The Public Restrooms You Can See Out Of RoadyGoat

2012

On Celebration Plaza in downtown Sulphur Springs stand two of the strangest public restrooms in Texas. Built in 2012, they're made entirely of two-way mirror glass, the same kind used in interrogation rooms. Step inside and you can see straight out across the plaza while you wash your hands. Step outside and all you see is a mirrored box reflecting the square back at you. The ceiling is mirror glass too, so daylight floods the stall during the day. At night, an LED ring keeps the glass reflective from the outside, so your privacy holds after dark. The unusual design earned the city a bronze medal in a national Best Restroom contest. It's a genuinely disorienting experience, washing your hands while watching strangers walk past a wall they think is solid mirror.

19.6 mi away

Why Sulfur Springs Smell Like Rotten Eggs RoadyGoat

Here's a fact that trips up almost everyone: pure sulfur doesn't smell. The element is a bright-yellow solid, and on its own it's completely odorless. So what's that rotten-egg stench at a sulfur spring? It's hydrogen sulfide, a gas made of sulfur and hydrogen. Most of it comes from sulfate-reducing bacteria, tiny microbes that thrive in the low-oxygen water deep in the springs and give off the gas as they feed. The human nose is absurdly good at catching it. We can detect hydrogen sulfide at around half a part per million, far below any harmful level, which is why a faint whiff seems so strong. And that bitter mineral taste people remember from the water? That's dissolved salts, mostly gypsum and epsom salt. So the smell, the taste, and the name all come from chemistry, not from sulfur itself.

19.6 mi away

Sulphur Springs Used to Be Called Bright Star RoadyGoat

1854

Sulphur Springs didn't start with that name. The town grew up around a teamster camping spot, where wagon drivers rested near more than a hundred natural springs. The first post office, opened in 1854, was called Bright Star. But in 1871 the town leaders deliberately renamed it Sulphur Springs to sell its mineral water as a health resort, the era's idea of healing waters. The new name was pure marketing, and it stuck. The town became the seat of Hopkins County. Here's the science twist: those springs were named for a sulfur smell, but pure sulfur is actually odorless. The rotten-egg odor comes from hydrogen sulfide gas, a sulfur compound rather than sulfur itself. So the town is named for a smell that the element it's named after can't even produce on its own.

19.7 mi away

Flying Tigers

1941

The First American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, nicknamed "The Flying Tigers," flew combat missions in the Chinese-Burma-India theater of World War II against the invading military forces of Imperial Japan from December 20, 1941 until July 4, 1942. The Flying Tigers were composed of American pilots and technicians volunteering from the United States Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps and received financial support from the Republic of China. Claire Lee Chennault , a native of Commerce, Texas, , organized and commanded the First American Volunteer Group. The Flying Tigers volunteers earned international acclaim for their impressive combat record and contribution to the Chinese victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Texans serving in the Flying Tigers include Claire Lee Chennault, Charles Rankin Bond, Jr., David Lee [Tex] Hill , Paul J. Green, Mathew W. Kuykendall, Neil Martin, and Robert W. Prescott. In May 1937, the Republic of China hired Claire Lee Chennault, a retired Captain of the U.S. Army Air Corps, pilot instructor, and author of the fighter-plane tactical manual The Role of Defensive Pursuit as a consultant for the Chinese Air Force. After fighting erupted between Chinese and Japanese troops near the Marco Polo Bridge near Peking, China, on July 7, 1937, Chennault took on a new role for the Republic of China as the de facto commander of the Chinese Air Force while retaining the official position of a consultant. Finding the existing equipment, pilots, and infrastructure of the Chinese Air Force inadequate to defeat the invading Japanese forces, Chennault returned to the United States with General Chiang Kai-shek's approval to acquire planes, pilots, technicians, and materials in October 1940. Chennault received permission from the United States military to recruit and purchase the necessary personnel and materials, which began arriving in China in June 1941. Chennault spent the next six months training the volunteers and by December 7, 1941, the American Volunteer Group had nearly eighty pilots and sixty-two combat ready Curtiss P-40 fighters. The Flying Tigers flew combat missions from December 20, 1941, until July 4, 1942, delaying the advance of Japanese forces throughout Southeast China and Burma. On May 7, 1942, the Flying Tigers launched a four-day assault against Japanese forces attempting to cross the Salween River Gorge. Their efforts were instrumental in preventing the Japanese from invading China from the west and India from the east. The Flying Tigers used innovative fighter tactics that emphasized the superior armament and speed of the Curtiss P-40 and improvised early warning systems, which included ground operatives radioing plane sightings to Chennault that alerted the Flying Tigers to inbound Japanese air attacks. Outnumbered in nearly every engagement, the Flying Tigers earned an extraordinary combat record of destroying an estimated 115 Japanese aircraft in combat and another estimated 300 destroyed on the ground while losing only 12 planes in combat and 61 planes on the ground. On July 4, 1942, the First American Volunteer Group was absorbed into the United States Army Air Forces as the 23 rd Fighter Group. Many of the volunteers transferred back to their former assignments in different branches of the military. Claire Chennault rejoined the United States Army as a general and commanded the former Flying Tigers who joined the 23 rd Fighter Group until his retirement on July 8, 1945. The achievements of the Flying Tigers raised the morale of Allied Forces in the Pacific Theater of World War. The Flying Tigers have been remembered and often celebrated in popular culture in films such as John Wayne's Flying Tigers , monographs, museums and memorials both in the United States and internationally. Most recently, the Flying Tigers have been honored in Commerce, Texas, the native city of their commander, by the christening of State Highway 24 as the "Flying Tiger Memorial Highway" and b

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Mantle, Mickey Charles

1931

Mickey Mantle, major-league baseball star, was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1931, the son of Elvin Clark "Mutt" and Lovell (Richardson) Mantle. Baseball was part of Mickey Mantle's heritage; Mutt Mantle played for a semipro team on weekends and named his oldest son after Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane. Mantle was born during the Great Depression , and his family struggled financially throughout his childhood. Mutt Mantle worked as a county road grader and as a tenant farmer before moving his family to Commerce, Oklahoma, where he went to work for the Eagle-Picher Zinc and Lead Company. Mickey Mantle's prodigious athletic talent became evident at an early age. At Commerce High School he starred in baseball and football. In 1946, during practice for the latter sport, Mickey was accidentally kicked in the left shin by a teammate. The apparently minor injury turned into osteomyelitis, and doctors considered amputating the infected leg. Fortunately, Mantle was transferred to the Crippled Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City, where the new wonder drug penicillin quickly restored him to health. His legs, however, would trouble him for the rest of his athletic career. In 1948 Mantle was playing baseball for a semipro team called the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids in Kansas when he caught the eye of Tom Greenwade, a scout for the New York Yankees of the American League. Mantle signed his first professional contract immediately after graduating from high school in 1949. He began his professional career as a shortstop for the Yankee farm team at Independence (Kansas) of the Class D Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League and the following year moved up to Joplin (Missouri) of the Class C Western Association. Mantle proved a capable hitter from the start, batting .313 in his first year and .383 in his second, but committed a startling 102 errors in 226 games at shortstop. Still, he showed such promise that the Yankees invited him to accompany the team for the last two weeks of the 1950 season (although he didn't play) and to spring training in 1951. There, the "Commerce Comet" caught the eye of Yankee manager Casey Stengel and opened the season as New York's right fielder, flanking the immortal Joe DiMaggio, whom he would eventually succeed in center field, during the Yankee Clipper's final season. The nineteen-year-old Mantle struggled early in the season and was sent back to the Yankees' top farm team, the Class AAA Kansas City Blues, in July. Devastated by his demotion and slumping badly at the plate, Mantle briefly contemplated quitting baseball, but his father talked him out of it. Mantle rejoined the Yankees at the end of August in time for the first of his twelve World Series, against the National League champion New York Giants. Mantle's initial World Series experience was a brief one, as in the sixth inning of the second game he caught his spikes on a rubber drain cover in the Yankee Stadium outfield and tore cartilage in his right knee. While Mantle was recuperating from the operation on his knee, he learned that his father, who had come up from Oklahoma to see the World Series, was dying from Hodgkin's disease. Mutt Mantle died in 1952, and the disease eventually contributed to the early deaths of Mantle's grandfather, two uncles, and later his son Billy. Mantle himself believed that he would be dead by the age of forty. While he escaped the family curse of Hodgkin's disease, Mantle suffered an astonishing series of injuries during his career. In only four of his eighteen major-league seasons did he appear in as many as 150 games. In 1953 he tore ligaments in his right knee. In 1954 he had surgery to remove a cyst from behind his knee. In the 1957 World Series he injured his right shoulder, hampering his throwing and right-handed batting. In 1961 he and teammate Roger Maris both mounted serious challenges to Babe Ruth's 1927 record of sixty home runs in a single season, but a hip abscess cost Mantle a shot at the record.

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Chennault, Claire L.

1937

(1890-1958) Organizer-commander of the famous "Flying Tigers" of the China-Burma-India theater in World War II. An outstanding air strategist, Chennault had retired from a pioneer flying career when, in 1937, he was asked by Gen. Chaing Kai-Shek to help China develop an air force to combat threatening raids by Japan. Four years later, with World War II spreading, he received permission from the U. S. to seek a corps of American airmen to help train the Chinese. A total of 252 men-- 87 pilots and 165 ground personnel-- joined the "American volunteer group." Its popular name resulted from a misunderstanding of the sharks' teeth painted on the noses of the aircraft. The Tigers formed three squadrons-- "Adam and Eve," "Panda Bears," and "Hell's Angels"-- supported by the expert pilots of the China National Aviation Corps, a daring supply transport group. So effectively had Chennault studied Japanese air tactics that his tiny band officially destroyed 539 enemy aircraft while losing only 90 itself. During 1941-1942, they checked Japan's invasion of China, then joined regular units. Jack Cornelius, also a native of Commerce and a close friend of Chennault's, was a member of the first pursuit squadron of the Tigers.

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East Texas State University

1889

Founded 1889 as the Mayo School, in Cooper (16 mi. NE). Reopened with about 35 students in a brick store on the public square here in Commerce in 1894, still under private ownership of William Leonidas Mayo (1861-1917), a gifted teacher from Kentucky. School was underwritten by public-spirited local citizens. Its most illustrious student, Sam Rayburn (1882-1961), gained international fame as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. The Mayo School passed into state ownership in 1917 as East Texas State Normal College, Randolph B. Binnion, president. After name was changed (1923) to East Texas State Teachers College, presidents were Sam H. Whitley (1924-1946), Arthur C. Ferguson (1946-1947) and James G. Gee (1947-1966). The word "teachers" was dropped from the title in 1957; in 1965, it became East Texas State University. In 1966, D. Whitney Halladay succeeded to the presidency. East Texas State University has more than 26,000 graduates. It offers bachelor's and master's degrees in arts and science; also the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Its 1200-acre campus has 150 buildings. It is one of 23 state-supported colleges and universities in Texas enrolling over 150,000 students annually.

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Chennault, Claire Lee

1941

Claire Lee Chennault, aviator and air force general, son of John Stonewall Jackson and Jessie (Lee) Chennault, was born on September 6, 1893, in Commerce, Texas. He was a descendant of eighteenth-century Huguenot immigrants, related to Sam Houston paternally and to Robert E. Lee maternally. At the age of one month he moved with his family to Gilbert, Louisiana. His mother died when he was five. He attended Louisiana State University and graduated from Louisiana State Normal College. On Christmas Day 1911 he married Nell Thompson; they had eight children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946. Chennault married Anna Chan on December 2, 1947, and they had two children. He taught in various southern towns, including Athens, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Louisville, Kentucky. With the American entry into World War I , he was commissioned a first lieutenant and became a flight instructor. From 1919 to 1923 he was with the border patrol; from 1923 to 1926 he served with the Hawaiian Pursuit Squadron; and from 1930 to 1936 he was a member of the United States Pursuit Development Board and leader of the Air Corps Exhibition Group ("Three Men on a Flying Trapeze"). Deafness and disagreements with his superiors over tactics forced his retirement in 1937. In the same year he became advisor to Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Air Force. In 1941 he organized the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) in China. In March 1943 Chennault was promoted to major general and to command of the Fourteenth Air Force. His tour was marked by conflicts with the theater commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell. Chennault was retired against his will in July 1945, as the defensive tactics he favored were regarded as obsolete by air corps strategists. He then organized and was chairman of the board of Civil Air Transport. He maintained homes in Taipei, Taiwan, and near Monroe, Louisiana. He was the author of an autobiography and several works on fighter tactics. Among his many decorations were the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster; Army and Navy Air Medal with cluster; Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Force Medal; Commander of the British Empire; Legion of Honor; Croix de Guerre with Palm; and Chevalier Polonia Restituta. He died of cancer on July 27, 1958, at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Monuments were erected to him in Taipei, on the grounds of the Louisiana State Capitol at Baton Rouge, and at Chennault Air Force Base, Lake Charles, Louisiana. A state historical marker was placed at his birthplace in Commerce, Texas, in 1968. On October 14, 2015, in a collaborative effort with Texas A&M University-Commerce , a second marker at the site was dedicated in two translations of Mandarin. It is the first state historical marker in Texas in Chinese.

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Commerce Schools

1873

By 1883, the scholastic population of Commerce had outgrown the public school which opened ten years earlier. Land at this site, purchased by the Commerce Educational Assoc., was chosen for a new schoolhouse. The first building here, a two-story frame structure, became Commerce High School. Destroyed by fire in 1898, it was replaced by a larger brick building that served as Commerce High and later as Central Ward School. A third building, completed in 1937, was renamed in 1950 to honor A. L. Day, who served as superintendent of Commerce Schools, 1900-1935. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

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East Texas, Texas

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History of East Texas

The Public Restrooms You Can See Out Of RoadyGoat

Why Sulfur Springs Smell Like Rotten Eggs RoadyGoat

Sulphur Springs Used to Be Called Bright Star RoadyGoat

Flying Tigers

Mantle, Mickey Charles

Chennault, Claire L.

East Texas State University

Chennault, Claire Lee

Commerce Schools

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