Some Old-Timer's Recollections of the Past, 1956

Here are a few more stories from The Fort Bend Mirror celebrating the 4th anniversary of the Sugar Land Shopping Center in 1956.  There are plenty more, so I'll have similar recollections over the coming weeks.

This first one is from W. H. Dierks.  Notice a couple of things.  First, he says sugar cane growing was discontinued in 1912, but that seems to contradict a picture I posted last week from the same edition of The Mirror.  I looked back at the caption of that picture, & it shows the last batch of cane processed in the Imperial mill in 1928.  That leaves some wiggle room as far as cane crops & milling in Sugar Land goes -- it's possible Mr. Dierks & the earlier picture are both correct. (The last cane processed in Imperial's mill may not have been grown locally.)

Also note his comment about the flood.  I've included a well-known photo of the famous 1913 flood. (It shows a view from the refinery toward the southwest.  I should point out this flood was caused by the Brazos River overflowing its banks.) The annotation on the photo says it was taken in December, 1913, but Mr. Dierks thought the flood occurred in November of that year.

This next recollection comes from Louis Muehr.  He sold Sugar Land's first electric washing machine in 1931.

I couldn't find a picture of Louis Muehr, so I've substitued this one because it shows the 'character' of the old mercantile store.  I presume John is Louis's brother.

This next walk down memory lane comes from Paul Schumann.  He also mentions the 1913 flood.  I've included another photo from that memorable event.  Notice the water is higher than in the earlier photo.  I've also included a picture of Mr. Schumann with Bob Andrews in May, 1951 at the old mercantile store.