Kerrville and Kerr County in 1927 -- almost 100 years ago.

St. Charles Hotel, 1927, corner of Sidney Baker and Water streets.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Years ago, Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller gave me a small item which was originally sold to tourists visiting Kerrville. It’s a small portfolio of photographs showing Kerrville and Kerr County scenes, and it dates from the late 1920s. These images are printed on both sides of a long strip of paper, which is folded into an ‘envelope’ which could be sent through the mail. I guess these were purchased, then sent to family and friends back home, with the message “wish you were here.”

Items like this, meant to be a souvenir of a visit here, are interesting for two reasons: first, they show attractive scenes of our community, images that ‘show off’ our town and county; and second, they are images of different parts of our community, all taken at the same time. 

When you have a series of photographs all from the same period, it helps determine the date of other photographs not found in that particular series. When you have as many old Kerrville and Kerr County photographs as I have, this is a real help!

The biggest clue as to the age of the photographs in the series is an image of Kerrville’s Blue Bonnet Hotel.

The March 31, 1927 issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun sports this bold headline: "Blue Bonnet Opening Marks New Era in City's Growth."

Indeed, the late 1920s were a period of growth for Kerrville; a year earlier the Arcadia Theater opened, to much fanfare, in the middle of the 700 block of Water Street, and Kerr County had recently built a new courthouse -- the one still in use today.

"The new hostelry, a triumph of architectural design and mechanical construction, lends a distinct metropolitan atmosphere to the city. The facilities and service offered undoubtedly will attract increased numbers of tourists to Texas' greatest playground," the Mountain Sun reported.

"The present unit of the hotel contains 80 rooms, each equipped with private bath, telephone, fan and circulating ice water. All corner rooms have a shower as well as a tub bath. The guest rooms are of commodious size and papered in pleasing harmonious colors with wood work in natural oak. Furnishings and carpeting are of quality in keeping with the high character of the hotel. On each floor are two-room suites, a living room and a bed room with connecting door. Each room throughout the building has outside exposure.”

When the hotel opened, it was only five stories tall; one year later, in March 1928, the building grew from 80 rooms to 140 when three additional stories was added, growing to eight stories.

That’s the big clue: the photo of the Blue Bonnet Hotel in the tourist packet is only five stories tall; that photo, at least, had to be taken in 1927, before the hotel sprouted three additional floors.

It’s interesting that images in the packet of Camp Waldemar and Camp Mystic say they are both located in Kerrville, when they’re actually just outside of Hunt. 

Both Camp Mystic and Camp Waldemar started in 1926, and if these images are from 1927, they’re from the earliest days of both camps.

Schreiner Institute, now Schreiner University, opened classes in 1923; the Kerrville Veterans Administration Medical Center started out as the American Legion Tuberculosis Hospital, but became part of the U. S. Veterans Bureau, and received its first patients in the summer of 1923. Both images show some growth in each of the organizations; Schreiner, for instance, has a few buildings in the tourist image that were not there in 1923.

I’m grateful for the generosity of the Wolfmuellers in sharing this packet with me – and with our community.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who enjoys collecting Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 30, 2023.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap to send. To show your support, forward it to someone who’d like it, or buy one of my books.  Thanks so much. (And thanks to all of you who bought books this week!)

Never miss a story from Joe. Join today for FREE.