This Small-Town Texas Yearbook From The '20s Is Absolutely Delightful

In a town of fewer than 2,000 people, Taylor's class of 1920 seems to have had a pretty good year.

Taylor, Texas has one high school, and back in 1920 they called their yearbook "The Cotton Boll."

Taylor High School

texashistory.unt.edu

The yearbook is packed with sincerity, and the fun that the class of 1920 had together in "the happiest days of [their] lives" shines through.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

The faculty page used a really scary font, which looks particularly gothic naming PRINCIPAL YOUNGBLOOD.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

Mr. Brister, on the other hand? Would.

Each graduating senior got a rhyme written about them by Ms. Ennola Robertson.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

Her own rhyme reads:

"Now here is the rhymer, whose verses

You've been reading with wondering air

Ennola Robertson is the name of the lassie

Who wrote these and others with care."

I like the looks of Beth Beck.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

The poem:

"Beth Beck's fair face now comes to view

In simple school girl glee;

A cartoonist and a declaimer,

She's pug [?!] in her dignity."

Ralph Marek was the tallest of the seniors and was mighty dandy as well.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

"Ralph Marek is the next we see here,

He's the tallest of the Senior men;

We're proud of him as a member

And an athlete who can help win."

Those seniors obviously had a pretty good time:

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

But it actually looks like the juniors might have had more fun.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

The freshmen were awkward, then and now and forevermore.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

This explanation of what the junior subjects are actually about is very helpful.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

All the seniors got caricatures depicting their future lives in 1935.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

"The man who makes the holes for the doughnuts," ouch.

"A Sly Little Widow"

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

"Miss. Burgett — Matron of the New York Jail"

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

There were also math poems (!) and a breakdown of busted dreams throughout the years (!!).

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

I don't even know what this is.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

Predictions were a big thing.

Taylor High School

Taylor High School

This section is a whole list of students, their nicknames, occupations, appearance, ambition, and "what each will likely be."

Samples:

"Perrie Mae Offield / Pete / Flirting with Joe / Not very tall / To be a dietician / Owner of a candy kitchen"

"Annette Fritz / Fritzy / Laughing all time / Plain / To marry a Texas / Wife of a Californian"

"Carl Mares / Rusty / Entertaining the class / Little but loud / To be cute / He is"

Here are some football players.

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

Go Pat!

And here are some basketball players.

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Those uniforms just don't seem very practical.

"Senior Beauty" was Bessie Bordosky, and "Most Popular Boy" was that ol' "little but loud" Carl Mares.

Taylor High School

A summary of class parties probably wouldn't make it into today's yearbooks...

Taylor High School / Via Summer Anne Burton

"Bunco was the chief diversion of the evening."

All in all, it seems like the class of 1920 had a damn good time.