DE LEON TEXAS

A Historical and Photographic Handbook of De Leon, Texas and Surrounding Communities

Welcome to the De Leon Handbook, a collection of historical facts, information, photographs and interesting trivia accumulated over a half century. The intent of this website is to preserve items on De Leon and its surrounding area and to make it easily available to everyone.  The site will be constantly updated with new material. Over a thousand pictures have already been scanned and will eventually be incorporated into this website.  Submissions and corrections are welcomed as the ultimate goal is to provide historically accurate De Leon material.  (Main Street November 1906).

DE LEON’S WALL OF RECALL

   The project began as an effort to get Coca Cola to refurbish one of its building signs and when it was discovered that one of the actual painters of the old Bright and Early Coffee ads lived in Desdemona, other well known products of yesteryear were added including Texas and Pacific Oil, Old Dutch Cleaner, Conoco, Burma Shave, Cooper Tires, Smith Brothers Cough Drops, and Lucky Strikes green.  The Burma Shave signs read, “Eat Some Melon,” “Have Some Fun,” “1st Week in August,” “in De Leon,” “Melons We Love,” “Peaches We Crave,” “Much Better Than,” “A Burma Shave.” 

    Sometime before 1900 when construction of what would eventually become the Wall of Recall was about 2/3 complete, A.E. Hampton overheard a man telling the builder that the wall was so uneven that it wouldn’t last long at all.  The builder responded that the wall would be standing for his great-grandchildren’s grandchildren.  He may well be right.

    The building may have been built by a Mr. Allen, a brickmason.  He helped build the Higginbotham building on the next corner south.

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