J. E. Grinstead was a newspaperman who came to Kerrville and almost immediately became heavily involved in the community. It's an exaggeration, but you could almost say Grinstead came to town one day, owned an interest in the newspaper the next day, and was mayor of Kerrville by week's end. He renamed his newspaper the Kerrville Mountain Sun, after the sunrise he saw each morning peeking over Tivy Mountain. (His home was on the corner of Tivy and Jefferson Streets, across the street from the Comparette House, which, until recently, was Joe's Jefferson Street Cafe.)
Here's a pamphlet he wrote about our area, hoping to entice people to move here. It was published in 1905. Interestingly, that's the same year a little grocery store began on Main Street, started by a newcomer to Kerrville, Mrs. Florence Thornton Butt. I wonder if she saw this little pamphlet when her family was deciding where to live.
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Great post! My great-grandparents came from Illinois at about that time. He was in poor health and was told that if he got to a high dry climate that he might live a couple more years. In fact he lived nearly 60 more years, so I guess the climate worked. I wonder if they saw this pamphlet?
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