No Name Cafe No More...

[SHANEA]

http://tcnewsleader.com/news.htm#institution

County ‘institution’ to close

SANDERSON – The No Name Caf?, which has become a local “institution” since it opened a little over four years ago, will close its doors tomorrow, July 14.

 “We have enjoyed working with the public and appreciate the business we had,” owner Mike Armstrong told the News Leader. “Some of the customers will be missed.”

Armstrong said the restaurant will close because of “circumstances beyond our control.”

The caf? will open tomorrow morning but will close at 2 p.m.

The “No Name” was previously called “El Nopal” and “Leno’s” before that.

Eleno and Amelia Marques acquired the building in

the late 1950s. 
It was once a bakery and a restaurant/bar. At one time it was also called “Stetson’s.”

When asked if someone else was interested in opening the place, Marques said she would have no comment at this time.

[RichardM]

http://tcnewsleader.com/news.htm#institution[/url]"]
 “We have enjoyed working with the public and appreciate the business we had,” owner Mike Armstrong told the News Leader. “Some of the customers will be missed.”

Now there's a subtle way to say there's more to the story...

[BigBendHiker]

SANDERSON – The No Name Cafй, which has become a local “institution” since it

Oh no!  That was our standard eating place on our way to Big Bend.  Always stopped there.  The food was good and did not cost much.  



BBH

[presidio]

had,” owner Mike Armstrong told the News Leader. “Some of the customers will be missed.”

Now there's a subtle way to say there's more to the story...

Ah, a breath of fresh air. The customer is not always right.

[chisos muse]

Ah, a breath of fresh air. The customer is not always right.

Yup.....I was just talking to my coworkers today about the essay (perhaps book) that I am thinking of writing called "Holding America's Hand", about the living nightmare that the service industry has created over the years....don't get me started! :lol:

[Ray52]

Dissapointing news.  I left the park late one afternoon with plans to stop in Marathon to eat before driving east to Del Rio.  But when I got to Marathon, everything was closed, and I pushed on to Sanderson for my one, and now I know, only dining experience at the No-Name Cafe.  It was a unique place and I'm glad I had the chance to try it.

[BigBendHiker]

Dissapointing news.  I left the park late one afternoon with plans to stop in Marathon to eat before driving east to Del Rio.  But when I got to Marathon, everything was closed, and I pushed on to Sanderson for my one, and now I know, only dining experience at the No-Name Cafe.  It was a unique place and I'm glad I had the chance to try it.

Hi Ray52!
Agree...it was a unique place and the food was great.  I always liked looking at the pencil drawing on the wall in the back dining area.  That drawing seemed to convey alot of the history of the area.  

Speaking of the history of that town, when you would walk out of the restaurant, there was an old 2 (or 3) story building across the road from it.  Looked like an old mercantile store and it had a name (like a family name) across the top of it.  I'll bet if that building could talk, what stories it could tell...


BBH

[SHANEA]

Perhaps a place to replace the No Name Cafe?

http://www.tcnewsleader.com/

Aurora’s market continues to grow
SANDERSON – Aurora’s Market in Sanderson continues to expand to meet the demands of what many hope are signs the community is beginning to grow.

Sanderson has been figuratively licking its wounds for several years now after suffering from a devastating flood in 1965 and the closing of the town as a station on the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995.

Along the way, there was the end of the federal Mohair subsidies and a general decline in ranching.

But Aurora’s is just one sign the town is beginning to put its woes behind.

Terrell County recently hired AdventGX of College Station to put together an economic development plan based on tourism and new families are moving in to man the new US Border Patrol Station that recently opened in Lomita Terrace in West Sanderson.

Aurora, who sold fruits and vegetables from a tiny store on Third Street for many years, acquired the grocery store from Chago Flores about two years ago.

The Flores family had operated a grocery store there for many years.

Abrigo has since expanded the market by turning a coin-operated laundry into additional retail space and adding several gift items to her inventory.

Matt Lusk was seen recently building an addition to the west side of the grocery store to house a “picnic area” plus some more space for retail and/or additional living space.

“It’s going to be a while,” Abrigo said. “We are working on it day by day.

“But we plan to have a place where we can have a barbecue on weekends and people can sit out there and visit.”

She also plans a cactus garden and a fence made of ocotillo plants.

“After all, we are the Cactus Capital of Texas,” she said.

Lusk said he was working alone on the project.

“This is my art work,” he said. “I don’t want anyone else messing with it.”

[SHANEA]

At approximately five minutes after seven o'clock early Friday morning on the eleventh of June 1965, a flash flood tore through the small town of Sanderson, Texas. The disaster hit while most people were either getting up for breakfast or conversing over a cup of coffee in one of the local cafes. A fifteen foot wall of water slashed its way through the awakening community and broadened into a quarter mile path of chaos and destruction. Entire city blocks were washed away as the powerful hydrolics demolished wood frame and adobe structures as if they were composed of cheap pottery.

https://www.sulross.edu/~cbbs/flood.html

On June 11, 1965, Sanderson was devastated by a flash flood. A wall of water roared down Sanderson Canyon into Sanderson, destroying numerous homes and businesses. Twenty-four people died in the flood. Eleven flood-control dams were constructed to protect Sanderson against another such catastrophe. The region is devoted to the raising of livestock, including cattle, horses, polo ponies, burros, sheep, and Angora goats. In 1970 over one million pounds of wool and mohair were shipped out of Sanderson. The town had a population of 1,500 in 1980 and 1,128 in 1990. The population dropped to 861 in 2000.

http://tinyurl.com/3aojw2

Sanderson area holds many exotic sights

Last week, I wrote about the beauty of the Sanderson area
some 120 miles or so south-southeast of Pecos. As I
mentioned, there is something I found there that amazed me.

As you drive into Sanderson from just about any direction,
have you noticed the dams across the draws between hills and
mountains? Has that made you wonder about why there are dams
in the middle of the desert?

I asked that question one day during a visit to a friend of
mine, Albert Gilbreath, owner, editor & publisher for the
past 50 years of the Sanderson Times.

Gilbreath has been a long time friend and is well known as
"Mr. Sanderson" for his love and promotion of Sanderson. If
you want to know any thing about Sanderson or Terrell
County, ask him and more than likely he can tell you
everything you want to know.

Such was the case when I asked him about the dams. That was
because of the flood of 1965, he responded. As a weather
fanatic and storm follower, I wasn't aware of that flood but
it turns out it occurred during a time my Air Force wing was
in Guam bombing Vietnam so that's the reason I missed out on
this particular occurrence.

That flood took 26 lives and caused devastation that is
still evident in Sanderson. Who could imagine a flood of
that magnitude in the desert? I certainly couldn't.

Gilbreath loaded me into his pickup and we took a drive
around Sanderson as he described what had happened. Rain had
fallen throughout the Sanderson Canyon area the day and
night before. The Sanderson Canyon area stretches far to the
west and north from Sanderson, almost all the way to Alpine
on the west and Fort Stockton on the north.

In some areas as much as nine inches had fallen. Much of
that rainfall had gone unreported and was not totally
predicted as most of that area is sparsely inhabited.

In a very unlikely occurrence and one that probably won't
happen again for who knows how long, the waters from the
surrounding areas converged on Sanderson about 7 a.m. the
morning of June 12, 1965, catching many people in bed. The
flood waters ran along the railroad, wiping out many
buildings in that path, uprooting the railroad and highway.

It swept away a motel and its inhabitants. The body of a
baby in the motel was found several days later in Eagle
Pass, some 130 or so miles away.

Of the 26 who died, 16 were children. Two of the bodies were
never found. A report on the flood says "Many of the flood
victims were swept away by the rushing waters as they tried
vainly to reach safety. Four children were washed out of a
tree, unable to hold on against the raging waters. Three
person were washed off the bridge on Sanderson Canyon at
Fifth Street as they attempted to cross the bridge in their
automobile.

"Flood waters cut a swath through the cemetery, uncovering
graves and washing bodies and headstones miles downstream."

Gilbreath was the justice of the peace and coroner at the
time and it's an experience he will never forget. A survey
showed 54 homes were destroyed and 169 were damaged. Several
businesses were destroyed or damaged extensively along with
transportation facilities (railroad and highway). Damage was
said to exceed $l.58 million.

Foundations of buildings destroyed by the flood are still
there so it is evident where the flood waters in excess of
seven foot deep were.
That's the reason for the 10 dams around Sanderson, to make
sure this tragedy doesn't happen again.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac McKinnon is the Editor and Publisher of
the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears each Friday. He
can be e-mailed at: bigmac@bitstreet.com

http://www.pecos.net/news/arch98/012398o.htm