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The first Board of Directors for the Cream Station was named in 1926. The charter members of the board consisted of C.A. Nelson, E.L. Erickson and O.C. Knudson. Deed records in 1926, document property from O.C. Knudson deeded to the Cream Station Board of Directors. There were no known records showing others who might have served on the board in later years, but discovered among the pages of the Mustang Thrasher Journal, were minutes from a meeting of the Mustang Cream Station in 1932. The minutes are as follows: Annual meeting of the Cream Station met February 19, 1932. Meeting was called to order by president. Election of officers: Martin Mickelson was elected president, Bryan Moore was elected vice president, S.C. Jermstad sec, and Chester Jermstad treasurer.
Motion was made for Barton Pederson to pay as much as possible and pay as much on back rent as he can and pay on out in dividend. Motion was made to adjourn.
The Cream Station (which is the only remaining building) was built just east of the store on Lot # 9. The twenty feet by twenty feet frame building originally had a shingled pitched roof. It has a concrete double vault inside the building. The double vault’s over-all measurement is ten feet by ten feet. The entrance vault is three feet deep and ten feet wide. The interior vault measures ten feet wide and seven feet deep. The outside walls and top of the vault is finished concrete. The vault is insulated with two inches of cork. The two doors are also heavily insulated. An eight feet by ten feet concrete porch was built on the front (south side) of the building, which also served as a loading dock. Today, the obviously bent galvanized support posts under the porch are evidence of trucks backing up too close to the porch and hitting and the posts when picking up produce or delivering ice and groceries.
The Cream Station in Mustang
Purchased in 1924
The Home Comfort Stove
The activities at the Cream Station and Store finally resembled a small town. It was a very busy place at times. The name “George’s Will” never did catch on, but the site has been called Mustang from the very beginning.
In 1908, Ben Ammons, of Mustang, asked the Commissioners Court to create a voting precinct in Mustang. It was approved and it became known as Mustang Voting Precinct Number 22. The Mustang School house was the place of voting until the school consolidated in 1939. The voting place was then moved to the Cream Station. The citizens of Mustang voted at the Cream Station for over sixty years. I am sure many folks from Mustang can remember cold November days when they went to the “voting box” to cast their ballot. There was no electricity at the Cream Station after it closed in 1942. At various times in more recent years, J.M. Wallace took his generator up to the Cream Station and electrified the building so the election judges and voters could have lights. The electrical receptacles he installed are still visible in the building. The Commissioners Court decided to close the Mustang Voting Box at the Cream Station after the 2000 Presidential election. The court said it was an unnecessary expense to the taxpayers, so therefore residents of Mustang now go to Cranfills Gap to vote.
The Cream Station becomes the voting place...
When a “peddler” came to the house in 1924 and showed a small copy of the Home Comfort stove, there was a lot of excitement. Think about being able to have a reservoir of warm/hot water ready anytime you needed it. Oh, to have an area near the flu pipe to keep foods warm.
Tirah was nine years old when the Knudson household got that beautiful marvel of technology. She was very pleased that Mark had restored the stove to its former glory.
We enjoy our modern conveniences but that wood-burning stove is infinitely more appealing visually than today’s modern microwaves, cook tops, and ovens.
George A. Knudson