Some time in the summer of 1929, probably around the time his friend Clyde Smith graduated from college, Robert E. Howard moved to Brownwood. According to Smith’s “Adventurer in Pulp,” Howard spent “several months” in the town while “he worked at his writing.” Since you don’t need to write letters to someone who lives in the same town, there are no letters from Howard to Smith from late-July until late-December 1929, when Howard wrote that he was back “doing business at the old stand” in Cross Plains.
During this period there are a few items from the Cross Plains Review that help to pinpoint the time that Howard lived in Brownwood. An August 9th report states that “Lindsey Tyson visited with Robert Howard, at Brownwood, the past week-end,” and another on November 1, “Robert Howard returned to Brownwood Monday after spending several days with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. I. M. Howard, here.”
While there are no letters to Smith from this period, at least one letter, to Thrills of the Jungle Magazine, survives. The letter is addressed “816 Melwood Ave., Brownwood, Texas.” The same address appears at the top of the typescript for “The Voice of the Mob”; clearly this is where Howard roomed in 1929.
As with the other Howard locations in Brownwood, nothing of the Melwood address remains. In 2010, the back portion of the Quality Body Works shop (top) occupied the location of Howard’s former rooming house. In Howard’s time, Austin Avenue did not go through; it terminated one block east at Booker Street. When Austin was widened and converted into a major thoroughfare, the home was destroyed. While doing some research on one of Clyde Smith’s former girlfriends, Gladys Brannan, I discovered that she had spent some time in the boarding house at 816 Melwood Avenue in 1923. This sparked my curiosity. What follows is more than anyone needs to know about 816 Melwood Avenue.
