The old jail located on the north side of Central Square (Block 25) was replaced with a single-story building to the east of the County Courthouse (Block 25). The old jail building was repurposed to become the home of the Chamber of Commerce and a museum. On April 21, Highway 90-A was dedicated and renamed “Sarah DeWitt Drive”. On July 4, famous singer Willie Nelson visited the town to give a performance. He brought 85,000 people to the Kelley Ranch, about 7 miles east of town on FM 532.
It was definitely the largest Independence Day commemoration in this nation’s history, with 1976 being the bicentennial year of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Willie Nelson wanted to throw the biggest picnic yet.
A few months prior, local District Attorney Houston Munson had written Mr. Nelson, asking him to play his birthday party in the fall of 1975. The date came and passed, with no response. Then, reportedly, one day in walks the troubadour, asking Mr. Munson for his help in holding the concert. Plans were made to host the three-day festival near town, but many residents wanted nothing of it. The “cosmic cowboy” image of long-haired rednecks with their hippie pals — holdovers from the Woodstock era — invading town like a new regiment of Santa Anna’s army didn’t set well with Gonzales’ moral majority.
In one corner stood CLOD: the Citizens for Law, Order and Decency and their attorney Alan Wells of Killeen. They, along with local Rev. Jimmy Darnell, presented 2,150 names in opposition to the event. In the other, the “Friends of Willie” with spokesman Eddie Scheske at the helm. This group tended to look at the economic benefits that the picnic would bring in addition to publicity and exposure.
Both sides met in the District Courtroom in the Gonzales County Courthouse. While this was a hearing and not a trial, newspaper reports paint the proceedings as nothing less than a spectacle straight from “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Read more in the Gonzales Inquirer article about it.
