Liquor

Saloons in Burke

In the author's childhood Burke and Angelina County were "dry", meaning that liquour could not be legally purchased in the county. Prior to 1904, however, Angelina County was

Making 'Shine

Burke was not a big moonshine area, but it did have at least one moonshiner, Grady Whitehead. Grady was a farmer who operated a syrup mill on his farm between Burke and Fairview. Grady was a mechanical whiz, and he built his own tractor from an old car to operate the syrup squeezer. He called the tractor "Hadicol" after the popular cure-all patent medicine from the 30s. The name of the tractor should have been a clue to the observant that Grady may have been cooking more than syrup. Hadicol, you see, was mostly alcohol and cured mainly the need for a good, socially acceptable snort.

Making both syrup and whiskey is logical since both require similar equipment, ingredients and skills. Grady had the help of some of his neighbors, including Willie Burrous, who was known to enjoy a nip of the hard stuff every now and then. According to Willie's son, Don, he helped Grady stir the mash in exchange for a few bottles for his own medicinal use.

Grady ran enough whiskey to attract the attention of the Feds, and they sent Grady for an all-expense paid vacation for a couple of years at a federal hospitality center up near Tyler. Some cynics observe that Grady's downfall resulted form his failure to keep up-to-date on his campaign contributions to the Angelina County sheriff.

Grady's legal troubles supposedly taught him a lesson, and he thereafter stuck to syrup-making. Not everyone is convinced, however.

Don Burrous reported that in l971 when he returned home from the Navy and opened a little sign shop in Lufkin, he heard that Coca-Cola was switching from cane sugar to corn syrup and had lots of sugar to sell cheap. He called his mother, Kathleen, and she referred him to Grady Whitehead since his wife Lee did a lot of canning. Grady wanted all the sugar Don could haul in his El Camino. Don hauled 12 sacks of Mexican sugar each weighing about 120 pounds, and they unloaded it into Grady's little shop building.

Don visited Grady a week later and not a sack was to be seen. Grady said Lee had stored it in an old freezer in the house to keep the mice out of it. Uh, huh, Don thought. Don could barely get the sugar into his pickup and Mrs. Whitehead had put it in a freezer? He was evidently still making 'shine then, and he must have taken it to the creek where his still was set up.

"dry", and there were two saloons in Burke in the early days according to one source. In the 1900 census Burke residents Pat and Robert Austin listed their occupations as "saloon keepers." Bloomer Florence also ran a saloon in Burke around 1900.

The author remembers older Burkians recalling the liquor election years earlier. It was said that an unusual coalition of Angelina County churches and Trinity County liquor store owners won the day for the dry side. The Angelina County churches, especially Baptists, considered drinking sinful and did not want liquor to be available in the county to tempt the weak, and the Trinity County liquor stores did not want to lose their customers.

Beer Joints and Honky Tonks

In the later "dry" era liquor could be purchased only in Trinity County at "beer joints" located on Highway 94 just across the Neches River bridge or at Carlton's Corral at Goat Hill, which was located off Highway 59 south of the Neches River bridge. The location of the joints just over the Neches River gave rise to the term "going across the river" as local slang for drinking. The author's family were teetotalers in the author's lifetime, as were most Burkians, but there were a few who enjoyed "going across the river".

There a "honky tonk" at Hoshall on on Texas 35 in the 1930s, but it is not clear whether it served alcohol. It did have a juke box, and presumably a dance floor, which some also considered a vice.

Dancing was available until the 1960s or later at a "night club" called the Club Rendesvous (later Mai Kai Club) located between Burke and Hoshall on Old Texas 35. The Rendesvouz was always a mysterious place, and the author never had the opportunity to see its interior. Liquor was likely available there under the private club exception that still permits restaurants to serve liquor in Angelina County with a free "club membership."

"Wet" Again

In 2007 Angelina County voted to become "wet," but to date there are not signs of liquor sales in Burke.

Sources:

1900 Census, Angelina County, Texas, Precinct 4
History of Angelina County
Elroy Murrah, Personal Recollections
M. Lee Murrah, Personal Recollections
Donald Burrous, Personal Recollections