Rufe Snow Construction just North of 820
Sanger Harris Department Store at North Hills Mall
Nathan Lacy Stewart was born in Olney, Texas, on June 22, 1925. He went to school in Jal, N.M. through the third grade. After his father died, the family moved to Smithfield, Texas, where he began the fourth grade. Lydia Lois Green Cook was born in Brownfield, Texas, on March 2, 1928. Her father worked for Gifford Hill Pipe Company, and the family moved frequently. Both Lacy and Lois worked at Convair (now Lockheed) for two years until their marriage on March 21, 1953, in Weatherford, Texas. Lacy went into the insurance business and later worked for American Manufacturing Company. He retired in 1984. In 1958, the Stewarts began building a house in the Smithfield area. They had been living with family members, and when the house was just a shell, they moved into it. It was raining on moving day and needless to say, the road wasn't paved. Mr. Gil Bridges used a wagon and team to haul furniture and boxes from Amundson Road to the house. Lois had saved some of her grocery money from week to week and bought new linens for her new home. When the wagon hit a stump, the chest of drawers filled with new linens was dumped in the mud. Lois made a trip to the laundromat that night. Grandpa Green made an L-shaped road south off Amundson and east to the house, and it was named Stewart Drive. Lois's children are Janiece Cook, born in Grand Prairie Dec. 5, 1945; Ted Cook, born in Weatherford Jan. 22, 1950; Mike Cook, born in Weatherford Jan. 26, 1951. The next five children were all born in Fort Worth. They are Liz Stewart, Sept. 6, 1953; Ray Stewart, Aug. 10, 1954, deceased; Nathan Stewart, March 14, 1956; Patricia Stewart, March 31, 1960; and Becky Stewart, April 2, 1961. There are nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. All of the children went to Smithfield Elementary School where Mr. W.E. Walts was their principal, and each graduated from Richland High School. The Stewart family had an old Studebaker car they were very proud of. Once Lacy went to an auction and returned home with four goats in the car. He put them in a pen with only three strands of barbed wire around it. Two of the goats went right under the wire and were never seen again. The Stewarts also had ducks, geese, pigs, and cows. In May 1989, Lacy Stewart realized the only time he saw many of his friends was at funerals and visiting at the hospital. He decided to invite the entire community for a Smithfield reunion to be held on the Stewarts' four acres on the first weekend of May. That first year it was a three-day get-together, but since has been held for two days. Lacy and many friends set up tables, and everyone brought chairs and food, which was spread for the noon meal. Children enjoyed playing and adults enjoyed playing horseshoes, washers, and table games, but mostly just visiting and remembering old times. There was no music to drown out the friendly chatter. Attendance was usually around 300 on both days. In 1991, all his friends honored Lacy by planting a tree in the Stewart front yard and setting a plaque at its base. There were so many friends who helped with the reunion arrangements: G.R. Montgomery, Roy Carter, Ray McCauley, King Bell, Red Harston, J.C. Harston, L.J. Palmer, James Gaddy, Harold Autrey, Leon and Billy Wiseman, Stanley Tataravich, James Simmons, and Lee Stewart, to name a few. Lacy Stewart died on Nov. 1, 1995. His last wishes were for his family to carry on with the reunion. They have kept that promise. The Stewart home on Stewart Drive is still a busy place with family and friends coming and going. It's a home that is full of love and family values. This is a rare trait in this decade of the '90s. Story told to and written by: Evalyn Lochridge
The Wayne W. White Family moved from Fort Worth to the present address on Harmonson Road in March of 1949. We have remodeled and rebuilt twice since then. When we came here. We had a county paved two-lane street. We had bus service on the hour during the day. We had water and gas service furnished by Ben Harmonson. The water came from two wells. One was where Rufe Snow Drive water tower is now and the other was north of the new park between Glenview, Dawn Drive and Harmonson Road. We had inside plumbing. Most of our neighbors had out-houses. We had a septic tank with lateral lines running in the back patch. All these lots were 1.25 acres. We had no police or fire departments, County and school tax only. The only school was on Carson Street and Texas 121. We had two children: Betty Ann, 2, and Jimmy Wayne, 2 months, when we moved and three more since then. Their names are Rodney William Joseph, Patrick Tommy and Albert. There was a little store in front of McGee’s garage, run by the Wallers. At the corner of Pipeline Road (now Glenview) and the Grapevine Highway, there was a service station and Red Shack Café, both were run by Marvin Richardson families. Guynn’s Grocery at Carson and 121 was where people shopped, except for Leonard Brothers in downtown Fort Worth. Then in 1950 Wehrings Grocery was built at the corner of 183 and Rufe Snow, and then later the Buddies opened in Greater Richland Shopping Center at Blaney and 121. We used to hunt rabbits and quail in and around old Broadway Road, below Birdville Hill, from the end of Dawn Drive all through the woods to Fossil Creek. The bridge washed out on old Broadway Road and the road was closed. There was a wrecking yard for cars where the big pecan trees and picnic tables are now. On the opposite side there was a county dump ground. There was a man killed by another man at the dump. Also, there were two World War II airplanes that crashed in midair. Parts were scattered all over the area. I was told by a neighbor that was living here then. This area became Richland Plaza. In 1953, the Civic League was formed. The first meeting was at Herb and Maude Arnold’s office with about six members. Then we started meeting at the hall back of the Methodist Church on Glenview (in 1956). At that meeting, 21 of us were elected to be reserve police and were given two badges each. We were to help evacuate the school on the third Wednesday of each month, at 10:00 a.m. Joe Sayers was chief. Joe had to move to Fort Worth and I (W.W. White) was appointed to take his place by Mayor Don Denney. Later I was appointed Civil Defense coordinator. I had to use PTA ladies to help. I had to go to meetings at City Hall in Fort Worth to get instructions as to what to do. In case of an attack alarm, we were to evacuate to a small town up in the Texas Panhandle. Thank the good Lord we didn’t have to go. We had a car raffle in 1955 and 1956. In 1955, it was a Buick Special. In 1956, it was a Chevrolet Del Ray coupe. At the drawing, Mr. Clarence Jones’ name was drawn. He gave the car back to the Civic League and it was sold and the money was put into a building on Glenview Drive and Morgan Circle. The lot was donated as was most of the labor and lots of material. Roy Kelley and I put up the frame and soffit around the building. Most all of the Civic League members did something. We had a meeting in the new building in October 1956 and it was kinda breezy. After the windows and doors were put in, we had our Civic League meetings there and others used it for meeting. I used it for civil defense meetings. Afterwards the city used it for the fire department and now it is a senior citizens meeting place and some city offices are located there. Some of our reserve police worked in Richland Hills moving people out of the flooded area, cleaning out silt, washing walls down and keeping looters out. Water was up to the eaves on some houses. In the last 10 years, I have gotten older and slowed down. I don’t do much civic work anymore. Rufe Snow’s old home place was where the big trees are at Rufe Snow Drive and Shauna Drive. He used to ride to Fort Worth with me sometimes. He was a nice old fellow. He liked to ride in my Model-A Ford. I also knew Will Snow, his son. He worked for the county. He had four sons: Louis, Nimmo, Weldon and Lonnie, and one daughter, Dorothy. Weldon was in the concrete business and Lonnie sold cars. There is a little brass plaque at the Broadway Bridge built in 1938 and it was put back in the new bridge. It names the county judge and commissioners for 1938-1940.
Vera Abbott worked her way through college during the Great Depression. She was studying to be a teacher at Commerce State College in Commerce, Texas. After she earned her teaching certificate, Vera moved to Smithfield, Texas, to live with her brother, E. Foy Abbott and his family. At the time, Smithfield was a small town surrounded by a large rural area. There were no conveniences. Five-to-10 people used the same telephone party line. The streets were just dirt, with the exception of Smithfield Road, which was hot-topped. It still had plenty of chug holes, however. Water from a well at the schoolhouse was piped through very small pipes into the homes. When someone on the north side of the school took a bath, the people on the south side had no drinking water. There was no form of transportation or fire protection, except for the “tow-sack brigade.” There was a post office, a grocery store, a barber shop and a telephone office. The fire that ravaged the city earlier, burned the rest of it. The city of North Richland Hills had not yet been born. Vera’s first teaching position was at Glade Elementary. Her $70-a-month salary added to the family income. Ruth Walker was her assistant. Ruth taught the lower grades, and Vera was principal. Ruth, from another pioneer family, was the daughter of Edd Walker. Teaching at the Glade school was difficult for both Vera and Ruth. They roomed and boarded with Sidney and Lottie Gilbert. Sidney was on a special vegetable, no-salt and no-seasoning diet. Vera and Ruth went on the same diet - unwillingly. Ruth had a car. When they didn’t walk the four miles home, they used her car. Every Friday they went to Fort Worth and ate a chicken-fried steak dinner after school. That luxury was expensive and left a hole in their paychecks. But the treat was worth every penny of the 25 cents it cost. In 1934, A. D. Roach, the county school superintendent, got Vera a place in Bedford to teach. It was there Vera fell in love with teaching. The Bedford people were proud of their school and loved their teacher. Each evening after the day’s work was done, the teachers were invited to have dinner in someone’s home. Vera taught in Bedford nine years. While teaching in Bedford, Vera also fell in love with Bernice C. Redding, a native son. After five years of stormy courtship, she married him. That meant moving out of the Abbott family home to the other side of the tracks, as B. C. built a grocery store on Main Street across from where they lived in Smithfield. Vera kept on teaching. B. C. was christened Bernice C. Redding in 1902. When his family moved to Fort Worth, he and his father, Eugene, worked for Armour’s Meat Packing Company. But Uncle Sam called Eugene to service, so B. C. moved with his family to the country where he supported his mother by growing tomatoes and milking cows. Armour’s didn’t pay a boy of 15 very much. In 1937, the family moved to Smithfield where B. C. met Vera, and they were married in 1941. B. C. remodeled the old blacksmith shop, making it into a grocery store. When the economy improved, he bought more property, at the corner of Main Street and Smithfield Road from the Lewis family where he built the cream brick store still standing, and a new home just east of the store. Prior to his marriage, B. C. and friends followed the various government projects and did plumbing work. On one of the jobs, B. C. fell and injured his back and hip, an injury which would later cause the army to reject him for service. When World War II was declared in 1941, B. C. enlisted, but was sent home because of the old injury. So he went to work building airplanes at General Dynamics. The Depression had eased by now and there was money to be made. The bread and soup lines had disappeared. Many who could not go to war, worked in the war plants. Vera moved to the Smithfield school to teach so that B. C. could have her gasoline coupons. Everything was rationed, food, gasoline, clothing, etc. Everything was reserved for the Armed Forces. It was very unpatriotic for women to wear hose or for families to buy white flour and sugar. Although Vera had married, she was still deeply involved with her Abbott family, and B. C. had his own parents to be concerned about. Vera was called by Birdville school Superintendent Wiley G. Thomas to come to Birdville to teach. That meant $100 per month. “I don’t want to interview you,” Mr. Thomas told her. “I want you to go to work!” She did, taking her brother Foy’s two boys, Tommy and Don, with her. As the boys progressed grade-wise, Vera moved up a grade. When asked why, she told people, “Eula is not well. Foy works from light to dark. Someone has to keep up with Tommy and Don.” Vera spent the next 25 years teaching in Birdville. With his marriage, B. C.’s interest in Smithfield grew. After his dog, Bozo, and his wife, Vera, B. C.’s greatest love was the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department, which he, with the combined efforts of the volunteers, helped to organize from scratch. With sheer grit, and a determination that Smithfield would never burn again, the volunteers stretched their credit to buy a fire engine which they dubbed “Old Red,” and to build “The Smithfield Volunteer Fire Station No.1.” With barbecues, races, public rallies, and other activities, they paid off their debt. College professors came in and taught the volunteers how to fight fires and give first aid. The community was knitted together by their loyalty to the fire department. B. C. gave 23 of the best years of his life to the fire department and to the up-building of Smithfield. In return, he received many honors. When he retired from the fire department in 1972, he was made Honorary Chief for Life. B. C. Redding was a breed of man who made “Old Smithfield” a special place in which to live. Outwardly, he was blunt, salty, crusty, independent and matter-of-fact. However, under his tough exterior was a warm, caring person who was always there for you. Being Irish from his toes up, he was full of wit and humor. His word was his bond. His motto was “fairness, honesty, and hard work.” His philosophy was “Do your best, then don’t worry.” B. C. was a Christian man, and had the respect of all who knew him. He was known affectionately in the community as “Uncle Burney.” Vera Redding was active in Smithfield Church of Christ for 50 years, and she taught the church’s young people for most of that time. Vera, who still lives in her home on Main Street in the Smithfield section of NRH, retired from Birdville schools in 1969 to care for her ill mother. B. C. passed away in 1980. Submitted by Vera Redding