House Numbers in Tomball

Walking to my mailbox on the street I see the number “732” in large black letters. Glancing east I see the number 730. Then looking to the west I notice my neighbor’s box no. is 736. What happened to 734?

For more information I called our local historian, Lessie Upchurch. Before Tomball was established, mail was delivered by horse and buggy from the post office in Hufsmith. In 1908 or 1910 a post office was established in Tomball. Two early postmasters were Otto Hegar and Dr. Trichel – they shared the job, and the post office was in Dr. Trichel’s drug store. When I moved to Tomball in 1952 the post office was located in a brick building on the northeast corner of Main and North Elm, and Floyd Rose was Postmaster. Mail came by a train we called “dinkey” or “doodlebug.” It came twice a day. It was possible for me to order a part from Houston in the morning (they had twice a day delivery in the business section) and receive it that afternoon.

The city was soon large enough for home delivery but we had no house or business numbers. In the mid 1950s, maybe early 1960s, the recently organized Lion’s Club was looking for a community project. They undertook to number every house and business and furnish and install all of the numbers. I think the workers included Wesley Darnell, Joe Mahan and Monty Willis. Our carrier was Gordon Neal. He delivered all of the mail for many years on foot. Later households had to install a mailbox on the street and delivery to businesses was discontinued. The numbering of homes and businesses was turned over to the city and numbers were issued with building permits. My street, James, was cut through Teddy Vought’s cornfield. It runs from Alma to Pine 3 ½ blocks. They started counting from the railroad. Building on our street, the 7th block started from both the east and the west. My neighbor has 1 ½ lots and this gave me number 732. Development also started from the west, and when the block was fully developed the number 734 was not used.

First we had mail delivered to our door. If there was a package, Gordon rang the doorbell. Now the post office wants to discontinue delivery on Saturday. That’s progress?

How Do They Do That?

Recently I went to Wal-Mart to get refills for my pen. Glancing over I noticed a small stapler in a blister-pack. I like the small-size stapler, it takes up less space on my cluttered desk and most of my stapling is 2-3-4 sheets of paper. For more pages I use the larger American-made staples. It was a bright orange color that caught my eye. Then I noticed the price, $1.82 plus tax. I thought that might be a mistake, but there were 6 or 8 on the peg at that price. The pack included a box of 1,000 staples. The brand was “Swingline.” I splurged and bought the stapler.

The next time I worked at TEAM, I opened the package, which sometimes is a challenge. Sometimes the ladies that I work with bring me their blister packs to open.

The top and bottom were orange and the base was gray. Front to back was 2 ½ inches and height was 2 inches. There were five separate metal pieces plus the spring and the 1,000 staples, two pieces of cardboard printed in colors and the clear plastic container, all for $1.82 and tax.

I visualized the stapler being made from one of my previous cars or trucks. The vehicle might have been taken to the Houston Ship Channel area, crushed and put into a cargo ship which sailed through the Panama Canal and then to China, was loaded on a train and taken to a smelter furnace. The metal was then rolled into large rolls and shipped to the Swingline factory. There it was rolled thinner, punched into its five parts and nickel-plated. The spring was made from a spool of wire, tempered, plated and formed. The plastic may have been made from soybeans raised by my relatives in Nebraska. The cardboard may have been made from the newspapers and cardboard I take to the church recycle bin. The ink may have been made at one of the Channel industries. After assembly the staplers were boxed, put into a large container, placed on a railroad flatcar, taken to the seaport, and put on a container ship going to the West Coast. Here the container was placed on a train going to Bentonville, Arkansas, unloaded and placed in a truck going to Tomball, unloaded and placed on the peg at Wal-Mart, all for $1.82 and tax.

How do they do that?