905 21st Street

We moved into this small home in Plano in January of 1954. It was blue then and the left side was a single car garage. Plano had less than 2000 residents. We were on the West side of town. I could stand in my yard and overlook the fields where a short distance away the North Central Expressway was still under construction.

Down the street lived the Murrays, Stouts and Dents. Across the alley lived the Smiths, Rapers and Walls. Next door to us lived the Capellas. I remember that he opened up a convenience store in Dallas called it Capellas but bought a sign that looked like Cabells. Remember the old rainbow signs? This way people would think that his store was a Cabells.

To a small child our house was huge. As I look at it now either I’ve gotten bigger or the house shrunk. The Mimosa tree (or maybe it’s a Bird of Paradise tree) in the front yard is still there, planted by my mom over 50 years ago. In the backyard are buried, Toby Joe, my faithful Cocker Spaniel and Mickey our Parakeet.

I’d walk down the block cross, the railway tracks and down the back road to Mendenhal Elementary School. The daily stop was Skaggs’s grocery just over the tracks. My mom never seemed to be concerned that we had to cross the old Highway 75 (K Avenue).

We had to be in by dark and spent many an evening running around catching fireflies in an old pickle jar in which we had punched a half dozen holes in the top with an old rusty nail. On a cool fall evening we could hear the sounds of the Plano High School Wildcat band practicing before the games at Rice Field.

I parachuted from the tree a block over. We canvassed the entire neighborhood at Halloween. I sold the neighbors “Grit” newspapers to make extra money. It was a simple time of youth; a time when life was carefree and there were few worries in life. Growing up in a small town may not have had all the limelight of big city living, but the memories will stay with me forever.

I’ll never forget the little house at 905 21^st Street in Plano.