Yesterday’s landmarks become today’s replicas - Local pastor wins national award for his hobby work

Ron Maxfield spends Sundays sharing the gospel word as a senior adult pastor at First Baptist Church. In his spare time, he can be found in his shed or utility room creating miniature building replicas, precise and detailed. Many of his buildings are modeled after full-size landmarks that no longer exist. Like the Marlow School Auditorium that was demolished last September. He was inside the attic for about an hour right up to the last minute when he had to come out of it for the wrecking ball to bring it down.

It all began for Maxfield about 30 years ago in his hometown of Corsicana, Texas.

“I’ve been working on this project of building miniature replicas of my hometown. There are a lot of homes and buildings that have disappeared. Corsicana was the home of the Texas oil industry. There’s a lot of history,” he said. Maxfield and his wife, Carole, moved to Marlow 17 years ago. She is a family and marriage counselor. They have two sons in their 20s–Quentin and Houston.

According to Maxfield, Superintendent Corey Holland asked his mother, Cricket, if Ron might be interested in creating a replica of the old school auditorium. Maxfield liked the idea. He considers Marlow his home too. Preserving a bit of the past as a gift to the community though, would take some time and research. His buildings are on the O scale, a bit larger than the popular HO scale which is what most train sets are. Investing the time into each structure, he wants it to be as accurate as possible, but also of a size that people can really inspect and appreciate the detail.

“I like it because it’s more visible to me and you can see more detail. And you can go higher like G scale, but I didn’t want to go that big. 1/48th scale is O scale.

“That’s when I began collecting photos, and if the building was still there, or if the photo was high resolution, those old photos-cabinet art from way back were extremely high resolution. You could get a jeweler’s loupe and you could count the bricks off the building. To make sure I had the accurate scale, I would count the bricks on the building–that’s how I got the scale. I’ve had a lot of old timers tell me how it would look.”

Research of the old auditorium has included interviews with people, collecting photographs and scoring numerous old yearbooks.

“Several people from church knew I was doing this. Word spread and they were amazed at what I was doing.”

His hobby has always been a sideline, but the demolition of the auditorium added an interesting deadline to his research.

“I was able to take photographs of it before it went down and actually be able to go inside, to the attic and see certain parts that had been covered over with false roofing. I was able to get inside and see the brickwork that wasn’t publicly visible.”

Sharing his story about the demolition of the auditorium, it was hard for Maxfield to contain his excitement at the memory.

“What’s really amazing, to get my last details, was the day it was demolished. I was talking to Corey and they {site crew} came up and said the crew was on its way right now. We had about an hour. So, I rushed in with my two sons, who are both graduates of Marlow. We found all the original old windows that were stored in that attic. They were all stacked up and I said maybe only have an hour before this building comes down,” he said. “Fortunately, we were able to save some of those windows. I pulled two sets out, gave one to a lady at church who does a lot of old school history; and one to the Chamber of Commerce.”

As the demolition took place, Maxfield watched intently, trying to capture as many details possible. He said there were some things he couldn’t see when inside, because it was too dark.

“I was able to see parts as the wrecking ball was bringing it down, to the last minute and got more and more details.” He had more work to do. He visited the library and found old annuals that had some pictures showing what the original doors of the building looked like.

“They were French-style doors and I was able to replicate them.”

Debbie Pryor also has amassed a great deal of history on the schools. She told him the old auditorium was considered Prairie Style.

“Using all the different sources, I already have the face of it built. I’m holding back now – until the new building is finished.” It’s because of the size of the replica and his limited space to store the piece. Plans are for the replica to be encased and placed into the lobby of the new performing arts center. He also likes adding personal touches.

“Lou Ann Callaway had a picture of her family with a pickup by a furniture store. I like to do specialty things. I found a pickup just like it. It was a 1920s pickup. I did some research and found one in that same size (for scale) and I found a 1920s school bus. Little details are added to make it more interesting,” he said of his replicas. 

This summer, Maxfield loaded three large pieces into the back of his van and traveled to Denver, CO to attend the O Scale National Convention. The structure was the historic Denver Depot and he was approached by the O Scale Railroad Club to create it. He’s a member of that club. It’s one of the rare pieces that Maxfield didn’t start from scratch when building. He actually began with laser pre-cut walls. Figuring how to put it together was a puzzle. His effort earned him a 1st place national award. Aside from the Denver Depot and the auditorium, Maxfield’s focus is on Corsicana. 

“I’ve always been interested in history, old time cars, trains, homes. It really emerged when I got older and with everything disappearing. It’s like being a historian but preserving the past in miniature scale.”

Recreating Corsicana’s historic buildings is a continuing effort. So far, Maxfield has crafted a little church, a synagogue, the Collins Street Bakery – which earned attention on a national scale and even one historic house that holds sentimental value, among many more pieces.

When he learned the B&B was going to be demolished, he jumped in his car and went to Corsicana. It’s where he proposed to Carole.

He’s had his work featured in a couple of magazines. Maxfield also has a history site and is administrator on Facebook for one of his hometown in Texas. It’s a veritable treasure trove for research, with photos and stories of old-timers who can still remember and share particular details. As for commission work, don’t bother asking.

Maxfield would like to finish the project he began 30 years ago.

“My hope is that one day, sometime in the future, when I retire, I'll put them all together and make a museum out of them. Right now, all the pieces I make go back to Corsicana, and they are scattered all over town.