Mainly clear skies. Low 64F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Mainly clear skies. Low 64F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Recently, I wrote a column about the use of bank “counter checks,” and I got quite a few responses from older readers who remembered using them to make transactions. I also received comments from young readers who could not imagine business being conducted in such a way. It got me to thinking about another business process that has long gone by the wayside. Do any of you remember “the food locker”?

Folks nowadays are either are too young to remember or may have simply forgotten, modern conveniences we now take for granted were not common 60 or 80 years ago. In the 1940s, not everyone in Texas had running water, nor indoor toilets. Few people would have had a phone, and there were many who did not yet have electricity.

While electricity was common in big cities, the expense of running power lines to remote parts of rural Texas was prohibitive. Even if electricity was available in a small rural town, poles and wire had not yet been set to run power to all areas. Folks went about their business and lived happy lives, but they had to handle everyday chores quite a bit differently than how we do things nowadays. Life back then was more difficult and time-consuming.

Out of necessity, rural folks would build a well house where they would keep food items that needed to be kept in surroundings to prevent spoiling. The well house would be dug below ground level, where the temperature would be cooler. This was no replacement for refrigeration, but it was the best alternative available.

Lack of refrigeration is why fresh meat was frequently cured or smoked. Meat was also canned so it would be available for use many months later. No one had household refrigerators to keep meat fresh and certainly no way to freeze a large quantity of meat for later use.

When electricity and refrigeration came to rural America, it changed how people went about keeping meat. In many small towns, the local butcher would install a big walk-in freezer. The butcher would hang his meat in the freezer to keep it from going bad but would also rent space inside the refrigerated room to the locals. Folks either bought meat from the butcher or butchered their own meat and would pay a rental fee to store their meat in a “locker” in the freezer.

I can remember my grandmother going to Farrell’s Meat Market and Locker Storage. She would be permitted to walk behind the counter, step into the freezer, and using her key to open her locker space, she would retrieve a package of meat to take home and cook. The grandparents could not afford a freezer and so there was no other alternative to keep fresh meat for an extended period. I do not recall hearing how much the storage cost, but it could not have been much. I know Grandma had to plan her meals and food needs in advance because “blue laws” were in effect at the time, so the meat locker would not be open on Sunday.

I was maybe 5 or 6 when the grandparents finally saved enough money to purchase a freezer. The day it was delivered was a big deal, with a lot of smiles and joy. I remember getting in the pickup and going with Granddad to the food locker to get all the stored meat and bring it home. I think I was most impressed with playing in the big cardboard box the freezer was delivered in, but I could certainly see the joy in Grandma’s eyes that she no longer had to make a trip to town several times a week to retrieve meat.

Over the next few years, more and more home freezers were manufactured, and the purchase price declined, making them affordable to most people. Eventually, the food locker was no longer necessary. As electricity was made available to an increasing number of rural Americans, electric washing machines followed the freezer, and even television!

I wonder what invention will arrive in the next 20 years that will change our current lifestyle?

Thought for the day: Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260

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