"Our Home" Hotel - Steam Heated and Air Cooled

-click to enlarge-

by Dr. Henry Outlaw

From the Baldwyn News dated May 7, 1970 after fire completely destroyed the hotel:

Just when the hotel was erected is a matter of conjecture. Some reported it was built in 1898. However, Mrs. Tom (Lavada) Gower tells us that the hotel was already constructed when her mother was married in December of 1885. In fact she tells that her mother always related to her that the trees near the hotel were planted or transplanted on her wedding day. She further adds that there were three Walker girls who had hands in the the hotel. First, Miss Hattie Walker, Miss Mannie Walker and Miss Laurie Walker.

Regardless of the age of the hotel, it was a familiar landmark to the people of this area for many years. During its heyday it was a mecca for traveling salesman, drummers and peddlers who traveled by train in the horse and buggy days to peddle their wares. Many came for miles to stay at this hostelry and travel to Kirkville, Pratt, Bethany, Jericho, Geeville, Wheeler and other communities to sell their goods. The traveling from Baldwyn was done by horse and buggies or on horseback using the services of the local livery stable.

Noted for its' fine meals, many people of this area made it a Sunday treat to come to Baldwyn to enjoy "Sunday Dinner" in the elegantly appointed dining room. Miss Laurie Walker operated the hotel for many years. Located just across the street from the hotel was the M and O Railroad. The hotel was a beehive of activity when six passenger trains a day passed through Baldwyn. George Pearce, the porter, met each of the incoming trains to assist travelers with their baggage. He pushed a two wheel cart to and from the railroad station to meet the trains.

The register at the hotel which was kept by George Pearce now rests at the Brice's Crossroads Museum in Baldwyn. It is noted in the register that George had a fine handwriting and entered the weather for the day when he opened each new page of the register.

The following clipping is from the Baldwyn Home Journal which was found in the papers of Miss Laurie Walker after her death and passed on to us by Mrs. R.B. Caldwell. While there is no date shown on the clipping, it is assumed that this is one of the wonderful meals prepared during the days the hotel was operated by Miss Laurie.

THANKSGIVING DINNER
OUR HOME HOTEL
BALDWYN, MISS.

MENU

Oyster Cocktail
Cream of Tomato Soup
Turkey with Oyster Dressing and Giblet Gravy
Cranberries, English Peas, Cream Potatoes, Escalloped Asparagus,
Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows, Pumpkins, Crystallized Apples, Peach Sweet Pickles,
Celery, Olives. Frozen Fruit Salad on Lettuce
Charlotte Rousse
Coconut Cake
Hot Rolls
Brown Bread
Crackers
Coffee and Milk

Price $1.00
Please make reservations by Wednesday.

The operators of the hotel passed on several years ago and now the hotel has gone up in smoke, but there are those who still remember the days when it was the center of activity in Baldwyn.
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Note: What appears to be George Pearce's two-wheeled cart is sitting near the west steps in the photo. The front of the hotel once faced the railroad, but was turned around to face the north for some reason. -CH

WBIP and the Greatest DJ

In the early 1950s, broadcast radio in Prentiss County and the Baldwyn area was as full of diversity as one could imagine. There were many low-power stations locally with a variety of programming, mostly our favorite music, ballgames, and local and national news. If we, as youngsters, had an old car to run around in, and if it had an AM radio, that was a real luxury (if it worked). We loved music.

The best pop music stations were in Tupelo, WTUP and WELO. A great station to listen to was WVOK in Birmingham "The Mighty 690" ( see http://wvok-memories.tripod.com/ ). WVOK played a variety music format in those days. Whatever was in the top twenty chart in the pop and country category- they played it.

The local country station most listened to was WBIP in Booneville. Many humorous words were put to the station call letters: "We Built In Pasture", "Watch Booneville's Ignorant Players" (ball teams), and others too numerous to mention. The top draw at WBIP was an afternoon after-school show hosted by Jack Gardner, a very well liked DJ who would read request letters from listeners wanting top tunes of the time played for named couples. He would read the names in each letter and we thought that it was really cool (more appropriately then, "far out") to have your name mentioned on the radio. Although some "spoof" letters pairing some couples that didn't want to be done as such was read, the end result was that it was a lot of fun anyway.

Jack would also host as emcee/DJ for events. Once (or more) he hosted a cakewalk at the Baldwyn gymnasium. He was also seen at ballgames with a telephone hookup calling plays for the station to air. These were for Booneville games, or for their games away, such as at our gym.

At that period in time, it was forbidden to say things on-air that we hear everyday now - NO four-letter words and some songs were modified as they were played. One notably was Carl Perkins' hit "Blue Suede Shoes". When he sang "drink my liquor from an old fruit jar" the word "liquor" had to be cut out and not heard in our dry world. Jack was a master at that. Instead of cutting the word off, he would cut the audio and say a word like "pop" or "cola" or a variety of other words. We all waited patiently to hear what he would say; it was different each time. Jack would always emphasize the name "Ruby" when he read it in a letter. He would draw out the first syllable very long (Rooooo-bee) and there were a lot of gals by that name in those days.

Jack was a victim of multiple sclerosis and was partly paralyzed, causing severe problems with his walk and movement which got much worse later in his life. He was as active as possible in the community but eventually became immobile. Many of you may remember his wife Hazel who worked at NEMJC(now NEMCC) until about 1976 before retiring.

After dusk, when stations increased power, tuning across the AM band resulted in more reception of far away signals. We listened to WOAI, San Antonio, WSM, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry station, KMOX, St. Louis, WBAP, Fort Worth/Dallas, and many, many others. But it was a lot more fun to listen to WBIP when your and your "main squeeze" names were mentioned over the air!

Betcha didn't know that Jack Gardner had a more famous cousin - "Brother Dave" Gardner, who had several comedy record albums with such funny stories as "The Motorcycle Riders" (Chuck and Miss Baby), "Driving the Governor" (I thought he wanted to race, so I shoved the gearshift up into R), "Little David and Goliath" (He killed the giant with a flat smooth "Red River Rock"), and others. Brother Dave is the only comedian that we ever heard make stone-faced Dewey Phillips on WHBQ in Memphis laugh.
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Thanks to Sue (Kimbrell) Honeycutt of Booneville who greatly assisted with some facts of this article.