DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — and this one's a keeper. Pull over if you have to, because this is where the modern road trip really got its start. March 1925.
A man named W. E. Nunnelee looks out across East Texas and decides people need a better way to get from here to there.
So the W. E. Nunnelee Bus Lines fires up passenger service — Tyler to Gladewater, Tyler to Mt.
Pleasant — and just like that, something brand new is rolling down Texas roads. Now, I want you to picture the fleet. Twenty-six vehicles in all, covering two hundred and five miles of route.
And I use the word "buses" loosely, because some of these machines were seven-passenger automobiles. Regular cars. Built for somebody's Sunday drive, pressed into commercial service and told to act professional.
Others had what they called stretched auto chassis — bodies pulled long enough to seat ten or more passengers. Several models had doors that opened along the side. Not the back.
The side. You just had to trust that. The run from Tyler to Gladewater — thirty miles, one dollar fare — wound through Winona, Starrville, and Friendship, over roads that had been paved in 1919 and 1923.
On a good day, that thirty miles took an hour. On a bad day — well, breakdowns were frequent. Overhauls were frequent.
And those overhauls were often made, by necessity, right there on the roadside, by mechanics working without suitable tools. New tires, brake repairs, valve repairs — it was a constant conversation between man and machine, and the machine had a lot to say. The line later added routes from Tyler to Henderson and to Nacogdoches.
It kept growing. And growing drew attention. August 1, 1927.
The Railroad Commission of Texas steps in and places buses under regulation. The W. E.
Nunnelee Bus Lines receives franchise number one. Not number twelve. Not number forty-seven.
Number one. At that moment, there were two hundred and forty-seven companies running eight hundred and sixty-five public passenger vehicles across twenty thousand, three hundred and forty-eight miles of Texas roads — and this line stood at the head of the line. Many of those companies were operating what you'd have to call automobiles with ambitions.
Uncomfortable, hard to drive, built for private use but hauling the public anyway. Air conditioning? Not a concept.
Safety engineering? Something for another generation to worry about. But here's what the marker wants you to carry with you: those rattling, overheating, roadside-repair-requiring machines showed the way to a new era in convenient transportation.
Every smooth, air-conditioned, safety-engineered bus on a Texas highway today is riding in the wheel tracks of something that started in March of 1925, between Tyler and Gladewater, for one dollar a seat. That's a pretty good return on a dollar.
What the marker says
The W. E. Nunnelee Bus Lines began passenger service from Tyler to Gladewater and Mt. Pleasant in March 1925; later added buses from Tyler to Henderson and Nacogdoches. Twenty-six vehicles were operated over the 205 miles. These included 7-passenger automobiles and 12-, 15-, 16-, and 19-passenger buses. Fare from Tyler to Gladewater was $1. with stops in Winona, Starrville, Friendship, the 30-mile run took an hour, over roads paved in 1919 and 1923. On Aug. 1, 1927, buses were placed under regulation of the Railroad Commission. This line had franchise No. 1; it was one of 247 companies running 865 public passenger vehicles on 20,348 miles of Texas roads. Many of these "buses" were autos built for private use. Others had "stretched" auto chassis seating 10 or more passengers. Several models had doors that opened along the side. Uncomfortable and hard to drive, they constantly needed new tires and repairs to brakes and valves. Breakdowns were frequent. Overhauls (often made, or necessity, by the roadside) were handled by mechanics lacking suitable tools. Although far different from the airconditioned, safety-engineered bus of today, early buses showed the way to a new era in convenient transportation. (1966)