Whatever Happened to Pedro Castillo Street in Kerrville?

Staff Sergeant Pedro Castillo, from Kerrville,
who died for his country in World War II.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Changing street names in Kerrville rarely happens.

After World War I, three downtown streets were renamed in honor of young men from Kerrville who died in battle during that war. Tchoupitoulas Street was renamed Sidney Baker Street; Mountain Street was renamed Earl Garrett Street; and Lytle Street was renamed Francisco Lemos Street.

In the case of Lytle Street, that name was used for a different street, so we still have a Lytle Street today. I believe Lytle Street was named in honor of John Thomas Lytle, a cattleman who, along with Charles Schreiner, Thomas McDaniel, and John Light, trailed a remarkable number of cattle from Texas to markets in places like Kansas during the 1870s.

More recently, in 1973, Houston Street was renamed Rodriguez Street in honor of the Rodriguez family who guided Calvary Baptist Church for many decades. That church faced Houston Street. Today there is a Sam Houston Drive in Kerr County, off of the Harper highway; it’s a one-block extension from Crockett Drive. It’s past the James Avery Craftsman campus. Today there is no street named Houston in Kerrville (that I know of).

So, when I ran across a news article from 1954 reporting two well-known streets had been renamed by the Kerrville city council, I was surprised.

Pedro Castillo

In that 1954 resolution, the name of Schreiner Street was renamed Pedro Castillo Street, in honor of a Kerrville man who gave his life for our country in World War I. Castillo attended the Guadalupe School, which was on the corner of Jefferson and Lemos streets; graduated from Tivy High School; attended Schreiner Institute; and was a student at the University of Texas at Austin when World War II started. Five days after Pearl Harbor, Castillo volunteered for the U. S. Army. He was assigned to the Army Air Corps, and attained the rank of staff sergeant. He was killed in a plane crash in England, and is buried in the military cemetery in Cambridge, England.

That same 1954 city council resolution changed the name of Water Street to Schreiner Street, to honor Captain Charles Schreiner, a long-time benefactor of Kerrville and Kerr County.

Upon publication of the resolution, the real fun began.

There was vocal opposition to renaming only one of the two streets: citizens were upset about changing the name of Water Street. There was little or no comment in the local newspapers about the newly-named Pedro Castillo Street, but folks were mad as hornets about losing the Water Street name.

The city council received a petition opposing the Water Street name change, and this newspaper published letters about the issue. 

The first, signed by Scott Schreiner, grandson of Charles Schreiner, made this statement:

“The first knowledge any of us [in the Schreiner family] had of the change in the name of Water Street to Schreiner Street was when we were given a copy of the resolution already passed by the City Council and then an accomplished fact. We were pleased by the honor shown the founder of our family and this public and permanent recognition of the esteem of the town in which he lived and died and which he so dearly loved.”

However, “in view of the feeling and turbulence arising from the change in name…it is respectfully requested that your honorable body rescind this resolution and permit the street to retain the name of Water Street.”

The second, signed by members of the Fawcett family, began “A few weeks ago, we were surprised to learn that the City Commission had changed the name of Water Street with apparently on a few people having any knowledge of it.”

The Fawcetts had a furniture business on Water Street, housed in what is now the home of Water Street Antiques. After praising Charles Schreiner in their letter, they concluded with “After discussing this matter and knowing more about it, our family would like to go on record as approving this change to ‘Schreiner Street’ in honor of a family we hold in high esteem. We sincerely feel this is the sentiment of the older citizens who know Kerrville’s history.”

The town was divided on the issue. 

In October, about one month after changing the names of both streets, the city council rescinded a part of the name change – Water Street would stay Water Street. However, the Pedro Castillo Street name would remain unchanged.

Officially, Pedro Castillo Street was referred to in several public announcements for over a year. As late as December, 1955, it was the name given in legal notices and reports about city government projects.

And then the name disappears.

A hint comes from the conversations in 1973 about renaming Houston Street to Rodriguez Street. A member of that city council, noting that municipal procedure required a public hearing to rename a street, requested a public hearing on the Rodriguez Street name change.

“I’ve seen it happen before, when Schreiner Street was changed to [Pedro] Castillo Street, and then changed back because there was no public hearing….”

That’s what I think happened to the street name “Pedro Castillo Street.” Because the city council failed to follow procedure, the name change was voided, and the street name reverted to its previous name, “Schreiner Street.” When this error was noticed, and after all of the controversy over the Water Street name, the later council (who had not been a party to the whole street name resolution) chose the easiest course, and tabled the motion.

Hopefully a future street can be named in honor of Pedro Castillo – and other streets for the many Kerrville men who gave their lives for our country.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. If you have something you’d care to share with him, it would make him very happy. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 28, 2023.

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