Abilene Weather Bureau
North 1st St
Abilene, Taylor Co. Tx
written by Jean (Bateman) Wallace--granddaughter of William Hosea Green
My grandfather on my mother's side was, William Hosea Green, who was the weatherman before there was a weather station at the Air Port. The Weather Station was in the old Weather Bureau Building on 1482 North 1st St. which is now a historical site with a marker. My Mother, Ruth Green Bateman (who is 84 and still living)(2001), is the baby of seven children and the last 5 children were born in that Weather Bureau building while Hosea Green was the weatherman. He served as weatherman from 1909 to 1944 when he retired. The Weather Station was all Mother knew, until she and my dad married when she was 23 years old and fresh out of 4 years of college at ACC
Weather Bureau made before 1920, not sure how much before but the streets weren't paved
Both Hosea and Emma were school teachers when they met. Just before they married, Hosea went to work for the U. S. Weather Bureau. After they married Hosea was sent to Havana, Cuba as a Weatherman. Then to Montgomery, AL and later Knoxville, TN. After that it was on to Ft. Worth, TX and then to Abilene, TX.
Hosea & Emma Green in 1905 just after
they married
The Weatherman and the Abilene Weather Bureau.
written by Jean (Bateman) Wallace--granddaughter of William Hosea Green , Sept 1 2001
William Hosea Green married Emma Olive Bryant on June 15, 1905 on the upstairs veranda of her parents home in Flat Creek, TN, Bedford Co. He was born March 2, 1879 in Madge, TX, Coleman Co. and died March 16, 1964 in Abilene, TX, Taylor Co. They are both buried in Abilene's Cedar Hill Cemetery. The Abilene Weather Bureau building was erected at North 1st and Beach Streets in 1909. Hosea was called from Fort Worth, TX to Abilene on Dec. 19, 1909 to be their Weatherman. He replaced the Weatherman who worked there and had fallen down the stairs and broken his neck. Emma and their son stayed behind until their daughter was born Dec. 25, 1909 after which they all joined him at their new living quarters in the Weather Bureau. Hosea and Emma raised seven children while living and working in the Weather Bureau. The last five were born there. The Weather Bureau had a large basement with a laundry room, coal room, furnace, a wide hall way and what they called a board room (a catchall room). The first floor had two offices on one side with a printing press area and book shelves full of Weather books, a wide hall way and the other side was the kitchen and dining room areas with pantry and storage. The top floor had the parlor, master bedroom, the bathroom at the end of the hall, the four boys bedroom and the three girls bedroom.
In 1933 the Thor Washer Company told Hosea and Emma they had the oldest washing machine anywhere and would they trade it for a brand new Thor automatic washer? They did and the old washer was on display at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, ILL.
In 1944 Hosea retired and he and Emma moved to a private
home at 909 Hickory Street in Abilene until their deaths in 1964 and 1966. All seven
children were raised to adulthood in the Weather Bureau. In 2001 a son, Berton, lives in
North Richland Hills, TX and a daughter, Ruth (the baby), lives in Longview, TX. They both
are full of happy memories with lots of good stories about growing up with their Father as
the Weatherman and living in the Weather Bureau. The beautiful red brick building still
stands today and proudly wears it historical marker for all to see.
Yes, my grandparents, William Hosea Green and Emma Olive Bryant Green lived in the Weather Bureau from 1909, when he was hired as Abilene's weatherman, until he retired in 1944 and moved into a private home at 909 Hickory St. in Abilene. They both lived there until they had to move into a Nursing home. They have a real interesting story because they lived in Cuba where he was a weatherman right after they married in 1905. Out of their 7 children, actually 8 children, the first one died young, (5 were born in the Weather Bureau)