Roots and Blooms- Garrisons: Elgin Garrison

Showing posts with label Elgin Garrison. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Index to blog posts on Lewis Elgin Garrison

Thursday, May 12, 2016

1940- Love and Marriage

That summer, Gary asked Pauline to be his bride. From the looks of this picture, they must have been visiting her family in Jerseyville at the time.

The back of this picture is labeled "Just engaged!"

A flurry of parties ensued that summer, with congratulations from friends and family.

One party was held with Jerseyville friends and family. Her mother (Mrs. Thomas Allen) and great- aunt (Rose Allen) along with her sisters (Margaret and Helen Allen) sister in law Adah (Mrs Hugh Allen) and cousins (Loretta and Mrs. John Quinn) attended, along with friends and neighbors.

Another engagement party was held for Pauline at the Gatesworth Hotel at the entrance to Forest Park, in St. Louis.

Apparently Gary and Pauline enjoyed playing bridge, and this was a bridge party. There were 24 guests seated at 6 tables which were decorated with fall flowers. Among the guests were Pauline's neice, Marjorie Rose Allen. Pauline's mother, cousins, and sister-in-law, Adah, also attended, along with other local and hometown friends.

Pauline was a devout catholic, and would have likely attended the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, as it was just a short distance from her apartment. This beautiful church was completed in 1914, and was famous for its architecture and mosaics.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Tour of Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

However Gary was a protestant. In those days, this presented a problem. They could not have a catholic ceremony in the church. So they were married in the church rectory on September 23, 1940.

Here are the "before" and "after photos- carefully labeled by my mother!


Gary Garrison and Pauline Allen in front of her home in Jerseyville before the wedding


Mr. and Mrs. L.E. Garrison after their wedding

An Article in the Alton Evening Telegraph on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 1940, described the wedding...

Jerseyville- The Marriage of Miss Pauline Allen of St. Louis, formerly of this city, and Lewis Elgin Garrison of St. Louis was solemnized at 4 o'clock Monday afternoon, September 23, in the rectory of St. Louis Cathedral. The Rev. Father J. Cowan officiated.
    Miss Helen Allen of Alton, sister of the bride, served as her bridesmaid and Quintin Peckel of Tulsa, Okla., was attendant for the groom.
    Following the wedding the immediated relatives of the couple attended a dinner served the bridal party at the Forest Park hotel in St. Louis, after which Mr. and Mrs. Garrison left on a wedding trip. On their return to St. Louis they will be at home in the Gatesworth hotel, St. Louis, until Nov. 1 when they will go to New York to reside.
    Mrs. Garrison is the youngest daughter of Mrs. Thomas Allen of Jerseyville. She is a graduate of the Jersey Township High School and for some time has held a secretarial position with the Sampson Distributing Co., in St. Louis.
    The groom is a son of Mr. and Mrs. William Garrison of Enid, Okla. He is a graduate of Oklahoma A. & M. College. For some time he has been the employee of Shell Oil Co., in St. Louis, but will be transferred Nov. 1 to New York.
    Those from here attending the wedding Monday were: Mrs. Thomas Allen, Acquinas Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Allen and Miss Rose Allen of Jerseyville, and the Misses Helen and Margaret Allen, Alton.

Gary and Pauline would have just a few weeks in the Gateway Hotel in Saint Louis before their move to New York City.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Early 1930's Houston- a Bachelor's life

The Big Band Era

Elgin played in a dance band in the 1930's- click the arrow above to hear some of the songs he might have played!

Texas St. Houston, 1930

Houston was booming in the 1930's. Downtown Houston was a growing city built on the petroleum culture. The Petroleum Building and the Gulf Building were completed in 1929, and soon fine department stores such as Sakowitz Bros. and Levys Dry Goods opened to consumers.

Sakowitz Bros. 1929

My dad was a stylish dresser in those days; but he was always thrifty - I wonder where he shopped for his clothes?

Elgin and Aletheia Garrison

There were plenty of thing for a young man to do in the city of Houston; one of the biggest raves was to go to the movie theatre. The Metropolitan Theatre was built in 1926 on Main Street. This lavish theatre could seat over 2,000 people, and had an organ and a hydraulic orchestra pit that could raise and lower for performances. Nearby were several more movie theatres to choose from; including the Kirby and Lowes.

The interior of the Metropolitan with a lavish Egyptian theme- popular after the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922


Gary Cooper "The Texan" and Laurel and Hardy- 1930

A novelty in 1930- the Metropolitan boasted air conditioning! Surely a big atraction in the heat of the Houston summers!

As fond as he was of music and dance bands, I can imagine that he may have brought a few dates to the Rice Hotel to go dancing!

Elgin and Hacker played in "The Shell Serenaders." Dad loved music and never sold his coronet. He surely loved playing in this dance band!

Elgin, first coronet on far left, Hacker to the left of the drum.

However, my favorite story about my father's life as a young bachelor in Houston has always been about the time he went on a wild date to Galveston on his motorcycle. Here is a picture (without the date!) Galveston is about 50 miles from Houston!

I bet that was quite a date!

Elgin Garrison on his motorcycle at Galveston Beach

Some more 1930's dance band music!

Sunday, January 17, 2016

1930's- Black Gold and Houston "The City the Depression Forgot"

Spindletop, Beaumont, Texas

The “Gusher Age” of the Texas oil boom began with discoveries near Beaumont, southeast of Houston.

Before long “Wildcatters” were purchasing land to drill for oil in hopes of making a fortune.

Texas was soon dominating US production, and by 1940 Houston hosted the largest concentrations of refineries and petrochemical plants in the world. This era saw the birth of the major oil companies- Standard Oil, Texaco, Gulf, Chevron, Humble (now Exxon,) Marathon, Amoco, and the Shell Petroleum Corporation.

1930's Houston was called the “City the Depression Forgot”

Elgin Garrison and his friend Hacker left Oklahoma and headed to Houston, jumping from a bleak economic picture into the midst of the oil boom.

It was the beginning of a 40 year career for my father with Shell Oil Company.


Lewis Elgin Garrison 1930's Houston Texas

The 1930 Census shows them boarding at 4322 Polk St., Houston. Elgin is 20 years old and Hacker is 25. They are both surveyors for an oil company (Shell Oil.) Also at their boarding house is another surveyor, Eddie Watls, 22. Three other young men at the house work at a refinery- Carl Draper, 21, as a foreman, and Harry Christopher, 24, and Sidney Reand, 36, as refinery timekeepers. Harry and Sidney were also from Oklahoma.

Elgin and Hacker "hacking around" in front of their Houston boarding house.

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