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More than a burger
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More than a burger

Crow's Cafe offered full meals and also served as Belton's bus station for many years.

Jul 16
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More than a burger
www.ourtowntempletx.com

The former Crow’s Cafe and Belton Bus Station. Courtesy photo

DENISE KARIMKHANI | July 15, 2022

Crow’s Café, in some form or fashion, has been a Belton fixture since at least 1928 and for many years it was located in the same building as the Greyhound Bus Station.

A Belton Journal ad from 1928 encouraged readers to “Ride the Greyhounds Through the Heart of Texas” and informed them that schedule booklets and tickets were available from the station agent located at Crow’s Lunch Stand. Southland-Red Ball Motorbus Co. and later Southland Greyhound Lines operated the buses.

Marvin Ellis Crow and Minnie Louise Muehlhause married in 1921, and by 1930 the Crows were the owners of a lunch stand as reported in the Census of the United States. In 1931, Mr. Crow built a new building in the Art Deco style just north of the post office on Main Street. The fire-proof building was constructed of concrete and stucco and of sufficient size to accommodate bus patrons. The building features unusual octagonal windows on either side of the entry and large aluminum door handles on the main doors.

Crow’s Café advertised “The Best Dinners in Texas” and served a variety of foods from steaks and chops to fish and oysters. Sandwiches, stew, salads, homemade pies and ice cream completed the available menu options.

Hungry bus passengers could have a quick bite without leaving the building. Crow’s motto was “We never close.”

Mr. and Mrs. Crow divorced in 1941; however, Mr. Crow continued to operate both businesses. During World War II, building activity in Belton picked up in anticipation of better, peaceful times to come.  Significant improvements were made to Crow’s Café and the bus terminal. Mr. Crow added a new two-story kitchen and erected a covered driveway with concrete floor for the bus line.

Instead of unloading passengers in front of the café, buses entered from an entrance on Second Avenue, allowing passengers to disembark under shelter from the weather and away from city traffic.

Marvin Crow died in 1945. In 1947 the café was leased to Leeman Melton while Mrs. Crow and L. A. Stringer operated the bus terminal. In 1949, Marvin Crow Jr. assumed management of the business. Some improvements were made, and more were planned for a later time.

A new asphalt tile floor was laid, and a new refrigerator and electric water fountain were added. Mrs. Crow and L. A. Stringer continued to manage the bus station.  In 1950, when Marvin Crow Jr. decided to leave Belton to pursue other opportunities, Mrs. Crow purchased her son’s interest in the business. But by 1951, Marvin Crow Jr. was back in Belton operating a new drive-in on Sixth Avenue. “Marvin’s” served a complete line of hamburgers, hot dogs, Coney Islands, and root beer.

In the 1990s, Marvin Crow Jr. wrote a column for the Belton Journal entitled "Crow's Cafe" in which he reminisced about days gone by. Crow told of one Independence Day celebration during the war that was rather humorous.

When the parade started, the employees of Crow's stood in the street and watched the parade "until the horses came down the hill." Then they went inside the cafe and began cooking hamburgers and chicken fried steak.

During the war, each Greyhound Bus schedule had five buses. All the buses had to stop outside town until the parade was over; then, within five minutes of each other, all 10 buses rolled into the bus station. All the buses were full, with as many as 50 passengers per bus. Crow's special, "The Best 35 Cent Dinner in Texas" was in demand as well as restrooms at all the nearby gas stations!

Mrs. Crow died in 1975, and her son, Marvin, died in 1999. A new Belton bus station was built at the intersection of Interstate 35 and East Central Ave. On Nov. 28, 1977, R. W. Copeland drove the first bus into the new station. Bus lines served were Southwestern Transit, Greyhound, and Arrow Coach.

The Crows passed on, but the tradition of quality food lives on at “Crow’s Burger Shop” in Belton and Temple. The building that once was the Greyhound Bus Terminal and Crow’s Café is now occupied by the Bell County Engineer.

Marvin and Minnie Crow. Courtesy photo


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Las Voces to perform Temple concert

DAVID STONE | July 15, 2022

The debut performance of local choral group Las Voces will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, at Christ Episcopal Church in Temple.

The group consists of 16 accomplished vocalists from Central Texas, including many choir directors from area schools.

“We currently have 16 members and they all perform on a very high level,” said Ashley Carter, director and founder of the group. “Las Voces is Spanish for The Voices. I have a dream to elevate the choral art in Central Texas, and a big part of our community is Spanish speaking.”

The group will be performing the Faure Requiem at the concert, along with short works by film composer Christopher Tin, Jeanette Gallant, and Moses Hogan, the famed composer of spirituals.

“We will be accompanied by Dr. Leon Couch, the organist at Christ Episcopal Church, and other local musicians,” Carter said.

“We formed Las Voces in January of this year and we had our first rehearsal over Easter weekend,” she said. “The requiem will be performed in Latin — it’s a beautiful piece.”

Tickets and additional information are available at LasVocesDebut.eventbrite.com.

“We are working on other concerts as well, including a performance around Halloween that will be in German,” she said. “This is an auditioned chorus, and we welcome newcomers. If you would like to audition, please call me (254.350.3118).”


Cars for a Cause

Featuring a car show, barbecue, an auction and live music, Cars for a Cause is raising money today to benefit the Robb Elementary Memorial Fund in Uvalde. The event is being held until 4 p.m. today (Saturday) at 23330 SE Dodgen Loop next to Emporium Spice. The location is the future home of Pustka Family Barbecue. While the business will eventually be located in the building at the location, they will be operating out of a trailer starting Monday. David Stone photos


Saturday, July 16

  • Amanda Brown live at Barrow Brewing Co. 8 p.m.

  • Cars for a Cause. A car show and fundraiser for Robb Elementary Memorial Fund in Uvalde. Live music, Food trucks, auctions. 23330 SE HK Dodgen Loop in Temple, the future home of Pustka Family BBQ. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. $20 entry per car.

  • 4 Hour Wine Trail Tour with Tour Temple. 3-7 p.m.

  • Cancer benefit for Ashley Autrey-Easley. Noon. Event at VFW Post 4008 (by the expo). BBQ Plates, 50/50 Raffle & Live Auction. Help raise money that will all go toward Ashley’s medical bills and expenses. Ashley was very recently diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. She is in need of treatment and tests that her insurance will not cover. Any and all support would be appreciated.

  • Kiddo Cards at FoxDog.  Temple Police will be registering kids for Kiddo Cards. The cards are beneficial to both families and officers in the event a child is lost. The card contains a current photo of the child, name, address, date of birth, eye color, hair color, height, weight, thumbprint and the child’s emergency contact information. Parents or guardians must be present the day of the event to fill out the child’s information and receive the ID. This is also an opportunity for parents to update their child’s current ID card. Please visit templetx.gov/pdevents for more information and FAQ.

Sunday, July 17

  • Martian Folk live at Fire Street Pizza in Belton. Noon.

  • Grease sing a long at The Beltonian. 5 p.m.

  • Summer Lecture Series at 2 p.m. at Barrow Brewing Co. Live music by Walt Wilkins from 5-7 p.m.

Monday, July 18

  • $1 Summer movies at The Beltonian Theatre. July 18-22. 10 a.m., 1, p.m. 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. The Lego Batman Movie

  • Trash to Treasure Totes, Sammons Community Center. 1 p.m. Go green and create a unique tote bag from plastic bags! Becca Bash will be teaching this fun and creative way to recycle and reuse those endless plastic grocery bags that get stashed away to create a beautiful, one-of-a-kind bag that could have a variety of uses. Watch that bag evolve into your own creation. Knowledge of basic crochet stitch is encouraged. A size K crochet hook is recommended. For more information, call 254.298.5403.

COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS



Photo by Pavel Chernonogov, Pexels.com

Temple College awarded $530,000 for new Robotics and Orbital Welding Programs

ERIK ECKERT | JULY 16, 2022

Temple College received a $530,000 Texas Reskilling and Upskilling Through Education (TRUE) grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Temple College has been awarded several TRUE grants recently to start up new programs designed to support individuals in the community with reskilling, upskilling and earning credentials to be prepared for higher-wage careers. This is the latest grant focused on a growth in industry and manufacturing careers.

“We are so grateful to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board team for the state and federal funds that have been made available to allow colleges such as Temple College to invest in new equipment so that we can design new programs based on the growth and career availability in Central Texas,” said Dr. Christy Ponce, president of Temple College.

“Our goal is to educate as many students as possible,” she said. “We want students to learn on state-of-the-art equipment found at employer sites so they can be highly marketable and be prepared for the workplace as they earn credentials through Temple College.”

This funding will help Temple College prepare students for high-demand industry occupations. The equipment purchased through this TRUE grant will create new college training pathways at Temple College in both orbital welding and robotics welding.

The new Temple College programs will begin with short-term training that includes only 40 hours for each specialty area. A new certificate program is under development and will be available in 2023.

The certifications lead into Temple College’s existing Electromechanical Engineering Technology certificate and degree programs, allowing students to advance their learning in various fields that lead to high-demand careers.

“We invite all regional high schools to send their welding students to Temple College after they learn welding skills at their home high school. This will be a perfect complement to the important skills that they learn in high school CTE programs and will allow students to continue their learning in higher education and earn college certificates,” said DeDe Griffith, vice president of Workforce Development at Temple College.

“These programs will also be available for individuals in the community who are interested in learning a new craft or community members who may have existing welding skills but want to come to Temple College to advance their skills and learn a new specialization that will help them get into the workforce.”

Temple College is currently offering up to $1,500 for any student who enrolls at Temple College full-time (at least 12 hours) this Fall 2022.

With this incredible grant opportunity and Temple College’s low costs and affordable tuition, this will help students fund their tuition this upcoming fall semester.

The new orbital welding and robotics welding programs will address affordability in several ways:

  • Allowing students to demonstrate their basic welding skills through several pathways rather than requiring pre-requisite coursework. This allows existing welding students coming from a high school CTE welding program or industry to lead into a college degree pathway. That flexibility could save students several thousand dollars and up to two years of time.

  • Choosing an in-demand occupation for which the workforce board has available scholarship funds and for which qualitied low-income and/ or displaced workers can also apply.

  • Making available additional scholarship dollars to support the first cohort of students. Local job market data shows that students can earn up to $40/an hour, according to Burning Glass data with orbital welding training.

For more information about this program and other workforce training programs contact the Workforce Division at Temple College at (254) 298-8341 or visit templejc.edu.


BELL COUNTY OUTDOORS

Belton Lake fishing

GOOD. Water lightly stained; 85 degrees; 5.84 feet low.

  • White bass are very scattered and very mobile as they focus on devouring young-of-the-year shad. Downrigging has quickly become the go-to method and is useful for both finding and catching fish. An unweighted 3-armed umbrella rigged equipped with #12 Pet Spoons in silver with white feathers are putting lots of fish in the boat. Once fish are found, working vertically and horizontally with MAL Heavy or MAL Dense lures to capitalize on the find will put more fish in the boat quickly. Once the fish disperse, return to downrigging to find the next school. Report by Bob Maindelle, Holding the Line Guide Service.

  • Black bass are good early morning on top waters. As the day progresses move to the drops and tree tops in 15-20 feet or water using wacky worms and Ned rigs. The night bite continues to be good with jigs and soft plastics. Report by Cord Zahn, Belton tournament organizer.

  • Crappie continue to be good sitting shallow until the rises in 10-25 feet of water off points and brush. Minnows are outperforming jigs. Report by Zach Minnix, Jig N Jerk Guide Service.

Stillhouse Hollow fishing

GOOD. Water lightly stained; 85 degrees; 6.03 feet low.

  • White bass are very scattered and very mobile as they focus on devouring young-of-the-year shad. Downrigging has quickly become the go-to method and is useful for both finding and catching fish. An unweighted 3-armed umbrella rigged equipped with #12 Pet Spoons in silver with white feathers are putting lots of fish in the boat. Once fish are found, working vertically and horizontally with MAL Heavy or MAL Dense lures to capitalize on the find will put more fish in the boat quickly. Largemouth bass relate to the lake's abundant hydrilla all year long. Fishing the deep, outside edge of the hydrilla where it grows on underwater topographic features like drains, draws, and cuts using Texas rigs in thicker cover and Carolina rigs in more sparse cover. Report by Bob Maindelle, Holding the Line Guide Service.

Birdwatching in Bell

Buntings, woodpeckers, hawks and orioles are among the birds spotted in Bell County in the past several days. For a complete list of what has been recorded at eBird in our summertime skies, click this link:

RECENT BELL COUNTY BIRD SITINGS

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