Johnson Development has been refurbishing the 1925 Sugar Land water tower over the last couple of months. I've taken some photos, so those of you who don't live in your old home town can see what's happening.
I've also thrown in a few photos of work Southern Pacific has done on the rail line running through town. They've prepared the rail bed for a second track, which they will begin installing next year.
As you watch the video you'll notice the old Power Plant (later the Union Hall) near the tower. It's the two-story, cream-colored building, which was built in 1920. I think it is now the oldest non-residential building in Sugar Land.
I talked with an old timer a few months back about young dare devils who climbed the tower. There was a graduate from Sugar Land High School in the late 1940s who was a notorious prankster. He climbed the tower and told the old timer, a young under-class man at the time, about his experience. The old timer asked, "Was there anything up there?" The climber said, "All I found up there was a peregrine falcon's nest and about a hundred duck bills."
Other old timers may remember the climber as the fellow who closed down the Sugar Land school on Lakeview. He got some skunk juice and soaked cotton balls with it. He poked them through the key holes in the doors of each classroom. He did this on a Friday night, so the aroma had a long time to saturate the class rooms. Apparently, the janitors needed several days to air out the school before classes could resume.
