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Mr. Roland M. Searcy describes the Finfeather Club in the 1950s, and what happened the day a tornado came roaring through Bryan in early April 1956

Bryan had I guess the closest thing you could have to a country club after that one. And I think it went broke, the one out there where the golf course is, and the city finally took it over. But the closest thing they had after that was a club that was out off of Finfeather Drive called the Finfeather Club. And that was a group of people that had gotten together during the forties and put that in.

They had a dance floor and you could sit outside. And of course back then with the alcohol laws like they were the only way you could have anything to drink was to take your liquor and put it in a locker out there. And then if you went out there, you'd order a drink and they'd fix it with your liquor.

And in 1956, my senior year in high school in April, I was up there late in the afternoon and it was kind of humid and raining. And I looked out the window back to the west over there toward Finfeather Drive and I saw a to tornado coming. And there was a tornado that came and it came across Texas Avenue and came down Culvert drive and it took the roads off some houses that were along Culvert Drive. It never really hit the ground and then went on back up and got over on... Came on back off of 29th and tore up some houses over there and then went out Villa Maria and tore up a couple of houses and then went on up.

Well, that Finfeather club was out there and it demolished it. It just flattened it. In fact, also the funny thing I think about it was that there was a Lone Star Beer warehouse was out there and it tore it down, and they sent the national guard out to the Lone Star Beer warehouse to Keep people from coming out there and looting it. But eventually out of that grew Briarcrest country club.