Competitions at the time included a milking contest where executive vice president of Peoples State Bank of Marshall, Barton Hill, earned the VIP trophy after milking one and a quarter cups of milk in the 15 seconds allotted to contestants. This contrasted the Harrison County Bred Steer Show, where Marshall-native Cal Gaines won first place with a steer that weighed just over 1,100 pounds. As the event continued to grow throughout the years, the opportunities to compete followed suit.

2

3

1. SPRING, SURE ‘NUFF - Cheryl Meeks showed it truly is sprint, and summer approaching, Saturday as she did a Farm-City Week street skiing stung in the parade in downtown Marshall. The skis have rollers attached, but the effect of the parade entry was that of none other than skiing along the water, certain to be enjoyed in the are soon. Published Sunday, April 4, 1965.

2. BLUE RIBBON WINNERS SHOWN ON SQUARE ... Wayne Copeland and James Maxson, Harrelton. Published Sunday, April 4, 1965.

1

3. RABBIT RESERVE CHAMPION - Amanda McDowell of Harrison County 4-H displays her reserve champion hutch of rabbits auctions during Farm City Week. Bank One bought the rabbits for $400. Published Monday, March 20, 1995.

“Gaines’ steer brought enough that we were all just shocked at how much money the steer brought,” said Dillard Jr. “It was like a dollar or a dollar and a half per pound or something like that, but when everybody else is bringing 60 cents, that’s a lot of money.”

While the competition inspired generations of Harrison County citizens to participate and showcase their agricultural projects, whether they were members of their local FFA chapter or 4-H group, the importance of the impact that agriculture has on the local economy has always formed the foundation of Farm City Week. From rivalries to reunions, the event showcased communities coming together in the spirit of promoting all things agricultural.

“In a way, it is kind of like a family reunion,” said Dillard Jr. Today, Farm City Week continues to bring together FFA and 4-H students in a week-long event led by volunteers to compete in the livestock shows including steers, heifers, swine, lambs, goats, broilers, rabbits and more. But it has also grown to encompass a more expansive agricultural focus, such as the ag mechanics competition, special needs accessibility and student advocacy initiatives such as the Voice of the Agriculture speech contest. Farm City Week now provides opportunities for thousands of dollars in scholarships each year with an annual live auction sale that brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Farm City Week welcomes students from each school district across the county, in what Waskom ISD ag teacher Kyle Holton describes as an event that provides comradery in pur-

suit of continued agricultural advocacy.

“One of the things that I like most about it, and it’s done it for years, is that even though we’re separate communities and

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separate schools, it provides a lot of comradery amongst the volunteers, students and the parents that are there participating,” said Holton.

In bringing the community together around Farm City Week, Holton detailed the impact it has even beyond the county as an investment into the larger American agricultural industry. While participating in FFA and 4-H to compete in Farm City Week can lead to a career in agriculture, the event itself including the live auction, where projects are sold by students, go towards the market that supplies our grocery stores.

“By participating in the livestock show, they are investing in American agriculture,” explained Holton. “Those kids are making an investment. When they’re buying an animal or building a project, they are investing something into the ag industry. We know they’re buying that animal to go into the show at Farm City Week and that is what their goal is, but the investment into American agriculture happens right after the show.”

Through participating in Farm City Week, students are able to learn the husbandry side of raising livestock projects, gain hands-on experience in ag mechanics,and apply the tenets of FFA and 4-H membership such as servant leadership. However, they are also afforded the opportunity to join a longstanding tradition for the county; the tradition of outspoken advocacy for the advancement of agriculture, of bringing the communities of Harrison County together, and of a competition generations in the making.

For many in the county, Farm City Week is more than just one week’s worth of participation in agriculture. Marshall ISD ag teacher Thomas Beranek described the event as their Super Bowl because it represents the culmination of months of work in agriculture, from the students who compete with their projects to the volunteers who assist in everything needed to prepare for the event and run it each year. The traditions of agricultural advocacy, youth development, and community involvement that form Farm City Week are only made possible through their participation, something Dillard Jr. says has been happening for many generations now.

“There are third generation and fourth generation kids that are showing at Farm City Week that their parents or grandparents showed in,” said Dillard Jr. “It’s just a tradition for us.”

26 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

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HOURGLASS

Forgotten trolley system used to run throughout the heart of Marshall

story by Meredith Shamburger

I

t may be hard to believe now, but at one time Marshall had its own streetcar system.

“Save your strength and let our motors carry you to and from work” was the line advertised by the Marshall Traction Company on Oct. 30, 1914.

Columnist Ben Z. Grant, writing of the trolley system’s history in 1998, reported the trolleys “would take you to the depot, the hotel, the ballpark, the natatorium, Bishop College, the Texas and Pacific Hospital, and any place in between for a nickel.”

“Fare enough, perhaps, for the early part of the twentieth century — and a child’s fare was only three and a third cents,” he wrote.

A July 31, 1991 article notes the old horse car line in Marshall had its start in the 1880s, though the exact date is unknown. A franchise was given to one M. Turney on Oct. 27, 1908 to lay down trolley tracks. Thus, the Marshall Traction Company was born.

Grant reported in his 1998 column that Louis Kariel’s report on the trolley system at a Harrison County Historical Museum forum found one occasion where the circus was in town and the trolleys transported $400 in fares in one day, or more than 8,000 people.

For his column, Grant wrote how he, a friend and his dog set out to walk the routes of the five trolleys that were in operation.

“The first track built ran from the train depot to the Capitol Hotel on the south east side corner of the Square. The Capitol Hotel was a three story brick structure, originally called the Atkins House, erected in 1857. It had also been the stopping place for the stagecoaches that once came to Marshall…

28 | H A R R I S O N M A G A Z I N E

“The trolley lines ran north to the town’s baseball park, which I speculate might have been in the area of the Lions Club Community Center and to the natatorium, which might have been in the area generally known now as the Camp Fire pool.

“A line also went west on West Houston and turned north to Burleson and traveled to Bishop College and the T&P Hospital…

“Another line went east on East Austin and then turned probably on Alamo, then back east on Fannin for about ten blocks.”

The Marshall Messenger took note of the streetcar system’s expansion through the years.

On Jan. 5, 1910, they reported rails had come for the North Side Line.

“If the people of the north side will bring on a spell of good weather they can have their street car line within two weeks.

The situation is now strictly up to the weather clerk. President Turney of the Marshall Traction Company says that the rails ordered for the north side extension have arrived, and ties and other equipment have been here for some time.”

On March 29, 1911, they reported the Marshall Traction Company’s first ‘homemade” streetcar was in service, “running between the square and the circus grounds.”

“This is the fourth car on the new electric line and was built from the railup in Marshall and everything in it was made here that could be made here and about the only portion of it that was ordered was the motors. It is a summer car and looks just as good as a ‘brought on’ car.”

The April 2, 1915 paper reported Manager Naendall “has received photographs and specifications of three new steel cars which have been shipped and are expected to arrive here about May 12. The cars are longer than those now in use on

the street railway, measuring thirty-three feet, are of the pay-asyou-enter pattern, the doors are controlled by levers in the hands of the motorman and they are handsome and commodious. The seats are regular coach seats with an aisle down the center of the car.

The straps are of the sanitary kind. These cars will be put in regular service and those now in use, which were secondhand when installed here, will be held in reserve. The newly completed car track and brick paving in the Hotel Marshall block will be used Sunday morning. The new tracks extends around to Austin street, but the paving only runs through this one block. The street paving contractors are rolling the earth and getting ready to lay the foundation now that the ground has dried and the city steam roller has been repaired.”

If you walk the downtown area yourself, you can still see where the old trolley line used to be. A portion of the bricks on the courthouse square are laid in a different direction from the others in an arc.

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REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 25TH, 2024!

SPRING TRAINING

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Economic Summit 2024 MARCH 7, 2024

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9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

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Our guest speakers are leading voices for economic development and skills training in the State of Texas.

We will explore how our organizations can continue working together, forming goals, and taking action to increase prosperity and opportunities for all citizens.

Speakers Ray Perryman President/CEO, The Perryman Group

Michael Reeser Chancellor/CEO, Texas State Technical College

Adriana Cruz

Executive Director, Economic Development and Tourism, Office of the Governor

Krist Swimberghe

Dean, Soules College of Business, UT Tyler

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Chief Operating Officer, Tyler Economic Development Council

Rush Harris

Executive Director Marshall Economic Development Corporation

RSVP by February 23 to reserve your seat!

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