Statewars Day 2 : You will surrender to this favorite city

Well, I may have missed the deadline on day one of the war, but I fight my battles on my time schedule not the enemies. But I am getting a jump on the battle for day 2, which has to do with your favorite city. Well it just so happens that I live just outside my favorite city in Texas. You folks that read my daily dose know that I have featured this town twice so it should be no surprise that it would appear for a third time, but bear with me, most of these steemusa people have never heard of Tom Ball and Tomball.

Texas has many big cities that can go toe to toe with any city in the country but when you battle in war you don’t keep your important things in obvious places, you move them to safe and secure areas from which you direct your troops. Such a place is Tomball, Texas located North West of Houston about 30 miles on Hwy 249 in rural Harris County.

For you folks in other states who think you want to invade this great state, think again, our battle command is in Tomball,Texas. Everything we need to blast you is right here in this little town, and while it may sound country and of no consequence you are dead wrong. Tomball is the worldwide headquarters for BJ Services. President Bill Clinton even scheduled a trip to the headquarters of BJ Services while he was in office, he did end up cancelling his trip though, when some intern named Monica informed him that BJ Services is an oilfield service company. We pretty much know how the rest of that story played out on a blue dress and cigar.

Tomball is what most cities wish they could be; a small hometown with boom town economics and the best folks you will find. The town was originally named Peck and when Tom Ball came to town with the idea and vision to bring the railroad line of the Trinty and Brazos RR to the area it put Peck on the map in the late 1890’s. The rail road line was the stabilizing force that allowed Peck to grow, by 1907 the town folks voted to rename the town from Peck to Tomball and on December 2, 1907 the town changed names.

In 1933 all hell broke loose in Tomball as the Humble Oil Company struck oil just outside the city limits of town. May 27, 1933 Tomball Texas became Oil Town USA that big well led to several others; there are still oil wells in the middle of downtown on Main Street. Also still to this day is the original rail road depot on the east end of town, the city block that the depot is located at was stripped of the old buildings and turned into a city park.

That park plays host to several community events all year long. Each month on the second Saturday of the month the parks dept puts up an inflatable movie screen at dusk and plays a family friendly movie. The first and third Friday nights are date nights at the park and movies are also shown, mainly PG or R rated , no porn though, the popo don’t allow the pornographic stuff. You can get away with a little alcoholic beverage on Friday nights if you keep it low profile but don’t even think about it on second Saturday or you will be taking a trip to the P D headquarters on the next block over.

The rail road built the town and the town has preserved that heritage, something that most towns let slip away. The depot is now a rail road museum, the caboose has a model train display and there are several bronze statues that tell the story of the people and the era in time that built Tomball.

Main Street in Tomball is a step back in time as well; several of the original buildings are still standing and have businesses operating in them. The majority of them are selling stuff from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s as they are now called antique shops.

There is one building that is missing and that would be the very first bank that opened in Tomball.

It is easy to tell where it was located though, the corner of Main Street and Walnut Street, the building burned to the ground back in the 1980’s but the safe is still intact and visible to any passerby, my mind often wunders if the safe was ever opened after the fire.

So you can keep your big cities as far as this old man is concerned, they have nothing on this small town. The elected officials over the years have preserved this town and the way of life in rural Texas, despite the invasion of the big city folks from Houston trying to take it over. Just like Texas will resist any future attacks from other states and the federal government, we have it in our blood to be free and a fight for freedom might just be around the next corner in time.

Until the battle of day 3,
@sultnpapper