Old Radios--Gladewater, Texas Ca. 1942

Contributed by Mike Grimes

Web Edition

Gladewater

This photo was among those in a collection displayed by the Hibernia Bank, Gladewater, Texas, after a call had gone out for historical pictures. Others in the exhibit were of the town in the late 1930s and 1940s. As far as we can tell, this one was donated by the late Ray Bumpus, a longtime resident of the town. The photo shows the result of a call to the general public for salvage material during World War II. Old and unwanted radios were among the things requested, and my hometown complied in 1942. Today, the radios would make a collector proud. It is unclear whether they actually made it to the war effort. The old car in the background is a 1936 Chrysler Airflow, a collector's prize in itself.