"Edna's never had an exhibition quite like this," Jackson County Historical Commission chairman Bill Reaves said of the photographs now posted in downtown windows. He was describing the first Edna Downtown History Walk. It is a month-long exhibit of large-format vintage storefront photographs from more than 30 participating businesses on the stretch of downtown Edna between Allen and Menefee streets.
The exhibit opened with a reception at Prosperity Bank on Tuesday, Sept. 29. That evening also celebrated Edna's 100th year as a Texas municipality, and Mayor Lance Smiga and historian Roy Ortolon were expected to attend. The city already held its big party on June 13, when the first Flag City Celebration combined the centennial with the country's 250th anniversary. It had live music, children's rides, food trucks and vendors. That was one day. October gives Edna's centennial a longer life on Main Street, and the history sits on the buildings themselves.
A hundred years, counted from a 212-to-69 vote
The town's history is older than the centennial number. The City of Edna's history page says Edna was founded in 1884. Its incorporation was approved and then abolished in 1899, and the town incorporated again in January 1926 under a commission form of government. A separate city history post adds the detail behind that date. On Jan. 2, 1926, residents voted 212 to 69 for commission government, and S.G. Drushel was elected the first mayor.
That makes the 100 years the city's age, and the walk tells the story through the buildings on Main Street. Reaves said many of the downtown buildings were built more than 100 years ago and have housed a range of businesses since. Ortolon's narrated stories include a record of the different businesses each building has held over the years. So a window you pass on the way to the bank or a lunch spot now lists every business that has filled that space.
What is actually in the windows
Each photograph has a QR code. Scan it with your phone and you get a narrated history of that building, and you can walk the exhibit at your own pace. The stories come from Roy Ortolon, a longtime Edna historian. The exhibit exists because the commission received the Roy Ortolon Photographic Archive, and Ortolon and Linda Menefee Reaves did the curatorial work. The commission is running the walk with the Edna Downtown Business Association and the City of Edna.
So far, only one stop has been named in print. Volkmer Bakery at 123 E. Main St. appears as a photo caption in the Jackson County Herald-Tribune's announcement. No full list of the 30-plus participating businesses has been published, so finding the photographs is part of the walk.
Reaves grew up in Edna, left for a career and came back in retirement. She put it this way: "It is truly rare for a community of our size to mount a narrated visual exhibition such as this that tells the story of life and commerce in their town." McKenna Pustka, president of Prosperity Bank and chairman of the Edna Business Association, called the participating businesses "present-day stewards of Edna's small-town business legacy."
Three days that change how the walk looks
The exhibit is up all month. Three dates on the October calendar bring different crowds downtown, and each one fits the walk in its own way.
Saturday, Oct. 3: the parade. The Jackson County Youth Fair parade lines up at 8:30 a.m. and steps off at 10:15 a.m. in downtown Edna. The historical commission pointed to the parade as a chance to get a first look at the exhibit, since the route passes the windows. The fair itself continues Oct. 5 through 11 at the Brackenridge Main Event Center. Daily admission is $5 for adults and students 18 and under, and children 5 and under get in free. Carnival armbands cost $30 on Wednesday, $35 on Thursday and Friday, and $40 on Saturday. A $20 fair pass covers pageants and gate admission and is sold at Davis Jewelry and Gifts, among other spots.
Saturday, Oct. 17: Texana Fest and the guided tours. This is the only time the walk has guides. Tours run that afternoon during Texana Fest. On Aug. 20, the Edna City Council approved the Edna Business Association and Texana Arts Council's request to sponsor the festival. The approval included an alcohol permit, $3,000 in hotel/motel funds, and closing Main Street and part of Ed Linn Street from 3 to 9 p.m. The festival grew out of a downtown October street dance the Texana Arts Council held for two years. In 2025, the arts council and the business association expanded it into a full afternoon-and-evening festival. The 2026 lineup, public hours and admission have not been published yet. The 3-to-9 closure window is the firm part. Golfers have a conflict that day, because the Jackson County Chamber's two-person fall tournament is the same Saturday at Edna Country Club. Registration is $100 and includes lunch and one mulligan per player per nine holes.
Saturday, Oct. 31: Halloween on Main. Halloween on Main runs from 5 to 7 p.m. in Edna. It is the last Saturday the exhibit is scheduled to be up. That gives families out in costume an evening look at the photographs before they come down.
Organizers have said the commission and the business association will host more special events tied to the walk. They plan to publish the schedule in the Herald-Tribune and have asked people to "stay tuned." So far, the guided tours on Oct. 17 are the only walk program with a date.
The weekday version is the quiet one
On every other day, you can take the walk on your own whenever you like along Main Street. It suits a weekday lunch break or a walk after errands. A weekday with no event downtown is also the easiest time to stop at each QR code and hear the full narration. You can't count on that on Oct. 17, when the streets are closed to traffic and full of people.
The city's own history posts suggest how much is in this material. One says Edna's old telephone office started in a frame house on S. Wells Street near City Motors, later moved into a brick building by H-E-B, and that building is now the Chamber of Commerce. Another says the 1909 Civic Auditorium hosted community events and a U.S.O. facility. Hurricane Carla damaged it in September 1961, it was torn down, and the Edna Fire Department now stands on the site. Neither building has been named as a History Walk stop. Both follow the same pattern as the walk, where one address holds several chapters of the town's commercial history.
Where the history thread goes after October
The walk is part of a longer fall program from the historical commission, which runs its History Speaker Series as part of the county's America 250 Project. In August, the commission's first pop-up history book shop with Texas A&M University Press drew more than 60 residents to the County Services Building. On Sept. 24, the series brought Dr. Stephen L. Hardin, a former Victoria College instructor, to the old Texana Church to talk about the Runaway Scrape.
The next talk follows naturally from the walk. On Thursday, Nov. 5, Mark Lambert, recently retired senior director of heritage at the Texas General Land Office, will speak at the Texana Church. He plans to bring some of the state's earliest maps showing the first roadways in Jackson County and how county boundaries changed over time. The walk covers the town building by building, and Lambert's maps cover the county around it.
Main Street's next closure is already approved. The council cleared the Edna Business Association to close Main Street from 3 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5, for Market Days on Main Street and the annual Christmas Parade, along with $5,000 in hotel/motel funds. Between now and then, the Chamber's annual banquet on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the Jackson County Services Building will carry a U.S. 250th-anniversary theme, with Col. Mike Petrash as guest speaker.
The rest of the county's October
The walk isn't the only October event in Jackson County. Ganado's National Night Out runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Devers Creek Park at the end of W. Sutherland Street, with hot dogs, chips and drinks from the volunteer fire department. The 14th annual Spooktacular Haunted Trail & Carnival is Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Texana Park & Campground Pavilion. It runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m., and the haunted trail is open from 8 to 10. Ganado's Trunk or Treat starts at 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. For cooks, online registration for the 25th annual Texana Chili Spill & Go-Texan Cook-Off opens Oct. 1 and closes at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11. The cook-off runs Nov. 12 through 14 at the Brackenridge Main Event Center.
Many of the buildings on the History Walk have housed several businesses over the past century. At Zaplac Group, we've seen how much the history of a building, and the street around it, matters to the people who own it next. If you own property along Main Street or nearby and want to talk about what it's worth today, Contact The Team.
