1950s Kerr County Christmas Cards

1950s Kerr County Christmas Card, with
photos taken by Starr Bryden. 
This one is called "Typical Ranch near Kerrville Tex."
Click on any image to enlarge.

A long-time reader sent a packet of Kerr County photographs my way last week, and I was delighted to receive them. There were a lot of images I’d never seen before, which I’ll share here in later columns.

Among the images were some I had seen before, but shown in a different format than I’d ever seen: they were Christmas cards, and I’m pretty sure I know which photographer took the images.

Starr Bryden, 1950s

I’ve written about Starr Bryden on these pages many times, and his story is a good one.

Raymond Starr Bryden came to Texas in 1912, suffering from what doctors then called "Galloping Consumption." He spent a year and a half in San Antonio, then moved to Kerrville in 1913, "just a jump and a skip ahead of Father Time with the scythe."

"He made quite a few passes at me," Bryden wrote in 1956, "but I jumped and the scythe went under my feet."

He was close to death in the first few weeks of arriving in Kerr County, and the kindness of a family saved his life.

This came from a descendant of that family:

Schreiner Institute

"Starr [Bryden] was a very interesting man. He and his father had come to Texas from Tennessee. Starr had tuberculosis and was very ill. Like many others, he had heard that the climate in the hill country of Texas would be beneficial in helping him recover from his illness. I believe he was about 16 years old when he came to Kerr County. My great-grandfather (Harry Williams) discovered Starr and his dad camped in a primitive shelter on a neighbor's ranch near Turtle Creek. He went home that evening and told my great-grandmother about having found a very sick boy and his dad camped out in the woods. My great-grandmother (Ella Denton Williams) insisted that they bring the boy to their home. They enclosed a corner of their front porch and made a room for Starr. My great grandmother fed him, nursed him back to health, and even taught him to walk again. Starr remained in the Kerrville area the rest of his life. He rode a bicycle most of his early years, and rode a motor scooter as he got older."

Guadalupe River

Despite his bout with tuberculosis, he was drafted and called for service June 25, 1918 for what he called the "Big War." He wrote he "went in when the Cap busted, and came out before the gun fired, so to speak."

Starr Bryden supported himself with photography. He took photos, developed film, and made prints for people. Among the 1950s-era Christmas cards a kind reader sent me this week were several which had photos I recognized as Starr Bryden’s. He was always promoting the beauty of the Texas Hill Country.

Goat on Medina Mountain

The Christmas cards show local scenes, and have a nice handmade touch: on each card, the little decoration above the type has been colored by hand, turning a black and white image into a charming greeting card. 

I believe most of these images were taken in the mid-1950s. While I cannot exactly pinpoint the location where each shot was taken, they show our area as it once was, with fewer houses, fewer electric lines, and no cell towers. I get a little nostalgic looking at them.

Now that we’re past Thanksgiving – and the mad rush has started for Christmas – it did me some good to see these old greeting cards. Time was slower when these cards were shared.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who loved spending time with his family this past week. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 26, 2022.

You can help by sharing this story with someone, by forwarding it by email, or sharing it on Facebook. Sharing is certainly caring. (Christmas gift idea: I also have two Kerr County history books available online, with free shipping!)

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