'The Girvin Social Club'

[SHANEA]

http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18185017&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6

'The Girvin Social' club serves as backdrop for thwarting a terrorist attack
Ruth Campbell<br>Staff Writer
Midland Reporter-Telegram
04/09/2007

Staff Writer

In the past, writings by University of Texas of the Permian Basin Dean of the School of Education Ed Mills could be found in dry academic journals.

Now they can be found at your local library or Hastings in the form of a novel called "The Girvin Social Club."

"The Girvin Social Club" is based on the real place located between McCamey and Fort Stockton. The main characters frequent the club and one of the heroines works there.

"I've decided it's going to be a trilogy so this is the first of three," he said. "And the second one is on it's way."

It was actually his academic writing on keeping small schools alive that led him to write "The Girvin Social Club." Mills hails from Kansas City, Mo., but always had a love of rural areas. His office wall is adorned with photos of lone buildings on desolate plains.

"The nation is seeing a significant decline in small schools because of consolidation and shifting population trends," Mills said.

Visiting Permian Basin schools led him to Presidio, the southernmost district in Region 18, the area for which UTPB mainly provides teachers.

In talking to the Presidio superintendent, Mills realized how porous the Texas-Mexico border is. A footbridge between Presidio and its sister city Ojinaga is routinely used, unmonitored by U.S. authorities, Mills said.

Coming back from Presidio, Mills said he took a shortcut through Girvin and took a photo of the Girvin Social Club. The club has been closed for several years, but there are plans to reopen it -- tentatively -- April 14 with festivities from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Mills will have a book signing at the event and plans to bring a pile of books with him.

When Mills saw the club, the tale that would become his book came to him.

"It's a story about Texans who are honest and hardworking, people who (work) in the oil and gas fields in that area. As Texans have always done, they rose to the occasion and stopped a terrorist attack that came over the border," he said.

"Another piece of it is when my daughter was growing up, I find it not particularly easy to find writings about strong women. ... Strong women rise on both sides in the book. Texas has a strong tradition of brave, courageous men supported by strong women."

For the book he found himself researching oil and gas rigs and cesium bombs. A form of the substance, cesium 137, is used in construction for leveling gauges and moisture density gauges and it is also used to treat cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site.

"People that have read it like it," he said. "I think it's a very enjoyable read. It has an unexpected ending."

Carolyn Jennings, mother of the social club's new owner, Jason Jennings, is a satisfied reader. "The book's great," she said.

The backdrop for the next book is Horsehead Crossing, between Crane and Pecos counties along the Pecos River. The origin of the name Horsehead Crossing is well debated, but Mills aid Indians would use horse heads to set up ambushes along the river.

Through the years, Mills Texas has held a fascination for Mills. His uncle and namesake Guy Mills worked on the 101 Ranch prior to World War I.

The book was published about a month ago. To use the social club on the cover, he had to get permission from the owner. "I had a terrible time finding out who owned it," Mills said.

Coincidentally, Mills found Carolyn Jennings, UTPB administrative assistant to the dean of the school of business, recently purchased the club. "My son is an entrepreneur if there ever was one. I think it's great. To me, it's a fun thing," she said of his purchase.

"It's a neat little place. It's out in the middle of nowhere. It's like a family reunion every time you go."

Jennings, an electrical contractor and rancher, bought the club to preserve history for future generations. Girvin, population eight, currently has three buildings. In its heyday, it had 40,000 people, a hotel and general store.

"There are so many stories that go untold," Jennings said, adding cowboying is a dying way of life. "... America's moving at such a high pace right now. That fast pace that everything is traveling at is not my speed. My idea of a traffic jam is waiting for some sheep to cross the road."

Re-opening the social club, which will offer beer and St. Genevieve wine, will give him a chance to see a lot of different people, Jennings said.

"People everywhere know about the Girvin Social Club," he said.

"The thing for half a century has been a piece of life in this area," he added.

A ghost town since the Depression, Girvin is registered on the Texas list of registered ghost towns. Founded in 1911, it was the largest shipping point for cattle in the United States from 1912-1926 and a receiving point for oil and gas drilling supplies.

"I've never been inside. I stood at the windows and looked in. The tables are old wire spools and the seats were old bus seats," he said.
©MyWestTexas.com 2007

[bdann]

Never heard of Girvin...

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns/Girvin_Texas/Girvin_texas.htm

Girvin Social Club

(i'm sure they won't mind me linking to their photo)

[SHANEA]

Never heard of Girvin...

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns/Girvin_Texas/Girvin_texas.htm

Girvin Social Club

(i'm sure they won't mind me linking to their photo)

Actually, I've been there.  I was out wandering around looking for a spare tire last summer and wandered through there.   Let's load up and GO!

[Boojum1]

I've had occasion to work at the Rio Pecos power plant.  AEP mothballed or sold everything that wasn't coal fired when they acquired Cental and Southwest.

[Traces of Texas]

I thought about not bringing this topic back to the top of the forum but then I thought that it probably doesn't make much difference.

The article mentioned tentative plans to reopen the Girvin Social Club. Nevertheless, when I was out there last summer, it was closed.

About to head back out to West Texas in a week or so and I sure would like to visit and photograph this venerable institution. Does anybody have any idea whether, in fact, it ever re-opened or what the hours of business might be?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

TOT