prairie point

Tricia’s costumed quilting demo last week netted an invitation for a repeat performance Saturday at a celebration in the neighboring town of Strawn. Once again I went along for the ride, armed with a stack of my native plant brochures.

The day started off with a parade and then we settled in on the porch of an old farmhouse overlooking the festivities on the grounds. Right away I could tell this one was not going to work out nearly as well as the one we did last week. For one thing it was hot and for another the emphasis here was a lot more on kids and activities than the one last week, which had an historical theme.

It did not take me long to get bored and I left Tricia at her post and wandered off, first to the downtown shops which were filled with lingering parade-watchers and then on a walking tour of the sights of the town.

For a town that boasts a population only a little over 700 on their city limit sign, this one seems rather lively. There are three sit-down restaurants plus a taco stand in a converted filling station. I visited four antique/gift stores, a candle-maker, a portrait shop (open only by appointment), and a store selling hand-made soaps. There was also a bank, a service station and even a grocery store in the little downtown area.

Something else that was remarkable to me was the number of big houses. There were six on the walking tour, and I passed another five or six that would qualify as mansions in my book. All of these were built early in the previous century, mostly with oil and ranch money. When I got home I checked on the population in those days and it was never more than 1200.

There are a number of other towns this size around here with less going on. I asked several people how to account for that. Some said it was because this town was on a highway. There is a small two-lane state highway that goes through town. But I’ve travelled that road many times and rarely encountered another vehicle. Another theory, for the number of restaurants at least, was that surrounding towns were dry. There is probably something to that.

I suspect that that highway through town was once part of the old Bankhead Highway, although I’ve never seen anything documenting that. I’ve visited remants of the Bankhead in the central part of the county and in the southwest corner. The road through Strawn is the most logical connection that exists today.