In 1967, the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library opened in Kerrville. It was a gift from Howard and Mary Elizabeth Butt to our community, built as a memorial to their families. It was built on Water Street, just down the road from our print shop, the exact same year I learned to read -- and so I always thought the library had been built just for me. In a way, I suppose it was: it was built for people who love to read.
The building was a modern marvel when it was built -- and the dedication was a really big event. Lady Bird Johnson was there.
Here are some rare photographs of the event from my collection of historic photographs of Kerrville and Kerr County.
Click on any image to enlarge
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| The Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library under construction, July 1967 |
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| The library was a special project of Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Butt, shown here on the far right. Mrs. Butt was a graduate of Tivy High School and the University of Texas. She was a teacher. |
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| The mosaic art on the lower level of the library. |
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| Mr. Merrill Doyle paints the murals inside the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, July, 1967. |
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Excerpt from a letter I just emailed to a friend in Connecticut:
ReplyDeleteThe proudest moment of my mother, Christine L Pearson nee Loesberg's life was the day the library was dedicated and mother, invited to attend by Mrs. Butt. Mother was worried about not having a hat to wear to the event and then seated in the front row between Granny Butt, and Lady Bird Johnson also not wearing a hat. Some years later the Butt's had a much larger but duplicate library erected in Corpus Christi.
Funny story. After dad retired from the V A Hospital, they moved to Hondo, Texas about twenty five miles or so south of San Antonio on U S 90. They returned to Kerrvile in 65 or 66.
Hondo didn't have a large grocery store back then, not even a Piggly Wiggly and mother wouldn't shop anywhere but HEB anyway, so they had to drive to San Antone as we Texans call it.
One day after three months driving to S A and back and tiring of it, my mother called Granny Butt in Corpus Christi where they were then headquarted and complained to Granny that she and dad had to drive alllll the way to San Antonio to buy groveries at HEB. Ten months later Hondo had an operating HEB grocery store in Hondo and last time we were down that far south some twenty years ago the store was still there and going strong on U S Highway 90. I kinda think that Granny Butt and my mom really were close friends. LOL
Tom Pearson 1946
Arlington, Texas via Oak Park Community, Kerrville, Texas
The Tivy band played at the library dedication. I can remember hearing Ladybird, in her southern accent, describe the "trees and bushes and shrubs" and the "feathery cypress trees." Thanks to the Butt family, I memorized Polonius' advice to Laertes while lying on a bunk at girl scout camp at Laity Lodge; and I spent many happy hours at the library perusing the great quotes inlaid on the patio and painted above the windows inside.
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