Joe Herring Jr.

Installation underway of my exhibit
of historic photographs and artifacts
of Kerr County.

The Museum of Western Art, on Bandera Highway, was kind enough to ask me to prepare an exhibit of some of my collection of historic Kerr County photographs, artifacts, and ephemera. I have been busy working on the show for about a month.
The show is called "Looking Back: Historic Photographs of Kerr County," and runs from July 2 through August 27. The folks at the museum have been so nice and I'm really excited to be showing items that tell the story of our community's history.
I've enjoyed working on the show and have restored two old oak display cases from the Charles Schreiner Company to house some of the rare pieces.
A few of the items I'll be displaying have never been shown in public before, ranging from an pre-1850 portrait of James Kerr; an early James Avery Craftsman catalog; shingle making tools and a real cypress shingle. (Kerrville was founded by Joshua Brown, in the late 1840s, who came here to make cypress shingles.)
The Museum of Western Art is located at 1550 Bandera Highway, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 - 4. Admission.

I'll miss Joseph Benham and Dick Fitch, two local newsmen who passed away this week.
Fitch was not only a newspaper man, but also a children's book author. I got to know him through those projects, which he let us print for him. He was always cheerful when he visited the shop, and I enjoyed talking with him about his classic cars. He had served several communities as a newspaper publisher, and he was always so pleasant to be around.
Benham has been a friend to me since his earliest days in Kerrville. He was a real journalist, and I often relied upon him for advice, which he cheerfully gave. He was active in our community, serving on the boards of dozens of non-profit organizations, often helping them publicize their events and purpose. It was only last week Benham and his wife Verna were recognized by this newspaper and the Dietert Center as "Life's Treasures 2016." Several years ago Benham was named Citizen of the Year here -- and it was well deserved.
I'll certainly miss both men.

* * *

The Museum of Western Art, on Bandera Highway, was kind enough to ask me to prepare an exhibit of some of my collection of historic Kerr County photographs, artifacts, and ephemera. I have been busy working on the show for about a month.
The show is called "Looking Back: Historic Photographs of Kerr County," and runs from July 2 through August 27. The folks at the museum have been so nice and I'm really excited to be showing items that tell the story of our community's history.
Gentle Reader, let me tell you something: I wish we had a history museum here. As I've gone through my collection selecting which items to include, it occurs to me that I'm just a temporary custodian of these rare items. In August, I'll turn 55 years old. I need to find the collection a permanent home.
I've enjoyed working on the show and have restored two old oak display cases from the Charles Schreiner Company to house some of the rare pieces.
A few of the items I'll be displaying have never been shown in public before, ranging from an pre-1850 portrait of James Kerr; an early James Avery Craftsman catalog; shingle making tools and a real cypress shingle. (Kerrville was founded by Joshua Brown, in the late 1840s, who came here to make cypress shingles.)
The Museum of Western Art is located at 1550 Bandera Highway, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 - 4. Admission.

* * *

A pair of local educators are "making lemonade from the lemons" they discovered. I'm proud of Bridget Putnam, who is the current Fine Arts Chair at Tivy High School, and John Ruth, who was a young librarian at the high school back when I was a student there. They've turned what could have been a very negative situation into a positive event.
Years ago -- back when I was in high school -- the art program at Tivy High School celebrated its students with a contest where the best piece of art was chosen to be displayed permanently in the "Tivy Artists Hall of Fame," on the walls of the school's library.
Permanence is relative, apparently, because someone in the school system's administration decided to take down all of the art. By quick thinking, it was quickly rounded up before it slipped away or was discarded.
Rather than bemoan the situation, Putnam and Ruth have found a neat way to give the art back to the former students who created it -- some was created over 30 years ago.
Partnering with Pint & Plow, the prize-winning pieces are on display at the new restaurant's historic building at 332 Clay Street. It's been fun to look at all of the art on the walls in the old Dietert house. I'm proud of the Walther family, owners of Pint & Plow, for being such good hosts.
On July 16, from 6 - 9 in the evening, as many of the former student artists as possible will gather for a social event at Pint & Plow, and, at the end of the evening, the art will be returned to those who created it.
It's a wonderful idea, and I hope it will be a fun and meaningful event for everyone. Thanks, Ms. Putnam and Mr. Ruth -- this is a brilliant solution.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes everyone a happy and safe Fourth. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times July 2, 2016.

Have you ever wished for a time machine?
As someone interested in local history, I have often wished I could go back in time and get answers to several persistent questions of our community's past.
For example, what did Kerrville look like before Joshua Brown and his fellow shingle makers arrived in the mid-1840s?
There is no evidence of permanent settlement here before Brown arrived here from Gonzales, though there are several archeological sites which suggest campsites used intermittently over hundreds (if not thousands) of years. That is, there were sites where Native Americans camped as they passed through the area, sites which were used repeatedly over many generations. But those campsites were not permanent settlements.
Fortunately, we have a time machine, of sorts.
Years ago my friends Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller, of Wolfmueller Books, gave me a slim book called "A Long Ride in Texas: the Explorations of John Leonard Riddell." Edited by James O. Breeden, the book was published by the Texas A&M University Press in 1994.
John Leonard Riddell was a botanist, geologist, and medical doctor who recorded a journey he took in 1839 from Houston to our neck of the woods. That diary is our time machine.
He was a fairly good observer, noting many of the plants he saw along the way, describing the geology of the lands along his journey, and keeping a log of the days he and the rest of the explorers spent as they traveled deeper into the wilderness of central Texas. It was a dangerous journey: Comanche bands attacked frequently, and the roads were infested with murderous bandits of many nationalities. Disease, too, followed the travelers; of the entire party, only Riddell had a tent, and the journey was in the Autumn. Two in the party died from gunshot wounds, both instances being preventable accidents. And there were divisions in the group: civilians and soldiers; various races; various cultures. It was not a unified team.
Science was not what compelled Riddell to travel into our area: He and the others were looking for silver, specifically the lost San Saba mine. This is the same mine associated with Jim Bowie and others -- a rich mine of silver, still talked about today, but never found.
Like Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit," Riddell had a share in the treasure. He was not required to make a financial investment in the company -- Riddell's contribution was his knowledge of geology. (Bilbo Baggins' contribution was to burgle treasure from a vengeful dragon named Smaug.) All Riddell had to do was apply his knowledge to find the mine.
Riddell's journey from Houston took him through San Felipe, Columbus, Gonzales, Seguin, and San Antonio. There was little left of most of these villages in 1839 -- they'd been destroyed by Texans after the fall of the Alamo in 1836 to deny supplies, shelter, or fodder to the advancing army of Santa Anna.
Of Gonzales, Riddell wrote: "Gonzales, which I come near forgetting, is a small place of six or eight houses, perhaps ten or twelve. It is smaller even than Columbus. The site is fine and the lands about fertile and beautiful. This night [September 19, 1839] we stayed with Mr. King, whose house is eight miles from Gonzales, in a direction rather northwest towards Seguin. His house is a kind of fort, very pleasantly situated."
I mention his impression of Gonzales because that community is where many of our earliest settlers lived before coming to what would become Kerr County -- including Joshua Brown, the founder of Kerrville. In 1839, Joshua Brown likely lived in one of those ten or twelve houses.
Next week I'll tell you what Riddell saw when he visited our area.
Until then, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who would enjoy time travel, provided he could make his way back to the present day. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times July 9, 2016.

Artwork by my friend Tanya Wilder
one of the student artists honored in the
Tivy Artists Hall of Fame from 1975 - 2015

A reminder: the reception for the artists honored in the Tivy Artists Hall of Fame is tonight July 16, from 6 - 9 pm at Pint & Plow, 322 Clay Street, Kerrville. Come see the wonderful art of the past 40 years, and visit with a lot of the artists who created these wonderful pieces.

From my Kerrville Daily Times column of July 2, 2016:

A pair of local educators are "making lemonade from the lemons" they discovered. I'm proud of Bridget Putnam, who is the current Fine Arts Chair at Tivy High School, and John Ruth, who was a young librarian at the high school back when I was a student there. They've turned what could have been a very negative situation into a positive event.
Years ago -- back when I was in high school -- the art program at Tivy High School celebrated its students with a contest where the best piece of art was chosen to be displayed permanently in the "Tivy Artists Hall of Fame," on the walls of the school's library.
Permanence is relative, apparently, because someone in the school system's administration decided to take down all of the art. By quick thinking, it was quickly rounded up before it slipped away or was discarded.
Rather than bemoan the situation, Putnam and Ruth have found a neat way to give the art back to the former students who created it -- some was created over 30 years ago.
Partnering with Pint & Plow, the prize-winning pieces are on display at the new restaurant's historic building at 332 Clay Street. It's been fun to look at all of the art on the walls in the old Dietert house. I'm proud of the Walther family, owners of Pint & Plow, for being such good hosts.
On July 16, from 6 - 9 in the evening, as many of the former student artists as possible will gather for a social event at Pint & Plow, and, at the end of the evening, the art will be returned to those who created it.

It's a wonderful idea, and I hope it will be a fun and meaningful event for everyone. Thanks, Ms. Putnam and Mr. Ruth -- this is a brilliant solution.

What did this part of the world look like before Joshua Brown and ten others built a shingle making camp here in the late 1840s? That camp was about where today's Water and Spring streets intersect, across the street from Notre Dame Catholic Church. From that small camp Kerrville and Kerr County grew.

John Leonard Riddell
tulane.edu

We do have a few clues about what this area looked like in the autumn of 1839 -- because a band of men, seeking a fortune in silver, passed very close by. Among the group was a scientist, John Leonard Riddell, who had a share in the fortune, if it was found. Others contributed funds; Riddell's contribution was his knowledge of geology. He was also a medical doctor, and a botanist.
Years ago my friends Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller, of Wolfmueller's Books, gave me a slim book called "A Long Ride in Texas: the Explorations of John Leonard Riddell." Edited by James O. Breeden, the book was published by the Texas A&M University Press in 1994.
Riddell kept a journal of the party's travels, and on Friday, October 25, 1839, his entry reads "North or left bank of the Rio Guadalupe, near 40 miles N. of W. from Bexar." I think that would place them somewhere near modern-day Boerne.
The following Monday the group "encamped in a pleasant place after an easy day's march. The musquit [mesquite] tree now disappears and is replaced by live oak, post oak, & c. The country becomes more & more hilly; the eminences are beautifully rounded, and the highest perhaps 400 or even 600 feet above the valleys. Land sparsely timbered, but no uninterrupted large prairies real thickets occur only in the cañadas or ravines of water courses. In such places the trees and herbaceous plants are like those in Louisiana, viz., hackberry, elm, box elder, oaks, [yaupon holly, ironwood, and Indian-Cherry]." He notes numerous woody vines, and mentions elsewhere the cypress trees.
"I find on the high, dry places many novel, undescribed plants. My diary would be more extensive were it not that I spend most of my leisure time in drawing up descriptions of these plants from fresh specimens."
In 1839, this part of Texas was the frontier, and most of its plants unknown to science. Riddell brought along a press and paper to preserve the plant specimens which he collected on this 1839 trip; what happened to that collection is unknown.
"As we neared Sabinas Creek, a tributary of the Rio Guadalupe, the traveling became unpleasant for horses on accord of flint, hornstone, buhrstone, and rough limestone which wholly occupied the surface of the ground. The ravine of the Sabinas is exceedingly bad to cross on account of its steepness, as well as the thicket and rocks. A careless Irish servant in this ravine accidentally shot a soldier through the breast."
This was one of two accidental shootings on the journey; the other occurred when a young soldier accidentally discharged his rifle, injuring himself. Both men died from their wounds.
"In consequence of that accident," Riddell wrote, "we encamped early on a grassy, stony, and partially oak clad hill just on the north bank of the Sabinas."
Sabinas Creek is near where FM Road 474 crosses the Guadalupe River in Kendall County. If this creek is the same as the one Riddell mentions, it's not too far from Kerrville.
Their next camp was near present-day Sisterdale. "The land here is fine. Large cypresses grow along the water, but they looked odd to me because the Spanish moss was not to be seen pendant from their branches [as it was near his home in Louisiana]."
"Bees are wonderfully abundant in this country. The men immediately find, within 40 rods of camp, more bee-trees than they can cut down and rob. So we have honey pretty plenty.
"The Guadalupe is here a swift running, clear green water, say 15 yards or 20 across, and not belly deep to a horse. But there are marks of a recent rise some 15 or 20 feet higher than at present. Here about our present camp the land is rich, the soil black and deep, and the surface finely disposed with about the right proportion of woodland and prairie, and I have no doubt the region will prove eminently healthy when it shall become settled."
In that, of course, Riddell was correct.
Did they ever find the lost San Saba silver mine? No one knows. The diary ends abruptly when the men came near the site. What was on those missing pages is a mystery to this day.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has no idea where the lost San Saba mine can be found. It's still out there, somewhere. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times July 16, 2016.

Last week I shared the story of a group of men searching for the lost San Saba silver mine -- and from the responses I've received, that story of a lost fortune piqued the interest of more than one reader.
I suppose there's something about the thought of buried treasure which encourages one to wonder if the stories are true, and if the fortune is still out there to be found. The following story, from my files, is likely true:
Occasionally one finds a mystery when reading about Kerr County’s history. I was reading about two of Kerr County’s earliest families, the Burney and Rees clans, when I stumbled upon a story about buried gold.
The two families came to Kerr County from the same county in Tennessee, McNairy County. McNairy County is in the southwest part of the state, and borders Mississippi. It’s still rural; the population there in 2000 was under 25,000 people.
And both families, when they came to Texas, were headed by widows with three sons. According to Bob Bennett’s excellent history of our community, “each of the three sons in both the Burney and Rees families participated in the organization of Kerr County and all of them eventually served as county officials. Succeeding generations of the two families became related through marriage and 100 years later, descendants of both families were leaders in business and civic affairs of Kerr County and elsewhere.”
A quick check of today’s telephone directory shows both of the family names are still listed here.
Of all of the various members of the family, this story focuses on Hance McCain Burney, or rather his wife, Mary Tatum.
Hance Burney was Kerrville’s first postmaster, serving for eight years after the post office was established here in 1858. He also served as county judge – twice, once during the Civil War and later in the late 1870s. He was president of the First National Bank of Center Point, and he died in the spring of 1915.
His wife, Mary Tatum Burney, moved from McNairy County, Tennessee, to Washington County, Texas with her parents in 1853. She married Hance Burney three days after Christmas that same year in Washington County.
Soon thereafter the Hance Burneys and Mary’s parents moved to Kerr County. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Tatum, and they settled on a homestead “across the Guadalupe from Joshua D. Brown.”
Henry Tatum served as a county commissioner from 1863-65 (while his son-in-law was county judge). I imagine that proved interesting, especially when their votes were different.
Now for the gold.
According to Bennett, “Henry Tatum is said to have brought along $10,000 in gold which was buried on his farm during the Civil War days. In 1872 a smallpox epidemic broke out in Kerr County and both Mr. and Mrs. Tatum were stricken. Both died within a week’s time without revealing the hiding place of the gold.”
$10,000 worth of gold – in 1870-era dollars – would be worth considerably more today. It would be worth a fortune.
There is evidence more than one person believed the gold was buried on the property. According to Bennett, “A. P. Brown, a son of Joshua D. Brown, recalls that during his youth, holes about six feet deep were dug all over the old Tatum farm.”
You know, Gentle Reader, that gold might still be buried out there on the Tatum farm. Who said history books can’t be interesting?
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who thinks he knows where the Tatum farm was, and there are holes still visible there. He does not know if the gold was ever found. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times July 23, 2016

Thursday's Kerrville Daily Times noted changes in two local organizations' leadership: the Kerrville Independent School District and the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The superintendent of KISD, Dr. Dan Troxell, is taking a similar job at a bigger district in Leander; the president of the chamber, Terry Cook, is leaving 'for personal reasons.' I certainly wish both men the best of luck in their new endeavors.
Although we tend to follow the politics at city hall and the county courthouse more than the politics of the school system, the Kerrville Independent School District is a much larger organization than either of those. The KISD has more employees, has a bigger budget, and (I would argue) has a much more important role to play in our community's future. Teaching kids to read, inspiring them to learn, and shaping them as citizens is far more important than an expensive water pond or whether public monies should fund a privately developed retail mall.
Likewise, the chamber of commerce has an important role to play in our community. Granted, modern chambers of commerce are not nearly as effective or as important as the local chamber here was in the early 20th century, but they still provide a voice for business and community not found anywhere else.
Both local organizations had their start around the same time. The Kerrville Independent School District began in 1923; the precursor to the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce began in 1922.
Public schools had been a part of Kerr County since its first days. The earliest public schools were run by county government. The first school was held in the log courthouse, with William E. Pafford as its first teacher, as early as 1857.
In the years up to the Civil War, several names are recorded as teachers in Kerrville's early schools. Bob Bennett, in his "Kerr County" history writes "It is evident that but little schooling was available in Kerrsville for the first several years after the organization of the county. The classroom equipment consisted of a rough table, slab seats, and a plentiful supply of switches."
The school moved from the courthouse to "a frame building on the site now occupied by the [old] Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital," at the corner of what is now Sidney Baker and Water streets. Later the school moved to the John Ochse Store, near the corner of Washington and Main streets.
After the Civil War there was a civic movement in Kerrville to have the school housed in a permanent facility, and classes were held in the bottom floor of a two story rock building at the corner of Main and Sidney Baker streets. But even this solution was temporary.
In 1883 a frame school building was erected on Jefferson Street, and was named the "Guadalupe Institute." Boys enrolled in the school were given training "rudimentary military tactics," and drilled by their instructor Professor J. C. Lord. "The company used wooden lances in place of guns." I imagine they were quite a sight.
Still, even with boys parading with wooden lances, many in Kerrville wanted a more permanent school system. Captain Joseph A. Tivy, Kerrville's first mayor, is really the father of our school system here, because he gave the land for the schools and also tracts that could be sold to help fund construction of a school building.
The city of Kerrville was incorporated "for school purposes" in 1888; it was incorporated again, "for municipal government purposes" a year later, in 1889.
Later, in 1923, an election established the Kerrville Independent School District, moving control of the schools and taxing authority from city government to a newly formed board.
The chamber, since its beginning in 1922 has been instrumental in the progress of our community. The Chamber has been involved in early improvements to the local telephone system, funding the County Agents' work years ago, partial funding for the municipal swimming pool (the old Cascade Pool which was at the river bluff at the end of Earl Garrett Street), support for the creation of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, help with the creation of Louise Hays Park, and countless other projects.
In 1985, the Chamber, along with Schreiner University, began Leadership Kerr County, a program to train future leaders of the community by educating them about different aspects of the county through a nine month intensive program. It's a very good program, because it exposes the participants to the problems facing the county, the whole county.
Of course, the purpose of the Chamber is largely economic -- to promote the commercial interests of the community. Some of the achievements that the Chamber can take at least partial credit for are the Fish Hatchery near Mountain Home, Methodist Encampment, the Kerrville State Hospital, Wildlife Management Area, the Veteran's Hospital, the USDA Entomology Labs, the relocation of Mooney Aircraft to Kerrville, the local office of the Parks & Wildlife Department, the founding of the Kerr Economic Development Foundation, and a successful physician recruitment program decades ago.
Leadership of these two organizations, the school district and the chamber, is vital to our community, and I'm sure the boards of each will work hard to select people who will make Kerrville a better place.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who supports the chamber and the school district. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times July 30, 2016.

Kerrville's Blue Bonnet Hotel, at the intersection of Water and Earl Garrett Streets.
This photo was taken in the mid-1950s from atop the newly-built Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital,
probably by Starr Bryden.

When one stands at the intersection of Earl Garrett and Water streets, on the corner opposite Francisco's Restaurant, where a parking lot is today, it might be easy to think that the parking lot has been there forever.
Consider this: an eight-story hotel once stood on part of that parking lot.
There are fewer and fewer of us in Kerrville who remember the Blue Bonnet Hotel. During my childhood, the old hotel was around forty years old, and had obviously seen better days.
My earliest memories of the hotel are of joining Dad as he attended his weekly Kiwanis meetings -- and of those memories, the strongest is of the food served during those meetings. I thought the food was great, and going with Dad to Kiwanis was very special.
I also remember two ladies who lived, for a time, at the hotel: Miss Thurma Dean Miller, who was in charge of children's ministries at First Baptist Church, and Margaret Bierschwale, who wrote a history of Mason County which my father printed. It was a great treat to go to the Blue Bonnet, ride the elevator, and visit them.
The Blue Bonnet Hotel was quite a big deal for Kerrville and Kerr County.
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.”
The Blue Bonnet Hotel Company had high hopes: it planned to build "six or seven" hotels in Texas, including a Blue Bonnet Hotel in San Antonio, at the corner of Pecan and St. Mary's streets. Other towns identified in the story were Laredo, Corpus Christi, Brownsville and Abilene. Of these, only the San Antonio hotel is listed as under construction.
When the hotel opened, it was only five stories tall; a short while later the building grew to eight stories, going from 80 rooms to 140.
Along its ground floor several shops rented space: a drug store, complete with soda fountain; a barber; a beauty parlor; a coffee shop, and a magazine stand. There was an "enclosed ballroom," and plans for a garden terrace overlooking the Guadalupe below.
How the company's plans were altered by the stock market crash a few years later, along with the Great Depression which followed, is probably a story in itself. I don't know how many hotels the company actually built.
The Blue Bonnet Hotel was torn down in late 1971, by the Charles Schreiner Bank, which built the parking lot which stands on the spot today.
I have fond memories of the Blue Bonnet Hotel, and I wonder what a new hotel might mean today for Kerrville, and Kerrville's Old Town area.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has several artifacts from the Blue Bonnet Hotel in his collection of Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. This column was published in the Kerrville Daily Times August 6, 2016.

Potter, Joshua, and Sarah Brown, around 1873,
though I think it's closer to 1875.

There is a detail in one of the historic photographs in my collection that few notice.
The photograph, of Joshua, Sarah, and young Potter Brown, is currently on display at the Museum of Western Art. That exhibit runs through August 27.
Joshua D. Brown was the founder of Kerrville, coming here in the late 1840s to harvest the cypress trees along the river to make shingles. Sarah Goss Brown was his second wife; his first, Eleanor Smith Brown, died in 1848, about the same time Brown was establishing his shingle making camp here. One daughter was born in Brown's first marriage, a daughter named Mary Louisa. Seven children were born in his marriage to Sarah Goss Brown, four sons and three daughters. Alonzo Potter Brown, the youngest son, is in the photograph.
The original image of Joshua, Sarah, and Potter Brown was a tintype taken around 1873, and I received a scan of the original tintype from a descendent of the Browns, Jan Wilkinson. While I have seen copies of this image many times, mostly in commemorative newspaper issues, the image on display at the Museum of Western Art is a scan from the original tintype. It is the best reproduction of the photograph I have ever seen.
Tintypes were very popular in the 1860s and 1870s, partly because they were inexpensive to produce, and partly because they could be handed to the customer moments after the image was taken. Many tintypes were taken by itinerant photographers, often at fairs or carnivals.
One drawback to tintypes was the long exposure time required. One had to sit very, very still for a long time. In the photograph of the Brown family, it appears young Potter Brown could not stay still that long. His face is slightly blurred. Joshua's face is blurred, but less than Potter's. Joshua was sitting next to his son. Perhaps Joshua moved slightly trying to keep Potter still.
The only one who stayed still through the photograph is Sarah Goss Brown. Her blue eyes gaze clearly at the camera, and she has a slight smile on her face, as if she is just about to laugh out loud, but trying very hard not to do so. Her left hand is clenched in a fist.
The family is well-dressed in the photo. Young Potter is in a fine suit with a large collar; Joshua wears a jacket, vest, and slacks; Sarah wears a very detailed dress with a wide belt that has a shiny buckle, and a long skirt beneath that. They are wearing fine clothes, especially fine considering Kerr County was the edge of the frontier when the image was taken. Either the Brown family was at an event which required them to dress up a bit, or they had an appointment with a photographer and dressed for the image.
I'd suggest it was the latter, since the photograph has been tinted slightly. Rouge has been applied to Sarah's cheeks, and a slight touch of red to Joshua's, as well. The flower Sarah is wearing has been tinted yellow. I don't think a street photographer would have gone to the trouble to add these colors.
In 1873 none of the buildings in today's downtown Kerrville existed. The oldest building in downtown Kerrville, at 709 Water Street, is now the home of Hill Country Living. It wasn't built until 1874, a year after the photograph was taken. A portion of the home of Charles Schreiner's family, on Earl Garrett Street, was built in 1879. Other older buildings in the downtown area came along much later, many of them in 1890.
When the Browns had their photograph taken, there was no railroad to Kerrville; that came in 1887. When the photograph was taken there were few, if any, structures we'd recognize. The town would be an unexplored mystery to us.
But there is one detail in the photograph I find particularly interesting, in part because it reveals something about Joshua and Sarah Brown, and in part because of all the tintype portraits I've seen from that period, this is the only image which shows this detail.
In the photograph, Sarah and Joshua are holding hands. Her right hand rests comfortably on his left hand, as if it often found its way there.
I hope you'll see for yourself -- the photograph will be on display until August 27th at the Museum of Western Art.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects historic photographs and artifacts of Kerrville and Kerr County. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times August 13, 2016

Recently my friend Mark J. Armstrong, managing editor of this newspaper, wrote a column calling for a Kerr County history museum, and suggesting it should be named in honor of the late Clarabelle Snodgrass. Both ideas are great.
Armstrong is not the first editor of the Times to support such an idea, and I'm not sure why the idea has never gotten off of the ground.
"Boost the Kerr County Museum Collection," was the headline another editor once wrote. "Valuable historic relics have been collected by the museum club of the ... junior high school, under the leadership of Mrs. R. A. Franklin. Most museums have grown from a small nucleus, and there is no reason why this should not. If you have some article of historic value, send it to [us]. Windows showing part of the museum club's collection are now on display at the Arcadia, and additions to the collection will be made from time to time. We should keep alive the memory ... of the pioneers of Kerr County and our section of the state. A museum will help do that!"
The editor was named J. J. Starkey; the words were published in the Kerrville Times in January, 1933.
I can only imagine what they'd collected in 1933.
For many years I have collected local items of historical interest. The majority of my collection dates from 1956 to present. A smaller portion from 1900-1956. And an even smaller collection from before 1900.
The items collected in 1933 would have likely been mostly from the 19th century. And they've disappeared into the river of time.
Starkey published a monthly insert in his newspaper, "Pioneer History." He worked hard to promote the idea of a Kerr County history museum, even resorting to appealing to our community's pride, by comparing our lack of a museum with the success of our neighboring cities.
"As citizens of Kerrville," he wrote in a 3/4 page ad, "we congratulate J. Marvin Hunter on the accomplishment of a long cherished purpose in the building of the Frontier Times Museum at Bandera, Texas. It is hoped that Kerr County may soon possess a similar monument to its own pioneers. The beginnings of a museum display have been made here, and we urge all to cooperate in building it up." This ad appeared in May, 1933.
In December, 1933, the Times ran a front-page story "Pioneers Plan County Museum...." The story told of the 'Pioneers of Kerr County,' who, in their regular quarterly meeting, "voted to actively begin the Kerr County Museum, which the organization has been contemplating for the past five years."
Interestingly, the secretary of the organization, Bert Parsons, offered one of the rooms in his home on Water Street to display some of the items. Well, interesting to me, since my family now owns some of the Parsons property, and our print shop sits on part of that tract. Most of my collection of Kerr County historical items is housed in our print shop, so this is the second time 'historical items' have been on display at this spot.
As for the items collected by the junior high students of Mrs. R. A. (Kate) Franklin, it's a mystery what happened to them. It's rumored some of the items were thrown away.
In September, 1940, Mrs. W. A. Salter, the editor and publisher of the Kerrville Mountain Sun, wrote these lines in her 'It Happened Here' column:
"It is regretted that the Texas History and Pioneer Museum which Kate [Franklin] started while she was [a teacher] here, and with which she had such wonderful co-operation, has never been quite completed. It would certainly be an addition to the school and community, and old timers would part with historical objects if they were sure that the treasures had a proper home."
I understand that sentiment completely.
Gentle Reader, next week I turn 55. I'm getting to be one of those old timers. As I look at the thousands of items in my collection, I know I need to find them a home. A proper home. But so far none of the suggested organizations have demonstrated the ability (or desire) to provide a safe place to exhibit and preserve these items of our history. Just as they did not in the 1930s, or in the decades since.
I don't know why our community lacks a museum. I have pondered the problem for a long time. Perhaps one of you has a good idea that will help.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. Lots of them. Some of the items are on display at the Museum of Western Art through August 27. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times August 20, 2016.

From Ornitographies, a series of photographs by Xavi Bou.
He photographs birds in flight using multiple exposures

Now that's a beautiful fly fishing rod. Almost worth the several years' wait.

Writing young adult fiction is easier than I thought. Now I can write a Harry Potter knock-off.

Finding this in my Christmas stocking would be cool. Kind of expensive, though.

Made me chuckle. C'mon, people, calm down a little.

A community works together, and tells the politicians they can't be a part of the process.

Ways to be a better person. Gotta love the first idea.

I'm always trying to be more efficient. Maybe some of these ideas will help you, too.

A long article about America's underclass. Some of the ideas will provoke disagreement. I have been reading a lot of articles trying to figure out the current national political mood.

Consider this column by David Brooks. It's true, in Texas history, that many of those abducted and forced to live with Native American tribes for decades often had a very hard time returning to 'civilization.'

Sometimes writing the perfect task can be very difficult. Love the line “Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

I've been enjoying my wife's crafting blog. You go, girlfriend.

A stamp my daughter designed. Cute.

My friends Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller, of Wolfmueller's Books, gave me an interesting book last week. "Kerrville, Texas: a social and economic history," written by Frank R. Gilliland of Center Point. It was Mr. Gilliland's master's thesis, and it was written in 1951.
Mr. Gilliland, from my quick research through old newspapers, became an educator, and even taught in Center Point.
I like manuscripts like this because they are usually well-researched, and the author gives an account of his sources, including the persons he interviewed. Mr. Gilliland was able to interview many people, and among them were names most of us would recognize: A. P. Brown, the son of the founder of Kerrville, Joshua Brown; J. Marvin Hunter, who established newspapers across the state and a museum in Bandera; members of several pioneer families, such as the Starkeys, the Nichols, the Witts, and the Moores.
One interview stood out to me: Mr. Bert C. Parsons. Parsons was the son of Dr. George Parsons, a pioneer physician here who served as mayor of Kerrville in the city's earliest days.
The Parsons family owned the property on which our print shop stands from 1878 to 1958, a span of 80 years. (By comparison, our family has owned the property for only 58 years, since 1970.)
Parsons' main contribution to Gilliland's manuscript came in the section called "Stage Coach Days."
"About 1850," Gilliland writes, "the Southwestern Stage Company began operating a daily mail and passenger service as far as El Paso on the famous route that started in San Antonio and ended in San Diego."
That route went through Fredericksburg, and from Fredericksburg, our community got its mail.
"From this point mail was brought by horseback to Kerrville three times weekly, the first mail contractor being Fritz Saur, who lived at his Cypress Creek home until 1932. Hack service from Comfort to Kerrville was available at that time."
As for the stage coaches, "the coach accommodated eleven passengers and was drawn by four horses, driven by Pat Howard. Sometime between 1872 and 1880 a stage service was established on to Kerrville.
"In 1880 a daily stage service from Kerrville to Boerne was inaugurated by Dr. George Robins Parsons...he operated this line until completion of the railroad in 1887. At the same time he operated a Comfort to Fredericksburg stage coach, which continued in operation several years after the Kerrville to Boerne line was discontinued. The stage left Kerrville each morning at four o'clock, changed horses in Comfort, and transferred its passengers to the connecting line in Boerne. Travelers reached San Antonio after dark. A stage left San Antonio at about the same time in the morning, and passengers reached Kerrville at night. The round trip fare from Kerrville to San Antonio was twenty dollars. Dr. Parsons had four Concord stage coaches of the two-horse size on the two lines. The stage coach office was in Parsons' Hall, a two-story building which stood on the location of the present Rialto Theater, the second story of which served as town hall for many years."
The Rialto Theater was torn down in 1974, but one part of it remains. The old theater (and thus the stage coach office) stood in our present-day parking lot between Herring Printing Company and Grape Juice, in the 600 block of Water Street. The wall of Grape Juice closest to our print shop was the easternmost wall of the Rialto; in the stucco above the parking lot, you can still see the outline of the risers for the Rialto Theater's balcony.
So the stage coach which served Kerrville departed and arrived in what is now our print shop's parking lot.
That means, Gentle Reader, if you find yourself walking past our parking lot early in the morning, around 4 a.m., and you happen to hear the whinny of a horse, and the clatter of steel-rimmed wheels on pavement, you might be hearing a ghost stage coach leaving Kerrville and headed to Boerne.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who can barely imagine how busy that stage coach office must have been. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times August 27, 2016.

Heart of the Hills Inn, now
Heart o' The Hills Camp for Girls
A kind reader brought me this postcard this week.

Wow. Amazing artworkmade with string in a type of knitting loom. Stay with the film long enough to see what he creates. via Swiss Miss

I want to buy these stamps from the post office. Yep. Spent many an afternoon after school watching that show.

Interesting article about the changing workforce. Even at our small, rural print shop, we employ several graphic designers who work from home, two of which live out of state. (One is a stay at home Mom who worked in our shop years ago.)

I want to see this movie by Ron Howard about a four-man rock group from Liverpool. You can watch the trailerfor the movie here.

My kids have started a new business. Proud of them.

Finding your way into Kerr County is a lot easier today than it was when our community was being formed. Today you can plug an address into a system using the Global Positioning System, and a computerized voice will guide you turn by turn until you reach your destination. While such a navigation system is a marvel, consider how the earliest settlers here would have reacted to such an invention, especially when the turn by turn directions would have included landmarks like 'a big split rock,' or the 'ruts of previous wagon wheels.'
The first settler in our area was Joshua D. Brown. He arrived here from Gonzales with a group of 10 men to harvest cypress trees from which to make shingles. Their first foray here was around 1846, but they faced hardships, especially with the various Native American tribes in the area who felt they had a prior claim to the region.
Brown and others tried again in 1848, and this time the little settlement took hold. Although it remained tiny throughout the 1850s and 1860s, the community slowly grew in population.
Here's a practical question: how did they get here?
There was no interstate system, and certainly no GPS-guided navigation systems. What route did those earliest settlers take?
One answer can be found in a neat book given to me recently by my friends Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller of Wolfmueller's Books. "Kerrville, Texas: a social and economic history," written by Frank R. Gilliland of Center Point in 1951. The book was Mr. Gilliland's master's thesis, a part of his work as a student at Stephen F. Austin State College.
"Most of the early settlers," Gilliland writes, "followed one of two routes as they moved into what is now Kerr County. Many of them, the German immigrants and Americans from the older Southern states, came by boat on the Mississippi River and across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of Texas, landing at old Indianola, or Powder Horn as it was sometimes called, which until the tropical storms of 1875 and 1886 completely destroyed the town, rivaled Galveston as the chief Texas seaport. From Indianola these people in their wagons followed the trail across the Victoria prairie to San Antonio and then on up the river valleys to form the settlements at New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Comfort, Kerrville, and Bandera. The hill country settlements continued to haul freight by ox-team to and from Indianola for thirty-five or forty years. It took a week or more each way to make the trip driving the slow-moving oxen, carrying down produce for sale and returning with supplies from the eastern markets, according to Robert C. Saner and Sam Glenn, Sr., who as young men made the trip often.
"Other settlers from the older states of Tennessee and Missouri came overland through Arkansas to East Texas and along El Camino Real from Nacogdoches to San Antonio and then up the Guadalupe valley. Many of these people lived for a year or two in Arkansas before coming to Texas.
"These early roads, although far from scientific perfection, were the forerunners of the great highway systems that now crisscross the entire country. There were wisely located, in the opinion of engineers today. They paralleled the streams and ran through the valleys, but at the same time they were placed near the hillsides, avoiding gullies and wash-outs from high water. At that time no farms or ranches were fenced, and the road were laid out along the best routes with no consideration for property rights. Later for a time the roads were changed closer to the river front for the convenience of the settlers and to avoid cutting through fields being put into cultivation, but the modern highways have been moved again to the higher ground, following very closely the first roads opened in this section."
I agree with the theory that those early German and American settlers followed the routes of the Spanish colonists, who, in turn, likely followed the routes taken by Native American groups for centuries.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who can get lost even while using a GPS navigation system. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 3, 2016.

Reiter's Garage, foreground, Blue Bonnet Hotel, background
Piggly Wiggly just past the Sinclair station
900 Block of Water Street, Kerrville, late 1920s, early 1930s.

We all know H-E-B started in Kerrville in 1905. But it really didn't get going until Howard Butt implemented he grocery marketing system he learned from his association with Piggly-Wiggly. Here's the Piggly-Wiggly story.

Man, I wish I'd had this app years ago when I was checking my kids' algebra homework. I use it for myself, though.

Geek out! Someone found a computer from the Apollo mission to the moon. (This one actually went to space!)

A page full of quotes from the poet Mary Oliver. She's awesome.

My sweet bride and my son both love cats. Me, not so much. But this kit made me smile. (Or smirk.) A cat playscape that you can rearrange.

Cool fan design. Stores away easily. Makes me daydream of a time when I won't need a fan, because the weather is cooler.

Spent a good bit of time exploring a few national parks, thanks to this Google site. Didn't even get winded.

Star Trek turned 50 last Thursday. Watch this video and you won't be able to get the theme song out of your head for a day or so.

A thoughtful column by David Brooks about Obamacare. Regardless of your politics, this topic deserves your attention.

This is my 1000th post on this blog. Thanks for reading!

Earlier this week, during the height of the butterfly migration, I found myself driving west on Jefferson, behind Kerrville's main H-E-B grocery store. The butterflies were thick there and looked like leaves blowing in the wind. Like many of you, I wish they'd fly about 15 feet farther from the ground, where they'd be above my vehicle and out of traffic.

As I neared Rodriguez Street, I had a strong memory from years ago. I'm not sure what triggered the memory. Please indulge me as I share it here with you.

There are many of us who remember a small restaurant on the corner of Jefferson and Rodriguez: Torres Foods, which was more popularly known as the Tortilla Factory. It was owned by Louis Romero, and was begun by his grandmother Delphina Torres.

I have fond memories of the crew that ran the front counter. There was Felix, who passed away some years ago. He often told me I ate so many chalupas I was going to turn into a chalupa. There was also a young woman named Mela, who had such a great laugh. And another young woman named Gris who was very shy. (I'm afraid I've misspelled their names.) I still occasionally see the young women around town.

I would often see Louis Romero behind the screen, and there were a number of cooks and others I never met, who worked behind the scenes. Louis was often at a steam table of some type, assembling food orders. It was a busy place.

The restaurant closed in 2004, when the land was sold to H-E-B, and the old landmark was torn down. A grocery store employee parking lot was built on the spot, 228 Jefferson Street.

My memories of the place go back to my high school days. On long band trips a group of us brought food to share; each had a different item to bring. It was my responsibility to bring tamales from Torres Foods. Bringing those certainly improved my popularity on those bus trips -- at least until the tamales were gone.

Later, when Ms. Carolyn and I had kids, we'd often take them there after soccer games, where we'd load up on tamales and chalupas. In fact, the kids expected it. For a long time soccer meant a meal at Torres Foods afterwards, win or lose.

Many summer evenings I'd suggest we go by and grab a bag of tamales and head to Louise Hays, so the kids could chase lightning bugs on Tranquility Island.

Whenever we had foreign visitors, we always took them there so they could enjoy an authentic tamale. I still remember the polite but very concerned expression a girl from Scotland wore as she peeled away the corn husk and observed the steaming tamale beneath. She was brave and ate the tamale, and said it was good, but we all noticed she only ate one.

The memory which flooded back this week as I drove along Jefferson Street happened a day soon after Easter, long ago.

That year I had rashly given up too much for Lent: I would drink nothing but water during that season. That meant no soft drinks. That meant no wine. I was miserable.

Why would a Baptist give up anything for Lent, you might ask? I asked myself the same question that year, and often. I've never been that rash again during the Lenten season.

I must have complained often about my decision, and complained all over town. Obviously I was not observing Lent in a quiet, private manner, as I should have done. I pouted and complained.

Evidently I also complained to Felix, Mela and Gris. They must have suffered my whining for weeks during that season.

So, after Easter and on the first day it was possible to enjoy a chalupa and a Coke at Torres Foods, I bee-lined it down there. I placed my order, and asked for change for the Coke machine, which the young women handed to me.

I marched over to the machine to find a hand-written sign: "Out of Order."

The machine was broken. There would be no Coke for me. Mela asked if I'd like some water, instead. I was crestfallen.

Then they all laughed. The machine was not broken, after all. They had placed the sign there just to tease me.

That's what I remembered as I drove down Jefferson Street this week. The laughter. And the smell of good food cooking just behind the partition. And how good that chalupa tasted with a cold Coca-Cola.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who received a gift from Louis Romero after the restaurant closed, a t-shirt which reads "I ate the last Chalupa at the Tortilla Factory."

Dedication of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library,
Kerrville, 1967.

Wow. Here are some beautiful nature photos. Isn't that jellyfish something?

If you think Airstream trailers are cool, check out their latest model.

A thoughtful article about Howard Butt Jr., who died last Sunday.

Not sure why I think this little cabin is so cool. Truth is, it would get awfully hot inside if it was built around here. Still, I can imagine my kids playing in such a hut when they were younger.

Can't help but be proud of my wife's blog. She's so creative.

I was saddened this week to learn of the passing of Howard Butt Jr., a kind and intelligent man who dedicated his life to promoting Christian thought and action, especially among laypersons.
Five years ago I wrote a column about Laity Lodge, which was a special project of Howard Butt Jr. and his mother, Mary Holdsworth Butt. It would be impossible to count the number of lives touched by Laity Lodge, and I think it was among the most important achievements in Mr. Butt's long and successful life.
Here's that column from my files:
In the summer of 1961, a group of people met for a retreat on the banks of the Frio River in a newly-constructed hall. The featured speaker was Elton Trueblood, a Quaker philosopher, who emphasized "the ministry of common life." Joining him in leading that weekend's retreat was Keith Miller, an oil company executive from Oklahoma.
It was the first retreat ever held at Laity Lodge, near Leakey, the facility owned and operated by the H. E. Butt Foundation, which has its offices here in Kerrville. Laity Lodge is celebrating fifty years this summer.
As most of you know, the H. E. Butt Grocery Company started here in Kerrville, back in 1905. The family of Charles C. Butt came to Kerrville around that time because he suffered from tuberculosis; in those days our dry climate was thought to be beneficial to tuberculosis. Charles' wife Florence opened a grocery store on Main Street here in 1905, and it continues to this day. Let's just say the grocery enterprise has been successful.
The H. E. Butt Foundation was chartered in 1933, by Charles' and Florence's youngest son Howard and his wife, Mary Holdsworth Butt. Howard was a Tivy graduate, as was Mary. I have photos of them as Tivy students in my collection.
The 1900 acre property on the Frio River was purchased by the foundation in 1954, "to provide a place where boys and girls, men and women could further their knowledge of God and His creation while enjoying the freedom of camp life that had so appealed to [Howard Butt] during his youth. Mary Holdsworth Butt joined her husband in this dream," according to the foundation's website. In fact, "Mrs. Butt’s diary records their hope to provide a camping experience for 'maybe 100 boys and girls at one time.'" Let's just say that goal has been exceeded.
Their eldest son, Howard Butt, Jr., a gifted Christian speaker, encouraged the development of Laity Lodge, and it became a family project. "My mother worked tirelessly," Howard Butt Jr. wrote recently, "and we spent long hours planning the design of the retreat center, the design of the buildings, the building locations, the interior design, and even the location of the parking lot. She felt compelled to build the camps; building Laity Lodge in particular gave her great satisfaction, and she was pleased when the buildings were ready for the first retreat."
Keith Miller served as the first director of Laity Lodge, from 1962 to 1965. He was followed by Bill Cody, who served until 1979. My long-time friend Dr. Howard Hovde served from 1981 until 1999; Eddie Sears, another long-time friend, served during the same time as Associate Director. In 1997 Don Murdock took the executive director's post, and in 1999 the title of director was held by Dr. David Williamson. The current director, Steven Purcell, was hired in 2006, and the current Director of Operations, the talented Tim Blanks, was hired in 2003.
This special place in a stark canyon overlooking the crystal Frio River has been an active part of a greater spiritual community for fifty very good years. Laity Lodge has its beginnings here in Kerrville, starting when a woman of faith prayerfully opened a little grocery store and taught her children (and they their children) the importance of hard work and spiritual values. Those lessons continue to this day at Laity Lodge.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes his former editor Mark J. Armstrong the best of luck as he starts a new chapter in his life. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 17, 2016.

The Cascade Pool, downtown Kerrville, circa mid-1950s

Remember lining up dominoes and then knocking over the first one and the rest of the line followed? This video shows an amazing set up of 15,000 dominoes, which took 8 days to build. Too much time on her hands, I'm guessing. But it's pretty cool to watch.

I wonder if this high-tech bedside alarm system wakes you up as gently as the company claims? There is a video explaining the thing a little bit down the page.

Kerrville peeps: here's the information on the event that has many downtown streets closed today. It's a cool event, and this page includes maps and times for your convenience.

A new technique allows archeologists to read an ancient Biblical scroll that time has fused shut. Pretty cool.

This article about using design techniques to improve your life intrigued me. It's about a class at Stanford, and I found this video with more information. Stanford also posted this webinar on the subject.

Finally, the story of the creation of a type font. Yep, I'm a font geek. His story is below the font samples, so scroll down a bit.

I've been looking for something in my files, which means I've been finding all sorts of other interesting things other than the thing that started the whole search.
For instance, I found a letter postmarked November 1995 which a description of Kerrville before 1920. It was sent to me by Anna Bell Council Roland.
It's a walking tour of downtown Kerrville, and it's fascinating.
Start with our "guide," Ms. Roland, at Pampell's:
Pampells is "perhaps the most interesting building in town from an historical viewpoint. It was built for a hotel by my great uncle, Bill Gregory, in the 1880s. He sold it to Mr. Pampell who put in a confectionery on the first floor with an ice cream parlor at the back for the ladies, an opera house and dance floor upstairs, and in the basement he bottled soda water and made candy. His candy consisted of taffy and boxed chocolates. Access to the upstairs was by way of an outside staircase on teh Sidney Baker side. Here was where we had our first moving picture show. You bought your ticket on the sidewalk and then climbed the stairs. The seats were wooden folding chairs. Just when the heroine in the movie lay on the tracks with the train approaching, some youngster would become so excited and wiggly that the chair would slip out from under him with a terrible crash and many were the screams. Pampell's was originally a frame building, but in 1926 it was remodeled and bricked.
"A few doors down from Pampell's was the Favorite Saloon. The building still stands (cut limestone)." It's the building the Rectors now own, which houses their Hill Country Living Store at 709 Water Street. "The saloon belonged to Ernest Schwethelm. About where the Arcadia is now there was an open area, an entrance to the camp yard between the buildings and the river. Here the freighters who came in with the covered wagons full of wool and mohair camped. It was convenient to the barber shops, all of which had bathtubs for their convenience, it was also convenient to the two large saloons located downtown. Here they stayed until their wool and mohair were weighed and credited to the proper rancher. Then their wagons were loaded with supplies according to the ranchers' lists. These supplies were charged to their credit from the wool and mohair; hence, Schreiner became a banker.
The walk continues past a fire station "with a bell on top which rang out to call the volunteer firemen. Their equipment consisted of a fire hose mounted on wheels which they pulled manually to the fire.
Next was a blacksmith shop. "I believe it belonged to Jake Lawson."
Then Ruff's Cafe and then Schreiner's flour mill.
Heading back to Pampell's, our guide crosses the street: "Here was the St. Charles Hotel, the largest hotel in town and very popular with the summer visitors." This hotel was on the site of the former Sid Peterson Hospital, which was torn down years ago, and is now the Peterson Plaza. "There was a large lawn that extended to the west wall of the wool house."
That wool house was torn down in the 1980s to make way for the surgical annex of the old hospital, but it was "a rock structure," and "the largest primary wool market in the world (circa 1916)."
Next came the Schreiner Store and Bank. "The bank was at the west end of the store. In 1919 they built the bank on the corner of Water and Earl Garrett streets. The entire store was remodeled about 1926."
Across the street, where Francisco's Restaurant is today stood "the Weston Saloon, the largest and most prosperous of the saloons, and likely the busiest. Ladies turned their heads and children were told not to look in that direction, but I can still remember the sour odor."
At that, let's pause in our tour -- to continue again next week.
Until then, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who enjoys finding things in his files, even if it wasn't what he was looking for. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 24, 2016.

Kerr County History Exhibit opens today

A sad goodbye

A time machine made of paper and ink

Tivy Artists Hall of Fame reception tonight at Pint & Plow

An 1839 Hill Country Journey: the lost San Saba mine

A Fortune in Gold

A week of changes

An Eight-Story Hotel in downtown Kerrville

An overlooked detail in an historic Kerr County photograph

On My Soapbox: the Kerr County Museum

Saturday Link Pack

Stage Coach Days in Kerrville

Saturday Link Pack

How early settlers found their way to Kerr County

Saturday Link Pack

The Last Chalupa

Saturday Link Pack

The Gifts of Howard Butt Jr.

Saturday Link Pack

A Tour of Downtown Kerrville before 1920