Madison County Museum is sure worth your time to visit! Our community does not have an abundance of free entertainment or other museums. In case the hours aren’t good for you, the Museum also has a Facebook page. God willing, there is a new photo each morning, of something of some folks who have been part of our county’s history. If you haven’t been following the page, you should check it out and scroll back through past posts. I work at posting something to interest everyone sooner or later, be it big fish, a rattlesnake, a bobcat, or old friends.

As far as the real Museum goes, maybe you don’t know what you are missing. Currently, we have a new exhibit honoring Cecil Neely, focusing on his military career. We have photos, uniforms, medals, and more, from this great man that reached brigadier general status before retiring. The items are on loan from his family and won’t be on display after June arrives, so don’t delay!

Another display honors Truman Kimbro, one of our own who served in the Army and died in World War II. He received the prestigious Medal of Honor, which you can see along with his many other medals.

We have some fascinating arrowheads, and facts and antique photos of local communities. There are photos of and artifacts from our five previous courthouses. We even have a piece of the first oil pipeline ever laid in the United States! There are two lovely quilts, a BIG Longhorn head, MSCA photos and memorabilia, and much more! An old manual typewriter sits near the front door, not looking too old to me, and it fascinated my granddaughter!

We also offer some items for sale, though no old or donated items. Madison County, Texas, Volume II, will cost you $75. The Pictorial History of Madison County is $35, and the 2009 and 2016 cookbooks compiled locally are $10 each. My favorite item is Madison County Memories Volume 1, also for $10. It is full of short fun stories, some of which I shared in earlier Musings.

I love that Memories book, and the Neely exhibit made me think of past wartimes. In some earlier Musings, I shared stories from that book, and I am doing so again below. This first one, entitled “Madison County Folk Help Young People”, was written by the late Andy Clark.

“My father, Hugh Clark, was the first Madison County man with a business and a family to be drafted into service during World War II. He left during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, 1942. My sister, Neva Catherine, was in the fourth grade, and I was about 5-years-old. My father was stationed in Bastrop, Texas, for the first few weeks of his training. Every Friday morning, my mother, Jo Anderson Clark, and I would take Neva Catherine to school, and then we would head out for Bastrop to bring my father home for a weekend visit.

My parents had a 1941 automobile that was in good shape, but tires were rationed. We had to use synthetic tires on our trip to Bastrop, and it took four tires per trip, thus eight tires per weekend. Every Monday morning, my mother went to Buddy Wakefield’s service station, which was located at the intersection of Highway 75 and 21. She purchased eight new tires in preparation for the Friday trip. Finally, it got too expensive to go every weekend. So, my father and some of his Army buddies rented a large old home in Bastrop, Texas. Each family took a bedroom in the house, and everyone shared the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. There were women and children from all over the United States living in that house. For a while, my mother and I lived there to get near my father before he was shipped overseas. When the Army finished training that cycle of soldiers, they shipped them to New Jersey to await a troop ship bound for the battlefields of Europe.

My mother and the other wives all decided they wanted to go to New Jersey for one last visit with their husbands. There were many problems to overcome before the trip was possible, but gasoline was the major one. My mother went to the Sheriff of Madison County, Rodney Chambless (Sr.), and told him of the problem and asked for his advice. He gave my mother the use of his county rationing coupon book for gasoline and told her to be careful with the coupons and the book. He also told her to share the rationing coupons with the other wives who were trying to return home or to visit their husbands before they went to the battlefields.

The trip was made, but they did not get to see their loved ones. The Army had already shipped them to the European front the day before the women arrived in New Jersey.

My father returned home from the war in 1946. He and my mother owned and operated Modern Cleaners for many years. They always considered Rodney Chambless to be a good friend because of the kindness and concern he showed my mother and the other Army wives when they really needed some help.”

Earl Parker also wrote for the Memories book and entitled one essay “Madison County in WWII”. I’m not sharing it all here or I’ll get too long, but following are pieces.

“I remember that everyone seemed to be a part of the war effort, many of the young men leaving Madisonville right out of high school. People were leaving small towns to work in aircraft factories. There was this big bin located on the square where we took our old aluminum pots and pans. The kids would throw a pot in the bin and say, “Bombs for Japan.” At some point we were given movie tickets for those pots and pans. That was about a nine-cent value. The movies were mostly westerns, but sometimes would be war movies. Hollywood was good about making movies that made our side look like we were always winning. Regardless what kind of movie was showing, we always had a cartoon and a short newsreel. It was the newsreel that kept us up on what was happening in the war.”

“I remember a troop of soldiers from Great Britain camping west of town in what was known as the CCC campgrounds. They would walk around town, and it was funny to listen to them talk. Once, three or four walked by my house on Collard Street, and Mother offered them lemonade. We sat on the front porch and listened to that British accent until dark.

Another airplane incident was a tragedy. As I remember, it was a naval trainer plane that crashed just west of the current location of the First Baptist Church. I wanted to ride my bicycle to see the crash site. Mother would not let me go. She didn’t want me to see the crash where two young servicemen had been killed.”

Before reading Earl’s composition, I never knew about British servicemen here during World War II or a trainer plane ever crashing near here. Did you? Like I said, the Memories book is well worth the $10 price! Museum visits are even a better bargain, FREE!

Madison County Museum, located at 201 North Madison Street, is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The mailing address is P.O. Box 61, Madisonville, TX 77864, and the telephone number is 936.348.5230. You also might enjoy the Madison County Museum Facebook page, which we try to keep busy with old photos and facts.