The Early Days 

This old picture has been floating around for some time. At least one copy has some hard to read writing identifying the buildings. Thanks to Charlene Finley for coming up with a copy along with a list of buildings by Joe Lingo. We have been attempting to date this old picture. Joe did that for us by marking it as circa 1917. We've transcribed Joe's information onto a better copy of the picture we got from the Brazoria County Historical Museum.  

 

This current Google Image gives a perspective of where these buildings would be located in today's world  

 Charlene also came up with another picture that pre-dates the first one. Below the picture we have identified the buildings based on our research which includes a Brazosport Facts Article on the Civic Club by Pat Ellis. Excerpts of the article follow. You can read the entire article here. We think the picture is dated circa 1912 and is a close representation of what folks such as the Ellis family experienced when they stepped off that train.

As an added bonus we are including this picture of Charlene's grandmother Mabel Rimmer Ballard taken on Main Street 1912.

Historical Picture Locations 

Here we show on Google Earth and Bing Maps where other historic Sweeny photographs are believed to have been taken. Memories from several people, Brazoria County land records and the following documents helped us determine the locations. We have included either the year the building was built or the year the picture was taken on those we had adequate information on.

 

Notes and Information

1. The Real Estate Office was torn down in 1957, see article here.

2. The Eades building was torn down around 2000.

3. Clyde McKinney noted the hotel as being in the center of the block. However, we are convinced it was on the lot as noted on the 1911 Plat. Both are probably correct since the lot is large and the hotel could have been on the north end of the lot. See McKinney's complete write up here.

whl