One of the oldest buildings in downtown Kerrville is getting a facelift -- the Guthrie Building

The Guthrie Building, May 2023.
Click on any image to enlarge.

In the 29 years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve never written about the Guthrie Building, which stands on the corner of Earl Garrett and Main Streets, opposite the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center.

Parade on Mountain Street, 1896

Today I’ll make up for that oversight, because it’s a lovely building, and one of the oldest buildings in downtown Kerrville.

Today we call it the Guthrie Building, largely from the time when it was restored back in the 1980s by Tom Syfan. It went by other names before that reconstruction, mostly taking the name of the whatever tenant occupied the building.

Here’s the building’s story:

The very first recorded builders and mechanics lien in Kerr County, dated 1887, Volume 1, Page 1, recorded the cost of the building at $2,600. It was built for Robert Guthrie, as the office for his newspaper, the “Kerrville Eye.”

The historical marker on the building describes the structure like this: “The Guthrie Building is a two-story Italianate style commercial structure. Walls are 15-inch thick limestone from a quarry just east of Kerrville. Ashlar stones are laid in irregular courses, and prominent architectural features include belt courses, smooth dressed window lintels and sills, quoins, and a two-story full-length gallery porch with decorative cornice and dentils.”

Kerrville Eye, Sep. 29, 1887

Guthrie started his newspaper in April, 1884, so he must have had offices elsewhere before the building was built. Building this two-story rock building suggests his business was prospering – even though Kerrville was still a tiny village.

In 1884, there was no railroad in Kerrville – that came in 1887, the year Guthrie built his office. There was no municipal government – Kerrville didn’t incorporate until 1889. 

Earl Garrett Street looked a lot different in 1884, as well. While Charles Schreiner had his home on Earl Garrett Street, in 1884 it didn’t look like what we see there today. The big porch, with the stone archways, wasn’t constructed until 1897, and the house itself was likely half the width it is today, before a different addition doubled its presence along Earl Garrett Street.

The Masonic Building (211 Earl Garrett Street, now home to Turtle Creek Olives and Vines) didn’t arrive until 1890; and the Weston Building (201 Earl Garrett Street, now home to Francisco’s Restaurant) was also built in 1890. The Charles Schreiner Company was on the corner of Water and Earl Garrett, but it looked a lot different than it does today.

Kerrville Mountain Sun
clipping from June 1982

Not only did most of the landmark buildings along Earl Garrett Street not exist in 1887, the street itself had a different name: Mountain Street. It was renamed in 1918, honoring a local man who died on the battlefield in France during World War I: Victor Earl Garrett.

Robert Guthrie was born in Scotland, to a newspaper publishing family. His father, John Guthrie, published papers in Bandera and Boerne, and also published the “Kerrville News” in 1882. Robert Guthrie moved to Kerrville from Bandera to publish the “Kerrville Eye.”

The Guthrie Building was built by W. B. Davies, and completed in the fall of 1887. Downstairs housed the newspaper operation, with printing presses in a now-closed basement; upstairs offered rooms and was sometimes called the Guthrie Hotel.

Guthrie sold the “Kerrville Eye” and its building to Edward Smallwood in 1888; Smallwood renamed the newspaper the “Kerrville Paper,” and published it from the Guthrie Building until 1899. Ed Smallwood was on the very first Kerrville city council in 1889. 

In 1899, Smallwood sold the “Kerrville Paper” to J. E. Grinstead, who renamed the newspaper the “Kerrville Mountain Sun.” Grinstead moved the offices of his newspaper to the 600 block of Water Street. Grinstead served Kerrville as mayor from 1902 to 1904; in the Texas Legislature for a single term; and as president of the Kerrville school board.

Other tenants in the building included Kerrville’s city hall, on the 2nd floor, from 1910 to 1937, the Wheelus Photography Studio, on the first floor, from 1921 to 1960, and the Swayze Photography Studio from around 1960 to the early 1980s.

The building was restored in the early 1980s, and since then it housed a retail establishment and later a law office.

Today it is the home of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. The building is currently undergoing some renovation work to help keep this early Kerrville landmark safe and usable for many years to come.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes his sweet wife and his smart son a very happy birthday this week. (They share a birthday!)  This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times May 27, 2023.

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