As I search and read about progress in the early days of our town, I am confounded about the differences in the amount of time it took to accomplish a project and how long it takes today. Please don’t construe this as criticism — it’s just observation.

The entire St. Louis, Brownsville, and Mexico Railway was completed in shortly less than a year, from the clearing of land, laying of tracks, bouts of yellow fever, material delays, to the July 4, 1904 opening, with two trains running through Kingsville that day.

When the old high school burned in late 1924 (probably during Christmas holidays), a bond issue passed, renovation began and the 1925 fall session found the building ready for the students. This was a little over six months.

Today-with all the test, waivers, and papers to comply with ordinances, a project takes months or even years to complete.

At the moment the work on Henrietta M. King School is in the hurry up and wait phase. Environmental and structure testing studies are being conducted. The roof is scheduled for the next step. In the meantime fund raising needs to go into high gear.

Of course, we want the conditions to be excellent. After all, we want our money well spent on a product we can view with pride.

I suppose we can adopt that Christmas Eve spirit we had as children about opening gifts-that antsy premonition that something good is about to happen!