The Garland Landmark Society, Inc.
Agriculture
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A threshing crew, probably photographed during the 'teens, worked among Garland wheat fields during the summer harvests. Cut and bundled wheat, stacked into shocks, was pitched into mule-drawn bundle wagons and hauled to a steam-powered thrasher to separate grain from the stalks. Children who did odd jobs or furnished water to the crew were sometimes referred to as "hauling monkeys."
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Longhorn
cattle were still frequent fixtures on the area farms during the decades around 1900, when livestock had given way to crops as the primary agricultural emphasis. This one was photographed on the G. W. James farm on Forest Lane at Garland Avenue.
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The Garland Cotton Oil Mill, shown here ca. 1910, was located beside the Katy tracks near the site of the present Main Post Office. Crushing cotton seed to produce oil used in products from soap to shortening, this operation represented the early transition of Garland's focus from agriculture to industry.
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The tractor enabled landowners to consolidate their small plots with tenant farmers into larger operations that could be farmed with fewer hands at reduced costs. Pictured here ca.1906 is an early Buffalo Springfield steam tractor engine, which could power hay presses or a threshing machine. Developing 30 hp or less, it is probably shown on the Robinson farm north of Buckingham Road between Jupiter and Plano Road
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The Lyles Gin, operating at the turn of the
century near the present intersection of Jupiter and Belt Line Roads, was one of the several serving local farmers at the time. The ginning process mechanically brushed out seeds and other debris from cotton balls, leaving lint, which could be spun into thread. Many gins included equipment for compressing the lint into bales of cotton, and some contained grist mills as well.
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The silo stores
harvested grain for cattle feeding. Maude and Millard Flook stand proudly in 1915 before their farm's new silo, located north of present Forest Lane opposite today's Kraft Food plant. The unit was reportedly erected in 7 hours, 45 minutes.
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Holstein
cattle, such as those shown
ca. 1915 grazing in the Garland area, produced milk for several small dairies operating around the community prior to WWII. The Dieterich Dairy was located off present-day Dairy Road.
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W. C. Kingsley reviews his Hereford cattle on the Kingsley Ranch ca. 1920. Located on high ground near his home, the stock pens would have been visible to the south of present Kingsley Rd. The wood lands behind Kingsley and his hands bordered the west bank of
Duck Creek along the route of present S. Glenbrook Dr.
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The
Ferris Watson Seed Co., which
established it's Garland operation in 1927, highlighted the transition from Garland's agricultural to it's industrial phase. Walter Watson, a son of the founder, is shown here in the 50s with employees processing cotton seed.
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The Onion Harvest was
almost complete on one of the Wynne family fields near the intersection of Obanion and Centerville Roads when this photo was snapped in the early '40s. Onions had been pulled, topped and bagged before hauling to the onion shed downtown.
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Onions
were grown extensively in this region during the '30s and '40s and consolidated in sheds awaiting shipment. Shown at left with a buyer about 1949 is G.L. Coon, a major local onion agent and grower. Around the sheds, located between 5th Street and the Santa Fe tracks at Avenue D, are seasonal workers, including migrants and local students. The one with strings through his belt loop is sewing the tops of the onion sacks to close them.
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Cotton provided significant income to Garland’s trading area from the arrival of railroads in 1886 through
WWII, after which production began grower Bob Merritt in one of his fields, occasional cotton farming marked time until the land was developed
into subdivisions.
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