Old Blue Is Still A Local Favorite
Many of us who grew up in Fayette County in the 1960s and ’70s have memories of an ox who was a regular fixture in all the local parades.
“Old Blue” was sometimes saddled and sometimes pulling a wagon, but he always made an appearance.
Blue was the product of a Holstein milk cow owned by Jim Brown and a gentle Brahma bull owned by Brown’s nephew, Marion Byler. He was born in 1956 at the former Texas Company Bentonite Clay Processing Plant at Lena Switch, which was on FM 154 between West Point and Muldoon.
Jim Brown was the foreman of the plant and lived there until he retired in 1959.
Blue was chosen for training shortly after he was born.
His name came from the bluish-grey tint to his neck, shoulders and hindquarters.
Mr. Brown’s grandsons remember him being as gentle as a dog.
Jim Brown learned to train draft animals when he was a child watching his father. He had also mastered making ox bows of green hickory and ox yokes of cottonwood. Blue was trained to pull a w agon alone or with a partner, but Mr. Brown could also ride him both with and without a saddle. Blue’s partner was supposed to be another ox born just days later and named Red after his coloring.
Unfortunately, Red did not develop as hoped. He was stubborn and hard to train and sometimes difficult to handle. Red wasn’t mean or dangerous, but he was not calm and cooperative like Blue and was sold before he was two years old. Blue and Red were the last two oxen that Jim Brown trained.
Brown’s grandsons remember that Blue was trained to come when called, walk up steps, kneel, lay down, and let children crawl on, under, and around him.
He could even roll over until his horns got too big. He was gentle, not disturbed by noise or crowds and seemed to enjoy performing since he was quick to obey commands.
Once, the boys pranked their grandmother when they brought Blue into her kitchen.
In retirement, the Browns moved to La Grange. At that point, Blue was relocated to property the Browns owned on FM 154 between Old Lockhart Road and Reiss Road, but he often made appearances in La Grange.
He was always a crowd favorite and some claimed he actually posed for photographs.
Animals like Blue must be worked regularly to maintain their training and Mr.
Brown’s advancing age made it difficult to properly train and work him. In the mid-1960s, when Mr. Brown was in his seventies, he sold Blue to Ed Tobias of Ellinger, who kept up Blue’s public appearances. As with the Browns, Blue became a treasured member of the Tobias family.
A few years later, Mr.
Brown and his grandson visited Blue’s pasture and he readily came when his former master called. Blue spent the remainder of his years at Ellinger.
A few weeks after his passing, the La Grange Journal devoted space to announce that Old Blue had died on February 22, 1979.
Blue’s head and shoulders were mounted and presented to the newly opened Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives by Ed and Lillian Tobias. Since that time, Blue has made a second visit to a taxidermist and his coat now appears more red than blue.
Mr. Brown’s grandsons have brought their own grandchildren to visit and be photographed with Blue, who is still a favorite among young and old alike.
Sources:
Correspondence with David E. Cherry Texaco People, April 1960 March 14, 1979 issue of the La Grange Journal
