New Kerr County History Book Available!

Sunday, March 17, 2024

What secrets are hidden in this circa 1895 photo taken in downtown Kerrville?

A faded photograph -- what secrets does it hide?
Click on any image to enlarge.

While going through another box of Kerrville photographs given to me by a kind reader, I stumbled upon a downtown Kerrville treasure.

After scanning and cleaning up
Upon first glance, it is very difficult to see any details in the photograph. It is very faded. And it is also pocked with many holes, evidence of its display on a wall for many years, affixed there with pins or nails.

Fortunately, I have a good photograph scanner, and within a few minutes I had a remarkable digital scan of the image, which I could further enhance using software on my computer.

After this processing is done, I could see clearly the subject of the photograph: a group of men standing in front of a saloon.

But it is not just any saloon – it is a photograph of the Favorite Saloon, which operated in the 700 block of Water Street in downtown Kerrville. The building is still there, at 709 Water Street.

Constructed in 1874, it is the oldest building in downtown Kerrville. It was built by F. J. Hamer, who also served as Kerr County sheriff, and he operated a saloon in the building.

Today
When I was a child, the Kullenberg family operated a Western Auto store in the building; more recently the Rectors have operated several businesses there, including Cricket’s and Hill Country Living. Today, the Rectors have a tenant in the building, the Busted Sandal Brewing Company – meaning the use of the building has gone full circle from its original use.

Now, to look at some of the clues in the old photograph I found.

There are two important clues – a sign on the wall near the doorway, and a man in a white apron.

The sign clearly says “Lone Star Brewing Co. / Lager Beer.” The Lone Star Brewery was built in San Antonio in 1884, and was the first ‘large mechanized brewery in Texas.’ It was founded by Adophus Busch, along with a group of San Antonio businessmen.

The earliest date of the photograph, therefore, is sometime after 1884.

Ernest Schwethelm
Another clue is the frame building to the right of the saloon building. A masonry building replaced the frame building in 1908 – so the photo had to be taken earlier than 1908.

That’s a range in years of 24 years – from between 1884 and 1908.

Then there’s the clue of the man in the white apron. He is Ernst (Ernest) Schwethelm, the son of Heinrich (Henry) and Emilie Stieler Schwethelm. Ernest was born in 1863.

The man in the photograph appears to be around 30 – 35 years old. This is a guess, of course. If it’s close to accurate, though, that would put the date of the photograph between 1893 – 1898.

I’m guessing, then, the photograph was taken around 1895.

Circa 1915
I have another photograph of men standing in front of the Favorite Saloon many years later, thanks to another kind reader. In this one, Ernest Schwethelm looks about 20 years older, or around 1915.

These glimpses of downtown Kerrville from the 19th century are rare – and even rarer are images from downtown Kerrville showing a group of men wearing the happy expressions of friendship and camaraderie often associated with a favorite watering hole.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects historical items from Kerrville and Kerr County. If you have something you’d care to share with him, it would make him very happy. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead March 14, 2024.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)






Sunday, March 10, 2024

Who is the Kerr County woman in the shattered portrait?

Portrait of woman on shattered glass, photo taken about 1863.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Often, when people bring me things, I wish someone years ago had taken the time to identify the people shown in old photographs. Most of the time, there are simply not enough clues to figure out the names of the persons shown in the photographs, and to determine how their story relates to Kerrville and Kerr County.

Such was the case recently when the Fitch family gave me an old suitcase filled with family portraits and snapshots – portraits not of the Fitch family, but photographs of the ancestors of one of the many customers of Fitch Estate Sales.

Among the photographs in the suitcase was a small formal portrait of a woman. It only measures 2 ½ x 3 inches, and is housed in a worn frame. Though it is a black and white photograph, some artist years ago added a bit of color to the woman’s face, lips, and throat, and also added gold details to the woman’s dress.

Two tightly-coiled locks of hair were in the upper left and right corners: faded brown on the left; blond on the right. The blond hair is still braided.

The woman peers from behind shattered glass: the image itself is broken, though held in place by a glass frame. The frame saved the image from complete destruction. 

The photo is a puzzle in several ways – its broken pieces coming together to reveal the portrait; the identity of the woman is also a puzzle.

Who is the woman in the shattered portrait?

Hal Peterson, 1913
I placed the portrait where I would see it several times a day at work – just to try to figure out who she was. Among the photographs in the old suitcase were several of a much older woman – an older woman who looked a lot like the young woman in the mystery photo. One of the portraits of the older woman was labeled with her name.

I believe, based on several comparisons with many photos, the woman’s name is Lucy Ann Wright Peterson, the wife of William Caswell Peterson. They married in January, 1860.

Lucy Peterson was born in 1836 in Alabama; William Peterson, in 1835, in North Carolina.

The couple had 10 children together; the first, a daughter named Elizabeth, was born in Mississippi, in late 1860; the last, another daughter, named Cornelia, was born in Gonzales County, 1879. 

Sidney Baker, 1918
Because of the dates of the births of her first two children – and because there are only two locks of hair in the glass frame, I’m guessing Lucy Peterson had this portrait taken around 1863.

The Peterson family moved to Kerrville in the summer of 1882.

Though you might not recognize Lucy Peterson’s name, you’ll recognize the names of several of her descendants. 

Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital was named for her son, Sidney Clay Peterson. It was built by Lucy’s grandsons, Hal and Charlie Peterson. Those brothers were very generous with Kerrville and Kerr County. In fact, the Peterson Foundation continues to help our community to this day.

Kerrville’s middle school is named in honor of Hal Peterson.

You might recognize the name of another of Lucy’s grandsons: Sidney Baker. The street running through town was named in Sidney Baker’s honor after he was killed in the final weeks of World War I. Sidney Baker was one of the sons of Lucy’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth.

Another grandson, Jack Hamilton Peterson, was instrumental in building Louise Hays Park in a single day, back in 1950.

Other family names among Lucy Peterson’s descendants beyond Peterson and Baker include Fawcett, Michel, Carr, and Patton – among many others.

Lucy Peterson died in Kerrville in 1925; her husband, William, in 1924. They are buried in the Glen Rest Cemetery, near Schreiner University.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead March 7, 2024.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)





Sunday, March 3, 2024

A walking tour of downtown Kerrville -- from 1956

Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, around 1956.
Note the gas station on the ground floor
-- and the heights of the two different wings of the hospital.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Schreiner Company
How about a bit of time travel?

Last week, we had a walking tour of Kerrville in 1907, thanks to some postcards published that year by Charles Apelt, of Comfort, Texas.

This week we time travel to downtown Kerrville in 1956 – courtesy of Starr Bryden, a pioneer Kerr County photographer. He was active here for almost 40 years, arriving before World War I, and working in photography until the late 1950s.

700 Block of Water Street
In 1956, Kerr County celebrated its centennial. Bryden took photographs of Kerrville and Kerr County that year, and offered them for sale. Many of the photographs were paired with historical images, some of which Bryden had taken himself, decades earlier.

Though the 1956 images were taken 5 years before I was born (at the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital), I recognize most of the buildings and many of the businesses in the photos. The downtown Kerrville I remember from my childhood is shown in this series of images.

from atop the Blue Bonnet
There are two ‘birds-eye views’ in the series, both taken from atop the two tallest buildings downtown. The Blue Bonnet Hotel, at the corner of Water and Earl Garrett streets stood eight stories tall; the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, at the corner of Water and Sidney Baker streets, had two different levels in 1956; one section of the building was six stories tall; the other was only five. Bryden took his photograph from the five-story part of the building.

from atop the SPMH
There are two clues to help determine when these photographs were taken. First, over the 700 block of Water Street, a banner can be seen which advertises the 1956 Kerr County centennial celebrations. This banner can be seen in both of the ‘birds-eye’ views of downtown Kerrville.

What both of these ‘birds-eye’ photos show is an incredibly busy downtown area. In those days, most of the offices and stores serving our community were located in a several-block radius from the Kerr County courthouse. The ‘downtown’ area was formed by the ‘T’ intersection of Water and Earl Garrett streets, and extended up Sidney Baker and Earl Garrett streets to about North/Schreiner Street.

(Our print shop, in the 600 block of Water Street, in those days, was not considered to be in ‘downtown,’ separated from that fabled area, as it remains today, by Sidney Baker Street.)

800 block of Water St
Included in the series is a photo of the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital. In it, you can see the gas station that was on the bottom floor, at the corner of the building. The idea behind this, and other commercial ventures in the building, was to help offset the costs of running a rural hospital. One feature of that gas station many people remember: it had long, flexible ducts that would pump air conditioning into your car while the service station attendant filled up your car.

The photograph of the Schreiner Company, which was at the corner of Water and Earl Garrett streets, includes a photograph of a Kerrville police car.

Thompson Drive
I suppose my favorite photograph from this series is taken on Thompson Drive looking east toward the downtown area. Three major structures are shown in the photograph: the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital (built in 1949); the Blue Bonnet Hotel (1927); and the Charles Schreiner Bridge (1935), with its steel trusses above the roadway. None of these important structures exist today.

Until next week, all the best.


Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who, like Starr Bryden, has been on top of the roofs of many of the buildings in downtown Kerrville, though not with permission. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead  February 29, 2024.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)





Sunday, February 25, 2024

Postcards of downtown Kerrville -- from 1907

The Charles Schreiner Mansion, 1907.
Click on any image below to enlarge.


In 1907, Charles Apelt, of Comfort, Texas, published a series of postcards featuring buildings from downtown Kerrville.

They’re interesting because they show Kerrville as it was just before automobiles became common here, in 1908, and because they have been ‘colorized,’ making black and white photographs look like full color images. The postcards were printed in Germany.

I suppose Mr. Apelt hoped to sell these postcards locally, though the ‘printed in Germany’ part of the postcard annoyed at least one local printer. J. E. Grinstead, who had a print shop in conjunction with his newspaper, the Kerrville Mountain Sun, published a series of postcards about the same time. These were labeled ‘NOT printed in Germany.’

Regardless of that little controversy, these postcards offer a small walking tour of downtown Kerrville as it appeared 117 years ago, though it’s a walking tour with a few hiccups.

Two of the postcards feature the ‘Charles Schreiner Residence,’ known as the Charles Schreiner Mansion today, and can be found in the 200 block of Earl Garrett Street. Charles Schreiner’s wife, Magdalena, had passed away in 1905, and Capt. Schreiner never remarried. By 1907, the big house must have seemed awfully empty.

The colorized postcards give a few hints about the home, including the color of the window blinds in the right-hand tower, and the landscaping in the small front yard. 

A closer look at the two picture postcards of the residence shows changes, too, aside from the snowfall – the trees and shrubs in the front yard have changed, and the power line pole is missing. More on that, later.

At the end of Earl Garrett Street, where the pavilion overlooking Louise Hays Park stands today, and just downstream, once stood a mill. It milled grains, sawed lumber, and even generated electricity. Originally built by Christian Dietert, by 1907 it was owned by Charles Schreiner. Some of the original mill structure along the river is still down there – and might be the oldest man-made structure in downtown Kerrville.

At the corner of Water and Sidney Baker Street once stood the St. Charles Hotel, which was still a two-story frame building in 1907. (It would later be renovated and enlarged.) This postcard shows an electric power pole right in front of the hotel – which may have been added to the photograph, later, to demonstrate how modern downtown Kerrville was at the time. I say this because there are no wires shown on this electric power pole – or the one shown in front of the Schreiner home.

The 1907 Kerr County Courthouse was the third courthouse built for our county. It stood in front of the present-day courthouse, in the lawn area, and wasn’t replaced until the late 1920s by the present building. One reliable source says this courthouse was infested with bats – and could be smelled from blocks away.

The postcard showing the wool wagon at ‘Chas. Schreiners warehouses’ was likely taken about where the Arcadia Live! Theater stands today, looking toward Sidney Baker Street. I think it’s mislabeled. The wool warehouse was actually across the street, in the parking lot next to today’s city hall.

Lastly, there’s a 1907 postcard showing a game being played at the West Texas Fairgrounds, which stood between today’s Guadalupe Street and Junction Highway. The caption reads “Foot Ball Game…” But given the two backboards and the basketball hoops, I’m pretty sure the teams are playing basketball. In 1907, basketball would have been less than 20 years old, but the game was already popular in Texas.

The haste with which these postcards were published – and the mistakes in grammar, spelling, and even descriptions – suggest, at least to me, something was lost in translation when they were produced in Germany.

Another good reason to shop locally.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who still mails postcards to friends when he travels. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead February 22, 2023.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)





Sunday, February 18, 2024

The men who built the Kerrville State Park in 1936

Company 1823, Civilian Conservation Corps, the men who
built the Kerrville State Park in 1936.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Recently, my friend Linda Stone created a display at the Kerr County courthouse telling the story of the Kerrville State Park. It is inside the old portion of the courthouse, just past the front doors.

The park is known today as the Kerrville-Schreiner Park; it’s no longer a state park, but is owned and operated by the City of Kerrville.  Not many people know its story, so I’m thankful to Ms. Stone for making such an attractive display at the courthouse.

Many of the state parks in Texas were created, in part, by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), including nearby parks such as Garner State Park, Blanco State Park, and others, more distant from us, like Indian Lodge at Fort Davis State Park and the giant swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park.

Did you know that the Kerrville State Park was also created by the CCC?

Created during the Great Depression, the CCC provided employment when few jobs were available.  Over 50,000 Texans joined the CCC, and constructed many of the parks we know today.

As early as 1934, Kerrville was hoping to have a park built here. A committee made up of Kerrville mayor Richard Holdsworth, W. A. Fawcett, Hal Peterson, E. H. Prescott, and J. L. Pampell began work.  They met with the chairman of the State Parks Board, D. E. Colp, in the summer of 1934.

The plan for the park


They also had a task: find a tract of 500 acres or more, lying on both sides of a stream, and easily accessible by a state highway. 

A suitable location was identified and approved by State and Federal government representatives, yet a challenge emerged: negotiations with the landowner for the purchase of the property, situated near Kerrville with a half-mile stretch along the Guadalupe River, reached an impasse. The property owner would not agree to sell.

By October 1934, this issue had been resolved, although specifics remain vague. The property in question was the James Holloman homestead, found on the opposite side of the river from the Veterans Administration hospital. Its acquisition was made possible through a community fundraising effort with a goal of $8,000. Additionally, the City of Kerrville contributed $2,500 in cash, and Kerr County raised $5,000 through bond issuance.

By December 1934, the tract had been surveyed, and plans were submitted to Washington for approval. This step was necessary to allocate a workforce of 200 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) members to undertake the project.

By April 1935, Kerrville had successfully secured the backing of both Texas senators and its representative in Congress.

The efforts to garner political support evidently paid off; in December 1935 it was reported that 225 CCC members were set to begin work on the park. They would be accommodated in pre-built cabins and barracks upon their arrival.

Company 1823 of the CCC, established on June 28, 1933, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, was initially sent to Abilene, Texas, that December to work on the Abilene State Park at Buffalo Gap near Lake Abilene. Subsequently, the company underwent reorganization to become an all African-American unit, composed entirely of World War I veterans.

This company made its way to Kerrville on December 1, 1935.

"After a period of camp improvement...work on the park area began. The entire park area was cleared of undergrowth, details were assigned to moving and planting trees and shrubs, the entire park area was fenced, and a beautiful entrance to the park built of stone pillars and native wood logs was completed." The company also constructed a caretaker's house, a stone water tower, a stone amphitheater, roadways, and made various other enhancements.

Educational courses were made available to the members of the company, and religious services took place every Sunday. Reports detail the company's involvement in community activities, including performances for the public both in the town and at the camp.

Some of the work completed by Company 1823 remains visible at what is now known as Kerrville-Schreiner Municipal Park. This park continues to attract thousands of visitors annually.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who enjoys walks with his family at Kerrville-Schreiner Park. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead February 15, 2024.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)





AddThis

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails