Wichita Falls historic house could face demolition after fire
The Berry Brown House could soon be demolished as a city official expects it to be classified as a public safety concern and be brought down.
Patsy's House launches annual pinwheel campaign for child abuse awareness
'It was really sickening and saddening,' Karen Montgomery-Gagne, Principal Planner for the City of Wichita Falls, said. 'Sadly, it's really the reality of our fears has come true.'
The Victorian-style, two-story house, once vibrant, is now reduced to near ashes.
Montgomery-Gagne believes it's a step closer to being condemned.
'It's just always unfortunate when something like this happens because it is a treasure that's lost in our community and something that holds value to many more people beyond just the owners,' Montgomery-Gagne said.
Heavy fire and smoke poured from the house.
'It was fully involved. Tried to make an initial attack, however, went defensive very quickly. Just too much fire, too much heat. So they set the ladder truck up, knocked it down, and after that, they used hand lines to mop it up,' Fire Marshal Craig Berend said.
A pivotal house once occupied by former Wichita Falls Alderman Berry Brown to grow the city.
November 2025 would mark 40 years since the city designated it as a landmark.
'Significance in the development of our community. Those are items that make us unique from other communities. They have value. They help give us a grounding of where the community's been and where the community is going,' Montgomery-Gagne said.
The house has been listed with the nonprofit Preservation Texas as endangered since 2006—a nonprofit with a call to raise awareness for historic structures in the state.
'This was an opportunity to increase awareness of this building in the hope that maybe there would be a group that could work with the owners to do something as far as maintenance improvement,' Montgomery-Gagne said.
But now, the city is inching closer to losing history.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Man catches ‘monster' 86-pound catfish from Missouri River
WASHINGTON, Mo. – A man recently hauled in the catch of a lifetime from the Missouri River, a 'monster' 86-pound blue catfish near Washington, Missouri. Wally Klein made his impressive catch using gizzard shad as bait on a road-and-reel setup. His feat required patience, strength and skill. Wally told the Missouri Department of Conservation it's the biggest fish he has ever caught. After snapping a quick photo, Wally released the massive catfish back into the river. According to MDC, the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are prime waters for catching large catfish, especially blue, flathead and channel catfish. Tonia Haddix found to be hiding another chimp These catfish often gather in deep water below dikes, in dam tailwaters, or in the mouths of tributary streams. In the summer, they're commonly found around submerged structures, drop-offs, rocky banks and dike tips. Blue catfish in particular, like Wally's catch, favor fast-moving water near the main channel and waterways with a strong current. The Missouri and Mississippi rivers, despite their potential, can be intimidating for anglers, especially after storms or flooding. Strong currents and deep water demand different fishing strategies than those used in smaller lakes or streams. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
My Neighbors Stared. I Cut My Lawn With a Scythe Anyway.
Finally, after months of fiddling and frustration, my scythe was actually cutting something. The massive blade on this ancient mowing tool sliced through row after row of overgrown weeds with nice, easy swings. And it was quieter and worked faster than a modern-day string trimmer. Up to this point, I'd been hacking and grunting my way around the yard. I'd heard that scything could be relaxing, even meditative, but all I'd done was curse and sweat, and repress the mild embarrassment I felt when the neighbors stared. Who would enjoy this? Maybe struggle and self-denial were the point, and inner peace would blossom from the pain of living like a medieval peasant. But social media videos from scything celebrities including Slåttergubben and Scythe Dad made it look so smooth and productive — a healthy workout, for sure, though nothing like the punishment I'd been inflicting on my back and arms. So I sank another $100 into yet another piece of gear, dedicated another hour to learning yet another ancient technique, and took one last crack at this goofy experiment. Here was the payoff. The flow state I'd been promised was finally setting in. Then an old SUV rumbled up, and the driver called out, 'Wow, a real-life grim reaper. Nice scythe, kid.' Transcendent. Your neighbors will stare, but a scythe is a beautiful, meditative tool. If used correctly, it's very effective at cutting grass or an overgrown area. $197 from Lee Valley Tools For a European-style scythe (like the one we recommend), you'll need to shape the blade's edge before you can really sharpen it. This peening jig is the easiest way to do that. Once the blade was properly sharpened, my scythe made quick work of the overgrowth. A neighbor even stopped to show his appreciation. Liam McCabe and Aubrey Patti/NYT Wirecutter My quest had been inspired by Wirecutter's guide to string trimmers, into which my colleague Doug Mahoney snuck a scythe recommendation. He called it a 'beautiful, meditative tool' for those who are 'constantly looking for a 'different way,' and don't mind being seen as a little odd.' I definitely got my neighbors' attention — some stared, others pretended not to see me, and a few seemed concerned. But there were also people who struck up friendlier conversations and shared their own scything stories. The guy in the SUV told me about the one time he'd used a scythe. Another neighbor talked about watching her Central European grandfather swing a scythe around the garden — even after the Soviet Union had dissolved and lawnmowers became easier to find. Your neighbors will stare, but a scythe is a beautiful, meditative tool. If used correctly, it's very effective at cutting grass or an overgrown area. $197 from Lee Valley Tools As far as actually cutting the grass? Occasionally I bludgeoned the tips off of some leaf blades, but mostly I huffed and puffed without much to show for it. A couple times I convinced myself that I was working more efficiently due to a small adjustment I'd made to my scything stance or the angle of the blade. But that was wishful thinking. After a few weeks, I still hadn't gotten the hang of it, and my front yard was becoming an eyesore. I didn't want to give the neighbors too much to talk about, so I went back to managing it with my mower and string trimmer. Time away from the mower gave me a renewed appreciation for how fast and neat it is to use one. A lawn mower is louder than the scythe, but my front yard sits next to a busy state road, and the traffic is louder than most yard equipment anyway. My mower also runs on batteries, so to the extent that I care about minimizing its impact on the local environment, I'm perfectly comfortable with that setup. As for the string trimmer, meh: It's slow and uncomfortable, and it makes a mess. But it does the job where the mower can't. Still, I'd already spent almost $200 on the scythe setup, and at least it was decent exercise. So I resolved not to give up entirely, and I let my backyard grow into a wild scything laboratory while I tried to figure things out. Some successful scythers suggest that the quickest way to pick up all of the necessary skills is to attend a workshop. But I couldn't find any within driving distance of my house. It was only after I turned to another primordial technology — printed books at a public library — that I finally figured out my problem: I'd never properly sharpened the blade. Scythe Dad — or Sebastian Burke, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania — told me that he'd gotten into scything about a year ago, basically the same way that I did. 'It started as sort of a joke with a friend,' he said. In Burke's viral scything TikToks (filmed and posted by his wife, Lyndsey), each smooth swing of the scythe completely clears a neat semi-circle of grass, so it almost looks like it's lying down and taking a nap. A key difference between us is that Burke spent hundreds of dollars and put in hours of research and sweat equity over several months in order to learn how to sharpen his scythe. I, on the other hand, had tried to save a few bucks. Why buy some obscure sharpening tool — useful only for scythe blades — until I figured out whether I enjoyed scything in the first place? Scythe blades come in a wide range of sizes. I chose a 30-inch blade, which is a good length for slicing light grass and thicker weeds alike. The entire kit weighs only a couple of pounds. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter But that's not how it works. If you're scything, you're also sharpening. European-style blades, like the one I bought, usually need to be 'peened' first. Peening is the process of hammering the business end of the blade's malleable steel into a fine edge. So as much as I tried to hone the fresh factory edge with a whetstone (and later a bastard file), it remained hopelessly dull. For a European-style scythe (like the one we recommend), you'll need to shape the blade's edge before you can really sharpen it. This peening jig is the easiest way to do that. If you don't commit to buying a full set of peening and sharpening gear on day one, and then practice how to use it — essentially an entire hobby on its own — then scything is a waste of time. There's no dabbling. You either need to go all in or stick with your lawnmower and weed whacker. As Burke and I had to do, you'll probably need to teach yourself every aspect of scything: stance, setup, sharpening, all of it. I eventually found great video tutorials on all of those topics. But because scything is such a niche pursuit, the advice didn't land in my feeds with the sort of algorithmic serendipity I'd grown accustomed to for, say, gardening or DIY home improvement. My scythe was hopelessly dull until I hammered it out with a peening jig, which smushes the malleable steel blade into a thinner edge. Everyone I watched on YouTube had mounted the jig in a stump, so that's what I did too. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter The handle, or 'snath,' that I bought wasn't very good (it's not from the kit we recommend). And I've struggled to get a good cutting angle even after some modifications. If I could do it again, I'd spend extra on a better setup. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter My scythe was hopelessly dull until I hammered it out with a peening jig, which smushes the malleable steel blade into a thinner edge. Everyone I watched on YouTube had mounted the jig in a stump, so that's what I did too. Liam McCabe/NYT Wirecutter Burke said he ended up learning a lot through trial and error. He's tried out a few snaths (handles), a half-dozen blades, and other accessories. After experimenting with different peening and honing tools and techniques for a couple of months — going so far as to check the edges under a microscope — he could finally get the blades sharp enough that scything started to feel easy. 'Once I got a feel for it, then it was like, 'I can't go back,'' Burke said. 'It's even starting to dictate how I garden now.' Since a scythe is so much quieter than a lawnmower, he usually cuts the grass before his family wakes up in the morning or after they go to bed. Burke said he finds it easier to scythe the slopes of his property than to push a lawnmower up and down them. The long, neatly cut grass makes a great mulch. He's happy that he's not spraying spools' worth of nylon string trimmer shards into the ecosystem every year. And then there's the vibe: 'The meditative satisfaction is really rewarding … the texture, the feel of it, the sounds — you hear birds all around you.' I'm still chasing that bliss. Even after I bought a peening jig and hammered out the edge of the blade well enough to glide it through all of those overgrown weeds, my scythe still wasn't cutting grass very well. Should I change the angle of the blade? Do I need an even-sharper edge? I need to do more research, and there's probably more gear that I need to buy. Did I mention I like my lawnmower? This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder. Clean up your lawn's ragged edges, awkward corners, and steep slopes with a string trimmer. Keep your lawn looking great with these low-hassle, high-performing mowers. A version of Ego's powerful, efficient, cordless lawn mower has been our top pick since 2019.
Axios
11 hours ago
- Axios
Most iconic Texas food challenge Final 4
Our Texas foods Final Four reads like the perfect day of eating: Start with a breakfast taco, leaving room for a generous helping of smoked brisket for lunch, followed by mid-afternoon chips and queso, and, not feeling one bit hungry for dinner, opt for a slice of pecan pie. Why it matters: We're down to four contenders in our most iconic Texas food challenge. It's up to you to determine the championship matchup. The intrigue: The last four standing are also among our greatest food exports. How it works: Axios subscribers in San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas are taking part in four rounds of our March Madness-style Texas food bracket. The winner will be announced Friday. Vote in round three by 2pm Wednesday.
