A 'silent night' scene in a little Texas town became a ruckus FacebookTwitterEmail 1of6 These days there are no Blooming Grove Christmas pageants, but the City Hall Lobby is festive.Joe Holley / ContributorShow MoreShow Less 2of6 3of6 Falling cotton prices and the Great Depression hit Blooming Grove hard.Joe Holley / ContributorShow MoreShow Less 4of6 5of6 Blooming Grove, the self-proclaimed “friendliest little town in Texas,” is quiet these days.Joe Holley / ContributorShow MoreShow Less 6of6 The historic Blooming Grove United Methodist Church building was constructed in 1902.Joe Holley / ContributorShow MoreShow Less BLOOMING GROVE — Journalism professor David McHam, a University of Houston legend, got his start as a newsman in the mid-1950s at the Waco Times-Herald. That’s how he knew about his friend Jules Loh’s assignment to write about the 1956 Christmas pageant in this little town near Corsicana. Loh made the 50-mile drive on a Monday evening, came back to the newsroom and typed out his story, only to have it rejected. Irreverent, his editor ruled. The story didn’t run, although Loh’s newsroom colleagues all made copies.