Elgin history spotlight – Nancy Lou Webster
This is the story of longtime Elgin resident/artist Nancy Lou Webster and her 1935 Straight 8 Buick Coupe with suicide doors named “Katie.” The story begins with Nancy Lou as a teen in Oxford, Mississippi.
“Miss Kate Skipwith was a philanthropist who lived on Main Street in Oxford, Mississippi. She wanted a car so she ordered a new car to be shipped by rail to her. A 1935 Buick Series 40 Coupe. It arrived by rail in Oxford with five miles on the odometer.
Miss Kate was a notoriously bad driver. Everybody in town knew that when Miss Kate came out of her driveway you had better get out of the way for she did not know how to steer the car very well,” said Webster.
“Oxford, Mississippi has a square (which is …show more content…
Over lunch one day, Lee Blocker told Bill about some land outside of Elgin that he wanted to develop. Nancy Lou and Bill drove to Elgin with their three children and were greeted by a downtown with all the first story windows broken out and boarded up, and many of the second story windows were broken with pigeons roosting in them.
She remembers what a dreary place it seemed and said to Blocker, “If we come to live here, I will have to do everything in my power to revitalize this downtown.” In 1971 they began the development outside of Elgin that is now Cedar Hills.
Nancy Lou used two moving vans to move their belongings to Elgin. One was full of their household possessions, and the other was used solely for Katie, her 1935 Buick Coupe. Showing up in Elgin with two moving vans made for quite an entrance into the small community.
Nancy Lou drove Katie all over the Elgin area for her first few years living here. She remembers letting long-time Elgin resident Elizabeth Owen, then just a little girl, play on the running boards of Katie to entertain her while her father was in meetings with
This is the story of longtime Elgin resident/artist Nancy Lou Webster and her 1935 Straight 8 Buick Coupe with suicide doors named “Katie.” The story begins with Nancy Lou as a teen in Oxford, Mississippi.
“Miss Kate Skipwith was a philanthropist who lived on Main Street in Oxford, Mississippi. She wanted a car so she ordered a new car to be shipped by rail to her. A 1935 Buick Series 40 Coupe. It arrived by rail in Oxford with five miles on the odometer.
Miss Kate was a notoriously bad driver. Everybody in town knew that when Miss Kate came out of her driveway you had better get out of the way for she did not know how to steer the car very well,” said Webster.
“Oxford, Mississippi has a square (which is …show more content…
Over lunch one day, Lee Blocker told Bill about some land outside of Elgin that he wanted to develop. Nancy Lou and Bill drove to Elgin with their three children and were greeted by a downtown with all the first story windows broken out and boarded up, and many of the second story windows were broken with pigeons roosting in them.
She remembers what a dreary place it seemed and said to Blocker, “If we come to live here, I will have to do everything in my power to revitalize this downtown.” In 1971 they began the development outside of Elgin that is now Cedar Hills.
Nancy Lou used two moving vans to move their belongings to Elgin. One was full of their household possessions, and the other was used solely for Katie, her 1935 Buick Coupe. Showing up in Elgin with two moving vans made for quite an entrance into the small community.
Nancy Lou drove Katie all over the Elgin area for her first few years living here. She remembers letting long-time Elgin resident Elizabeth Owen, then just a little girl, play on the running boards of Katie to entertain her while her father was in meetings with