BIG SANDY, Texas — Established in the late 1800s, Big Sandy is rich in history.
“We're a railroad town," Big Sandy native, Sarah Strub, said.
The city’s downtown is full of buildings dating back to the early 1900s, but the city doesn’t have the money to restore the ones it owns.
“They’re built in a way that they aren’t built anymore,” Strub said.
The city secretary, Laura Rex, was watching HGTV one night when she saw a commercial that could solve Big Sandy’s problem.
“They're calling it a Home Town Takeover,” explained Rex. “It caught my attention. They're planning to come into a community and if there's buildings that you would like to see restored that you aren't able to, you can make application for them to come in and help you.”
Rex says after discussing with the city’s mayor, the idea was put on the Big Sandy’s City Council agenda a couple of weeks ago.
“We all discussed the possibility that it seems like a bit of a long shot,” Rex said. “But there's no harm in trying and they voted unanimously to move forward with applying for it.”
The city hired two local videographers who have already made historical videos about Big Sandy heroes, to create a video to submit.
“They're affiliated with our Big Sandy Museum,” Rex said.
Although it might take time for the winning town to be announced, she already knows which buildings she’d like to see renovated.
"One was most recently the Masonic Lodge," she said. " It actually was a former bank and pharmacy, but it's an original building that was built in the 1920s. It appears to have a lot of the original brickwork, a lot of the original tin ceilings and some things like that."
The other building dates back to 1904.
"It actually was a former movie theater, among other things during the World War Two era when Big Sandy was really booming," Rex explained.
Rex says she has big ideas for the potential renovations.
"We used to have a train station here in Big Sandy called the TMP Train Station," she said. "And potentially recreate the TMP Train Station and turn it into a library or potentially city offices."
The application is due Feb. 4.