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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1986)
— 3 — Old West rebuilt in nearby towns By Molly Pepper Staff Writer Without its splashy new paint job, Winkleman Village might look just like any deserted boom town. As it is, even driving by on Highway 290 at 55 m.p.h., it’s easy to see the town’s neither an tique nor abandoned. It’s actu ally an “old’' western amusement park without any rides. The village was founded by Ray Winkleman Jr. in 1984 for profit and for fun. Although some houses in the village are meant to be private residences, they are only for the people who work in the village, because the area is meant to be more of a tourist attraction than a community. The town isn’t finished yet but it does have some craft and an tique stores, a gourmet restau rant and an old-fashioned sa loon. Only a few of the stores are open now; most are waiting until Februaiy or March when tourists come to Texas to see the bluebonnets, and business be comes better. The saloon and restaurant are also closed until then and gearing up for the peak tourist season. Shopkeepers say business was good last year from March until September. In the spring the roadside by the village is a rain bow of different wild flowers, shopkeepers say, which brings people in from all around. Some of the structures in Winkleman Village are as old as they seem. Several of the shops are authentic antiques, brought in from all over Texas and re stored in Winkleman. Each shop has an index card tacked up by the door telling where the build ing came from. Other shops were built at the site. Local merchant Sarah Fleming savs the village was recently bought by Signature One, the conglomerate of business inves tors from Arizona who geared up Disnevland. The group has plans to revive the village starting in Februaiy, she says. In phase one of the revival pro ject, the new owners will sponsor 15 crowd-drawing events, in cluding a chili cook-off, a barbe- que and mock gun fights, Flem ing says. According to Fleming, Signature One is planning to open similiar villages in Florida and California. T he general store looks as it must have looked in the late 1800’s. Both side walls are lined with goods ranging from hats and jeans to groceries and homemade picante sauce. There’s even a pot bellied stove to gather around and play checkers or sit next to and talk. But no one does this anymore, according to Chappell Hill store owner, Harry Lesser. Chappell Hill is a small town 10 miles east of Brenham off the beaten path of Highway 290. The population numbers less than 200. It has one bank, one post office and a genuine general store. Two of the main attractions in the town are the Stagecoach Inn and Hariy Lesser’s General Store. Lesser, 92, is the third genera tion of Lessers to own the store, which he in turn, plans to pass on to his son. The store hasn't changed much since it was built in 1894, Lesser says. A. Circle K moved in further down the main street but Lesser hasn’t tried to compete with it by changing his store or what he sells there, and that includes his policy not to sell beer. He doesn't sell beer because he doesn’t ap prove of intoxication, he says. The Stagecoach Inn was origi nally built in 1850 by the town’s founder, Maiy Haller and her husband. The Inn provided com fortable lodging for stagecoach passengers. Soon after it was built, the Inn was sold and changed hands sev eral times until a couple from Houston, Harvin and Elizabeth Moore, bought it in 1976 and re stored it. Besides an interesting look, Chappell Hill has an interesting and different history — it’s one of the few towns in Texas that traces back to a woman. The woman was Maiy Har- groove Haller, builder of the Stagecoach Inn and wife of the owner of the local trading post. Married less than a year, she bought 100 acres of land while her husband was out of town buying supplies. She then laid out the town, named the streets and desig nated the lot sizes. The name Chappell was her mother’s maiden name and the addition of hill was obvious by the location. Soon after she started the city in 1847, Haller began a Method ist school of higher learning for men and women. Later the school was divided into Soul Uni versity for men and Chappell Hill Female Cniio H 0111 Un lef^y'omen. dosed T Use d to s ar,^ charter 0d ^ Ll ''iver s i^ S “«hernMe.h- Th e town has n allas - fy ^ar which h 7° festiv ak ev- rom all 0Ver •p ln S in tourists 0ne is the I • held in Octobw a H Cro "' Festival scarecrows i n Cnrn ° Uses display each other and at + P et ^ 0n with week > prizes are l le end ofthe best ones. aw arded for the The Bluebonnet v .■ ,n A Pnl while lI e n, ,Valisheld are in flower. Th c b Ue b°nnets in tourist from nfi esbva ^ brings