Women gather at an appliance showcase in the Bluebonnet region in the mid-1940s. Appliance shows like this, put on by the federal Rural Electrification Administration, drew large crowds across the country. Join us at our Annual Meeting on May 14 in Giddings to see a lineup of vintage appliances, our large appliance timeline and other nods to our 80th anniversary. The event is open to all Bluebonnet members.

BY ED CROWELL

When Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative powered the first light bulbs in rural Central Texas in 1939, the World’s Fair in New York was unveiling an all-electric home with a dazzling kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, electric range, dishwasher, coffee maker, garbage disposal, food mixer and an automatic toaster.

Title
A brief history of electric appliances

A vintage photo of one of The Luling Foundation’s early champion bulls

BY CLAYTON STROMBERGER

At the Luling Foundation, refining the production of the very best Angus cattle is done by combining detailed research and science’s latest tools. Here are a few interesting facts about the work:

Title
Building a better beef cow

Looking west toward Austin along U.S. 290 in Manor, traffic lights contribute to the congestion in the area. TxDOT doesn’t plan to eliminate them in the foreseeable future. However, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority said it is open to new talks about an extension of the tollway from U.S. 183 in Austin to several miles east of Manor. Photo by Ray Bitzkie

BY BEN WEAR

Dock Jackson grew up on the road to Houston. But back then, in the 1950s and 1960s, the “highway” from Austin to the coastal plains that passed through Bastrop was just a small-town street named Chestnut. From the front yard of his childhood home, Jackson could watch travelers making their heedless way through the town of about 3,000. After some time spent in Austin, Dallas and New York as a young man, he returned home and served 24 years on the Bastrop City Council.

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The stuck-in-traffic blues

Bluebonnet line workers in the 1940s take a break from their hazardous and backbreaking work in Giddings, original home to the co-op’s headquarters. From left, William Proske, Walter Urban and Winslow Zwerneman.

By Clayton Stromberger and Denise Gamino

If you were born at least fourscore and seven or so years ago, and grew up in these parts, you may remember what it was like in 1939.

No one was in a huge rush back then. The highway speed limit was 45 mph — lower for trucks. More than half the state was rural. Kids in the country rode a horse to confirmation class. Air conditioning meant opening a window or sitting on the front porch with a hand-held fan from church. Screen time was for when the mosquitoes came back. 

Title
The way we lived

Kicker
Printing a better building at Camp Swift
The largest 3D-printed building in North America is a 3,800-square-foot barracks that can house 72 military personnel at Bastrop County’s Camp Swift. The computer-guided machine that built the barracks was developed by Austin-based company ICON. (Laura Skelding photo)

Story by Ed Crowell

Military troops learn to live and sleep in unusual spots — from inside a desert foxhole to wedged between a rock and a hard place.

Now, some Texas soldiers will have an opportunity to rest, comfortably, in a revolutionary new barracks in Bastrop County.

At Camp Swift — the National Guard’s main training facility in Texas — some troops will sleep in the largest structure in North America built by a giant robotic 3D printer.

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3D barracks houses troops at Camp Swift