As industrialism picked up in the 20th century, these wells and meeting places were sealed over and replaced with piped networks of water systems. However, one Mineola woman is bringing the town’s old well and Aermotor windmill back to life.
Sharon Chamblee, Mineola Historical Museum board chairwoman, spearheaded the museum’s newest exhibit, which she said recreates an integral part of Mineola’s past.
“I thought it should go back to where it needed to be,” she said. “You don’t think of Mineola without the water tower—it’s so much a part of our history.”
East Texans are invited to a “windmill raising” Aug. 6 at the museum on Pacific Street.
Along with the railroad, Mineola was well-known for its water and was referred to as “the forks of the river.”
With the Sabine River, Lake Fork Creek, Big Sandy and Little Sandy creeks, Wood County is interlaced with flowing streams.
While some homes in the mid-1880s had private water supplies, the city’s most famous was a public well at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Johnson Street, near the current chamber of commerce office.
Soon after opening the well, Mineola quickly became known for the mineral water found in it, which was uncovered by men drilling for salt circa 1890 after the salt dome in Grand Saline was discovered.
In 1896, community leaders decided to install a windmill to tap into the water to address the town’s growing water needs. They constructed a 60-foot tower and a 3,000-gallon cypress tank, as well as a watering trough for livestock.
Henry Beaird drilled the well 150 feet deep, according to museum research.
Around 1906, the city council voted to put a bell on top of the well, Mrs. Chamblee said.
If there was a fire, someone would run downtown and ring the bell to alert the public, she said.
In January 1913, the water was analyzed has having “sodic-bicarbonate-alkaline-saline content” that was believed to help acid dyspepsia, indigestion, rheumatism, gout and diabetes, according to museum research. It contained silica, iron, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate radical, bicarbonate, sulphate, nitrate and chlorine.
While locals took advantage of the water’s healing properties, the Texas and Pacific railroad crews would use it to replenish their tanks and people from the country journeyed for miles to fill jugs. At one time, the city shipped its mineral water across the country.
Although the modern-day replica will be half the size, about 32-feet-tall, Mrs. Chamblee said people driving on U.S. highways 80 or 69 through town will be able to see the windmill spinning from the southeast corner of the museum.
The exhibit’s Aermotor windmill was purchased for $5,000 from a residential development in Fredericksburg and the cypress tank was milled and cut in Dekalb, Texas.
Mrs. Chamblee said the recreation is as close to the original as they can get.
“It’s not exact, but it will explain the history of what it meant to Mineola,” she said.
J.C. Norris, chairman of the Mineola Meredith Foundation, which made the project possible, said the new exhibition “sounded like a good thing to remind people of how it used to be.”
“All of the pictures you see of the old city in the times past have the water well in it,” Norris said. “We hope it helps to bring the memory for people passing through of what it used to live like.”
He said any project that promotes Mineola is a good project.
Mrs. Chamblee said the water well was an integral part of Mineola’s past and even served as a gathering place for the community.
However, as time went on, the well was capped in 1924 and brick was laid over the intersection.
“There’s no telling where the pieces went or what they did with her,” Mrs. Chamblee said. “But we’re going to bring her back to life.”
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Information from: Tyler Morning Telegraph, http://www.tylerpaper.com
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AP-WF-07-24-11 1858GMT