You never know when you might come across some local history. Sometimes you stumble across things when you least expect it.

I was going through some of my great-uncle Harry Buechner's belonging a couple of weeks ago. As I sat in the den and thumbed through hundreds of old photos, I hit the mother-lode.

I found three picture post-cards my Uncle Harry had written to his mother. On the front of each of these cards were photos of early Trumann I had never seen before. Two of the photos were taken in 1914 and the third in 1916

Uncle Harry is the uncle of my mother, Kathlyn Yarbrough. He moved to Trumann in the early years when Poinsett Lumber and Manufacturing was starting up from South Bend, Ind. to work in the mill office. He married the sister, Kathleen Williams, of my mother's father, Tommy Williams.

The Williams family had moved to Marked Tree in the early 1900's. My great-grandmother Mama Sue had been widowed and moved to Marked Tree to manage a boarding house to support her family. She was an excellent cook and people flocked to eat at her establishment.

She brought my grandfather, Tommy, and his two sisters, Kathleen and Mary Linn. Tommy worked at John and Frank's Drug Store and eventually became a pharmacist himself. He later owned his own drug store in Clarendon. My Aunt Katie worked as a telephone operator for Ritter in Marked Tree and later hired on at Poinsett Lumber and Manufacturing Co. in Trumann where she met my Uncle Harry.

My mother's Aunt Mary Linn, married young. She mysteriously drowned in the St. Francis River when she was 20. Family members have said she put on her Sunday dress and hat one week day and was crossing on the footbridge across the river. No one knows what she was going to town for, but it has always remained an unexplained death.

Later my Uncle Harry and Aunt Katie were married. They left Trumann and Uncle Harry owned a woodworking establishment and sawmill in Missouri for several years. They later retired back to Trumann and both died here.

After Uncle Harry retired here, his brother, Robert Buechner moved her. Uncle Bob for many years ran the Trumann Chamber of Commerce. He was a former city manager from up north.

The three photos I found are of the Main Street area near the train depot. One is taken looking north down the railroad tracks showing the train depot as it appeared in 1914. The name Trumann, T-r-u-m-a-n-n, is clearly visible. You can also clearly see the built-up sidewalk leading from the train tracks to East Main Street.

The buildings located along Ozark Street are mostly two story buildings. Many of them might be boarding houses.

The second photo is looking east from the railroad track. Ozark Street is plainly seen. Again, many of the buildings seem to be boarding houses. My Uncle Harry boarded in the second house from the right. The last house on the right is the old White Elephant Hotel that still sits on Ozark Street today. The sign on the hotel in the photo says Grace Hotel.

Both photos were taken in 1914.

The 1916 photo I found looks west from the top of the tracks down Main Street. You see at the far end of the photo a large two-story house that seems to almost sit in the middle of the street. I think that is PL&M's Girls' Clubhouse that sat across from the Community House (approximately where Smith's Clinic building was built.)

PL&M had a Girls' Clubhouse and a Men's Clubhouse where their single employees could rent rooms. Trumann seemed to have many boarding houses at the time. In these photos I suspect more boarding houses are pictured than businesses.

I would love to hear from readers who have additional information about the photos or who have similar photos. Give me a call at 483-6317.