Riverside Texas history

Riverside Texas history. As promised I am finally getting around to posting another in a series of articles on the early history of the Trinity River and the Riverside area. As I mentioned before, I have 5 generations of family history tied to this area and I am trying to share what I know about the early Riverside Texas history.

Riverside Texas history

Today I want to share a photo of and old store that still stands in Riverside.

This store was one of the main places of trade for the early residents in and around Riverside. I don’t know the exact date that this photograph was taken. Back in the early days most general stores kept customer accounts and folks paid whenever they could afford it. Hard times usually meant hard times for the store owners. Thus it was also common to see “cash stores” which was a way of letting folks know that all sales where for cash only and no accounts were kept. As a kid in the early 60’s I remember very well going to this store with my Dad and sitting outside drinking an orange soda on the bench that the two men are setting on in the photograph. Next to it was an ice crusher machine which was a source of fascination and fear for a young boy! It was common back then for ice to be sold in blocks and thus the machine would chew up the ice blocks and you would place your cooler next to it and fill it.

Another neat thing in the photo is the bench that the men are setting on. It was an old Butternut Bread bench. The seat would fold up and every night a delivery truck would roll up and deliver bread from the bakery and place the bread in a compartment under the seat of the bench. I have that actual bench  at my home and it is a source of nostalgia and pride on my porch. How times have changed!

The next installment I will show some old photos of the famous railroad turning bridge that still spans the river and give you the original history of the bridge and how it was constructed.

You can read more about the source of the Trinity River here.