Bishop Early Days 1920s & 30s

May 14 - 16, 2010

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE IN BISHOP

IN THE 20’S AND 30’S

Articles from the files of the hometown newspaper, The Bishop News, were used by Jimmie Ruth

Picquet, Retired Director of the Conner Museum at Texas A&M University of Kingsville, to take

the members of the Harden Study Club back in time with a nostalgic presentation of the early

years in Bishop.

* * *

The layout of small town newspapers was interesting. In 1922, the weekly Bishop News generally

featured one story on the main event at school, another on any unusual church events, weddings

and birthday parties. The four-page paper covered the state of the crops, any weather that was

notable, and detailed descriptions of construction. The latter included homes being built and

enumerated the number of rooms and closets and built-in kitchen cabinets. Most houses were

described as “bungalows.” A trip to Corpus Christi was an adventure that merited a note in the

paper. The Bishop Civic League was a forerunner of the current Bishop Improvement Council. In

1922 a front-page item was a resolution by the president that the city enforce the ordinance

against loose livestock. The Civic League was promoting tourism and trying to get a Tourist

Campground established in the City Park—motels had not yet come into being.

Nobody mentioned sanitary facilities, as such an indelicate subject was not fit to print.

To encourage beautification in the park, the Civic League sponsored a Saturday Basket Picnic

Supper in the park which drew over 100 participants.

The Woman’s History Club, a most socially upscale study club, met twice a month for a program

and lavish refreshments. One meeting in March 1922 had a most interesting and timely program.

Spouses were invited, and a lively debate on the upcoming constitutional amendment to grant

women the vote was held. No doubt a few of the “debaters” continued on the way home. This

seems a bit odd, that anyone would be willing to take the “nay” side.

County Meet was the forerunner of our current U.I.L. contests, but it was organized by county,

and all the schools in the county competed. Seventy-odd years ago, nobody thought the students

in the Corpus Christi Schools could have an unfair advantage over those in Bishop or Driscoll,

and we weren’t surprised when Bishop won. Even in athletics, Bishop played against Corpus

Christi and Kingsville in all sports. One year Bishop beat Kingsville 7 to 6 in their regularly

scheduled football game. Kingsville was a mite disconcerted at the loss, and since both teams

had the same vacant date on their schedule, Kingsville asked for a rematch. On that day Bishop

beat Kingsville 12 to 6.

Among the cultural events most anticipated were the annual Chaauqua Programs. These

programs were calculated to bring speakers, musicians, and theater to the small towns.

The three to four days had both afternoon and evening programs, and an adult season ticket was

two dollars. The newspaper said that every home should have at least one season ticket.

The twenties and thirties were decades of high contrast—the Roaring Twenties were years of

plenty, with spending and partying and building the city, but there was a steady decline in

everything frivolous and “just for fun” after the crash in 1929. The only really deplorable aspect of

our past in those years was the racial and religious intolerance. In one issue, the Bishop News

referred to the “three English churches”—Baptist, Methodist, and Church of Christ. There was still

bitterness against those of German ancestry, for World War I was not long past. The newspaper

on June 2, 1925 celebrated the fact that the first Jewish graduate in the town’s history had just

finished Bishop High.

The word “bigot” seems to have been unknown for the Ku Klux Klan came back to life with a

vengeance in the early twenties.

* * *

This report reflects only the highlights of this outstanding program. It brought back many

memories to the fifteen or so members who heard the report. A lot of research and work was

involved in the preparation, and the group was most appreciative of the time Jimmie Ruth gave to

this presentation, which really demonstrated how far we have come both socially, economically,

and politically since Bishop was founded in 1910.

Bishop, Nueces County, Texas 1910 - 2010 One Hundred Years of South Texas Heritage!

Four acre Bishop City Park and lake ~1912