I don't think they let you go in there now, but to the west was the first park in Katy. It was a loop drive, heavily wooded with a big bbq pit area, picnic pavilion and play ground equipment. The creek was the western boundary. We explored all over that creek and learned GS wilderness skills traipsing back there. When the gas plant moved everyone out, its playground equipment was added to the park. They used old oil field pipes to mark off the boundaries of the areas of the park. I remember it was shady and cool from the heat.
The 4th of July event was held there and in the VFW building. The men bbqed for the whole town, for a while there was a Miss Katy contest and fireworks in the in field where the houses are now. My best memory of fireworks is the year they set the field on fire and we could see the silhouettes of the men running from the fireworks. No one was hurt and the fire department was there, but it was a sight I have never unseen :D.
There wasn't a bbq place on every corner, so I had pretty much only eaten home made bbq or at local events like the 4th of July. I never knew anyone ate potato salad with BBQ until I got married. We bbqed and I made rice. He was horrified. I was dumbfounded lol. I had never eaten it any other way than with the rice donated by the Rice Growers Asso. for the 4th of July event. I guess it just stuck because we ate it that way at home too. We poured the BBQ sauce over the rice with not a potato in sight.
If you haven't driven down Morton Road to see the old gas plant you should. It's creepy and over grown now, but it's an important part of Katy's history. The taxes from that field helped create top notch schools. It was even mentioned in our history books as the largest gas field in the world. The plant had a post office, nurse, credit union, playground, baseball field, tennis courts, recreation hall, a dorm for single men and a mess hall where they were fed and had a little "store." where you could buy candy and cokes. There was a small ice house. They used the ice for something in the lab, but we could pull up big blocks of ice and grind it when we were making ice cream. It had a very loud steam whistle at the gate. I got in trouble taking dad his lunch one day. I pulled the rope a few too many times
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BUT....it was a steam whistle!
I think when everyone had to move into the town for the expansion of the plant, it about doubled the town's population.
BUT....it was a steam whistle!
