A Visit to Granger, Texas

Maybe small towns are the same all over the country, but my landscape is right here in Texas.  I will therefore, from time to time, pay a visit to Texas small towns.   So far, there’s not a specific population that qualifies them as “small,” but I’m thinking less than 5,000, probably a lot less.   We’ll have to see.  No rules here, folks.  One right up Texas Highway 95 from my home in Taylor is Granger, the subject of this post.  The sign coming into Granger lists its population at 1,419.  It’s an adorable little town, steeped in Czech culture.  If you took away cars and electric lights, friends, you could almost imagine yourself back in the late-19th century.  That’s probably one reason they decided to shoot scenes for the 2010 remake of the movie “True Grit” here.  One of the things I like about Granger’s main street, Davilla Street, is that a portion of it is still paved with cobblestones.  That’s Davilla Street in the opening photo.  Also included here:  the old City Hall building, no longer in use, but still  around, right next to the Cotton Club, a restaurant and club that draws folks from all over….a homecoming parade for the Granger Lions football team….the lights of Lions stadium aglow on the next night’s big game, grain elevators not far away…. etc.   Oh,  and Sissy Spacek’s paternal grandparents hail from Granger.  Her grandfather was Arnold Adolph Spacek, a local grocer who also served as the town’s mayor at one time.  According to my Taylor neighbor across the street, a Granger native, Sissy spent a good bit of time here when growing up.  He’s quick to point out, however, that she changed the pronunciation of her last name.   It really should be like this: Spa (as in “health spa”) and Check (as in Czech).   Hollywood, I guess,  wanted something snappier.  Also included here is Crossroads, a bar that’s been around a long time.   Here are a few photos from a small Texas town.   More later.