Posted on by Royce Peterson

2021 Texas T Party – Temple TX Day 1

Things started today at 2:30 PM so the participants were well rested and the T’s were ready! After two years of anticipation we were finally going to do this one.

The 1914 touring just returned from filming at the movie set for “Killers of the Flower Moon” in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. A fresh oil change, polished the brass, and we were ready to tour. Temple was a great choice for this year’s T Party.
Our first stop was at the Temple Amtrack station which was built around 1911. It is still in use and has been fully restored. Nearby is a steam locomotive that frequented the area when it was new, a Baldwin 4-6-2 that was designed to run on oil, not coal.
The Baldwin engine served the Santa Fe Line until it was retired in 1952.
The railroad station in Temple, TX was built by the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad system in 1911. The town takes its name from the AT&SF surveyor Bernard Temple.
The architectural style is described as Prairie / Beaux Arts. A magnificent building indeed.
From The railway station we went on a driving tour of the historic mansions of Temple. This one was converted to office space and was slightly older than our 1914 T.
The yard behind the house was as interesting as the house.
Furniture was made out of rocks collected on the property combined with portland cement.
In the days before television, air conditioning, and birth control wealthy folks had huge families – and huge houses.
This mansion reportedly has 40 rooms and is enormous. The lot is something like 5 acres. Tennis courts and pools adorn the property.
Several of the mansions had a castle motif.
This one looked like it was probably built in the 1940’s – 1950’s but we loved the exotic Halloween decorations.
According to our tour team the hotel guests are 98 % Texas T Party. The parking lot tells the tale.