Exhibit Room 3
The Main Street Collection
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Photographer - A commercial camera
shows an upside down view of the "child." You may be able to see the dim image. The box and pocket cameras are early issues of the
20th century. All of the photographs have been copied from the museum archives.
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Gunsmith - The percussion
cap muzzle loader on the back wall could date from 1815. The boy's .22 rifle was patented in 1902.
Most of the pistols were manufactured from about 1870 to 1905. The ivory handled .38 cal. revolver, a later model than the other weapons,
belonged to Polk Countian R. D. Holliday, a Texas Ranger. Trees were felled with the two-man crosscut and buck saws, broadaxes were used
to rough-hew logs into rafters, beams and railroad ties. Other tools include a barbed wire stretcher, brush cutter and log carrier.
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Depot - The first telegraph system was installed in Polk
County by the Houston, East and West Texas Railway (later Southern Pacific)
in 1879. Before 1900, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (previously Texas and Sabine) and the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine had laid
tracks in the county and others quickly followed. The ticket validater still stamps, "Waco, Beaumont, Texas & Sabin, Corrigan, Texas."
The candlestick telephone was the fist style used in Livingston in 1903, and the Remington typewriter was manufactured in 1890.
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General Store - This business was the hub of community
life. Almost everything was sold in such a store -- anything not on the shelf was usually just in the "back room." Patent medicine was
available to cure most ailments, but the storekeeper also could mix potions and powders for man and beast. The wall telephone was in
Bergman's store, Corrigan; the glass sundries case displayed fancy goods and frills in Davison's store, Livingston; and the post office unit
belonged to W. C. Fancher, Moscow.
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Cobbler - The boot sign in the window enabled those who
could not read to identify this craftsman's occupation. The lasts (or forms) provided the base for shaping shoes. The tall stand on the floor
is for boots. A cobbler could make or mend most leather products and frequently added to his income by making novelties for young
ladies such as drawstring bags decorated with bits of silver. (The large spur on the bottom shelf was found at the Swartwout crossing on
the Trinity and could be a relic from a Spanish expedition that traversed the county in 1745).
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Ox Yoke - Oxen were the main source of power
in early county logging camps. This yoke, made of blackgum and hickory, was used
by W. T. Carter & Bro.'s "Pat" and "Brandy," oxen weighing over 2,300 pounds each. The Carters used oxen in their timber operations
from 1880 to 1963. The man in charge of such a team was called a bullwhacker -- the bullwhip is in the cobbler's shop.
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