Joe Herring Jr.

Dedication Ceremony, Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Kerrville
Click on any image to enlarge

Fifty years ago today, on August 26, 1967, our community celebrated the grand opening of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library at a dedication ceremony attended by 2,500 people, including Lady Bird Johnson and the donors of the library building, Howard and Mary Butt.
It was truly one of the red letter days in our community's history, marking the culmination of a decades-long dream while also expressing great hope for the future of Kerrville and Kerr County.
The new library building at 505 Water Street, built on a site overlooking the Guadalupe River, was a gift of Howard and Mary Butt, both Tivy graduates with family ties in Kerr County, and designated as a memorial to their families.

Howard Butt at Dedication Ceremony, Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Kerrville

Howard Butt at the ceremony

It was designed by the architectural firm of Christian, Bright & Pennington of Corpus Christi, and construction was under the supervision of J. H. Daniel of San Antonio, with Lawrence Goodrich the foreman in charge of construction. The landscape architect was Durward Thompson.
Overall, the building had floor space of over 21,000 square feet on three floors, and closely resembles in appearance and design the library built for the University of Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1963. That building was also a gift of Howard and Mary Butt, and is still in use on what is now the Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi as an administration building.
Our library building features a mural of Kerr County history by Merrill Doyle, and mosaic tile artwork by Salina Saur. Tiles by Mary Green decorated the amphitheater, featuring characters from books for children. The decoupage panels decorated the children's reading area were made by Christine Gerber. Dotted around the property were quotes from literature and phrases from poetry, selected by Mary Butt.

Kerrville mayor Gordon Monroe and
Lady Bird Johnson at the event

From beginning to completion, the planning and construction of the building took about 18 months. At the dedication ceremony, Howard Butt thanked his wife Mary for her dedication to the project.
"If this building's beauty, character, and functional qualities are above the ordinary," he said, "I want to pay tribute to my wife who has dedicated at least a year and a half of her life to planning it."
Lady Bird Johnson also praised Mary Holdsworth Butt's work on the library.
"Mrs. Butt," the First Lady said, "who has become conversant with every brick and stone and light plug since its inception tells me that it has room to grow immediately from its wonderful collection of 20,000 to 75,000 volumes. With great relish she told me of the day the school children carried loads of books from the old library into this one, and of last week how so many of the community leaders were handling the phone calls and last-minute chores to prepare for this day."

Crowd at Dedication Ceremony, Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Kerrville

An estimated 2,500 people attended the event

August 26, 1967 was a hot day in Kerrville. Even though fifty years have passed, people remember how hot is was that day. Ruth Hinkle remembers "it was extremely hot, several people fainted." Steve Meeker remembers the same "it was very hot and several people did faint."
Mrs. W. A. Salter wrote about the day in her column in the August 30, 1967 issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun: "The day was one of beauty...the mist on the river, the haze on the hills...the washed look of the world and the sunshine bathing the scene...and the magnificent setting."
The hot weather did not keep the crowds away. 2,500 people attended the ceremony, which was about a quarter of the population of Kerrville. Those who were not included in the guest list admitted inside the building filled up the area below the library, between the library and the river bluff. It was quite a crowd, but from the photos, you can tell it was a special occasion. "My mom made us dress up for the occasion," Sue Alice Jackson Shay remembers.
Photographs of the event, especially candid photos taken by those who attended, clearly show how excited and happy everyone was. The new library was a big deal to the community, and not just as a physical building. The ideas behind the library were just as important.

Attendees Dedication Ceremony, Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Kerrville

Another view of the attendees

"Perhaps no place in any community is as totally democratic as the town library," Lady Bird Johnson said in her address. "The only entrance requirement is interest, whether you are a Ph.D. or haven't even started school. It is here that you can communicate with the liveliest minds of the ages...Books are the scissors by which man can cut his bonds of his own ignorance. I salute all the planners who have seen that this library is not only a landmark of learning, but a landmark of beauty. This is, indeed, a proud day for all of us."
Charles Butt, the youngest son of Howard and Mary Butt, has provided support for the library for decades, including for the last series of renovations completed several years ago. He also spoke at the dedication fifty years ago, expressing in an invocation his hope that the library help spread knowledge and "put an end to mistrust, prejudice and ignorance."
At the end of the ceremony, Howard and Mary Butt gave the keys to the building to Kerrville mayor Gordon Monroe and the county judge of Kerr County, Julius Neunhoffer.
"It is our privilege to deliver the possession of this beautiful building," Howard Butt said, "of making this gift of what we hope will be a great institution to serve the people of the Hill Country and the children for years and years to come."
I was a child when the library opened, and I know this hope was fulfilled. Not just for me, but for many children, including my own, decades later.
"My love of reading was born in that library," Deborah Lozano wrote me. "I do remember when it opened and the excitement I felt. I was about 8 years old. I still remember the smell of all of those books when you walked in the door...I rode my bike there almost every Saturday and spent my summer days there as well."

View of audience Dedication Ceremony, Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, Kerrville

It was a very hot day

"My love started the day the library was dedicated," JoAnn Somers Honey shared with me. She was 6 or 7 years old during the dedication ceremony. "Perched high atop my Daddy's shoulders, and thrilled that this 'new house' would be the house that would open up more books to me, and eventually the whole world."
Alex Calderon has special memories of the library dedication, through his father, Aladino, who worked for the city. "We helped set up all the chairs and dug the hole for the tree [Lady Bird Johnson] planted." His father "also set up the podium and we watched the ceremony. After it was over we got to meet Mrs. Johnson and then we took everything down. It was quite an event. That is what I remember."
Likewise, Daniel Craft remembers helping his uncle, Wesley 'June' Cass, landscaping the parking area behind the library. Within "every brick in the back area, [we] filled them with dirt, and planted a small piece of St Augustine grass from Mosty Brothers Nursery."
The Kerrville Daily Times ran an editorial that weekend which stated "Saturday was an historic day in Kerrville. Dedication of the stunningly beautiful Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library by the nation's First Lady is a turning point in the cultural and educational history of our city and, for that matter, of the entire Hill Country."
It really was a turning point, and, for many continues to "change the trajectory" of many young lives.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who spent many hours at the new library in 1967. This story appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times August 25, 2017.

Children at the newly opened Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, around 1967.
I recognize a few of these youngsters; I went to school with them, and was their age.
Click on any image to enlarge

This weekend the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library celebrates the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the library, which took place on August 26, 1967.
A kind friend gave me a copy of the library's dedication program, and from that treasure I learned the following history of libraries in Kerrville:

Westminster Presbyterian Encampment, Kerrville

Though Kerr County had its beginning in 1856 (and Kerrville in 1889), the first library wasn't organized until 1931. The Fine Arts League had an auxiliary organization, the Literary Club; its main purpose was to establish a library.
When the League disbanded during the Great Depression, the Literary Club shared its meager resources and "began an struggle for a building that was to take many years to achieve."
The Texas Presbyterian College house at Westminster Encampment, which was on the side of the Schreiner Institute campus closest to town, became the first library. "Despite the depression a book shower the first year provided nine books and small donations."

The Schreiner Mansion photographed
during the time
it served as the library

Books were loaned at "3 cents per day with a charge for overtime added to the revenue." Due to club activities membership in the club grew, and the holdings in the library gradually increased.
"With the donation of 390 books in 1939, the library was forced to move its 1300 books into two rooms of the Capt. Schreiner home." By 1941 membership was opened to the public at $1.00 per year. Around that time the Kerrville Library Association was formed.
In 1954 the library became a free library, meaning its resources were available to everyone. By the county's centennial (1956), the Kerr County Public Library circulated 23,837 books.

Memorial Library, Kerrville

Around 1958 a former church building on the corner of Water and Rodriguez streets was purchased, and, for the first time, the library owned its own building.
In 1961 a bookmobile service was provided to Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, and Kerr Counties, a demonstration project of the Texas State Library Service; it was discontinued after one year due to a lack of funds.

Moving day for the books

By 1965, "the library again faced expansion and the addition of a new wing was scheduled." Contributions came in -- around $7,000 -- even before the fund drive was announced.
I'm not sure how the Butt family became involved, but they did, and in a grand way. By the summer of 1967 the new library was complete.

Parking, BHML

The dedication ceremony really pulled out the stops. Lady Bird Johnson, who was then first lady, came and gave the dedicatory address. Bands played, local officials spoke, anthems were sung, and prayers were offered. And, when the dust settled, Kerr County had a library, one of the best in the state.
For me it was a wonderful event; 4 days after my 6th birthday and the weekend before I started first grade (at Starkey Elementary) this family I'd never heard of -- the Butt family -- built a library, it seemed, just for me.

Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library

Because no intersections separated the new library from the print shop I was free to walk there any time. In fact, to get me out of the print shop, I'm sure I was encouraged to walk down to the library.
And walk there I did. Often. I loved the new library.
I'm thankful to the hundreds of families, individuals, and companies who've made the dream of a great library a reality. I look forward to the library meeting the needs of the community for many years to come.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who still has his very first library card. Well, of course he does. He never throws anything away. This column appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times August 26, 2017.

"Boys leaving Kerrville WWI - 1917"
Company D on Main Street in Kerrville, in front of the Kerr County Courthouse
September 1917
Click on any image to enlarge

One hundred years ago this Tuesday, on September 5, 1917, Company D of the First Texas Infantry marched to the Kerrville depot of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad, boarded the train, and headed to Camp Bowie near Fort Worth.
Company D was made up of local young men, mostly from Kerr County, but also a few from neighboring counties.
Two recently discovered photographs show Company D marching on Kerrville's Main Street, and are labeled "Kerrville boys leaving for 1st World War," and "Boys leaving Kerrville WWI - 1917."

"Kerrville Boys leaving for 1st World War"
Company D on Main Street in Kerrville, in the 600 Block, heading west
September 1917

In one photo, the troops are marching west in the 600 block of Main Street, just past where John Miller has his car dealership today. In the other, they are marching in front of the courthouse square in the 700 block of Main Street.
In that photo you can see Kerr County's second and third courthouses, two cut limestone buildings that were torn down in the 1920s. Both of those structures were sited near Main Street on the courthouse square; the current courthouse is centered in that block and would be behind the two courthouses in the old photograph.
I have a roster of Company D which was published in October, 1917, a month after the young men left Kerrville. It lists 77 privates in the company, 2 mechanics, 2 musicians, 12 corporals, 9 sergeants, including a first sergeant and mess sergeant, and three lieutenants. Company D was recruited and organized by Capt. Charles J. Seeber.
106 names are on the roster; three of those names are listed on the Kerr County War Memorial, a thought provoking structure on today's courthouse lawn; those three are among the 19 other Kerr County men who died in World War I.
The three men of Company D listed on the Kerr County War Memorial are Francisco Lemos, Sidney Baker, and Leonard Denton -- and those three are in the group pictured in the two photographs.
Leonard Denton never left Camp Bowie; he died from influenza in April, 1918, and is buried in the Turtle Creek Cemetery.
Sidney Baker and Francisco Lemos are also in the photograph; both would die in combat in France. Baker died in October 1918; Lemos, September 1918. Both were killed in the last few weeks of the war.
Baker is buried in France and Lemos is buried in Kerrville at the Mountain View Cemetery, next to Tivy Stadium.

Company D roster, Camp Bowie
October 1917

If the photographs are of Company D marching to the train station, as labeled, one of the photographs records Sidney Baker turning for the last time to walk on Tchoupitoulas Street, a street which would be renamed in his honor a few years after the photograph was taken.
I noticed several things about these two photographs of the young men marching along Main Street.
First, they appear to be taken around noon. Secondly, a horse drawn carriage travels with them, carrying about four women, and boys walk with the troops. Third, in one of the photographs a dog is tagging along.
Rev. S. W. Kemerer, the pastor of the Kerrville Methodist Church, wrote about the men's departure from the train depot back in 1917:
"Probably the largest number of people that ever assembled at the Aransas Pass depot in Kerrville gathered Wednesday afternoon to bid farewell to Company D, which departed for new training quarters at Camp Bowie, Fort Worth.
"As Company D goes forth from our midst to fight for country and humanity, the heart of Kerrville and entire surroundings is with them.
"That was a memorable sight at the station," Rev. Kemerer writes, "when Kerrville gathered to tell the boys good-bye, and bid them God-speed on their first lap to the front -- to Somewhere in France.
"The train was making up, and the engine puffed and rang its bell sharply while performing its indispensable part in this gigantic tragedy of all time. A great throng was grouped about the station and lined up along the tracks. There were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sweethearts and loved ones, friends and neighbors... We heard kindly greetings and brief jokes and repartee, but somehow they sounded a little forced and lacked spontaneity. There were no loud calls or shouts. A deeper note was sweeping the hearts of both the soldiers and the gathered throng. But there was the warm handclasp and low spoken well wishes, and sometimes only a look of blessing and farewell. God knew that many mothers' hearts were torn, that many fathers' hearts were too full for words, and that tears streamed from many eyes, so God also wept in the tender rain that fell, for He looked on and understood and loved.

Company D, First Texas Infantry, at Camp Bowie, 1917

"Then the bugle sounded, and the boys lined up. Captain Seeber uttered brief short orders. Each line became straight, every form erect. An orderly called the names crisply. What a response! It sounded short and sharp like the crack of a gun -- 'Here,''Here,''Here,' -- until every man had made answer....
"They were a noble company. They answered like men who had measured the task and were eager to engage in its accomplishment.
"So the train moved away, the engine with two flags fluttering at its headlight, the bell sounding ceaselessly, the soldier boys leaning far from the windows waving farewell. And the great throng waved farewell, and the lovely hills of Kerrville threw farewell kisses, and the clouds wept farewell."
Indeed, they were a noble company. And now, in these newly found photographs, we can see them as they march together to leave Kerrville.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects items from Kerrville and Kerr County's history. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 2, 2017.

Kerrville Tivy Football Pep Rally late 1950s

Tivy High School football pep rally, downtown Kerrville, late 1950s
Click on any image to enlarge

With football season underway, I wanted to check my files for stories about the history of football in Kerr County.
The earliest mention of football I've found is on a 1907 postcard, showing a game underway at the old West Texas Fairgrounds in Kerrville. However, despite the title on the postcard, the game being played certainly looks like basketball: there are two hoops in the photo and the teams are wearing shorts and light shirts. None appear to be wearing padding of any kind, and no one has a helmet.
The first mention I see of high school football was at Tivy, in 1911.

Tivy High School Football Team, 1913

A few years ago Jan Wilkinson mailed me an article from the September 26, 1957 issue of the Kerrville Times, written by Eugene T. Butt, who was himself a member of an interesting Kerrville family.
"Football came to Tivy in the fall of 1911," the page one article begins. "Prior to this time baseball was the principal sport and when school started in September the boys started baseball and played until the weather became too cold.
"In the summer of 1911, Professor Alvin Dille . . . was elected head of the Kerrville Schools. When school started in September, one of the first things he did was call all of the older boys together and to say, 'Boys, we are going to organize a Tivy Football Team. Who wants to try out for the team?'

Tivy football team, 1920

"Of course, almost all of the boys were interested, although there was not a boy who had played football before and but few of them had even seen a game. There were a very few holdbacks, however, for nearly every boy who wore 'long breeches' tried out and there were about twenty on the first squad.
"Professor Dille taught the boys the fundamentals of the game. The team worked from a straight T formation. Only simple plays were used -- such as end runs, 'line bucks,' and forward passing.
"We had one or two so-called trick plays. One was the criss-cross in which the quarterback gave the ball to one end and he gave it to the other end coming from the opposite direction. It was slow, though, and we never gained much with it.

1936 Tivy football team

"The Tivy boys had no uniforms, but wore old baseball uniforms or caps, old sweaters, or anything they had. A few of them got hold of old pieces of football equipment," Butt wrote. "I acquired a noseguard somewhere and it was responsible for the only touchdown we scored that season.
"The town team was punting and I broke through the line and the ball hit my noseguard and bounced back over the kicker's head and over their goal line, and Lewis Moore, a Tivy end, fell on it for a touchdown."
The earliest photo of the Tivy football team in my collection is of the 1913 team. That group at least had uniforms.
The 1936 Tivy football team had a stellar season, and played in Amarillo for the state championship. This was before schools competed against like-sized schools; Tivy was playing for the championship of all of the schools in Texas, against the Amarillo Sandies. In that two-team contest let's just say the Sandies came in next to last, and Tivy came in second.
A lot of folks remember traveling to that game; the team and the Tivy mascot, a young deer nicknamed 'Scrappy' traveled by train to Amarillo. I don't think anyone stayed in Kerrville that cold weekend; they all headed north, to Amarillo.
All of the area schools had football teams by the 1920s, and traditions begun then continue to today.

Houston Oilers at training camp in Kerrville ca 1970

Houston Oilers at training camp
on the campus of Schreiner Institute

Schreiner Institute also had football teams. The earliest dated photo I have of a Mountaineer football team is from 1923, sent to me by Jack Stevens, whose father was on that team.
There is even a little professional football history in Kerr County.
A few readers might remember the Houston Oilers training camp held at Schreiner Institute (now University), though the team arrived in Kerrville in early July for several years. The earliest mention I found was in July 1967, and the team continued coming to Kerrville each summer until 1973. Members of the team stayed in Schreiner dorm rooms.
Here's hoping for a successful and safe football season for all the teams in Kerr County this year.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects photographs and artifacts about Kerrville and Kerr County history. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 9, 2017.

Kerrville's controversial passenger depot, built by the
San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad, 1915.
Click on any image to enlarge

Two new historical markers were unveiled September 16th at the site of the old railroad passenger depot and an adjoining lumber yard. The ceremony begins at 2 pm, and the public is invited.
The old San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad depot, on Schreiner Street between Sidney Baker and Clay streets, was built in 1915; today it is the home of Rails, a Cafe at the Depot.

SAP advertisement

The lumber yard next door was once the home of Beitel Lumber Company; that building dates from 1889.
The depot building being honored with an historical marker Saturday was not the first train depot in Kerrville. That wooden structure burned down in September, 1913.
"An alarm was turned in shortly after 11 o'clock, but by the time the first company was on the ground the entire building, which had evidently taken fire from within, was a mass of flames. In the freight warehouse were a number of barrels of oils of different kinds, which together with lard bacon and other inflammable merchandise made a terrific fire. On a siding near the depot were two cars of merchandise. These were also completely destroyed."

Chief Tom Tarver, who carried
Kerrville's mail from the depot to
the post office -- for 33 years.

It took several years to get a new passenger depot built, and once built a controversy erupted.
Not long after the new depot was constructed, on land sold to the railroad company by the Beitel family, a suit was brought to prevent the railroad company from using the new depot. Apparently, when the railroad came to Kerrville in 1887, the citizens of Kerrville donated around 14 acres of land for use by the railroad for a passenger and freight depot. The new, brick depot was not on the donated land.
In the July 31, 1915 issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun makes mention of the case; another issue, in July 29, 1916, says a verdict was reached for the plaintiffs. Notice of appeal to higher courts was reported in the same paragraph.
A news item in the Galveston Daily News, on May 10, 1916 may shed some light on the controversy:

The '500' railroad car

"An argument was heard in the Kerrville depot controversy," the newspaper reported, concerning a hearing before the Texas Railroad Commission in Austin, "where there is a division between the mayor and some of the citizens. Today's petition asked the commission to order the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad to build and maintain what was characterized as an adequate passenger station at Kerrville, located on the old depot site and on the south side of the tracks. It also protested against the petition of the mayor of Kerrville and the SA&AP Railroad for permission to use the brick depot constructed by the [company]. The new depot is declared inadequate and unsuitable and inconveniently and dangerously located. There is an injunction pending in the courts to prevent the use of the depot."

The railroad engine turntable

Looking at the 1904 Sanborn maps of Kerrville, I see the original depot was on the corner of Quinlan and Schreiner streets, about where Dealers Electrical Supply has their store today. The 1910 map shows the depot closer to the middle of that block, with the railroad tracks well away from Schreiner Street. The 1916 map shows the new brick depot (and current home of Rails) in its location, but still shows the old passenger depot on Quinlan.
The 1916 map shows something else interesting: Schreiner Street did not connect to what is now Sidney Baker Street, meaning the railroad track was not in the middle of the Schreiner Street, as it was when I was younger.
The controversy over the new depot continued until at least 1919, when the San Antonio Evening News reported the Railroad Commission drawing up an order to require the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad Company to use its new brick depot in Kerrville. That article says the brick depot had been closed for 18 months.
I suppose Kerrville hasn't changed all that much. After waiting years for a new depot, the little town divided over the question of the location of the depot.
The old lumber building was much less controversial.
On all of the maps I studied, the Beitel Lumber Company building is almost the only building in the area which remains. If built in 1889, it's older than many of the limestone buildings downtown, including the old Masonic building (home of Sheftall's Jewelers), and the Weston building (home of Francisco's Restaurant). Both of those buildings were built in 1890.
The Beitel Lumber Company yard in Kerrville was an extension of their business in San Antonio, and started here around 1889.

Ally Beitel's home on Myrta Street

A young member of that family, Ally Beitel, moved to Kerrville in 1909 to manage the business, and soon became very involved in community affairs, serving as president of the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, and the Kerrville Country Club. He even served a term as county commissioner.
Ally Beitel died young, at 44, after an extended illness, in May, 1933. His lovely home can still be seen at the southern corner of Washington and Myrta streets.
When I was a youngster a lumber yard was still in operation at the site, Hill Country Lumber, run by the Gus duMenil family.
I'm happy the Kerr County Historical Commission is working to place historical markers at worthy sites in our community, and I'm thankful to folks like Mark and Linda Stone who have worked hard to restore these and other historical buildings. I'm proud, too, of Melissa Southern and John Hagerla for creating a successful businesses in the restored buildings.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has enjoyed many a meal in the old depot, from dining at Rails, and going all the way back to when it was a barbecue place run by the Walkers. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 16, 2017.

Stone wall, part of the mill race, on the site of the original
Christian Dietert mill in downtown Kerrville.
Click on any image to enlarge

J. E. Grinstead, posing
on the wall pictured above
around 1900

The oldest man-made structure in Kerrville is slowly falling apart.
It rests at the bottom of a bluff littered with debris from other, newer structures, and is hidden within a wild tangle of branches, vines, and weeds. Trash is piled in drifts at the site: food wrappers, clothes, broken glass; it's filthy.
The oldest man-made structure in Kerrville, in my opinion, is what's left of the Christian Dietert mill, found on the bluff along the river below the 800 block of Water Street.
Most who pass by would not recognize it. It looks like a pile of stones, though parts still look very similar to their appearance at least a century ago.

Clearing the channel,
the hard way

To see the old mill, you have two options. You can visit One Schreiner Center, and walk out on the remains of the old ice plant and look down. Or, if you have extra energy, you can go to the pavilion at the end of Earl Garrett Street, and take the stairs down. The ruins of the old mill are just past the foot bridge that crosses the Guadalupe River below the dam in Louise Hays Park.
The remaining mill structure is older than the oldest commercial building in town, the Favorite Saloon building, at 709 Water Street. That building was built in 1874, three years before the railroad arrived in Kerrville, meaning every bit of material used in its construction was either sourced locally, or hauled here in a wagon.

The view of the other
channel

The original mill on the site was built by Christian Dietert with help from Balthasar Lich around 1857. Of course that original structure was altered and improved over the years, and destroyed more than once by flood waters, and it's possible there is not an original stone left on the site from the original construction. It's my belief at least some of the old original mill remains, even if it's only the cuts in the limestone where water discharged from the water wheel.
I found a nice story about the Dieterts in an old issue of Hunter's "Frontier Times Magazine" written by T. U. Taylor in 1941.

Sanborn Fire Map showing
the mill and two channels

Christian Dietert was a millwright born in Tesen, Germany, in 1827. In 1854 he voyaged to Texas with his brother William on a 4-masted sailing vessel; the trip took five months, and the pair arrived in New Braunfels in July.
The very next month Christian joined a company of 13 men who journeyed to the confluence of the Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek to survey a tract of land and help lay out the town of Comfort.
In 1855 Christian Dietert built a mill on Cypress Creek, but only two months after completion, the little mill had to be abandoned: Cypress Creek ran dry, and the mill was discarded for lack of water power.

Another view

That same year he married Miss Rosalie Hess, who had only recently arrived from Jena, Germany. She was nineteen years old, five foot two, and weighed an even 100 pounds. She was tiny.
In 1856 Christian Dietert's parents, two brothers, and a sister joined him in Comfort. Perhaps not surprisingly, Christian Dietert and his new wife moved to Fredericksburg early the next year. Perhaps there was just "too much family" in the little town of Comfort.

The Kerrville Roller Mills

While in Fredericksburg, Dietert helped construct the Van der Stucken mill, and toward the end of the year, Christian Dietert and his bride moved to Kerrville.
It was 1857, and the town of "Kerrsville" was still a rough frontier place. The article suggests there were only five one-roomed huts in the entire village.
The Dieterts bought a tract along the river in Kerville -- a tract which stretched from today's Earl Garrett Street to A Street. (What a nice little stretch of the river!)

The ruins today

There he built a shingle mill, using horse power until he could construct a water wheel, "with which he later sawed lumber from the Cypress trees growing along the banks of the river." The mill stood about where One Schreiner Center is today.
A flood a year or so later washed the first Kerrville mill away. Lacking funds to build anew, the couple moved back to Fredericksburg, where Dietert helped build a grist and saw mill on Live Oak Creek for a Mr. C. H. Guenther.
After only a few months of operation a flood washed away the mill and even the waterwheel.
So back to Kerrville the Dieterts came, building a new mill on the site of the old. No flood destroyed this new Dietert mill, though. It burned down instead.
Offered work building a mill in Comfort, and seeking a school for his children, the Dieterts moved again. During this same time he built a mill for his brother William, who lived in Boerne.

The ruins today

Finally, in 1866, the Dieterts moved back to Kerrville, this time to stay. Although another mill he built washed away in a flood, in 1868 he came up with an "under water iron turbine," and a "old type of flour mill consisting of two large stones, the lower a flat stational stone with a somewhat conical shaped stone above it, which in revolving crushed and ground the grain into flour."
The mill was successful and ground wheat, corn, and also operated a sawmill.
Though Dietert would build more mills, and even freighted for the Confederate government during the Civil War, Kerrville remained his home, even after he sold his mill to Captain Charles Schreiner.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has clambered over the ruins of Christian Dietert's mill since he was a boy. It was easier back then. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 23, 2017.

Hill Country Hula Hoop Contest, downtown Kerrville,
Earl Garrett Street, November 1, 1958
Click on any image to enlarge

In October of 1958, a series of articles in this newspaper announced an upcoming community event, the Hill Country Hula Hoop contest, to be held on the evening of October 30th on Earl Garrett Street in the block beside the courthouse.
I found some photographs of the event in my files, and I hope they bring a smile to your face, and hopefully spur a few memories from those who were there that day.
The articles about the event started very early -- September 24, more than a full month before hoopers of all ages were to compete.
"A hula hoop contest -- open to anyone, any size, from toddlers through age 90 -- will be held on the streets of downtown Kerrville," that issue reported in a page-one story. The event was sponsored by the Kerrville Chamber of Commerce. A trailer with a public address system was lined up, as well as three live bands. Merchants were asked to stay open late that night, because of the crowds expected in the downtown area.

Kerrville was early to catch the hula hoop craze; the modern hula hoop was invented in 1958 by Arthur Melin and Richard Kneer. A nationwide fad for the toy started in July 1958, when twenty-five million were sold in less than four months. Quite a few, apparently, were also sold in Kerrville.

To promote the event, this newspaper published numerous page one photographs in the weeks before the contest, and those pictured included Ace Reid, supporting his hoop with suspenders; Ava Eldridge, hula-hooping while water skiing on a disc; then-mayor Hilmar Pressler sporting a hoop.

Judges for the event were Mayor Hilmar Pressler, Mrs. Lloyd Luna, Mrs. Kenneth Manning, Jerry Bizzell, and Glenn Petsch. The news story reporting the names of the judges included the line "It was not stated, but it is assumed these people are experts in the use of the hula hoop."

The prizes were quaint: in the six years old and under, the winner received a $10 savings account at First State Bank; the oldest hooper was awarded a $7.50 gift certificate from Fawcett Furniture Company. Schreiner's, Central Drug, Lehmann's Stores, Brehmer's Jewelers, and J C Penney each awarded $5 gift certificates; the Arcadia Theater, a one-month pass; and the American Pure Milk Company offered a gallon of ice cream to a lucky winner. The article boasted that over $100 in prizes were up for grabs.

In an unsigned editorial published October 26, 1958, the editors wrote "Your attention is directed to the hula hoop contest Thursday evening from 6 until 7:30 in downtown Kerrville... We are concerned about the effect it will have upon the older participants. As one who has frustratedly tried to unravel the apparently simple technique of making the hula hoop hula, we might suggest the attendance of physicians and trained nurses.
"It is amazing how much agony and physical soreness the plastic hoops can cause after an hours bout with them."

When the appointed day arrived, after weeks of publicity, the skies opened up and rains fell. The event had to be postponed until the following Saturday, November 1st, which gave participants more time to practice.
The award for youngest hooper went to Debbie Yarbourough, three years old. The prize for oldest went to Harry Crate, whose age was not published. Freddy Perkins and Tina Plummer won in their age group for "trickiest" and "fanciest" hoopers. Freddy's trick: the ability to take off his shirt while keeping his hoop in orbit.
The event was held in the midst of an election campaign, when news of rockets filled the pages of the newspaper, when a typhoon struck Japan, and a category 4 hurricane came near North Carolina. It was a simpler time, but the news was just as worrisome as today.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who cannot hula a hula hoop. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 30, 2017.

2nd Lt Victor Earl Garrett, circa 1917

Ninety-nine years ago last Wednesday, on October 4, 1918, Victor Earl Garrett died near Exermont, France. He was only 24.
Garrett was a 2nd Lieutenant, a member of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, U. S. Army, and died during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
For many people, Earl Garrett is just the name of a street in downtown Kerrville. But he was a brave young man who volunteered to fight for his country, a member of a prominent local family, a family who mourned his death for the rest of their lives.
I've written elsewhere about Sidney Baker and Francisco Lemos, the other two heroes of World War I who are memorialized with a street name in Kerrville. Like Garrett, both Lemos and Baker died in battle.
Lt. Garrett was killed in action while leading an attack of five men on 30 entrenched German soldiers; his four fellows survived the attack, and managed to take 20 German prisoners.
For his heroism that day, and for an incident the previous July, Garrett was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
On July 19, 1918, during the fighting near Soissons, Garrett supervised the care of his wounded men with disregard for his own safety. And on his last day, despite having an injured foot, he refused to be sent back to safety, and led the attack on the German soldiers.
He was a student at the University of Texas at Austin when war was declared, and, according to the Daily Texan of November 19, 1919, "he was among the first students to leave school in the spring of 1917 for the training camp at Leon Springs." Garrett's name was among the 88 names read at the University on November 14, 1919, when the campus honored its war dead.
The Kerrville community remembered him fondly. Pastor W. P. Dickey wrote this memorial:
"It is given to some to impress others by some striking gift or to fall through some great weakness or misfortune but rarely does one make a profound impression simply by what he is; that, I think, was the supreme distinction of Earl Garrett.
"Quiet, gentle and unassuming as a child, a youth and as a man, yet he was in all crowned with the spontaneous love and respect of all who knew him. In his Christian life he was modest and unpretentious, yet so sincere and constant as to command the admiring comment of fellow students and soldiers.
"Loving the life of a student and a dreamer, the call of duty and loyalty to the highest ideals of a citizen and Christian proved him a man of the clearest convictions and of a courage which did not falter at any danger of hardship nor hesitate to give life itself, that truth might live."
Earl Garrett had several sisters, including an older sister named Harriet, who became a teacher in the Kerrville public schools. There are many who still remember her as a teacher, but few may remember she was also a published poet. I have a signed copy of one of her books of poetry, "Nostalgia," published in 1941, which includes the poem 'An Old Refrain (to my brother Earl).'

Those last few days before he left for France
I can't forget, though years have passed. One glance
Into that sacred page brings back the pain
That now has come to be an old refrain.

Our hearts were heavy; yet we tried to smile
Whene'er we caught his eye. And all the while
Our very souls about him seemed to yearn;
And all our thoughts were prayers for his return!

And when the time had come for him to go --
That final hour that each had dreaded so --
We sent him off with smiles to hide our pain;
We hoped the Spring would bring him home again!

But many Springs have come and gone since then,
And he no longer knows the haunts of men.
His body lies in France where poppies nod;
His soul dwells up in Glory-land with God!

But those last days before he left for France
I can't forget, though years have passed. One glance
Into that sacred page brings back the pain
That now has come to be an old refrain.

That was the person for whom a street was named in Kerrville. Victor Earl Garrett was a young man, a dreamer, who felt called to duty, who was brave to the end. He is buried in France, at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial. Sidney Baker is also buried there.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who finds some columns harder to write than others. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 7, 2017.

Two daring motorists, in front of the Weston Building,
at the intersection of Water and (then) Mountain Streets, circa 1920.
Click on any image to enlarge.

During the school year I seldom get to have lunch downtown with Ms. Carolyn, my teacher wife, but since Kerrville students had a holiday this past Monday, she met me for lunch downtown -- in between meetings and workshops held for the Kerrville Independent School District staff.
We met at one of her favorite places for lunch: Francisco's. The popular spot is owned by my high school classmate, Francisco 'Paco' Espinoza. We've enjoyed his restaurant from its earliest days, back when it was located next to the library in a row of former apartments, since moved to Depot Square.

Around 1990

As we were sitting outside I looked up at the old building, and wondered how many times it has been photographed over the years. Its location, at the intersection of Water and Earl Garrett, is one which is frequently part of community celebrations.

A different view

Parades of all kinds have marched near the building, from high school pep rallies, military parades, and even in the late 1890s, a regional Saengerfest celebration. Street dances have been held on the Star.
Lucky for us, people pulled out their cameras quite often to record the events -- and we get to see how the building looked in different chapters of its story.

Inside Chaney's

The building is called the Weston Building, after a family who ran a saloon on the site for many years. It's my opinion, however, it would be just as appropriate to call it the Barlemann Building, since that's the name of the family who built it and operated the first business there, the Ranch Saloon. It's been the home of many businesses over the last 127 years, including saloons, a combination confectionery/taxidermy business, a sports store, and a shoe shop. Today it's simply known as Francisco's.

Nice awnings

The building was built in 1890 by Bruno Schott and Ben Davey. They built quite a few of the stone buildings in that era, including the Tivy School, and portions of the home of Captain Charles Schreiner.
As a boy I often hoped to find secret boxes filled with priceless items from the past. I know they exist, because one was once found in the Weston Building.
The May 19, 1927 issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun:"Contents of Box taken from Weston Building Cornerstone Stir Memory of Old-Timers."

One of my favorites

While the building was being remodeled, workers came across a small tin box, sealed with solder.
"By a very odd co-incidence, the man who lifted the box from its resting place in the cornerstone was Bruno Schott, the man who placed it there 37 years ago."
Methinks he knew where to look.

The Mistletoe Regiment. Photo
from the Lanza Teague collection

"When the building was constructed in August, 1890, for Charles Barlemann to house his Ranch Saloon, Bruno Schott was one of the contractors, his partner being B. A. Davey. Schott is one of the contractors remodeling the building, which, through force of legislation now houses the confectionery of R. H. Chaney."
The legislation in question was Prohibition.

1956

The box itself contained "photographs of Charles Barlemann, his wife and two babies, a communication signed by many of the county officials and leading citizens of that day, a list of persons who were employed in the construction work on the building, a letter written by Barlemann telling of the death of his wife a few months before, and a copy of the Kerrville News dated April 12, 1890."

Wool wagons

Mrs. Barlemann, Jennie, was the daughter of Joshua Brown, the founder of Kerrville.
One of the letters found in the box read: "Texas Indivisible, now and forever. A. McFarland, Co. Clerk, Kerr County, Texas. August 13, 1890: F. M. Moore, Sheriff; Charles Barlemann; H. C. Greven; Otto Boerner, best beer drinker and blacksmith; Wm Schildknecht; W. E. Stewart, druggist; S. R. Craven, pill roller; B. A. Davey, Bruno Schott.

1920s

Another letter read: "This building was built by Davey & Schott, contractors. Men that worked on the building are Gottleib Schwope, Bill Archer, Tom Farmer, Herman Meimann, Bonificio, Ad. Webber, Otto Webber, Charley Henkle, Fred Roth, Fritz Volmering, Sam Haught, Tim Benson, E. Smith, Eg. Jarinsky, Joe Babb, Alfred March, Harp Bruff, Sam Glenn, Old Man Pettie, W. B. Schott, Ben A. Davey, Arch. and Builders."
The cornerstone was laid on Barlemann's 27th birthday, so that old landmark building was built for a young man and his business.

As I remember it when I was
a youngster, 1970s

And what became of the box and its contents? It was sent to one of the Barlemanns' daughters, Mrs. E. L. Johnson, in Gonzales, the only member of the Barlemann family living at that time. In the photo of the Barlemann family found in the box, she was just a little 6 mos. old baby.
I sure would like to see the box and its contents. And, of course, I'd like to find the other boxes still waiting, sealed behind stones and soldered tightly shut, hidden in downtown Kerrville.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who likes treasure hunts, especially when items of local history are found. Please share your finds with him! This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 14, 2017.

A woman and girl, below the mill dam in downtown Kerrville,
most likely taken in the 1890s

Old Kerrville and Kerr County photographs intrigue me, as you already know.
This week a kind reader brought by a photograph of a woman and a girl standing beside the old mill dam in downtown Kerrville. The image is intriguing for several reasons, not only for its subjects and setting, but also for the story told about the photograph.
The old mill dam once stood just downstream from the current dam in Louise Hays Park, right in the middle of town. You can still see evidence of the old wooden dam in the riverbed, cutting at an angle across the river. A series of square holes in the limestone show where the posts of the dam once stood; some of those holes still contain wooden remnants of the posts.
What's left of this old dam is easiest to trace from a height, conveniently provided by the pavilion downtown at the end of Earl Garrett Street. From there its outline is easier to see, between the current dam and the concrete walkway crossing the river.

Standing: Frances, Caroline
and Emilee. Seated:
Lena Schreiner

The photograph of the pair standing next to the dam was supposedly from the Captain Charles Schreiner family, and looking closely at the woman pictured, I can see a resemblance to Mary Magdalena 'Lena' Enderle Schreiner, Captain Schreiner's wife, but I cannot be certain. There is no way to tell who the girl was, since her face was hidden by her bonnet.
The woman is wearing a hat and what appears to be a fairly nice blouse and long skirt, but is standing on ground that appears muddy and wet. Dark gloves are on her hands. Her costume doesn't seem to fit her surroundings.
The girl is pointing at something on the ground, and the woman is looking in that direction, with her right arm akimbo. Just getting to the spot where the two are standing would have required crossing the fallen tree in the foreground, since directly behind the two is a channel cut into the limestone, which was filled with rushing water.
It seems the girl had something important to point out, and convinced the woman to descend the rickety stairs that clung to the river bluff.
An umbrella or parasol rests on the fallen tree. There are leaves on most of the trees, and needles on the cypress trees. The shadows are soft, and the sky appears to be overcast. The river is flowing nicely behind the pair, so it wasn't taken during a drought.
If the story about the photograph is true, and it's a photograph of Lena Schreiner, it had to be taken before September, 1905, because that's when Mrs. Schreiner died.
Charles and Lena Schreiner had eight children: three daughters and five sons. If the child is her daughter, I'd guess it was her youngest, Frances Hellen Schreiner Jeffers, who was born in 1881. If the child in the photograph is Frances, and if she was around 10 years old when the photograph was taken, then this photograph was taken around 1891.
That puts the back story in the realm of the possible. Photographs in Kerr County from the 1890s are not impossibly rare, though few exist. Photographs taken in Kerr County before 1890 are extremely rare, so the birth dates of the other two Schreiner daughters, Caroline Marie Schreiner Partee (1873) and Emilie Louise Schreiner Rigsby (1875) would make it unlikely that they're the girl in the photograph.
As the youngest child of eight children, Frances Hellen would have been more likely than her elder siblings to persuade her mother to tromp through the mud to visit the mill dam. (Such a trip would also have been even more likely had the girl been Mrs. Schreiner's granddaughter, which may also be a possibility.)
While I cannot prove the image is of Mrs. Lena Schreiner, I haven't found enough evidence to disprove it, either. The family tradition about the photograph says it's of Mrs. Schreiner, and it may well be.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects historic Kerrville and Kerr County photographs. Share yours with him! He'll scan them and give them back to you. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 21, 2017.

Downtown Kerrville, 1896. Looking up Earl Garrett from the Star.
Saengerfest parade, September 2-3, offering a good glimpse of life here then.
Click any image to enlarge

Old newspapers often offer subtle clues about how different life was here in Kerrville only a few generations ago. But there are also items which reflect how little things have changed.
I have a copy of the April 2, 1896, Kerrville News which demonstrates this point, especially when paired with a series of photographs that were taken in downtown Kerrville in September, 1896.
The newspaper tells the story of what was happening in town, and the photographs show how downtown looked in 1896, and how Kerrville folk dressed in those days. A few landmarks from that era remain.

Saengerfest parade, September 2-3, 1896
Taken of Water Street from Star toward library

The photographs were taken at the intersection of Earl Garrett and Water streets, where the Heritage Star is embedded in the pavement today. One photo looks down Water Street toward today's Notre Dame Catholic Church; another looks up Water Street toward today's Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library; the last looks up Earl Garrett Street toward the Kerr County courthouse. The event in the photographs was a Saengerfest, or festival of choirs, held in downtown Kerrville September 2-3, 1896.
The single-sheet 1896 newspaper was filled with interesting ads. “Beware of traveling dentists,” one ad cautions, “They are incompetent or would be busy at home.” The advertiser, the Chicago Dental Parlor, was on Houston Street in San Antonio.
There is a large advertisement for the Junction City Stage Line. “Leaves every morning, arrives at Junction City the same day.” Junction City later changed its name to Junction, and is the county seat of Kimble County; today it's about a 50 minute drive down I-10.
And an entire column was devoted to excursions available on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railway. The list shows the interests of Kerrville residents 121 years ago:
“On account of the Y.P.S.C.P. meeting at Gonzales Mch 27 to 29, tickets will be sold on the certificate plan….”
“On account of the Texas Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, to be held at Bastrop….”
“To the International Sunday School Convention at Hillsboro….”
“To the Re-Union of Hunts Brigade, Huntsville, June 22, round trip tickets at one and one third fare….”
“To the Annual Convention of Lumbermen’s Association, Austin….”
“To the Battle of Flowers at San Antonio April 21 at $1.50….”
“To the Southern Baptist Convention Chattanooga Tenn., at one fare for round trip….”
“To Christian Endeavor Convention, San Antonio….”
“To Annual Meeting of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Galveston, at $9.35 round trip….”
“To the Baptist State Missionary Educational Mass Meeting at Waco, round trip tickets at $7.15….”

Saengerfest parade, September 2-3, 1896
Taken of Water Street from Star toward Notre Dame
Catholic Church area.

“To the Annual Convention Texas Division T. P. A. at Dallas….”
And, between the large space taken for ads, there is an occasional news story:
“Large Cattle Shipment. Capt. Schreiner has made the largest shipment of cattle this week that has ever been made from Kerrville. He is shipping out the cattle he sold while at Ft. Worth, which amounted to some forty-five hundred head. There were nine train loads of them, three trains going out each day, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Or, news stories that might also be considered advertisements: “We are reliably informed that arrangements have been made to furnish ice for the town this summer at a very low figure.”
“Mr. Pampell now has his business house extended in width eight feet, which gives him much more room. He will put in a much larger stock in his line and thus be much better prepared to supply the demands of the trade.”
“Your reporter stepped into Mrs. Russell’s Millinery Establishment this week and was pleased to see the large and varied stock of beautiful goods on exhibition. Her tastily arranged display of fine hats of every description, and flowers that are unquestionably the finest variety brought to this market, are to be seen as you enter her doors. Then you can see on shelf and in showcase everything a lady can desire to finish her utmost millinery desire. Her assortment of ribbons has no competition in the west. Price will be found in the reach of all and below the merit of the goods.”
But reading through the big sheet, one also finds clues that some things have not really changed at all:
“Kerrville is assuming her usual business aspect. One of the loveliest towns you can find. And that is not all, secrets are being whispered out that something is going to happen in the near future – developments that may be. But Kerrville has a grand future and you need not be surprised at anything. Just get yourselves ready and be in the swim when the time comes.…”
Sound familiar? I keep hearing “secrets” about developments in the Kerrville downtown area – don’t you? Never mind that most of those “secrets” never actually happen.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects items relating to the history of Kerrville and Kerr County. Please share your items with him! This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 28, 2017.

My son Joe III helping to hang a new exhibit of historical
Kerrville and Kerr County photos, on display now
at Pint & Plow, in their coffee shop, 332 Clay Street, Kerrville.

For some time there has been talk of a Kerr County Museum.
Lately I've been involved in an effort to pull together historic items into one place, again in an attempt to have a museum that tells our community's story. The path ahead seems very steep to get a history museum for our community. The three biggest problems are money, money, and money. Funding is also an issue.
However, for the past five years or so, I've been trying some experiments.
Did you know we have a virtual Kerr County museum that's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

At Starbucks, 2012

As of last Thursday, it's had over 570,000 visits since it started, with many visitors stopping by hundreds of times.
That online museum has more than a thousand photographs and articles about our community. I know, because I put every single one of them there.
Visiting this virtual museum is free. You can copy images from its pages. It has a search box, so you can look for information that interests you, from the tunnels of Captain Schreiner to the battle sword found in a field near Mountain Home.
To visit, just go to www. joeherringjr.com. It has a catchy name, don't you think?
Other sites offering local history are kerrhistory.blogspot.com, by Deborah Gaudier, who excels at research. I like kerrvillegeneology.blogspot.com, too. My friend Lanza Teague has some great articles and photos at sylvanlampworks.blogspot.com.

At Grape Juice, 2012

And did you know we've had several "pop up" history museums in our community, including one that was installed this week?
From time to time folks around town are generous and loan me space in their businesses to display items and photographs from our community's past. These have been displayed in the past at the Museum of Western Art, Starbucks (twice), Hastings, Grape Juice, and the Kerr County Arts and Cultural Center (twice).
Last Tuesday my son and I installed an exhibit of more than 50 items at Pint & Plow's coffee shop, located in the old Edward Dietert home at 332 Clay Street in beautiful downtown Kerrville. I'm thankful to the Walther family for their generosity in sharing the walls of their historic property with all of us.
Again, visiting this pop up museum is free, but while you're there, why not buy a cup of their delicious coffee? Tell 'em Joe sent you.
Talk of a local history museum has been going on for a very long time.
J. J. Starkey, who was editor and publisher of this newspaper, also pushed for the creation of a Kerr County Museum, and organized the collection of items to display. I find, looking through old issues of the "Kerrville Times," many pleas by Mr. Starkey for items for the proposed museum, from the early 1930s through the early 1940s.

At the Kerr Arts and Cultural
Center, 2012

In many newspaper issues he noted what had been donated to the "museum collection" and by whom. In December 1935 he reported a place had been found for the collection in the home of Bert C. Parsons. "Mr. and Mrs. Parsons are on the premises practically all of the time," Starkey wrote, "and articles brought in will be as well safe-guarded as in any museum." The Parsons lived near where our print shop stands today; in fact, the office portion of our print shop was built by the Parson family around 80 years ago.
In the autumn of 1932, the "Kerr County Pioneers Association" held a meeting and discussed a museum. Mrs. R. A. Franklin, who had led the students in her classes to form a history club, suggested the downtown area was ideal for such a museum. "Plans for acquiring a building for the collection of old-time relics," was being considered, according to the group's president, J. J. Starkey.
Mrs. R. A. Franklin, who was a teacher at Kerrville's junior high school in the early 1930s, organized the collection of various historical items into a "Junior High Museum;" the collection included items from the Texas Revolution and an extensive arrowhead collection. I've heard about the items the students collected for many years, mainly from folks who were students in Mrs. Franklin's classes. No one knows what happened to the items the students collected.
In the early 1930s the historical groups had an enormous advantage over those today who are interested in the area's history: they were closer to the beginning of our community.
Living among them were people who had actually been Kerr County pioneers.
Most of the avid collectors of "old-time relics" today have many items from recent decades. Aside from worked flint, my own collection extends back to a very few items from about 1880, but Kerr relics before 1900 are very rare even in my collection.

At the Museum of Western Art, 2016

I applaud those who are now hoping to organize a museum. One is definitely needed here. I only hope they can find a way to safeguard the items donated and loaned to such a museum; precious items loaned in years past somehow vanished, along with those who hoped to preserve them.
Until such a museum is built, let's try a few experiments to preserve our community's history.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville item who collects Kerr County historical items, hoping someday to find a permanent home for them. Ms. Carolyndefinitely does not want the items in her house. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 4, 2017.

A parade passes the old Fire Tower,
at the intersection of Earl Garrett and Water streets, around 1925.
Photo from the collection of Lanza Teague.

What we now call Veterans Day started out as Armistice Day, which commemorated the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.
There is a story of that first celebration in Kerrville on the original Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, and of the sadness that followed. Bob Bennett’s book on Kerr County history tells the story like this:
“The glad news that the gigantic armies facing each other on the long battle front in France had agreed to a an armistice reached Kerrville early in the morning of November 11, 1918. Soon after dawn the noise of celebrating began and the din brought people into town by the hundreds. Before noon downtown sidewalks and streets were packed with people and automobiles driving up and down the thoroughfares. Everybody was wildly hilarious with joy.
“Guns were fired, whistles were blown and bells were rung. Schools were suspended for the day. The old town fire bell in a tower on the corner now occupied by the Blue Bonnet Hotel played its part in the noisemaking. Men and boys climbed up the tower after breaking the rope used for ringing, and with hammers kept the bell clanging for hours.”
That old fire bell was on a wooden tower on the southern corner of the intersection of Water and Earl Garrett streets, opposite Water Street from Francisco's Restaurant in the old Weston Building.
And yet, as those men and boys were ringing the old bell, striking it with hammers and mallets and sticks, joyous that the “war to end all wars” was over, the intersection had a different name: it was the corner of Water and Mountain streets.
On that joyous day, November 11, 1918, three Kerrville families did not know the sad news of their lost sons.
The very next day, November 12, 1918, Mrs. E. W. Baker received word that her son Sidney had died in the Argonne battles on October 15, 1918; Judge and Mrs. W. G. Garrett learned about a week later that their son Victor Earl had died October 4, during the last month of the war; the relatives of Francisco Lemos learned late that month that he had died September 15, 1918.
The town that had sung and fired shots in the air and laughed and danced in the street now hung down its head and mourned.
It had been a tough month in Kerr County leading up to November 11, 1918. The Kerrville Mountain Sun of October 25, 1918 -- less than three weeks before the war ended -- noted there was a quarantine in Kerrville, to "prevent the spread of the Spanish influenza." Church services were cancelled, and the entire faculty of Our Lady of the Guadalupe school went to San Antonio, to render assistance there "in the present scarcity of nurses."
Most of the Kerr County men who died in World War I died from disease, often either from pnuemonia or influenza, and a lot of them died in the autumn of 1918.
After that war ended, plans were being made to remember those lost in the service of their country. In its January 10, 1919 edition, the Kerrville Mountain Sun suggested "that Kerr County erect some kind of lasting memorial to her boys who responded to our country's call in the war for world liberty....
"It could take the form of a tall observation tower," the front-page article suggested, "a memorial hall in which to gather mementos of the great struggle, and in which our patriotic meetings could be held, a massive arch spanning the intersection of two of our principal streets -- these or any other form that presented itself as practicable and desirable."
That same issue, in a small paragraph on the back page, noted a committee appointed by Kerrville mayor H. C. Geddie had decided to "name Mountain Street after Lieut. Earl Garrett, Tchoupitoulas St. after Sidney Baker, and Lytle Street after Francisco Lemos."

The three Kerr County men killed in battle in World War I:
Francisco Lemos, Earl Garrett, and Sidney Baker.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects historical photographs and items from Kerrville and Kerr County. Please share your treasures with him. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 11, 2017.

Hunters returning to the Real family cabin after a successful hunt, around 1900

For many folks a portion of this week will be spent planning and preparing for a Thanksgiving meal. Index cards will be pulled from old recipe boxes, to check the ingredients needed for dishes made once each year, food that reminds of us of a departed aunt or provides hints at a great-grandmother we never knew.
I noticed an article in the New York Times this week which told how two of their food writers "cooked a whole Thanksgiving dinner on one stove in one day with one temperature setting." The writers set their oven to 400, and used four burners on their stovetop. "You don't have to cook Thanksgiving in one day, on four burners and in one oven," the article stated. "But you can."
I suppose that's quite a feat for a pair of New York food writers, yet my wife and I, for our entire married life, have only ever had a four-burner stove and a single oven. Even with these 'limited' resources we've manage to pull together quite a string of Thanksgiving meals.
I suppose it's the same at your house, too. An oven and a stove make the work easy.
Consider what such a feast would have required when Kerr County was founded, back in 1856.
First, the fare.
In its earliest days Kerrville lacked a grocery store, certainly never dreaming of the variety of foods available today at H-E-B.
Early stores offered bulk items hauled here by wagon: coffee, flour, cornmeal, and perhaps salt. The choices were few and they were plain. Schreiner started his store in 1869; there were others before him, including John Ochse, who had a store at the intersection of Main and Washington, where the old Notre Dame Church sanctuary stands today. These early stores would also buy locally grown produce to sell to their customers.
Any other food would have to be grown in your own garden, livestock you raised, or food harvested from the hills around your home.

Rosalie Dietert

Rosalie Dietert, who with her husband Christian settled in Kerrville in 1856, described the wild food available nearby:
"Meat there was always plenty, venison, wild turkey, fish, occasionally bear, and later beef." she says in a 1941 issue of the Frontier Times magazine. "In the beginning there were practically no vegetables. They made a salad of wild parsley and tea from a variety of the small prairie sage, and greens from the 'lamb's quarters' or 'land squatters.'"
I've always been surprised how many of those early settlers mentioned bear meat as a staple.
J. J. Denton, an early settler of the Center Point area actually preferred bear meat to other wild game, according to another article in the Frontier Times magazine.
"The [Denton] family was never short of meat or honey. Though hogs and deer were plentiful, Denton preferred bear meat. "You can eat bear meat every day in the year and never tire of it, and, when cured, you can eat it raw as well as cooked. Everybody used bear oil as a substitute for lard; it made the best shortening in the world. My uncle, John Lowrance, was a mighty bear hunter and often had 1,000 pounds of bear meat in his smokehouse. He considered it the most wholesome of meats and believed that a diet of it would cure any sort of stomach trouble."
Consider, too, the kitchens in which these meals were prepared.
Cooking in those days was much more difficult than now. Rosalie Dietert started housekeeping with a skillet and a small dutch oven, "which was a small round iron pot with three legs and a dented-in lid to hold live coals." She also had a brass kettle holding about one gallon, for cooking utensils, according to the magazine article.

The last bear killed in Kerr County, around 1901

"In about 1870 some cook stoves were brought west as far as San Antonio, one of which [Rosalie Dietert] became the proud possessor. No more out-door cooking in all sorts of weather -- a stove and a real oven to bake bread and cakes! Her recipes were gotten out, and all sorts of good things were made for holidays and birthdays. The favorites were stollen (loaf cake), pfeffer-nusse (spice cookies), and schnecken (a sweet dough rolled out flat and covered with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, currants and pecan meats. This was all rolled up, cut into slices, and baked.)"
The recipe became very popular in early Kerrville, and many early local families enjoyed making schnecken, though among many early families it went by a different name: "Dietert Cookies."
I am thankful for our modern kitchens. Ms. Carolyn and I will rough it at our house with a single oven and a four-burner stove top.
I hope you have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who will be in the kitchen with Ms. Carolyn this week, attempting to be her able assistant. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 18, 2017.

The Holloman cabin. This one is pretty fancy: it's made from sawn lumber

Some who write about local history may harbor a desire to travel back in time, but I do not. I think living here a century ago would have been very difficult, and living here 150 years ago almost impossible. So no time-travel for me, thanks.
Were such travel possible one might be able answer some questions, since you could simply ask the folks involved what they were thinking, why they made some of the choices they made.
I'd be interested in asking people why they came here in the 1850s, when Kerr County was the extreme frontier of settlement. Why would families move here? Why would they so willingly endure such hardships, suffer such isolation, and shoulder the terrors of this region?
I suppose those questions would be met with blank stares, since those early settlers would lack anything from our time to compare with the situations in which they found themselves. If anything they might consider their decision to place themselves and their families in such danger an improvement over their former circumstances.

The Florence Wootton Hadden
homestead

They would express, in varying degrees of kindness, the daftness of the question and the obviousness of the answer. Since they were given a set of conditions prevalent in that time period they made a set of choices which seemed best to them.
They'd look at their rough-hewn cabins and see shelter and safety in a land of extreme weather -- a land which also happened to be peopled with hostile native tribes. Many of those early cabins were as much small forts as family homes.
They might look at their opportunities here, with so much available land and other resources, as a boon of unbelievable fortune.
They weren't careless in the choices they made. They had no need of air-conditioning or iPhones because they had no concept of either. The conveniences of our modern life were not missing from their lives since such conveniences didn't exist.

Real family cabin

Though it's true as settlers they faced hardships some of their contemporaries in cities did not have to tolerate, their plight here was not as disadvantageous as one might think. There was violence in cities, too. There was disease and poor sanitation in cities. In fact, the conditions in most cities 150 years ago would have been dismal.
Toss politics into the equation and even more 1850s folks would be motivated to move to Kerr County. Many of the earliest settlers here immigrated from Germany, escaping the social disruptions there. Others came from Great Britain, escaping customs and traditions which stifled any hope of opportunity.
Many came here from other states in the Union, often escaping political and legal pressures at home.

Cabin of Joshua Brown,
founder of Kerrville

Few settlers' cabins survive here Kerr County. I know the Starkey family restored an family cabin which once stood near today's Walmart in Kerrville. The Warren Klein family, too, have restored a small family cabin up on the Divide. Some of the buildings out at the Y. O. Ranch are restored cabins (and schools), and a few examples can be found on the Lyndon Johnson parks in Stonewall and Johnson City.
In my files I have photographs of several early homes here, of the Holloman, Real, Brown, and Wooten family cabins.
Looking at them today one sees tiny little structures roughly assembled. One cannot imagine how families with many children lived in such a small spaces, or, frankly, how families had any quantity of children in the first place, given the absolute lack of privacy in the homes.
The cabins look like they would be very uncomfortable for any time traveler visiting from our time to theirs.
But to those who built them they represented opportunity, freedom, hope. They were like vessels built at the edge of the earth, capsules of exploration and discovery. From them our community began.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes his daughter Elizabeth a very happy birthday today. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 25, 2017.

A page from the 1860 U. S. Census for Kerr County.
This page includes information about the Christian Dietert Family

Kerr County was a political mess in the 1860s.
Here the Civil War was not so much North versus South; in Kerr County the war was between Kerrville and Comfort.
In those days, Comfort was in Kerr County, and before the war the two had been political rivals. Once the American Civil War began, however, the conflict between the two intensified to violence. Kerrville was largely sympathetic to the Confederate cause; the citizens of Comfort were largely true to the Union.
Before the war, the conflict between Kerrville and Comfort was simple. Both wanted to be the county seat.
For a brief time, from 1860 until 1862, Comfort was the county seat of Kerr County, though the election calling for the move may have had some "irregularities."
The 'chief justice' of Kerr County in 1860, an office I assume was similar to today's county judge, seems to have played one faction against the other, going so far as to throw out votes from Kerrville when the election was held to determine which town was to be the seat of government.
But similar "irregularities" in elections had happened here before, sometimes favoring Kerrville, sometimes favoring Comfort.
The 1860 census enumerates the citizens of Comfort, the citizens of Kerrville, and those who lived outside those two communities; the rest of the county is divided into two precincts. The area around Comfort was Precinct 2; the area around Kerrville (and farther upriver) was Precinct 1.
The total population of Kerr County in 1860 was 634, including 49 slaves. Comfort was larger in population than was Kerrville: Comfort had a population of 91; Kerrville, 68.
But often residents of Comfort were not allowed to vote, because they had never become citizens of the United States.
And Comfort was older than Kerrville. Comfort, and the land around it, was settled first, largely by German immigrants from New Braunfels, who began moving into the area in the early 1850s.
Kerrville really didn't have a beginning until 1856, though a small group of settlers lived here. It wasn't until 1856 that Joshua D. Brown offered site for a town at the very first Kerr County commissioners court. Though Brown and others had lived in the area since the late 1840s, it wasn't until 1856 that Brown obtained title to the land on which the oldest part of Kerrville now rests. Brown purchased the land from the heirs of B. F. Cage, who assumed the veteran had died -- although it turns out Mr. Cage was quite alive at the time, living in nearby Blanco.
The summer of 1860 was a time of turmoil in Kerr County -- this was when the storm clouds of the American Civil War were building in the east.
The census makes clear that conflict was present even here in the newly formed Kerr County. It's true there were 49 slaves in Kerr County, but they were not evenly distributed over the county.
One slaveholder, Dr. Charles de Ganahl, owned 24 of the 49. Dr. Ganahl had just over 4,000 acres near present-day Center Point. In the 1860 census, Ganahl's land was in Precinct 1.
In fact, almost all of the slaves in Kerr County in 1860 were in Precinct 1. There were 9 slaves held in Precinct 2, the area around Comfort; there were 40 in Precinct 1, the area around Kerrville.
In the town Comfort, there was only one slave: a 10-year-old girl, who was owned by a woman. Kerrville counted 2 slaves: a 28-year-old male, and a 10-year-old male. The rest were held on farms and small ranches, but mostly in the area around Kerrville.
19 of the 49 slaves here were 10 years of age or younger. None of the slaves are named in the document; they are only counted.
Precincts 1 and 2 were also divided by language; most of the families in Precinct 2 spoke German in their homes; in Precinct 1, English.
When the vote was taken on whether Texas should secede from the Union, those in favor of secession won, 76 to 57. However, there is some evidence to suggest Kerr County would not have voted to secede had the votes of Precinct 2, the German-speaking area in and around Comfort, been fully counted.
It's hard to realize today how bitter the contest became between the two communities.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is very tired of politics and the divisions politics cause, though it's obvious those divisions have been going on since the start of our community. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 2, 2017.

Carolers on horseback, Kerr County Courthouse square,
possibly in the late 1960s.
Click on any image below to enlarge.

I write this to you each week on Thursday evenings. Tonight, I am alone in a suddenly-quiet print shop, after everyone has left for the day. There are only two of us left in the building: our print shop cat, Safety Officer, and me.
Outside it is snowing. Big snowflakes are drifting by the windows of the shop, falling sloppily on Water Street. Night is falling.

Kerrville street
decorations

The scene made me remember Christmases past, and how the holiday was different when I was growing up here. I think the holiday was much more relaxed when I was a child, and the season started much later than it does now.
I looked through my collection of Kerrville photos for images of the holiday season here, and I found images of the old downtown Kerrville Christmas decorations, of holiday parades, of Santa, of folks on horseback.
The old municipal Christmas decorations looked like they were created by Dr. Suess -- curled arms covered in silver tinsel, decorated with snow-covered bells. When they were new, the bells had warm yellow lights inside, and the tinsel had colored Christmas lights along each strand. I remember as the decorations got older, the working bulbs grew fewer in number, and the decorations were mainly for daytime. I'm sure they were difficult to install and more difficult to store and maintain.

Lutheran children's
Christmas Pageant

I found a photo of a children's Christmas pageant from what looks like the early 1960s. It was taken at Holy Cross Lutheran. The children are dressed up as angels, shepherds, barnyard animals, along with a young Mary and Joseph. I don't recognize the children; I think they're a little older than I. That part of Christmas hasn't changed a great deal. Children will still act out the story of the birth of Jesus much as they did fifty years ago.

Santa at Notre Dame School

One photo brought back another memory. A group on horseback are gathered in front of a giant Christmas tree. The photo was taken at the Kerr County courthouse, and while I don't remember the event in the photo, I do remember that tree being decorated each Christmas. It stood for many years on the corner of the inner courthouse lawn closest to the intersection of Main and Earl Garrett streets. There was another matching tree on the corner closest to Main and Sidney Baker streets. I remember climbing both of them with downtown friends, our hands covered with resin. Both trees are gone now. I learned later, as an adult, while researching history for this column, that both trees were planted as memorials for the young men from Kerr County who died in World War I. Ice and wind and time took the trees away.
Looking closely at the photo of the folks on horseback in front of the giant Christmas tree, I see some are holding sheets of paper. I imagine they're singing Christmas carols. Most are bundled up. A street light glows from among the branches.

Christmas at the Booterie

A Christmas display from the Booterie's windows made me smile. That building looks very different today. It's no longer a shoe store; it's a restaurant called Francisco's in one of the town's oldest buldings. Today there's only one door on the corner, and it's about where that mannequin is modeling. How different it looks in the photo. And those shoes look very practical.

Santa in 1974 parade

I found some color photographs from a Christmas parade in 1974, sent to me by the younger sister of some of my classmates. Mr. and Mrs. Claus look happy. There are a group of kids on a float showing Christmas celebrations from around the world. The silver tinsel tree reminds me of the one our family had when I was a boy.

Christmas parade, 1974

Our tree had a special spotlight which we aimed at our tree. The spotlight had a wheel with lenses of different colors, and an electric motor slowly turned the wheel. The effect, I suppose, was to make the tree appear in those different colors. None of the colors on the wheel were found in nature, and the foil tree looked very Space Age to me. I thought it was so modern looking when I was a child.
Well, it looks as if the snow has slowed down. It is dark outside. Time for this old man to head home.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has seldom seen snow in Kerrville, though he's midway through his sixth decade here. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times on a bright and sunny and snow-free December 9, 2017.

There are still a few copies of Joe's second book available. Click HERE for more information.

The Union Church, Kerrville, on the campus of Schreiner University
around 2003, after a snowfall.

Fifteen years ago, on Christmas Eve, 2002, the Friends of the Kerr County Historical Commission dedicated the restored Union Church. The church building had been moved from its second location, a lot on Lemos Street, to the western edge of the Schreiner University campus, where many months of labor had produced a wonderfully restored historic building.

The Union Church, in its
original location,
Clay Street

The program featured representatives of the four original congregations that shared the building when it was first used Christmas Eve, 1885, including Rev. Warren Hornung of the First Methodist Church; Dr. Sam Junkin of First Presbyterian Church; Rev. John Petty of Trinity Baptist Church; and Rev. David Fischer of First Christian Church.
Dr. William Rector, president of the Friends of the Kerr County Historical Commission, and Dr. Mike Looney, of Schreiner University, also participated. Special music was provided by Theresa Gregory.
Several years ago I wrote this sketch about the Union Church:
The old Union Church has found a new home, thanks to a gaggle of people and a far-sighted group who would not let her be torn down, this symbol of unity and strength through diversity.
Walking through Kerrville today it's hard to travel far without hitting a churchyard; they are especially congregated in our Old Town section. It wasn't always this way. Although preaching has been going on in our community for a long, long time (starting with the first preacher here, a Father Ralls, a Methodist circuit rider) -- it wasn't until 1885 that there was a church building to worship in. Granted, you can worship the Lord while working in His garden, but more than a few folk, mostly the ladies, wanted a pew to visit on a weekly basis.

The Union Church building as it
appeared on Francisco Lemos Street,
1980s

1885 sounds like a long time ago, but remember: Kerr County was organized in 1856, so there were more than a few grown people who'd never been in a church when the Union Church was finally constructed. The Civil War came and went without a church here. Charles Schreiner made trades in his store for over 15 years before there was a church in Kerrville.
There were several reasons for this: there was no money in the county during those days, and the pursuit of life was a full time occupation, especially during the Comanche moons. It is still startling to think of a town without churches for that long.
Finally, in 1876, a group of citizens petitioned the Commissioners' Court for permission to use the district courtroom as a 'place for the of worship of Almighty God.' The court granted this request, 'provided the citizens were responsible for the safekeeping of same and that they pay to the sheriff a pecuniary compensation of five dollars per day,' and that 'no distinction shall be made between associations, sects, classes, or denominations in the community,' according to Matilda Real.
This arrangement lasted for six months before it was 'proved unsatisfactory to the citizens.'
During this time Mrs. Whitfield (Harriet) Scott became 'extremely interested' in building a church, and with the assistance of her sister, Laura Gill (later Mrs. W. G. Garrett), began to collect funds for the project. They went from house to house in the county on horseback. Captain Schreiner donated two city lots for the purpose, at the 'northeast corner of Main and Clay streets' according to Alice Olen. (A convenience store stands on the original site today, opposite Clay street from Pioneer Bank.)

The Union Church building, 1998

The subscribers to the project included Mrs. D. B. Lawrence, A. C. Schreiner (who would marry Mrs. Scott's daughter), S. B. Rees, A. L. Barnett, Captain Charles Schreiner, Mrs. Scott, Bilmer & Co., F. M. Moore, and R. H. Burney. The largest donation was $150, quite a sum in those days. Another source says the building was constructed for a total of $190.
Now why would a structure be called the Union Church, especially in the post-Civil War south, where ‘Union’ was a particularly loaded and harsh word?
The main reason for this name was several congregations shared the building, and all denominations could use the building by permission. It was agreed 'the Methodist Episcopal Church South shall have use of the building on the first Sabbath of each month and ensuing week. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church shall have use of the building on the second Sabbath and ensuing week; the Missionary Baptist, the third Sabbath and ensuing week, and the Christian Church the fourth Sabbath and ensuing week. Many attended services there every week, slipping easily from dogma to dogma.
The building was never dedicated as a church, until much later (1925) when it was deeded to the Christian Church, because it was to be "used for educational and other purposes of general interest to the community 'not antagonistic to Christianity nor for private profit."

The Union Church, on Clay Street, in Kerrville,
around 1914

I hope this last statement, probably formulated to ease the collection of funds from a reluctant and church-free citizenry, remains an operative mission statement of the old lady in her new home.
I've attended many functions at the old church since its dedication fifteen years ago, including the wedding of my eldest nephew, Kenton Farish, who married Sarah Guderian there. It was a lovely wedding in a beautiful building.
Historic preservation is possible in our community, and for the past 15 years, the Union Church has been a wonderful example of what people interested in history can do when they work together.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has most of his Christmas shopping done. Whew. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 16, 2017.

There are still a few copies of Joe's second book available. Click HERE for more information.

Kerrville Mountain Sun, Volume 1, Number 1, December 22, 1899.
Click on any image to enlarge.

History has a habit of happening year round, but there are five events in our community's history which happened at Christmastime. How many of these do you know?

James Kerr

Christmas Day, 1850: James Kerr passed away at his home in Jackson County, six years before the creation of Kerr County. Kerr arrived in Texas in 1825, to serve as surveyor general in the Texas colony of Green DeWitt. He was active in Texas politics from the time before the Texas Revolution until the early years of the Texas Republic, and was elected a delegate to the Texas Conventions of 1832 and 1836. After the war he served as a representative in the Third Congress, where he introduced anti dueling legislation, and a bill to make Austin the capital of Texas. He was a lawyer, a surveyor, a politician, and in the last part of his life, a physician.
Bonus fact: we don't pronounce his name correctly. James Kerr pronounced his last name to rhyme with "car," which means we mispronounce both Kerr County and Kerrville.

Rosalie Dietert

Christmas, 1857: The very first Christmas tree was in the home of Rosalie and Christian Dietert, German immigrants who arrived in Kerr County the same year the county was created. Christian was a millwright who built a water powered mill on the Guadalupe River, below the site of today's One Schreiner Center on Water Street in downtown Kerrville. Some evidence of the old mill remains, including two channels cut into the riverbed, some structures made of cut stone, and the ghostly outline of the old wooden dam etched at an angle in the limestone rock.
The Dieterts moved around a bit, but moved to Kerrville in 1857, when there were only five one-room huts in the entire village.
Their home also had the very first Kerrville Christmas tree. It was decorated with paper chains, nuts covered with gold and silver paper, apples brought from San Antonio, and cookies cut into shapes of birds and animals and decorated with sugar. The candles were tallow dips.

Charles Schreiner

Christmas Eve, 1869: Charles Schreiner opens a small store in Kerrville, in a small 16 foot by 18 foot frame building, on the site where his home on Earl Garrett Street now stands.
J. Evetts Haley, in his book "Charles Schreiner, General Merchandise," published in 1969 by the Charles Schreiner Company, describes the little building as having double front doors, two front windows, another door, and a stovepipe "which elled out the side of the building." In back there was a lean-to shed, used as a "storehouse and as sleeping quarters for the clerks. But at first there were no clerks."
At the back of the shed was a cellar, used to store "barrels of coal oil, beer, whiskey and molasses."

Schreiner Store, 1869
illustration by H Bugbee

There was a long counter running the length of the building which "described an L at the back to cut off a small space that served as an office, and to shelter, at its base, barrels of sugar, coffee, rice, lard, and dried fruit."
He had obtained the backing of an "old-world" merchant from Comfort, August Faltin, who supplied the capital for the enterprise, and, I'm sure, plenty of advice on how to get started.
That first day of business did not portend a successful enterprise; only two sales were recorded, and both on credit, totaling $3.50.
George Hollimon Sr. bought 7 1/2 pounds of coffee for $2; John D. Wharton, 2 quarts of whiskey, for $1.50.
The only other entry that day: Charles Schreiner withdrew $1 cash. On what he spent that dollar, no one knows.

Kerrville's Union Church,
around 1914

Christmas Eve, 1885: First service held in the Union Church, which was shared by four early congregations: the Cumberland Presbyterian, the Methodist Episcopal, the Missionary Baptist, and the Christian Church congregations each used the building one week of each month. Kerrville had been without a church building since its founding in 1856, almost three decades earlier. A pair of ladies rode from house to house on horseback seeking donations to build Kerrville's first church.

J. E. Grinstead

Christmas, 1899: J. E. Grinstead purchases the Kerrville News and renames it the Kerrville Mountain Sun, and publishes a Christmas edition booklet of 24 pages. This booklet lists the prominent merchants and leaders of the community, along with photographs of these individuals, a few of their homes, and some images of the community. The county's industries are outlined, including ranching, health services, farming.

1899 Christmas Edition,
Kerrville Mountain Sun

The little booklet is like a time capsule for our community, and I was grateful to the Nuenhoffer family for letting me make a copy.
As a printer, I know how much work went into the booklet: the type was all set by hand; the photographs were taken, developed by hand, and then converted to cuts; the forms were set, and finally the project was printed on equipment which may or may not have been powered by an electric motor.
The Kerrville Mountain Sun may be the community's longest continually operating company; a slim reminder of its glory is still distributed in the community, though its name now owned by the Kerrville Daily Times.
Christmas, 2017: My hope is that you have a wonderful Christmas holiday, and make a little history while you're at it.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who thinks most of his Christmas shopping is done. Maybe. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 23, 2017.

There are still a few copies of Joe's second book available. Click HERE for more information.

Time, like an ever rolling stream, has carried 2017 away.
Above: the dam on the Guadalupe River at Louise Hays Park in downtown Kerrville

At the end of the year, it's fun to see what stories on my blog you liked best. Sometimes I'm surprised by what folks liked best -- and sometimes I'm surprised by what people didn't like as much. Either way, I learn something about you -- my readers -- that I will try to put to use in 2018.

The top 5 stories of 2017:

No. 5

Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital Kerrville 1949

The Story of Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, April 4, 2017. A lot of us were born in the old SPMH, which stood at the corner of Water and Sidney Baker streets for around 60 years. This story was unexpectedly popular.

"Kerrville really shouldn’t have a hospital as nice as the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital. When it was opened on July 3rd, 1949, it was a really big deal. But it was a deal that, if you take a hard look at the numbers, probably was bigger than the community it served." Click here to read the story.

No. 4

An Autumn Kerrville Afternoon in 1956, May 21, 2017. A fellow from Minnesota contacted me by email and said he had some photos of Kerrville; he was kind enough to share them with all of us. They were taken, most likely, by a local physician, Dr. Matthews. Several people pointed out it couldn't be 1956 -- the car in the photo was a 1957 model. However, Gentle Readers, in those days new cars were introduced in the autumn. And there is a sign on the door of the car which reads "1956 Football Sweetheart."

"I knew exactly what they were doing as some of these photographs were taken, at the exact moment the shutter clicked. They were singing the Tivy alma mater while the Tivy marching band played. 'We are from Tivy,' they were singing, 'from Tivy are we....' Click here to read the story.

No. 3

Kerr County Thanksgiving in 1856, November 21, 2017. I enjoy studying local history, but sometimes I wonder about the daily life of those who settled here in the mid-1850s. For example, what did they eat?

"The [Denton] family was never short of meat or honey. Though hogs and deer were plentiful, Denton preferred bear meat. "You can eat bear meat every day in the year and never tire of it, and, when cured, you can eat it raw as well as cooked. Everybody used bear oil as a substitute for lard; it made the best shortening in the world. My uncle, John Lowrance, was a mighty bear hunter and often had 1,000 pounds of bear meat in his smokehouse. He considered it the most wholesome of meats and believed that a diet of it would cure any sort of stomach trouble." Click here to read the story.

No. 2

Kerrville's oldest man-made structure is falling apart, September 24, 2017. It's a shame that a site so important to the history of our community is not being preserved.

"It rests at the bottom of a bluff littered with debris from other, newer structures, and is hidden within a wild tangle of branches, vines, and weeds. Trash is piled in drifts at the site: food wrappers, clothes, broken glass; it's filthy. Click here to read this story.

No. 1

Every H-E-B employee in a single photograph, June 4, 2017. Who doesn't like a good success story, especially when it's about a woman who first tried selling groceries door to door, before opening her tiny grocery store on Main Street in Kerrville? This story was the most popular story of 2017.

"Studying the original photo, I can now tell the photo was a selfie. You can see the shutter cable snaking from the camera to the bench on which four of the people are resting. I can't determine whether Florence or her son Gene took the photograph; Florence's hand looks as if it might be pushing the plunger on the cable, but Gene had an interest in photography at the time, and the cable looks as if it's heading toward him. Click here to read this story.

I'm thankful for the more than 100,000 times readers checked in to read a story or two in 2017. It is amazing to me that a blog about such a narrow topic -- the history of one rural county in Texas -- could be so popular with so many readers around the world. I'm grateful for your continued interest and support.

If you'd like to get updates to the blog emailed directly to your inbox each week, just enter your email address in the box below:

Over the past year I've sent out over 40,000 emails to folks, like you, who want these stories sent to them each week. It's free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

There are still a few copies of Joe's second book available. Click HERE for more information.

Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library celebrates 50 years of service

A brief history of libraries in Kerrville

A noble company leaves Kerrville 100 years ago

Football has a long history in Kerr County

The 100 year old controversy of Kerrville's railroad passenger depot

Kerrville's oldest man-made structure is falling apart

The Hula Hoop Craze Hits Kerrville, 1958

Who was Earl Garrett?

The Historic Weston Building in Downtown Kerrville

A mystery Kerrville photo with a back story

A glimpse of Kerrville from 1896

An exhibit of photographs from my collection of historical Kerrville and Kerr County photographs

Kerrville's first Armistice Day

Kerr County Thanksgiving in 1856

Why did people settle in Kerr County?

Kerr County was a political mess in the 1860s

Christmas in Kerrville when I was a boy

A Rare Feat: Saving the Union Church in Kerrville

Five Christmas History Facts about Kerr County You Might Not Know

Top 5 Kerr History Stories of 2017