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May 1939. "Statue to the watermelon. Weatherford, Texas, watermelon center." View full size. 35mm negative by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration.
Great shot! Too bad they took it down. I've done a little bit of moseying around Weatherford and found this spot; its in the dead-center of town, on College Avenue. What a wonderful invention Google Maps is; I can travel to places I'll never actually go to and poke around at my leisure. Weatherford has a lot of charm and they'd be wise to add a little bit of chuckle-fun by putting that watermelon back where it belongs.
Weatherford is the birthplace of Broadway legend Mary Martin and her son, actor Larry Hagman.
I don't know how to submit photos to Shorpy or I would because there is a photo of the courthouse from the same source as the rest of the photos of Weatherford. One of many beautiful old time Texas courthouses.
Gratuitous and ill-informed swipes at contemporary politicians aside, Weatherford has been and continues to be a somewhat surprising center of power-politics in Texas. Among other notables, Weatherford has been home to the last southern Civil War veteran elected Governor and to Jim Wright.
The building in the background is still there, and if you search Shorpy for more photos of Weatherford, you are likely to find a shot of the county courthouse that this shot was taken from in front of or perhaps from on its steps. Parker County is now known more for its peaches, and the new (last few years) boom coming from the Barnett Shale natural gas field.
Dubya is for watermelon, or Weatherford, or maybe "fiasco" (I think we might have been better off with this thing in the Oval Office the last few years).
I usually prefer black and white photography, but this is one shot I'd like to see in color, for the huge green tin melon. Looks like this wasn't its first year in service. And I love the Victorian Frontier architecture of the commercial block in the background.
Thanks for the laugh, I needed that. Watermelon? This is the worst "statue" I've ever seen, and I teach kindergarten! The shape is more of a cucumber, or maybe Jolly Green Giant dropping. And it appears to be falling apart. This one has been fun.
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