Happy Hallowe'en, Kerrville Goblin photos, late 1960s

I happen to have a few images of Hallowe'ens from years past -- hopefully some of you help me identify the little ghosts and goblins.

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Goblins, Kerrville, 1960s.  Love the spider, and the robot.

Goblins, Kerrville, 1960s.  Aren't they all so cute?

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Kerr County Trailride, late 1960s

I'm hoping some of you can help me identify the gentlemen on this trail ride.  The photos were taken in the late 1960s; the envelope doesn't really identify the who, where, why, or how -- and even the "when" is a little sketchy.
Still, these images show something special: there was a time when men clambered on horses and hung out together -- harking back to days when this way of life was standard in this part of the world.
When I was young, I wanted to be either a cowboy or an astronaut, or, if possible, both.

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Kerrville invades HemisFair 1968

While these are not technically photos of Kerrville, they're photos of people from Kerrville at HemisFair in San Antonio in 1968.  I could use some help identifying the people in these photos!  Please help by commenting below.

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Tivy Band kids at HemisFair, 1968

HemisFair, 1968

Kerrville students at HemisFair, 1968

Kerrville performers at HemisFair, 1968

Poverty Playboys, HemisFair, 1968

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A new photo of the Cascade Pool

My friend Dr. Joseph Luther sent along a photo of the Cascade Pool which I'd never seen before.  This shot is taken from the Blue Bonnet Hotel (Dr. Luther estimates about the fifth floor).  Note the old fire station, with the fire trucks inside.
Most of the other photos I've seen of the old pool were taken from the Arcadia side of the pool, where the dressing rooms were, toward the Bluebonnet.  This one is taken from the Blue Bonnet toward the Arcadia.  Dr. Luther also noted the provides a glimpse of the river, before the Louise Hays Park was built.

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Cascade Pool, Kerrville, perhaps in the 1930s.
Courtesy of Joseph Luther

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Wednesday Ephemera: Arcadia Theater Schedule, 1975

Time was, youngsters, when Kerrville addresses would get a card like the one below in the mail most months.  Please note there was only one feature showing at a time -- and, at the time, I believe the Arcadia was the only indoor movie theater in Kerrville.  (There was a drive-in theater, the Bolero, about where Culvers and McDonalds are today, on Junction Highway; I think the Plaza theater, on Plaza Drive, also one screen, opened in 1976 or 1977.)

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Arcadia Theater movie schedule, Kerrville, 1975

There have been other movie theaters here: the Dixie Theater, which was in the 800 block of Water Street, which featured bleachers and is remembered for the vermin that scurried beneath moviegoer's feet, and the Rialto Theater, which was in the 600 block of Water Street, next to our printing company, where our parking lot is today.  The Rialto later became the Casket, a popular dance club for teenagers.
In the early part of the last century, films were also shown at Pampell's, upstairs.  Anna Belle Council described Pampell's as "perhaps the most interesting building in town from an historical viewpoint. It was built for a hotel by my great uncle, Bill Gregory, in the 1880s. He sold it to Mr. Pampell who put in a confectionery on the first floor with an ice cream parlor at the back for the ladies, an opera house and dance floor upstairs, and in the basement he bottled soda water and made candy. His candy consisted of taffy and boxed chocolates. Access to the upstairs was by way of an outside staircase on teh Sidney Baker side. Here was where we had our first moving picture show. You bought your ticket on the sidewalk and then climbed the stairs. The seats were wooden folding chairs. Just when the heroine in the movie lay on the tracks with the train approaching, some youngster would become so excited and wiggly that the chair would slip out from under him with a terrible crash and many were the screams. Pampell's was originally a frame building, but in 1926 it was remodeled and bricked."

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Then and Now: The Charles Schreiner Company

Captain Charles Schreiner often said the Schreiner store was the basis for all his other endeavors, the financial rock upon which the rest of the business edifice rested.  Here's an early shot of the old store, paired with a photo I took last week.
The doors and windows have moved a bit, as you can see.  But look closely at the corner of the old building, toward the right edge of the photo.  Notice the corner edge that goes up the building, and then, a bit to the left, a matching set of dressed corner edge stones -- indicating an older building that was added on to (several times).  Those marked stones are still visible in the old building, currently undergoing a much-needed renovation.

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Charles Schreiner Company, around 1915, Kerrville
if anyone has an idea on the year model of that truck, please put it in the comments below.

Schreiner Building, Kerrville, October 2010

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The Mystery of the Unknown Church and School

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Detail, August 1898 Sanborn-Perris Map of Kerrville.
Mystery building is in blue, indicating stone construction.

Small mysteries intrigue me.

Take, for instance, an article a friend sent me about Potter Brown, Joshua Brown's youngest son. You may remember that Joshua Brown founded Kerrville, and gave the land for the courthouse square.

Potter Brown was born in Kerrville on April 17, 1870, and died here in 1964, making him not only the son of the community's founder, but also one of the earliest natives of our community. Kerrville wasn't incorporated as a city until 1889; by then Potter Brown was already 19.

One of my predecessors here at the newspaper, Tex McCord, had a column about local history (and other subjects) called "Guadalupe Gossipel."  In the December 18, 1955 issue of the Kerrville Times, McCord interviewed Potter Brown about Christmas in the hill country back in the earliest days of our community. I'll try to tell Brown's story about Christmas here closer to that holiday.

There was a line in the story that intrigued me, though. A small mystery, if you will.

Talking about his childhood, Brown remembered staying busy. "A boy of 10 in those days had precious little time for toys," McCord writes, "according to Brown. There were chores to do, firewood to cut from Spanish oak, cows to milk, hogs to feed, water to tote from the big spring in the river bank."

McCord quotes Brown: "And we had to go three miles to church and school."

According to the story "The combination church and school house was a rock building that stood where the Barker Building now stands."

Barker Building, Kerrville, around 1955.
This was the old Secor Hospital,
later called the Kellogg Building

I happen to have in my collection a photo of the "Barker Building," though when I was young they called it the Kellogg Building. Before then it was called the Secor Hospital. It was on the corner of Sidney Baker (then Tchoupitoulas Street) and Main Street. National Car Sales is there today, across from the Kerr County Courthouse.

Potter Brown would have attended school through about the eleventh grade (there being no twelfth grade in those days), meaning he would have attended until he was about 17, or until 1887 approximately.

Third Kerr County Courthouse
Just to left of man is the
"Mystery" building

Looking at my old Sanborn-Perris maps of Kerrville, there was indeed a rock building on the corner of those streets, though it was on the very edge of the lot; if you leaned out the south window, you'd impede traffic on Main Street. I even have some photos that imply the old building's existence: in one, the building can be seen over a man's shoulder; in another, it's attached to what would later be the Secor Hospital.

But that's not the mystery.

1968 Tivy Basketball Team -- District Champs

I found this image in my files -- the Tivy High School Basketball team, in the locker room, moments after winning the state championship in 1969.   Thanks to Madeline and Ray Lynch, who, with several Tivy classmates, helped identify the players in the photo.

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1968 Tivy Basketball Team, just after winning the District Championship

1968 Tivy Basketball Team, identified

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Lyndon Johnson at the first Kerrville Folk Festival

I attended the very first Kerrville Folk Festival in 1972 as a lad of 10.  It was held in the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium (which is now the Cailloux Theater), and was part of the Texas State Arts and Crafts Fair.  Rod Kennedy was asked to provide some entertainment for the fairgoers, and those first performances were the beginning of something very special.  This is the second of two posts on these 1972 Kerrville Folk Festival images.
Some people might be surprised who was in the audience during the first year of the Kerrville Folk Festival: Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife Lady Bird, along with UT Coach Darrell Royal.  From the images below, it looks like the former president and party had a good time.  LBJ's hair was a little long, don't you think?

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Presidential party at the first Kerrvile Folk Festival, Kerrville, 1972
Darrell Royal, Lady Bird Johnson, Lyndon Johnson

Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson at the first Kerrville Folk Festival, 1972

UT Coach Darrell Royal, Lady Bird Johnson, and Lyndon Johnson
at the first Kerrville Folk Festival, 1972

Kenneth Threadgill, Kerrville Folk Festival, 1972
Threadgill really put on a show that night.

Kenneth Threadgill, Kerrville Folk Festival, 1972

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The First Kerrville Folk Festival, part 1

I attended the very first Kerrville Folk Festival in 1972 as a lad of 10.  It was held in the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium (which is now the Cailloux Theater), and was part of the Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair.  Rod Kennedy was asked to provide some entertainment for the fairgoers, and those first performances were the beginning of something very special.  This is the first of 2 posts on these 1972 Kerrville Folk Festival images.

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Kenneth Threadgill, first Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, 1972

Allen Damron, first Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, 1972

Carolyn Hester, first Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, 1972

Kenneth Threadgill,  first Kerrville Folk Festival,
Kerrville, 1972

I'd appreciate your help identifying these performers in the comments below.  More images tomorrow.

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Kerrville's Cascade Pool: a never published photo

There is a fairly famous photo of the Cascade Pool, from the 1950s, that I've seen in several collections of Kerrville and Kerr County photographs.  But this one is different: it's much older and nearer to the time when the pool was new.

How can I tell?
Well, the automobiles in the background are a clue.  But the fact that the boys are wearing one-piece bathing suits (similar to the girls' suits, actually) is another.
This pool was in the 700 block of Water, on the river side of the street, behind the old Charles Schreiner Bank.  When I was a kid, it was a parking lot and a motor bank.  Today the area is about where the back lobby and officer's offices stand for the Bank of America.
The pool was closed, I understand, because of integration: the decision was racist.  The pool's owners did not want children of different races swimming together.  Of course, this was pig-headed and wrong.  As a result there was not public swimming pool in Kerrville for many years -- for children of any race.

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Cascade Pool, 700 Block of Water Street, Kerrville, around 1935.

The Cascade Pool, 1950s.  This is the photo people have seen before.
Note the two divers: one is in the air, a graceful swan dive underway.

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