WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congratulations to Terri Staudt, who won the beautiful, one-of-a-kind diamond and ruby necklace designed by Pieter Andries Hye.

Thank you to everyone who purchased a raffle ticket.

Because of you, 2009 has started out as a very good year!

All proceeds will be split between the Southlake Historical Society and the Bob Jones Nature Center.

COMING UP -

Join us for our Southlake Picture Round-up

 11am-3pm, Saturday, Jan. 24,

at the Community Center building, 400 N. White's

Chapel, in Bicentennial Park.

Dig through your closets and attic to find photos from 19th- and 20th-century Southlake that show scenes that have changed or disappeared. SHS members will scan them as you wait, and we'll put the best in our web site's Photo Gallery.  

 We're especially looking for old photos of the 1919 Carroll School that show the entire building.  

Several "old-timers" will be on hand to identify photos you might have questions about. "These photos will become a wonderful part of the historical record of our town," said SHS president Anita Robeson.  If you have questions, call her at 817-421-8353 or Connie Cooley at 817-223-9606.

We are looking for pictures that show an earlier Southlake -- Southlake schools, churches, landscapes, buldings, homes, acreage before it was developed, roads before they were re-routed or changed altogether. Do you have a picture of a spot that no longer exists?

Try your best to identify the photo with a date and location.

START OUT THE NEW YEAR RIGHT

BY GIVING A GIFT THAT LASTS A LIFETIME

Would you like to make a gift to recognize or remember someone with that "pioneer spirit" ? With your $500 donation to the Log House Furnishings Fund, the name of that special someone will appear at the entrance to the log house and on all information handed out to log house visitors. What a great way to remember someone special.

Do you own a Southlake business? Want visitors to know you love all things Southlake? We invite Southlake businesses to make their $500 tax-deductible end-of-the-year gift to the SHS Log House Furnishings Fund. We'll link our site to yours along with placing the name of your business in front of the log house and on all promotional fliers handed out to the SHS Log House visitors. What an effective way to reach Southlake residents. Please consider helping one of Southlake's longest serving non-profits, the Southlake Historical Society.

If you're asking yourself what's so great about a log house? Here's what SHS president Anita Robeson had to say about it:

"It's not just a log house. It’s an invitation to read more about westward expansion; farming methods of the 19th century; pioneer families; antiques; log cabin and house construction; genealogy; cowboys, Indians and soldiers; herbs and medicinal plants; and more. Let the log house inspire you to learn!"

The log house (go to the "Update: Southlake's Log House" button to the right) is scheduled to open for visitors in the new year. We hope you'll support the SHS efforts to bring alive, to Southlake residents and all lovers of history, a scene from Southlake's past -- the authentic 1850s log house, now in Bicentennial Park. This will be a living history lesson for you and a chance for your children to learn what life was like many years before Dragon Stadium, Town Square and Central Market!!

Go to the "What Good is History?" button pictured to the right to read more about why local history matters.

CISD fourth-graders know why local history matters when they study Texas history, and SHS members believe that something as simple and authentic as a log house can teach first hand, and hands-on, the long history of our area. The SHS supports and strives to help teachers and students learn more about Southlake-area history. (For a teacher packet about Southlake's Log House, click CISD Teacher Packet.)

The Southlake Historical Society is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.