Kingsville: Bands, Old And New

By: Pat Allison

Hope y’all were able to come out to celebrate Train Days of Kingsville.  It was a lot of fun, music, model trains, souvenirs and food.  Yes, it was May and hot.  However, there was something I discovered about South Texas in May, the evening is heavenly.

The old Kingsville Record newspapers described the Band Boys playing in Miller Park.  There was no air conditioning back then.  How could anyone stand to be out in Miller Park in 1915 to listen to the band?  Well, they played after sunset.  It is reported that the entire town, maybe the entire county, came out just to hear the band play.  The newspaper listed the musical selections that the band would play in the preceding issue of the newspaper.

Folks would bring picnic dinners or visit the many small restaurants in the downtown area.  Then they would walk over to the park.  It was often reported that there were so many people wanting to spend the evening listening to the band play that there was no place for anyone to sit.

Many of the stories about the band playing on the Kingsville band stand included requests that parents keep their children from climbing on the band stand while the band was playing.  It was fun for the whole family.

At our Train Days of Kingsville, we had some very excellent dancers and bands playing:  Del Castillo, Oso Texas, The Band In Black, Blue Moon Swamp, Taft Ballet Folklorico, Justine Ozuna, Kingsville Youth Ballet Folklorico, to name just a few.  Our modern diesel locomotives even made strategic appearances.  At the moment The Band In Black began to sing “I hear the train a com’n” the diesel came into sight.  This was a joyful celebration under the stars.

Friday night Del Castillo blessed our community with an interesting event.  Our own local poet, Gil Franke, had composed a poem about the 1925 steam locomotive that pulled the passenger train between Brownsville and Houston, The Kingsville Pioneer.  That was the night passenger train.  Alex of Del Castillo put the poem to music and sang it for us.  There we all were, standing and sitting under the starlight, just as they did back in 1915.  Venus, the Evening Star, was setting.  Mars had just passed its zenith.  The low clouds from the Gulf were rolling in with a cool breeze.  Del Castillo was playing.  Then it happened, history was joined to modern times.  Alex announced the new song, The Kingsville Pioneer, and began to sing. 

There are many train songs; The City of New Orleans, Orange Blossom Special, The Wabash Cannonball.  Now Kingsville has its own train song, The Kingsville Pioneer.  Under the stars with the Gulf breeze softly blowing we heard our song for the first time.  Thank you, Alex and Del Castillo.  Thank you, Gil.  Stop by the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum to hear some stories about the Band Boys of 1915 and the bands that entertained us for Train Days of Kingsville.