Brick replaced Main Street buildings lost in fire

Nature blessed eastern New Mexico with plenty of wind, sunshine, and deep wells, but there were times when a person did not have time to drill his well in search of something to alleviate a dry condition that threatened to dehydrate the body.

To take care of such a condition and to eliminate the possibility of dying of thirst, many establishments were erected within the limits of a young and vigorous city.

When the housewives were wearied of the man of the house you can be sure that she never let her frazzled nerves get out of control to the extent of ordering him “down to the Hogpen.”

The Hogpen Bar was the “Oasis in the Desert,” in Clovis in 1908.

As long as man has been on Earth, there has been the necessity to protect the body from drying out and many times he did not stop to analyze just what type liquid was needed to keep in top physical condition. And many times the liquid would send the red blood corpuscles leaping within their narrow confines.

For the price of 15 cents and up, the thirst quencher would be set in front of the dry person, with a glass or a gallon of water thrown in for good measure.

Hardy folks took advantage of institutions, and institutions they were, to talk over the most important events of the day. Politics, bustles, horses, crops, too much rain, too little rain, price of hogs, brand on cattle, and the threat of grasshoppers were threshed out in the course of “bending the elbow with a few.”

Another common expression did not originate in connection with these businesses until the modern refrigeration methods came into being. The expression “knock the frost off a few” came in with the advent of iced drinks.

Many folks looked upon these businesses as being detrimental to the progress of a young and growing city and many are the battles that were waged over the soap box to move them into the next town.

Clovis is credited with bringing in 15 members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union at one time and it must be admitted that the ladies made a great impression.

Shortly after their appearance in the area, city officials’ proceedings at town meetings indicated the trend of thought from the numerous ordinances that were written restricting the activities and the levying of heavy license fees to discourage the trade.

And remember this was in the days that this area was producing corn that would yield, as they saying went, “something like 8 gallons to the acre.”

The fire that destroyed the 200 block on the west side of Main Street in Clovis on May 20, 1908, burned down all the buildings, except the Hogpen Bar. The proprietor was “Red” Vick, a well-built man around the middle. We never knew where he went after his place was closed.

Rows of shack-type wooden buildings had sprung up along what is now Main Street when the volunteer fire department was forced into action. Thirteen firms went up in smoke. As it is in the young, hope is ever eternal, and following the conflagration, a new and sturdier Clovis emerged from the ashes. Brick buildings appeared where the flimsy structures had been.

Don McAlavy is Curry County’s historian. He can be contacted at: [email protected]