Mayor Shirley Nolen was my first quarantine interview at the local downtown farmer's market inspired by the pandemic and lockdown. The first time I met the Mayor of this newly incorporated train town was at a farm to table dinner and pop up art show in postcard perfect downtown Kingsbury, TX. The theme was Texas Germanic Immigrant Heritage and apparently a Brit with the last name of Kingsbury. The town's namesake went to Germany, passed out fliers in certain towns encouraging settlement, and Kingsbury, which he described as the "Land of Milk and Honey".. That's when Shirley's family emigrated here. Turns out Kingsbury was a bit of a shyster, and when the German immigrants got here, they arrived in the middle of a godforsaken, snake infested, barren desert because the area had been experiencing about a 5 year drought. But they stayed anyway. Many of them not by choice, but because they didn't have the resources to get back. Many of the newbies didn't speak English and in fact, there involved an entire Germanic dialect, distinct only to Texas. Not even the Germans could understand it. We talk about her family's history here and is she is full of central Texas trivia. We discuss the history of Kingsbury, and its history as a train town as well, which is fascinating.
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