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Edna |
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In an election of January 22, 1883,
residents voted to make Edna the county seat in place of Texana. The
contract for a new courthouse was awarded on February 11, 1884. A
post office opened in 1886. The first church congregations in Edna
were the Methodist and Presbyterian, whose memberships moved from
Texana almost intact. The latter brought their 1859 sanctuary with
them overland eight miles. It was also used by other denominations
for worship services. The oldest public building remaining in the
county, the Texana Presbyterian Church, has been restored and serves
in Edna as an area cultural center. It is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places and is a recorded Texas historic
landmark. The first newspaper in Edna was the Jackson County
Progress. The newspaper plant, along with a large part of the
business district, was destroyed in 1906 in the town's second
disastrous fire. Succeeding the Progress was the Edna
Herald, first published on November 22, 1906. Edna is the gateway to 11,000-acre Lake
Texana, which covers the site of Texana. The city has a hospital,
convalescent home, library, museum, city park with swimming pool,
three banks, two savings and loan associations, a country club with
a nine-hole golf course, and Oak Creek Village, a retirement
community. It is the center of a prosperous agricultural area with
petroleum and natural gas production and has an active chamber of
commerce, oilfield service industries, and two grain elevators. Edna
had a population of 1,000 in 1896. By 1929 residents numbered 2,500
and by 1958, an estimated 6,500. In 1990 the population was 5,343.
History from the Handbook of Texas Online |
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NEW SCULPTURE IN EDNA The Edna High School class of 1968 presented their hometown with a large bronze Cowboy sculpture that is already catching lots of eyes. On Wednesday, Aug. 3, the sculpture was lifted and placed on a stand at 816 N. Wells, on the side of Interstate 59. Two days later a Cowboy Pride Dedication was held at the same place. Patt Schiewitz and Douglas Clark, both class of ‘68, came together and figured out the idea for the sculpture.
Clark is the owner of Douglas Clark Art in Edinburg. The website douglasclarkart.com has many examples of his amazing work and lists him as an “internationally acclaimed artist.” With Clark being an Edna native, he was able to put a lot of personal pride into the sculpture and what he made is spectacular. “Patt offered to pay for a lot of the materials if I would build the sculpture,” Clark continued. “He wanted a much smaller size and I wanted it larger. In sculptures, when you place it outdoors, they visually look smaller than they really are. If you want to make a sculpture of a person that looks life-sized, he needs to be eight feet tall when you put him outside. This one needed to be more than one-and-a-half the size, so this one is two-and-a half life-size and it will show up a lot better than a smaller one would.” As with most new things that are new and attention-grabbing, exaggerated words of the sculpture’s size started making the rounds. “Word has gotten out this is 39 feet tall, but it is not,” Schiewitz explained. “It is 16 feet tall with a six foot base. It is also two-and-a-half tons, not five tons like people are saying.” So how did Schiewitz and Clark come up with the idea? “John Summer, our principal is really the one that came up with the idea,” Schiewitz said. “Not the idea of the sculpture though. He told us to do something for the city that people will be proud of and will remember. It was his motivation from years ago that prompted us to do this. He probably thought we forgot about it. We wanted to give back to the community so we thought, why not do something like this.” After the two men came up with what they wanted to present the City, Clark started working on, between other projects. “I fiddled around with it for about three years,” Clark explained. “It should have taken less than one but I had some setbacks.” Clark was formally a professor in sculpture at the University of Texas but retired and is now doing sculptures full time. With a project of this magnitude, Clark had to do a little extra work on the side. At the Cowboy Pride Dedication, Adysen Malek sang, the Edna High School Cowboy band played, and members of the community spoke about the sculpture, honoring Joe Hermes “for his numerous hours and years worked toward the betterment of the community he loves,” the pamphlet said. If you have yet to see the sculpture, when you are heading out on Hwy 111 or on the overpass at 59 and 111, you will see the sculpture standing tall, a symbol of pride for all Edna Cowboys past, present, and future.
Jackson County Herald Tribune,
August 10 2022 |
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The Cowboy is the Edna High School mascot. A dedication for the sculpture was held Friday morning. “I was fortunate in all the times that I ran for office that I never lost,” Hermes said in front of the attendees. “That for Edna, Texas, is an amazing thing. I owe my success to the people who put me in this position.” Hermes and friend Patt Schiewitz came up with the idea to build a statue in Edna over three years ago. Edna native Douglas Clark was tasked with sculpting the artwork. When completed, the sculpture weighed 6 tons and stood 16 feet tall, Schiewitz said. “I’d like to thank the city council of Edna for allowing this sculpture to come here because something of this size and mass doesn’t just appear,” Schiewitz said. Current Edna Mayor Lance Smiga said prior to the ceremony he felt honored to succeed his popular predecessor. “I like to say that Joe is the true mayor of Edna and I’m just his stand-in,” he said. On the base the sculpture is a plaque listing the artwork’s sponsors, which include the Edna High School Class of 1968, the Floyd and Brodie Schiewitz Foundation and the sculptor, Clark. “I’m proud to be from Edna,” Clark said. “It was great to grow up here and go through Edna High School. A lot of people have molded me into an artist.” During the dedication, the Edna High School Cowboy Band and musician Adysen Malek played songs for the crowd. In his speech, Hermes told the crowd he was thankful for all the experiences he and his family have had in Edna over the years. “It’s been a great life here in Edna,” Hermes said. “My children got to have the same childhood that I had and that was really important to me.”
Victoria Advocate, August 6, 2022 |
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It is not possible at this date to give the exact cost of the building due to the fact that the city still has refunds on unused materials yet to be received and the exact amount of these have not been determined. However, a figure, and one which those refunds will reduce somewhat, is $65,000.00. When bids were taken on the building the low bid was approximately $57,000.00. After the bids had been submitted, the fire department felt that it was not being adequately taken care of in the plans as submitted for bids, consequently, the plans by which the building was built were changed, and an enlarged firemen’s meeting and recreation room was added at an estimated cost of $8,000.00 which would have increased the lowest bid to approximately $65,000.00. The building has been paid for in the following manner: Funds available from bond issue and utilities franchises and gross receipts $52,000.00; short term loan from Jackson County State Bank, $8,000.00, and the City’s General Fund the remainder. The city government felt that it could affect some savings on the building by building it under a fixed free contract. However, ever increasing material and labor costs counter balanced such savings as were made. It is hoped that the local civic organizations will avail themselves the use of the available room for any meetings they wish to hold as this is a municipal building, the first one Edna has had in her history. Mr. Howard Berry, the contractor, who has had the contract for the extension of the water system, has been promised the pipe for this work within 30 days. Failure of delivery of this pipe has held up this work over a year and this work has held up the retopping of the streets for which a $17,000.00 bond issue was voted some time ago. The street work has been held up so the water lines could be laid before the new topping was put on thus not making it necessary to cut through the newly topped streets where the new water line ran. Harrry Mauritz, Mayor
Edna Weekly Herald,
April 29, 1948 |
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Copyright 2018-
Present by Carol Sue Gibbs |
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| Created Apr 19, 2018 |
Updated Aug 24, 2018 |