The birth of a Texas ghost town [electronic resource] : Thurber, 1886-1933 / Mary Jane Gentry ; edited and with an introduction by T. Lindsay Baker ; foreword by Larry Gatlin.

Cover image for The birth of a Texas ghost town [electronic resource] : Thurber, 1886-1933 / Mary Jane Gentry ; edited and with an introduction by T. Lindsay Baker ; foreword by Larry Gatlin.

ISBN:

9781603443975

Title:

The birth of a Texas ghost town [electronic resource] : Thurber, 1886-1933 / Mary Jane Gentry ; edited and with an introduction by T. Lindsay Baker ; foreword by Larry Gatlin.

Author:

Gentry, Mary Jane, 1912-1996.

Personal Author:

Gentry, Mary Jane, 1912-1996.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xl, 205 pages) : illustrations.

Series:

Tarleton State University southwestern studies in the humanities ; no. 22

Contents:

Editor's Introduction: Mary Jane Gentry and Her History of Thurber Coal and Brick Labor Difficulties Texas Pacific Mercantile & Manufacturing Company Living Conditions Recreation Foreign Population Abandonment

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Ghost towns -- Texas -- History.

Immigrants -- Texas -- Thurber -- Social life and customs.

Coal miners -- Texas -- Thurber -- History.

Coal trade -- Texas -- Thurber -- History.

Brick trade -- Texas -- Thurber -- History.

Geographic Term:

Thurber (Tex.) -- History.

Thurber (Tex.) -- Social life and customs.

Thurber (Tex.) -- Ethnic relations.

Thurber (Tex.) -- Economic conditions.

Added Author:

Baker, T. Lindsay.

Gatlin, Larry.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2008

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
976.4551 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In its heyday, Thurber was home to coal miners and brick plant workers from Italy, Poland, and as many as fourteen other European nations, not to mention the many Mexican immigrants who came to the area. In this, her master's thesis, Mary Jane Gentry, who started the first grade in Thurber and graduated as valedictorian of its high school in 1930, records first-hand memories of the town's vibrant charm.
Now edited and with an introduction by T. Lindsay Baker, Gentry's lively history of the rise and decline of a Texas coal town provides a unique window into a bygone era. Her narrative of rancorous labor disputes, corporate machinations, and the eventual shuttering of the plants and virtual disappearance of the once-thriving town will allow Thurber to live again, if only in the minds of her readers.