Alvin "Hoople" Littlefield

Spoke August 7, 2000

Historical Society Enlightened on 'Tater Hill" from Long- Time Resident.  The River Oaks Area Historical Society often has programs which feature our local residents who share interesting information about River Oaks and its early days. We were pleased to haveAlvin Littlefield, a 69-year resident, share some memories with us for our August meeting.Alvin moved to River Oaks when he was 10 years old and has lived here since that time. He isone of the members of the community who can remember the story about the city going by thenickname of "Tater Hill." Since these more informal meetings lend themselves to interaction from the membership, someone wanted him to tellhow we got that name. He told about a man who had a huge sweet potato field off of Sam Calloway Road, which was just a gravel road then. One of his sweet potatoes weighed over 11 pounds and the old Fort Worth Press, which many of us remember, ame out and took a picture of it. As far asnyone can tell, that was when the area became known as "Tater Hill." 

Alvin was also asked about a road known back in the early days as "WhiskeyLane."  He said that his mother's maiden name was Ladd and although most of the family was very religious, she had two brothers who were known to "lift a bottle" now and then.   Somehow the road they lived on was given the dubious name of "WhiskeyLane." It later became known as Ladd Lane and is now what we know as Gillam Road.   His Grandmother andGrandfather Ladd had a farm on Roberts Cut-Off, which was a dirt road at the time with connecting wagon roads, one of which is now MeanderingRoad. When his grandfather died, Mrs. Ladd divided up the farm, giving five to seven acres to each of the nine children, one of whom was Alvin 's mother.   Alvin said he ran around with the Andrews Sisters -- not the famous singing sisters -- he was talking about Mary Helen and Mildred Andrews.  Alvin asked Mary Helen to be his wife and they weremarried in 1940 and had 52 wonderful years together till her death in 1992. Mildred has been Mrs. F.M. Crittenden for 54 years and she and F.M. were present for the meeting that night laughing through the memories.  Alvin told about the many trips F.M. made from White Settlement, where his family lived, to the Castleberry area (that was what River Oaks began to be called) to see Mildred. One night, Alvin was giving F.M. a ride home down the graveled  White Settlement Road in his dad's 1928 Chevrolet and he had a flat. He fixed it and went about another half-mile and had another flat, and then went another 100 feet and had another flat.  F.M. ended up walking home to White Settlement and Alvinwalked home and had to face his dad with the sad story. His dad then bought a 1935 Chevrolet. That prompted Alvin to mention that Johnnie Carpenter, long-time River Oaks resident who was also present for the meeting, had a great-looking 1936 Chevrolet decked out with a lot of lights that everyone loved.  Alvin Littlefield entertained the River Oaks Area Historical Society with his violin playing and some interesting history about his

 Johnnie was present at the meeting, also, and smiled at the remembrance.  We enjoyed reminders of the Fort Worth Stock Yards and the packing plants, which became a hub for the area. The work they provided benefited more people on the North Side than in River Oaks, but definitely affected the whole area in a positive way. We also were glad to get some news of Alvin and Mary Helen's only child, Merlin Littlefield, who went through Castleberry schools and then graduated from TCU with degrees in radio/television and criminology. He worked for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Producers for 22 years and retired from the industry which required much travel. He now enjoyshis job as personnel director for the prison system for the State of Tennessee, where he liveswith his family.  Alvin is an excellent violin player and he brought his violin to close- out the program for the evening.  He played Red River Valley and One Day at a Time and received some great applause.  Kathleen Burns Tucker, a Historical Society member, was sitting there reminiscing as Alvin shared with us that she played steel guitar as a young woman and they used to play for church and for political meetings. He certainly still has the musical touch and a gift for sharing memories that meant a lot to those of us present. It was a very enjoyable evening.