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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1982)
mm * M®** .™u m V THE PAST... Focus, The Battalion Friday, April 16, 1982 railhead m as tht center it a, built in rcognized rin in tlif '8 at the pros- for long, nee de- nomv oi 'edmucli te cotton ion 106. :ks iv Wood Photo by Diana Sultenfuss of bells — from — are for sale in one of and someone's desk Calvert's shops. Wednesday. So Calvert is a good place to go on Sundays. As Anderson said, "It's a fun town for people to poke around in." Clarissa Kimber, professor in the Department of Geography, has taken students on field trips to Calvert as part of a class on cultural geography. "We've just gone over to ex plore the land use within the city and surrounding area," Kimber said. They look at the "nice" re sidential areas as well as the not- so-nice, and the town's cemeter ies, Kimber said. Anderson opens her shop to the students on these trips, Kim ber said. "The merchants are in terested in having people know about the community," Kimber said. They all are willing to talk and have different stories to tell about their involvement in the community. The homes will be open at noon Saturday and 1 p.m. Sun day. Tickets for the tour are $5. An auction, organ recital, con certs and other activities are planned throughout the waeekend. Calvert is about 30 miles north of College Station on Highway 6. Photo by Diana Sultenfuss This is the old mercantile store cage, from the inside looking out. The cage has windows for a bookkeep er, the postmaster and others. It is used as a display for other pieces but isn't for sale. 11 signifi- he town 1920, the ant. ; back. It* [hire, a whole 'oodcock lopsand ain have >und the rn, own- antiques, aening 2 rom the follwed reet is n less, the iwn the ictually i collect e have Halved, ition is :h has home, ;wasa house, ovated :nt of lourth- i taste- re as a r from vused amily. have the bet- rid. is full of large the cage from antile store, n 1886. It was 11 Weevil from m. if has several n around Cal- en offered as ,o $8,000 for a r not for sale. 1, with its mas- i case of anti- place for se- md dedicated I buyers may |}$e more buy- ■eet at The Ox rm fire awaits rned by Wiley ho returned to after living in re,’' Mrs. Kirk .vanted to get ching a time iething fun." 3 be enjoying ing the day's itors to sit wd stove with i is located in mgstore, then '5 most of the r husband re- f various items .. interested in Cirk said. "He nk." husband that was "fun" said, but now is in business, tely amazed at ;ht," Mrs. Kirk Among the items in The Ox Cart is an oak ticket table used during the 1870s to hold bale tickets in a cotton gin. The price tag on the table is $1,500, but Mrs. Kirk said she doesn't really want to sell it. When the rain slows, the Kirks give a tour of a courtyard that connects their store with several others and with an un used carriage house. The courtyard has seen better days, but the Kirks have put plants out and are trying to clear out the weeds that have sprung up in the brick patio. Down the street, the old Masonic Hall has been con verted into an antique furniture store by Kim Gray. Gray travels to England every year to buy for the store. "The biggest part of our cus tomers are from Bryan or from Houston," Gray said. He and his wife have owned and re stored two of Calvert's old homes. "There's nothing like these old houses," Gray said. The Grays have given up the charm of Victorian homes for an easy-care brick house in Hous ton near their grandchildren. Their shop in Calvert is in a building that has housed a skat ing rink, garage and a rummage sale. It is now filled with old dressers, wardrobes and side boards. The Grays, Kirks and Ander son are always ready to talk to visitors about their historic town, but Calvert closes up on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Why? Simple. When Anderson opened The Boll Weevil, she played bridge on those days. So her store was closed. New stores followed suit, because the merchants didn't want to miss the lucrative weekend trade but wanted to have some time off. By mutual agreement, they stuck with Tuesday and ...TODAY —;— ■ Photo by Diana Sultenfuss This courtyard connects several stores on the east side Shop owners are trying to clean up the courtyard, of Main Street, between Highway 6 and the railroad. which has been unused for many years.