Joe Herring Jr.

One of the hundreds of photos I sorted through this week.

Gentle Reader, this week my hobby of writing columns was not easy.
I love old photographs, and I’ve collected thousands of historical photographs of Kerrville and Kerr County, thanks to the generosity of hundreds of people. I truly enjoy seeing images of our community’s past — especially images I know no one alive today has ever seen, images few would recognize.
But sometimes, like this week, I get a box of photographs that are hard to go through. This week I felt as if I was walking through someone’s house without permission, stopping to look through closets, checking the desk drawers.
The box was a jumble of family photographs, not arranged in any sequence. There was not a lid on the box, and it was so full some of the photographs might have spilled out before coming to me.
The photos showed several generations of a local family, a collection of images taken at birthday parties, on vacations, at family gatherings. They were fragments of a timeline, like a cluttered mosaic made with a few random tiles.
Today it’s common for people to portray themselves on social media in edited, curated photographs that have little to do with reality. Those photos are posed, run through a filter, and posted for the world to see. The blemishes have been erased and the rough edges sanded away.
Not so with the photographs I sorted through this week: these were unguarded. They were not posed. They were not filtered.
The photographs I looked through this week were not, for the most part, portraits. They were snapshots meant only to harken back to family events. They were not artistic, and most were not taken with good cameras. Many were out of focus. In most of the images at least one person has their eyes closed. The light was wrong. They were, in short, typical family photographs.
Still none of this was a big problem for me. I’ve done this kind of thing a long time. I’ve seen inside a lot of closets and desk drawers, and I’ve seen thousands and thousands of candid photographs. I’ve read personal letters and diaries. I know a secret or two.
One of the problems for me with this particular box of photographs was this: I knew a lot of the folks in the photographs. I knew many of their stories. I remembered visiting with them when they were alive. I had memories of time spent with them.
One person in the photographs did me a big favor years ago, giving me a chance I probably didn’t deserve. His kind gesture changed my life.
Within a few seconds of going through the jumble I knew exactly who had collected and saved these old photographs. I remembered the last time I’d seen her, just a few weeks before she died, in one of the crowded aisles at H-E-B.
Now, through an accidental encounter, I was going through her family photos, photos she kept, photos her mother had kept. More than a hundred years of photographs.
Unlike when she had them, though, they were now thrown in a beat up box. They were like a song played in several keys at once, and it was difficult to sort the differences one from the other.
The part that made me sad was how carefully she had labeled the photos so her family would know who was in each photo. The labels she wrote were not for us, Gentle Reader.
Among the hundreds of photographs are a few which have some local historical significance. I put those aside. The rest I boxed up, carefully sealing them, labeling the box, and placing it among the many other similar boxes I have stored in our family’s print shop.
It remains my hope these photos from many families will be used to illustrate the story of our community, perhaps in a museum. It remains a good story, even when parts are hard for me to work through.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who remembers the first historical Kerrville photograph he contact-printed in the print shop darkroom; the negative was a glass plate. It was of a young girl and her doll, sitting in the grass of her family’s yard on Jefferson Street, taken around 1905. The site is now a parking lot. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 22, 2018.

Please share this story on social media using these buttons:

An aerial view of the Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair, Schreiner College campus, Kerrville, 1972.
Click on any image to enlarge.

With the newly re-instituted Texas Arts & Crafts Fair happening in Ingram this weekend at the Hill Country Arts Foundation, I thought a brief history of the fair might be timely. Here’s what I found in my files:

An early Texas State
Arts and Crafts Fair

Years ago the late Rod Kennedy gave me a remarkable document: a program from the first Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair (of which the first Kerrville Folk Festival was a part).
It is remarkable for many reasons: its words, pictures and design evoke a spirit that thrived in this place in the summer of 1972. From the welcoming letters printed in the front of the book from Governor Preston Smith, Schreiner Junior College and Preparatory School President Sam Junkin, and the first Executive Director of the Arts & Crafts Fair, Phil Davis (of the Texas Tourist Development Agency), all the way to the list of exhibitors (including my dad and an old platen printing press) – you can tell that Kerrville was on the ball, making a difference for itself in the state. It’s refreshing to read the program, filled with its optimism and state public-relations department text.

Another view

That first fair ran for 6 days, starting on a Tuesday and running through Saturday, on the campus of Schreiner Institute. Admission was $1.00 for adults and 50 cents for children. Parking was free. Rod Kennedy produced the first Kerrville Folk Festival June 1, 2, and 3 (Thursday through Saturday) at the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium, with a $2.50 per person admission. Other things were going on during the same time: Schreiner Institute offered a production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and the Hill Country Arts Foundation had a Neil Simon comedy, “Come Blow Your Horn.”

Kenneth Threadgill at
the first Kerrville
Folk Festival

The program is filled with ads for the expected restaurants and hotels – but also packed with ads for real estate. I wonder how many families came to the fair, bought property here, and made Kerrville their home.
I was 10 years old during that first fair and festival, but I remember it clearly. During the day I helped Mom and Dad at the tent where our old iron letterpress was on display (and running, printing maps of the fair), helping man the front desk in the tent. We were the first tent inside the entrance, and we printed a ton of maps right there. I sure wish I had one of those old maps.
I also remember it was blazing hot. Lady Bird Johnson attended one of those early fairs. I gave her a map.
Phil Davis wanted to have music at the fair, so he contacted Rod Kennedy, then a music producer and radio station owner in Austin.

Darrell Royal, Ladybird Johnson
and Lyndon Johnson at
the first KFF performance

I remember attending the first Kerrville Folk Festival, at the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium, listening to performers like Peter Yarrow, Allen Damron, Kenneth Threadgill and Carolyn Hester. I’m afraid I didn’t make it through the entire show, falling fast asleep after a hard day at the fair. Ladybird and Lyndon Johnson attended the folk festival that evening, too, along with Darrell Royal.
A lot of folks worked hard to get the fair to Kerrville, including Gene Lehman, who I hope to visit with soon and get the “rest of the story” about how the Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair chose Kerrville as its home.
I’m thankful to the folks at the Hill Country Arts Foundation for giving new life to the fair.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who remembers how hot it was during that first fair. Moving it to October is a good idea. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times September 29, 2018.

Lt. Victor Earl Garrett, of Kerrville

100 years ago today, 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."
Several months ago Bob Schmerbeck, who is related to Earl Garrett, loaned me a notebook of letters Garrett's family gathered after his death. The packet included letters to Earl Garrett, letters from him, and letters from others about him, including from those who were with him when he died.
One month before he died, Earl Garrett wrote his mother, Laura Gill Garrett, a touching letter.

"My dearest Mother, it will probably be only a note, but I wanted to write you tonight. It may be some time before I can write you again and I do not want to neglect this opportunity.
"Mother, it is a long cry from here to home, but never so close as tonight. And never have I been so conscious of what you have done for me or felt so unworthy of your efforts. I could not write a sad letter even if I wanted to; my temperamental make up would not let me. But I do want you to know before anything might happen that I at least appreciate my mother and my father.
"I am habitually optimistic -- of the incurable type, less a considerable portion of confidence in my ability. But the great possibility cannot be ignored.
"With love to all, your son, Earl."

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.

Kerr teens at Ingram Dam, 1968.
Click on any image to enlarge.

I've noticed posts on social media about the Tivy High School class of 1968, which will be celebrating its 50 year reunion this year. I understand quite a few are hoping to attend the Tivy Homecoming celebrations in a few weeks, when the Tivy Antlers play Memorial on October 19th at Antler Stadium.
Going through my photo collection, I've found quite a few images from 1968. In honor of the 1968 Tivy graduates, I thought I'd publish a few here.

Tivy pep rally, downtown Kerrville, 1968

I have a few images of downtown pep rallies from 1968. It was a long tradition for pep rallies to be held at the intersection of Water and Earl Garrett streets on Friday afternoons before the football game that evening.
When I was a student at Tivy, the Tivy cheerleaders, the Tivy band, Golden Girls and Antlerettes would march to town from Antler Stadium, coming down Sidney Baker Street and turning left onto Water Street. This happened for every home game, but a much bigger parade was held for homecoming.

In 1968, however, it's likely the starting point was not the stadium, but the high school, which, in those days, was where the B. T. Wilson campus is today, on Tivy Street.

Once downtown, a large circle formed at the intersection of Earl Garrett and Water Streets, with the Antlerettes, Golden Girls and the Tivy Band all facing in toward the cheerleader, drum major, and twirlers in the middle. The fight song would be played, cheerleaders would lead the crowd in cheers, and the Tivy Alma Mater would close the event.
Regular home game downtown Tivy pep rallies ended in the 1980s.
I also found a 1968 photograph of a very popular spot for Kerr County youths, still popular even today: kids sliding down Ingram Dam. When I posted this photo on social media it brought back lots of memories, mainly of fun times and holes in jeans and bathing suits made from sliding down the dam.

Unloading furniture from train, 1968

Kerrville freight depot, 1968

In 1968 freight trains still came to Kerrville. (Passenger service ended years earlier.) I found two photos from 1968 featuring the old railroad: one of the freight office, and another of men unloading furniture for Crick's Furniture onto a truck. Crick's Furniture was on Broadway; I went to school with the children of the owners.

Grand opening of Gibson's, 1968

In 1968 Gibson's Discount Center opened, and I found a few photos from that event. In one, a woman is giving away necklaces to shoppers; in another, a crowd of shoppers stands around the jewelry case.

Up With People ensemble, behind library, 1968

Up With People performance,
Kerrville Municipal Auditorium, 1968

Up With People parade, downtown Kerrville, 1968

One big community event in 1968 was a performance by "Up With People;" apparently several local teenagers were also part of the cast. There was a parade, a performance behind the new Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, and a performance in the old municipal auditorium. I noticed how well-dressed the audience was for the performance.

Kerrville City Council members with electric car, 1968

Lastly, I think the 1968 Kerrville City Council was way ahead of newcomers like Tesla -- I found a wonderful image of several members of the council inspecting an electric car. I recognize John M. Mosty, Francis Swayze, and Marvin Hunter.
While I cannot find a news story to accompany the photograph, I hope to hear the full story from my friends Mosty and Swayze.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who remembers Kerrville and Kerr County as it was in 1968. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 6, 2018.

Sidney W. Baker, 1917, Kerrville.
Click on any image below to enlarge.

Sidney Baker, for whom one of the principal streets in Kerrville is named, died in France on October 15, 1918, 100 years ago this coming Monday. He was only 22.
Pvt. Sidney W. Baker was killed in France during World War I, and shortly after that war three Kerrville streets were named after three Kerr County men who died in battle during that conflict: Sidney Baker, Earl Garrett, and Francisco Lemos.
Elsewhere I have told the stories of Earl Garrett and Francisco Lemos, publishing both near the 100th anniversary of their deaths. This week I'll tell the story of Sidney Baker.
Sidney Baker was born to Benjamin F. Baker and Elizabeth Peterson Baker on September 4, 1896, in Gonzales County, Texas, one of 11 children. His father was a carpenter and farmer, and helped build the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad line into Kerrville. The family moved to Kerrville in the 1880s, moved away to Gonzales County, where Sidney Baker was born, and then returned to Kerrville in 1904.

Ira Baker (seated) and Sidney Baker (standing) Kerrville, Texas 1917

Sidney Baker and
his brother, Ira.

Sidney Baker's mother, Elizabeth Peterson Baker, had a little brother named Sidney Clay Peterson, whose nickname was "Cap." Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital was named for him by his sons, Hal and Charlie Peterson. Hal and Charlie were Sidney Baker's first cousins.
Like Francisco Lemos, Sidney Baker enlisted in Company D, First Texas Infantry, a unit of the Texas National Guard.
Company D had been recruited by Captain Charles J. Seeber, and in the spring and summer of 1917, the company drilled on the grounds of Westminster Encampment, just east of town. The grounds of the encampment are now part of the campus of Schreiner University. The company also drilled on the West Texas Fairgrounds site, which was across Town Creek south of the Five Points area, between Junction Highway and the river. For the most part, the drills were practiced without weapons or equipment, and many of the men did not have regulation uniforms.

Company D, Kerrville, Texas, September 1917

Company D on Kerrville's
Main Street, 1917

Company D departed Kerrville by train on September 5, 1917, heading to Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth.
It was a sad day for everyone, but especially young Sidney Baker. He was saying goodbye to his steady girlfriend, a young woman named Daphne Williams.
Bill Sloan, a former editor of this newspaper, shared some research on Sidney Baker with me years ago. That research was based on Baker family correspondence, and offered a unique look into Sidney Baker's life.

Elizabeth Wright Peterson Baker, Kerrville, Texas around 1935

Elizabeth Baker,
late in life

Sidney Baker joined the National Guard unit on the advice of his older brothers, Frank and Ira. Having worked as a helper for his father, and also as a seasonal worker on the Peterson Ranch, Sidney was attracted to the prospect of a steady income.
According to Sloan's research, Sidney Baker was a reluctant soldier. After basic training at Camp Bowie, he was promoted to PFC, "but a few weeks later, after getting into an altercation with another recruit, he was busted back to buck private, and he never received another promotion."
A planned visit to Kerrville to see Daphne Williams was canceled when an "old sergeant wouldn't let me off, so there was nothing I could do."
Again, according to Sloan's research, Sidney Baker sought a hardship release to help his mother, who was in financial difficulties. "Please do everything you can to get me out of this Army life," Baker wrote his mother, "and tell all the Kerrville boys to take a d----d fool's advice and stay out of the Army."
Then, in March 1918, when Baker was in New York awaiting transport to Europe, Daphne Williams broke off their relationship.
On March 25, 1918, Sidney Baker wrote his mother, before leaving for France.

At dedication of Memorial Park,
Kerrville, 1938. Mrs. Baker is
woman on front row, far right.

"I guess we are leaving tomorrow for France, but we sure had lots of trouble trying to get started. Daph sure has gone back on me, and I had just as soon the whole German army shoot at me as for to do that. You tell Daph what I said when you see her and ask her to keep writing to me and I will fix things when the war is over."
Baker left the States on the Finland, on July 26, 1918. The Finland was the same ship which carried Francisco Lemos to Europe.
The war in Europe was a long way from Kerrville.
When the war was over, on the very first Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, Elizabeth Baker, Sidney Baker's mother, was so very happy. Kerrville was celebrating the end of the war. On that same day wrote to Sidney "I write to let you know we have received the news that we have peace, and I was never as happy in my life. Oh, if I could just be with you to rejoice, but I have the pleasure of thinking you won't be killed now."

Sidney W. Baker, from "Price of our Heritage,"
page 363.

Two days later, on November 13, 1918, she received a telegram informing her that Sidney Baker had been killed during the bloody fighting near Hill 288 in the Argonne, felled by machine gun fire. When Kerrville was celebrating on November 11, Elizabeth Baker did not know her son was gone.
That Sidney Baker was a reluctant soldier does not mean he was not brave. He was very brave and saw some of the worst fighting any American soldier saw. Of the three Kerr County men who died in battle in World War I, he survived the longest, living until the last weeks of the war. But of the three, he was the youngest to die.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who cannot imagine the horrors of war. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 13, 2018.

Young couples at Kerr County's Criders Dance Hall, 1940s

Young couples at Crider's, past Hunt, Texas, probably 1940s.
Forrest Salter is on the far right; I believe the woman next to him is his first wife, Jeanne.
Click on any image to enlarge.

This week my friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller, of Wolfmueller's Books, gave me a remarkable booklet.
Its cover is marked with a brand, printed in red ink: the letter 'E' on its side, its three bars facing up, lazily, over the numbers '342.' If you're a town kid like me, you might not know such a brand would be read as "Lazy E 342."
The booklet is made of mimeographed pages stapled together; it's printed on one side of letter-size sheets and has a manila cordwain cover on front and back. This issue, No. 2, has fifty pages.
The title page indicates J. Frank Dobie was the "Boss of the outfit."
J. Frank Dobie was an American folklorist and university professor, probably best known for his books Coronado's Children, and The Longhorns.

Lazy E 342 Booklet, a collection of J Frank Dobie students' writing

Lazy E 342, No. 2

A little bit of research tells me the booklet was a collection of students' writing from Dobie's class at the University of Texas at Austin: English 342, 'Life and Literature of the Southwest.' That class, English 342, can be abbreviated E342; that abbreviation is the source of the brand on the front cover of the booklet.
Dobie has a Kerrville connection. His sister, Martha Dobie, along with Mary Lucy Marberry, was one of the early owners of the Main Book Shop, buying it in 1949 from the original owners, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Zumpf. Mary Lucy Marberry taught Spanish at Tivy High School. The two ladies owned the bookstore for nearly two decades.
Because his sister lived in Kerrville, J. Frank Dobie was a frequent visitor here. Martha Dobie and her mother were often summer residents of a cottage in Methodist Encampment as early as the 1930s.
However, in looking at this copy of the Lazy E 342, the thing that interested me was an article by Kerrville's Forrest Salter, written in the spring of 1941, when he was a student in J. Frank Dobie's class.
Forrest Salter is one of my heroes. For many years his family published the Kerrville Mountain Sun. When I was in high school I asked the Salters if I could write a weekly column for them, and to my astonishment, they said yes. Forrest Salter was a kind editor and often gave me suggestions about what might make an interesting topic for his readers. Those columns where I took his advice were much better than the others.
Salter's story in Volume 2 of the Lazy E 342 was titled "The Saga of a Shingle Camp," and it tells the story of Kerrville's earliest industry, making shingles from cypress trees.
"Living in the heart of the great Southwest section of Texas," young Forrest Salter wrote, "one is prone to forget, or perhaps take for granted, the spirit and industry of the pioneers who settled the country, and who made the prosperous and thriving communities in which we live possible."
Salter's story includes first-person accounts of shingle making in the earliest days of Kerr County, and I wondered how he found the wonderful sources for his story. Salter was writing in 1941; the first shingle-making camps in Kerr County started in the late 1840s.
I should have guessed: he placed an ad in his family's newspaper.
"WANTED: Information on shingle making and the names of any pioneer resident of this section who has seen shingles made in the camps along the Guadalupe River. Please send name or information to The Mountain Sun office."
Over the next few weeks I'll share what Forrest Salter learned about those early shingle makers here. His research is quite fascinating, and I've never seen the information he found anywhere else.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has been meeting newspaper deadlines for a long time. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 20, 2018.

Have you heard about the Farm-to-Table chef-prepared dinner, called the TRAILBLAZER being planned for downtown Kerrville? Information and tickets available by clicking HERE, or by visiting https://kerrvilleurbantrailsystem.org/

The Trailblazer is a fundraising event on Friday, November 2, 2018 at the Plant Haus 2 on Jefferson Street, from 5:30pm to 9pm. Tickets are $100, and will be limited to 150 people. The event will include a chef-prepared pig roast, beer and wine, live music, a series of PechaKucha presentations, an introduction to the KUTS concept, and a silent auction. Proceeds will fund the design of the overall KUTS concept, as well as the KUTS-Clay South trail.

Sarah, Joshua and Alonzo Potter Brown in 1873. Note: they're holding hands.
Photo courtesy of Jan Wilkinson

Last week my friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller, of Wolfmueller's Books, gave me a booklet which included a story by Kerrville's Forest Salter called "The Saga of the Shingle Camp."
Forest Salter's family published the Kerrville Mountain Sun for three generations, and the shingle camp story was written in 1940 when Salter was a student in J. Frank Dobie's English 342 class at the University of Texas at Austin. The booklet is a collection of student writing from that course, and is titled "Lazy E 342."
Shingle making was the first industry in what is now Kerrville, begun in the mid-1840s when Joshua Brown and a group of men came here to harvest cypress trees and use them to make shingles.
I've written elsewhere about the shingle makers and the process used to make shingles, relying mostly on Bob Bennett's thorough history of Kerr County. What makes Forest Salter's story unique are the interviews with local people who actually remembered shingles being made here. He placed an ad in his family's newspaper, asking to interview people with firsthand knowledge of shingle making.
Finding those people in 1940, when he wrote the story, was difficult, I'm sure. Today it would be impossible, because too much time has passed.
The first interview in the story was with A. P. "Potter" Brown, the youngest son of Kerrville's founder, Joshua D. Brown.
"My father," Brown told Salter, "was one of the first settlers of this country, and he came here to go into the shingle making business.
"A small colony of soldiers of fortune from Tennessee and Mississippi had traveld through this section of the west and had been amazed at the huge trees and dense growth of cypress along the banks of the Guadalupe River and its tributary creeks. They returned to the fort in San Antonio and reported this veritable find. They realized the scarcity of building material in the land of the mesquite, and planned to colonize the river banks for the purpose of making shingles.
"Some of the German immigrants, eager for a sight of crystal waters and fertile valleys, a few Tennesseans in search of adventure, and some businessmen of San Antonio came to Kerrville and pitched their tents near one of the larger springs on the river. One spring is where the ice plant now stands in the city of Kerrville, and the Dietert homestead is the site of the first mill."
Gentle reader, the old ice plant is no longer there, but a remnant remains. It stood behind today's One Schreiner Center, in the 800 block of Water Street in downtown Kerrville, and its basement is still there, its old brick walls jutting from the bluff over the river. Ed Hamilton has made the top of the old basement a nice place to view the river below.
"The land was at that time owned by my father," continued A. P. Brown, "who had come from Virginia to Texas and settled in Gonzales County, or DeWitt's Colony as was then called, and over which James Kerr was the overseer. My father moved to this section in 1846, and named the settlement 'Brownsboro.' Later he called it 'Kerrsville' in honor of James Kerr.
"In the party half of the men were put to making shingles, and the other half were on the lookout for Indians. When the shingles were finished, they were taken to San Antonio by oxcart, and traded for supplies. It was a perilous journey, taking five or six days, and as money was scarce, the shingles were bartered for supplies for the camp."
Next week we'll hear again from A. P. "Potter" Brown, as he describes how shingles were made.
Until then, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who thinks making shingles would be a tough way to make a living. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times October 27, 2018.

Have you heard about the Farm-to-Table chef-prepared dinner, called the TRAILBLAZER being planned for downtown Kerrville? Information and tickets available by clicking HERE, or by visiting https://kerrvilleurbantrailsystem.org/

Demonstration of making cypress shingles Kerrville Texas

Using a maul and froe to make shingles.
Click on any image to enlarge.

In 1940, when he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Forrest Salter wrote a story about the shingle makers who founded Kerr County. The story was for an English class, "Life and Literature of the Southwest," taught by J. Frank Dobie. This story was in a booklet given to me by my friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller at Wolfmueller's Books.
The Salter family published the Kerrville Mountain Sun for three generations, and Forrest Salter placed an ad in his family's newspaper seeking "information on shingle making and the names of any pioneer resident of this section who has seen shingles made in the camps along the Guadalupe River. Please send name or information to The Mountain Sun office."
The resulting story is fascinating and provides details about shingle making I've never seen anywhere else.

One of the individuals Salter interviewed was A. P. "Potter" Brown, the youngest son of Joshua and Sarah Brown. Joshua Brown is the founder of Kerrville, and gave the land for the first county seat in 1856. He came to Kerr County in the late 1840s to harvest the cypress trees along the river and make shingles from them.
Potter Brown described how shingles were made:
"One of the first things the men had to have was a good shingle knife, which was hand-made of iron. The blade was about one quarter inch thick and about twelve inches long. You see, the width of the shingle depended upon the length of the shingle knife. At one end was a loop or ring in the iron, and in this was put a round handle, smoothed down so the palm of the hand would not blister. The handle was about six to nine inches long, and about an inch through, just big enough for a man to get a good 'hand holt' as he used it. The knife was held in the left hand while a wooden mallet, used to hammer the knife down on the block of wood, was wielded with the right.

"Groups of two men would use a big cross-cut saw, or sometimes a good sharp axe, to cut the cypress trees, and then when the logs had been trimmed, they would be cut into convenient sized chunks and hauled or dragged to the camp. The trees were so big that sometimes men could work a whole season on the timber in their neighborhood, and feel free, because the Indians did not come around so often when a settlement had been established.
"Some of the men had shingle horses, a contraption made of a few poles and slabs. It had a mouth where the shingle slab fitted, and when the slab had been placed in the mouth, the 'draw knife' was pulled across the length, giving the shingle the sloping sides which made it possible for them to overlap on a roof. These 'draw knives' were kept razor-sharp, and unlucky was the inquisitive visitor whose hand happened to touch one of their sharp blades. Mud, leaves, or sometimes sawdust was used to stop the blood when such a hand was badly cut.

"The camp was usually under a brush arbor, where the limbs from the Spanish oak, the sycamore, or some other brushy-topped tree was used as protection from the sun. The shingles were put in bundles and tied together with rawhide most of the time, as nails for crating were too precious for use.
"You know, son," Potter Brown concluded, "some of these old abandoned farm houses in the Turtle Creek section still have these hand-made shingles on their roofs."
Forrest Salter interviewed others, too, in addition to Potter Brown. His story includes quotes from Mollie Goss, Mrs. L. C. Watkins, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Rees, Mrs. Fritz Schmidt, and Sarah Surber. Each contributed interesting facts to Salter's story. Click here to download and read Forrest Salter's story in full.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who thinks shingle making would be a lot of hard work. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 3, 2018.

Company D marching on Main Street in front of the courthouse, September 1917.
heading to the train depot to leave Kerrville for the last time.
Francisco Lemos and Sidney Baker are in this photograph.

Ruth Hamilton remembered how cold and clear it was in Kerr County on the morning of Monday, November 11, 1918. She lived a little over a mile from Kerrville, and when she and her family heard the downtown fire bell ringing, they thought a house was burning. The sound of the bell carried so well on the cold air, she recalled.
It was only after the church bells all over town began ringing did the Hamiltons realize something unusual was going on, but it wasn't until the telephone rang that they understood what had happened. Germany had surrendered, and the First World War was over.
Years later Walter R. Moses wrote an account of that day:
"When the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, telephone operators spread the word, especially to families that they knew had sons or husbands in France. Up on Johnson Creek the word spread, but the wait seemed endless before Dr. Luther Fawler received his San Antonio Light and we could see the news in print."

Roster poster, Company D,
from Camp Bowie, Texas.

The newspapers from San Antonio arrived in Kerrville by train, and then had to be carried on to the subscribers' houses, often delivered by horse-drawn wagons, even in 1918.
As the news quickly spread through Kerr County, people gathered together, many of them in downtown Kerrville.
Bob Bennett, in his history of our county, wrote this about November 11, 1918:
"The glad news that the gigantic armies facing each other on the long battle front in France had agreed to 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 ... 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."
And yet, for all of the joy the community celebrated, there were three families for whom dark news was still to be delivered, news coming to them slowly from France.
"When Kerrville was celebrating the first Armistice Day," Bennett writes, "the citizens were unaware that three of the city's noble youths who had volunteered for their country's service had given their all. Mrs. E. W. Baker [the mother of Sidney Baker] received the news of her son's death the very next day, November 12. Later in the month, Judge and Mrs. W. G. Garrett received the information from the War Department that their son, Earl, had lost his life. Relatives of Francisco Lemos also received the news of his death in late November."
There are 19 Kerr County men listed on the war memorial on the courthouse lawn. Of those listed, three died in battle in France: Francisco Lemos, Earl Garrett, and Sidney Baker. Many of the other soldiers listed there died in Texas and in France during the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed at least 50 million people worldwide.
On this day 100 years ago the guns were finally silent and celebrations began, even among families who thought their boy had survived and was coming home. The sacrifices of our soldiers and their families in that war can seem dim to us after the passing of so many years, but to them those sacrifices were tragic and heartbreaking.
We remember three of those heroes because major downtown Kerrville streets were renamed in their honor. The other 16 we do not easily remember, though their bravery and willingness to serve our country was just as great, and the loss their families suffered was just as deep.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who finds some columns more difficult to write than others. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 10, 2018.

529 Water Street, Kerrville, now owned by the City of Kerrville.
Originally the home of Aime Charles Schreiner and his wife Myrta Zoe Scott Schreiner.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Roughly three years ago an anonymous donor gave the historic residence of A. C. and Myrta Schreiner, at 529 Water Street, to the City of Kerrville. This is the large home between the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library and our print shop, on the river side of Water Street.
Since that time the City has had the building evaluated by architectural firms and is working on plans for public use of the building. While nothing definite has been decided for the old home, the city government has been hard at work exploring various options.
I visited the site recently and really enjoyed walking through the home, but while there I realized I hadn't done a lot of research on the old place. Here's what I found:
Aime Charles Schreiner was the eldest son of Charles and Magdalena Schreiner. He was born in 1862 in San Antonio; In 1885, he married Myrta Zoe Scott, and together they had a daughter, Hester, and two sons, Aime Charles Jr., and Whitfield Scott.

The A. C. & Myrta Schreiner home in 1899.
This is a different building than stands there today.

A. C. Schreiner was involved in our community, serving on the very first Kerrville City Council in 1889. A. C. was a member of Kerrville's volunteer fire department, and he was a mason with the Kerrville Masonic Lodge.
He was also active in his family's business, serving as president of the Charles Schreiner Company, which was the Schreiner store; president of the Schreiner Wool Commission Company; organizer and president of the Kerrville Telephone Company; president of the board of trustees of Schreiner Institute, which is now Schreiner University.
He and other members of his family gave the land for Kerrville's post office, which now is the site of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center; gave the land for what is now the V. A. Medical Center; and he and his wife Myrta built and donated the First Presbyterian Church building, the portion which is now called the 'Schreiner Chapel.'
His business interests included ownership of the Blue Bonnet Hotel. In addition, he served as president of the Kerrville Amusement Company, which operated the Cascade Swimming Pool and the Arcadia Movie Theater.
Myrta Scott Schreiner was born in 1865 in Bosqueville, Texas. She moved to Kerrville around 1880, when her father, Captain Whitfield Scott, purchased the St. Charles Hotel.
She was a deeply religious woman and was among those who organized the First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville. She served her community in many ways, including as chairman of various committees of the local chapter of the American Red Cross. She was a charter member of the Kerrville Women's Club, serving as president several times. She directed the choir at the Presbyterian church, and was a soprano soloist there.
It is said she influenced Captain Charles Schreiner to found what is now Schreiner University, and also convinced him to associate the new school with the Presbyterian faith.
The house at 529 Water Street was not the first home of A. C. and Myrta Schreiner on that property.
According to one source, originally there was a small frame home there, built on property purchased from the Quinlan family.

The home as it appeared in the 1980s.

Later, a much larger frame home was built was built there, which faced down Water Street toward the Schreiner store. I have not found out exactly what happened to this building, but I can see it in photographs as early as 1896.
The building standing at 529 Water Street today was completed in 1909. One source says it designed by James Flood Walker, who had an architecture practice in San Antonio. One project designed by Walker was the St. Anthony Hotel in downtown San Antonio. Another source says the home was designed by Atlee B. Ayres, who served as the State Architect of Texas from 1914 to 1917. Ayres is known to have worked with other members of the Schreiner family on other projects, so it's possible he designed 529 Water Street.
An interesting change happened between the 1896 home and the 1909 home: the current home doesn't face down Water Street, but rather the porches and front door face toward the rising sun, roughly toward the east.
A. C. Schreiner died at his home in 1935, at the age of 73. His widow, Myrta Scott Schreiner, also died at home in 1958, at the age of 93.
The house has had many owners since Myrta Scott Schreiner passed away there, including a couple, the Herman Beckers, who were Christian missionaries in China; A. P. Allison, who purchased it in 1959; the Harold Saunders family purchased it in the early 1960s and lived there; L. D. Brinkman purchased it in 1980; the last couple to live there, Walter and Barbara Schellhase, purchased the home in 1992.
Three years ago an anonymous donor purchased 529 Water Street from the Schellhases and donated the property to the City of Kerrville.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has fond memories of playing at 529 Water with his childhood friend Kay Ann Saunders (Schmidt). This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 18, 2018.

A sorghum mill on Fall Branch, which I believe was similar to the mill
described by Herbert Oehler below.
Click on any image to enlarge.

As I finished up another slice of leftover Thanksgiving pie, I remembered a story about farmers making sugar from cane right here in Kerr County, taken from my files:
In years past, as the days grew shorter and the temperature began to cool, work on Kerr County farms didn’t slow down. Take for instance the Oehler family who had a small molasses mill on their farm between Ingram and Mountain Home in the “upper Johnson Creek valley” in 1907.
You and I don’t really think about sweeteners: if we want sugar we just hop over to H-E-B and buy a package. And while sugar was available at grocery stores in Kerrville in 1907, many families grew their own cane and had it processed by a neighbor.
Herb Oehler, in his book “Hill Country Boy” writes about his family’s molasses mill:
“We didn’t get into molasses making intentionally. It happened because there was a molasses mill and cooking vat on the place when we bought it… and Papa was not one to pass up an opportunity to cash in on the use of available equipment, even if it wasn’t familiar to him. I am sure that the Tom Parks family who lived on the place before we moved there were instrumental in teaching Papa and Mama how to operate it. While we always process the other neighbor’s cane crops for them, I remember that the Parks’ made arrangements each year to use the equipment to process their own crop.
“Papa preferred orange or redtop cane rather than the sugar cane because it had tendency to fall over when nearly mature, resulting in the stalks becoming twisted and crooked. This made them hard to handle and hard to feed into the mill.

Sorghum mill on Fall Creek, operated as a
community project by Clate Smith.

“When the cane was ripe it had to be stripped, that is, the leaves had to be knocked off. This was done with wooden paddles while it was still standing in the row. Tripping paddles were made of boards two or three feet long and three or four inches wide. With a drawing knife a handle was shaped on one end and the two sides were sharpened. Sugar barrel staves were ideal for this since they were made of light, tough wood and were the proper length and width.

“After stripping, the cane was cut by hand with sickles and stacked in small piles so the tops could be cut off. The tops from four piles were tossed together into one place and left to dry for several days before being gathered and threshed. Threshing was done by placing the tops on a wagon sheet, beating them with a flail, and then winnowing out the chaff. The grain was used as seed the next season or was sold.”
Even though it was a lot of work to get the cane ready to process, the real work began once the cane was taken to the mill.
“The molasses mill was a heavy piece of machinery set on stout cedar posts about three feet high. This height enabled the one who fed the cane stalks into the mill to sit in comfort while performing his task. The mill consisted of three iron rollers about eighteen inches tall. Each one had an iron cog on top. The rollers were set on end with heavy iron frames keeping them in place….”
The mill was powered by a horse, traveling round and round the mill, “turning the big roller whose cog turned the other rollers…the cane juice was squeezed out as the stalks were fed into the mill onto a sort of slide…when the slide was full, the horse was unhitched from the mill, hitched to the slide, and the crushed stalks hauled off to one side and dumped.”
The cane juice was cooked, and impurities skimmed off “with a sieve-like, long-handled” skimmer. This scum was fed to the hogs.
The finishing the molasses was tricky: “Mama presided over the vat. Knowing when it was done enough to be drained off into cans and buckets required knowledge gained from experience. If it cooked too long, the molasses was thick and stiff when cold and if it wasn’t cooked long enough, it might retain too much moisture which could make it ferment or sour.”
The price of molasses in those days was about 10 cents a pound. The Oehlers processed a lot of cane for their neighbors in the early part of the last century, during harvest time.
Making things sweeter took a lot of work!
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is thankful for many blessings, most of them sweet. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times November 24, 2018.

Looking Back, by Joe Herring Jr., NEW for 2018!
192 pages, lots of historic photographs,
and a collection of columns about the history of our community.
Order HERE. Use the promo code NEWBOOK to save $5

This book is a collection of newspaper columns I wrote for the Kerrville Daily Times, all written since the publication of my last book, Kerrville Stories, in 2012. This new book also includes photographs from my collection of historic Kerrville and Kerr County photographs, many of the published here for the first time.

Writing a weekly column for the Kerrville Daily Times has allowed my family and me to explore many places seldom seen by others, from Native American pictographs in the far western part of Kerr County, to the search for tunnels beneath Water Street in downtown Kerrville. I've learned so much about our community's history from these adventures, and I've had a lot of fun sharing these stories with you.

This book is an attempt to preserve these stories and images from Kerr County's past for future citizens of our community.

Pre-Publication Sale!

"Looking Back," my third book about the history of Kerrville and Kerr County is in production at the book bindery, and should arrive back in Kerrville the week of December 17, 2018.

The book is 192 pages, and includes lots of historic photographs, some published here for the first time. Also included are a selection of my columns written between 2013 - 2018.

As with my first two books, I'm offering you a chance to save a little money on the book if you order in advance of the book's publication. The price of the book is $39.95 (as it was on my 2010 book and my 2012 book). Order before December 15, and you'll save $5.00 on your order! When you order just use this Promo Code: NEWBOOK

The book website will also offer you the option of having the book shipped to you, or for you to pick up the book at our print shop in Kerrville. If you choose to pick up your book, you'll also save the $4.95 shipping cost.

To order, click HERE.

Thanks for your support and encouragement. I really appreciate it!

Instructions:

The book website is a little confusing, so here are instructions on claiming your $5.00 off coupon and also how to save on the shipping by picking up the book at our print shop:

How to Save $4.95 on Shipping:

If you'd like to pick up your order at Herring Printing Company, 615 Water Street, Kerrville,
and save the $4.95 shipping cost, just click on Shippingas shown above,
and changing it to Pickup as shown below.

Select "Pickup" as shown

By selecting Pickup, you'll save the $4.95 Shipping Charge
Joe's new book will be available for pickup the week of December 17, 2018.
We will email you when your order is ready to pick up.

How to enter the Promo Code to save $5.00 off your order

Promo code is NEWBOOK

The Promo Code for the Pre-Publication Sale is
NEWBOOK
which will save you $5.00 on your order during the sale.

Again, thanks for your support and encouragement. Please share this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, by clicking the buttons below.

Two of Kerr County's courthouses in a single photo.
The smaller building behind the man is Kerr County's second courthouse, completed in 1876;
the taller building is Kerr County's third courthouse, completed in 1886.
Click on any image to enlarge.

There have been either four or five courthouses in Kerr County.
The very first Kerr County courthouse was made of logs and stood opposite Jefferson Street from the courthouse square, about where the parking lot of Grimes Funeral Chapels is today, and was ordered by the very first session of the newly-formed Kerr County commissioners court.
The very first session of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was not held in Kerrville, but at Commissioner George M. Ridley's farm opposite Center Point, either in Mr. Ridley's home or in a brush arbor on his place.
The first problem for the new court was to provide a place for the new county to conduct its business. On May 20, 1856 the commissioners accepted land from Joshua D. Brown, a site located in Survey No. 116.
According to that morning's proceedings, the commissioners directed the Brown "shall make a good and satisfactory warrantee deed to said county to at least four acres of land for a public square, all the streets that may be laid out in the town plat, said streets leading out from the public square to be eighty feet wide and the cross streets to be sixty feet wide; one choice good lt fronting on the public square for county use, one lot in suitable place for public church, one lot in suitable place for public school house, one lot in suitable place for jail."

Kerr County Texas courthouse completed in 1886

Another view of the 1886 Kerr County Courthouse

In the same meeting, the commissioners also authorized a contract for the first courthouse, ordering "that there be a contract made by the County Court for the building of a temporary Court House in Kerrville, to be built as follows: Of logs sixteen feet long, skelped down and to be eight feet high, the cracks to be boarded up, sawed rafters and good shingle roof with gable ends well done up, good batten door strongly hung and corners sawed down."
'Skelped,' by the way, may be a word which time has rendered difficult to define. In this case it might mean 'struck with a sharp blow.'
That same afternoon they accepted a bid from Wm. D. Hendrix, one of the commissioners, to build the temporary courthouse for $100.00, and stipulated the structure be completed by August 11th. From specifying the particulars of the first courthouse to the completion of the building would take 83 days; the building was accepted by the court on August 18, 1856.
There are no known photographs of that first courthouse, though the second courthouse and the third courthouse can be seen in several photographs.
In March, 1860, by a vote of 78 to 21, some Kerr County voters chose to move the county offices to Comfort. While there, the commissioners voted to build a new courthouse on five acres of land given to the county for a public square. I'm not sure if that courthouse was ever built.
When Kendall County was created, in 1862, Comfort found itself just over the county line, and out of Kerr County, so the county seat came back to Kerrville.
County business was held in several buildings until 1875, when Kerr County finally built a more permanent courthouse on the courthouse square.
This second courthouse was built by Hamer & Faltin, the only bidder the project, for $4,460. It was to be made of stone and have a single story.
However, a petition "from a majority of the taxpayers of the county" was presented to the court asking for a second story, to be used for community events, which raised the price by $2,000.

Kerr County Texas courthouse completed in 1927

The 1927 Kerr County courthouse

This courthouse was accepted by the commissioners court in August, 1876.
The next courthouse was built in 1885, and the older 1876 stone courthouse was recycled, becoming the Kerr County jail.
The 1885 courthouse was attractive, and I have several good photographs of the building. Most of the building was two stories, but it also had a three-story tower. The building faced Main Street, and was not in the center of the courthouse square. Both the 1876 and 1885 courthouse were closer to Main Street, with a lot of room behind them on the square.
This courthouse was completed in 1886 at a cost of $19,545. A total of $25,000 in bonds were sold by the county for the project; $3,000 of which went for the jail "cages," and $500 for the court house furniture. $100 was paid to Mrs. Jane Brown, widow of Kerrville founder Joshua Brown, for the stone from her quarry, to be used in the construction of the courthouse.
In November 1925 the commissioners court decided it was time to build a new courthouse. They put the matter to a vote of the citizens. 953 votes were cast, and, by a majority of 227 votes, the county proceeded in January 1926 to issue $110,000 in bonds for the construction of the courthouse.
The new courthouse was designed by Adams & Adams, architects out of San Antonio. W. C. Thrailkill, of San Antonio, won contract to build the courthouse.
This courthouse was completed in early 1927, and is still in use today, though an annex built in the 1970s greatly enlarged the building.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who needs to get started on his Christmas shopping. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 1, 2018.

Schreiner Institute Administration Building Kerrville 1929

Schreiner Institution, Administration Building, Kerrville, as it appeared in 1929.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Schreiner Institute Dickey Hall Kerrville 1929

Dickey Hall, 1929

This week a long-time friend brought by a copy of the 1929 Recall, the yearbook of Schreiner Institute. The book, with an elaborate cover, has about 186 pages, and has a lot of wonderful photographs of the school and its students.
Schreiner Institute is now Schreiner University, and was started in late 1917, when Charles Schreiner donated $250,000 to establish the school, along with 140.25 acres of land, with the condition construction not begin until World War I was over and at least one year had passed from the signing of the peace treaties. In the years after that first gift, Schreiner added to his commitment, eventually providing a little over $550,000 to start the school.

Schreiner Institute Headmasters House Kerrville 1929

Headmaster's House, 1929

Construction on the campus began in 1922. Three buildings were erected: a three-story main building, today called Weir Academic Building; a dormitory, Dickey Hall; and a headmaster's house, now used as the Alumni House. The architectural style of the buildings was described in the Kerrville Mountain Sun as "English Colonial," a style "which is specially adapted to the rugged surroundings and has the further advantage of being very homelike."

Schreiner Institute Hoon Hall Kerrville 1929

Hoon Hall, 1929

The choice of this architecture style is interesting. Charles Schreiner was not English, but was born in Alsace, a region of France bordering Germany. I wouldn't call the architecture style of Charles Schreiner's own house on Earl Garrett Street "English," either, though his eldest son's house might have some English inspiration. It's the big house between the print shop and the library.

Schreiner Institute A C Schreiner Hall Kerrville 1929

A. C. Schreiner Hall, 1929

Perhaps the style of architecture was chosen because it best represented a local idea of what a school should look like, using design to create something from nothing.
In September, 1923, classes began at Schreiner Institute. This means the 1929 yearbook given to me this week offers a glimpse of the school from its earliest days.
Five brick buildings are featured in the 1929 yearbook: in addition to the original three, A. C. Schreiner Hall was built in 1925, and Hoon Hall in 1926.
Two Kerrville homes are also featured in the yearbook: the Water Street home of A. C. Schreiner, who was the president of the Schreiner Institute's board of directors in 1929; and the home of Louis Schreiner, "Tulahteka," which is south of town on a hill, and was most recently the headquarters of the LDBrinkman Corporation.

Schreiner Institute football team Kerrville 1929

Schreiner Football, 1928 season

In 1929, J. J. Delaney was the school's president, who lead a faculty of twenty men and women.
The students ranged from high school freshmen through college sophomores. 34 college sophomores are listed in the yearbook, all pictured in military uniforms. Most of the young men are from Texas towns, ranging in size from Dime Box to San Antonio. Many of the sophomores are from Kerrville. There were 77 college freshman listed, and there were 94 students enrolled in the high school department. The student body, when combining the high school and college student, was 205 young men in 1929.

Schreiner Institute basketball team Kerrville 1929

Schreiner Basketball, 1928-29 season

The sports teams at Schreiner had a successful season in 1929. The football team won 8 out of 9 games, only losing to Texas Tech; the basketball team won 17 of 20 games.

Schreiner Institute 1929 Recall yearbook Kerrville Texas

Recall, 1929

Sixty nine diplomas were awarded in 1929, with 22 graduating as college sophomores, and 47 graduating as high school seniors.
I visited the Schreiner University campus this week, and was reminded what a special part of Kerrville it is. We are very lucky to have the school in our community.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is especially fond of one particular Schreiner College graduate, the lovely Ms. Carolyn. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 8, 2018.

Students at Kerr County's Sunset School, between Ingram and Mountain Home, around 1912.
Herbert Oehler is the boy on the far left, third row.
Click on either photo to enlarge.

Schools have been an important part of our county since its earliest days, and schools used to dot our hills in places where no schools stand today.
There were schools named for creeks, such as Turtle Creek School and Cypress Creek School; there were schools which served farming and ranching communities, like the Reservation School, or the Divide School. Hunt, Ingram, and Center Point all had schools, of course, as well as Kerrville.
But schools also provided a place to gather, and with Christmas just around the corner, I thought I’d share a story from my files about the Sunset community coming together during the Christmas season early in the last century, around 1912.
My father printed a book for Mr. Herbert E. Oehler in 1981 called “Hill Country Boy,” a “compilation of articles” Oehler had written for “Hill Country, the magazine supplement of the Kerrville Daily Times, during the period from November 1972 to July 1974.” I like the book because it offers a clear view of what life was like here at the turn of the last century. The Oehlers had a nice place in the “Sunset” community, between Ingram and Mountain Home, in the Johnson Creek valley.
“Christmas,” Oehler writes, “was an important community event. Its celebration was not too much different from what it is today, with a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, gift giving, and a big meal. However, the one thing that was conspicuously different was that the whole celebration revolved around the commonly accepted belief that it was a religious observance.”

Sunset School, around 1912.

That was why, he continues, the last day of school before the Christmas holiday was given over to a community Christmas tree and program.
“For this event, the teacher’s desk was moved to one side and a big cedar tree was set up, filling the space between the blackboard and the recitation bench. The trimmings were mostly homemade – strings of popcorn, colored paper chains, and glittering strands of tin foil. A tinsel star twinkled at the very top, reflecting the sputtering flame of the many-colored wax candles in their clip-on metal holders. About the base of the tree, which was swathed in red crepe paper, were cheesecloth bags filled with fruit, nuts and candy, one for each boy and girl.
“But before Santa Claus came out to distribute these to the children, the program had to be presented. This varied little from year to year. There was a manger scene, there were shepherds and wise men, and angels, too. Competition between the older girls for the role of the Virgin Mary was especially keen. Just how the teacher made the appointment without causing some hair pulling will always remain her secret. If the girl had a chosen “beau,” or if she liked a certain boy, he usually rather reluctantly donned the robes of Joseph. The roles of shepherds, wise men, innkeeper and angels were assigned to those who did not give a recitation. These recitations were usually Christmas poems or readings given by badly frightened, stuttering boys and girls between the singing of the old familiar Christmas songs.
“At home, Christmas did not lose its religious character just because there was a distribution of gifts. Christmas Day was a religious holiday, just like Sunday, and we did only the chores that were absolutely necessary on that day. The gifts were given out after breakfast from beneath a tree (which was a small replica of the one at school)… The tree was almost perfect in shape because all during the year Papa would spot small suitable cedar trees and keep them trimmed for the purpose.”
There were eight children in the Oehler house, and though most of the gifts under the tree were for the entire family – fruit and nuts, a bushel of apples – each child had an individual gift, “something we could call our very own.”
After each child had had a chance to try out their gifts – to play with them out in the yard – Oehler’s father would call them all back to the house and read from a book of sermons.
They were “in German, and while we did not always understand all of it, we knew we had to stay quiet and pay attention anyway. When the reading was over it was usually time for Mama to put dinner on the table. Then it was back to play or a visit with the neighbors or whatever it was we wanted to do.”
I’m hoping your Christmas season is holy – and merry, too.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is particularly fond of a certain school teacher. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 15, 2018.

Joe's new book is selling fast. To order your copy, please click HERE

Tivy High School, as it appeared in 1899.
Today the building houses the central office of the Kerrville Independent School District.
Click on any photo to enlarge.

119 years ago yesterday, on December 22, 1899, a remarkable news magazine was published in Kerrville by J. E. Grinstead. The Neunhoffer family kindly let me make a copy of the magazine years ago.

Kerrville's Masonic Building in 1899

To celebrate his purchase of the Kerrville Paper, and to announce its new name, Grinstead produced a twenty page booklet with the masthead Kerrville Mountain Sun, Vol. 1, No. 1; it was proudly printed by "Grinstead & Boyd, General Printers." Its glossy pages measure about 14 by 10.5 inches, which is quite large, and it has a sturdy ivory-colored cover. It is illustrated with many photographs of Kerrville and Kerr County
Such a publication would have required an enormous amount of work, especially when printed on a letterpress. There were no modern typesetting machines; the type was set by hand. The photographs had to be converted to metal "cuts," an expensive and time-consuming process. Folding and stitching the signatures into a booklet would have been done by hand, as well.
In the midst of this work, J. E. Grinstead was facing tragedy. He'd moved here with his wife, Sarah Frances Grinstead, and their two sons, Grady and Doyle. Sarah was ill with tuberculosis, and in those days Kerrville's climate was thought to help those afflicted with that illness.

Kerr County Courthouse, 1899

Sadly, Sarah died just 5 days after the publication of the first issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun, on December 27, 1899.
The news magazine is remarkable because it offers a time-capsule glimpse of what Kerrville and Kerr County were like at the end of the nineteenth century.
Though Grinstead's writing is relentlessly positive about Kerr County in 1899, the picture he paints offers clues about life here then.
"The resources of Kerr County are varied and extensive. The chief agricultural products are corn, wheat, oats, rye, sorghum, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes. The black soil of the Guadalupe valley is especially adapted to the production of wheat and rye. Oats and corn also grow well here, and a failure of Kerr County's cereal crop is almost unknown. Sorghum cane is raised here for forage for stock, and often yields ten to twelve tons per acre; it is also grown for syrup, and the product is of the highest quality, and the yield enormous."

Kerrville's Tivy Hotel, in 1899

Ranching here is also described:
"The entire country is a vast pasture for stock. There is not an acre of land in the county that cannot be utilized either for agricultural or grazing purposes. Even the tops of the highest mountains are valuable pastures for thousands of sheep and goats."
Both the Live Oak and Stoneleigh ranches are singled out as "the head of their class as producers of fine cattle and horses. For speed and endurance, the horses bred in this medium high altitude, where the climate is such that colts may be allowed to run in open pastureland the entire year, far excel stock of the same strain bred in low, cold climates."
Surprisingly, even though the front cover says "Christmas Edition," there is no mention of the holiday in the booklet.

Charles Schreiner Mansion, Kerrville, 1899

Home of Charles and Magdalena Schreiner, 1899

"Kerrville's first claim to the attention of the outside world," Grinstead writes, "is based on its reputation as a resort for those seeking health and pleasure at all seasons of the year."
Many families came to Kerrville seeking health, starting soon after the Civil War, and this continued for many decades into the 20th century. Many had at least one member of the family who suffered from tuberculosis.
Perhaps Kerr County's first claim 'to the attention of the outside world' was actually hope. Hope for health, hope for a family to be restored. Given this magazine's publication at Christmastime, perhaps that's its most important theme: hope.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes all of you a Christmas that is holy, and a New Year that is healthy. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 22, 2018.

As 2018 ends, it's time to look back over the last 12 months to learn what readers enjoyed most.
While each column takes about the same amount of research and effort, some are more popular than others, as measured by page views on my blog, www.joeherringjr.com.
This year's top five most-viewed columns were viewed over 30,000 times, with the highest having almost 8,600 page views. I'm always surprised by these numbers, considering the column is about the history of one small town in the Texas hill country.
Here are the top five columns of 2018:

Bandera Pass, 1905

Number Five: The fifth most popular column in 2018 was "A newly discovered photograph of Bandera Pass," published in February, 2018.
A kind reader brought by a box of old family photographs, and tucked in the box was a small photograph of the pass which was labeled 1905. While the photograph shows a gap in the hills which is familiar to travelers today, it lacks a paved highway. A pair of dusty wagon wheel tracks can be seen, jogging among the trees and shrubs.
Automobiles were not very common in our area until around 1908, and so the photograph shows the pass as it appeared for several hundred years, when the only vehicles rolling that way were wagons drawn by animals.
I have another very old photograph of Bandera Pass in my collection, but it's not dated, so I cannot tell which was taken first.

Charles Schreiner Bridge Kerrville Texas 1971

Charles Schreiner Bridge, Kerrville, 1971

Number Four: "A well-remembered bridge in Kerrville," which was published in March.
The bridge crossing the Guadalupe River in downtown Kerrville has several names. Most call it the Sidney Baker Street Bridge, but a small plaque at the southwest end of the bridge says it was "Dedicated to Captain Charles Schreiner: a pioneer in citizenship, philanthropy and highway building in the hill country." That plaque was placed on the bridge in 1935, back when the bridge was originally constructed as a steel truss bridge, with three large spans supported from above by steel.
That old bridge was distinctive and many locals remember it fondly. It was featured in many photographs from the era.
In the 1970s the bridge was widened from two to five lanes plus a pedestrian sidewalk, the steel structure was removed and replaced by pre-stressed concrete girders. In the process, the bridge went from 22 feet wide to 60 feet, and the improvements cost around $1.1 million. When construction was complete, the plaque from the old bridge was moved from the northeast end of the bridge to its present location on the opposite end.

Ice Plant Tunnel, Kerrville, 2018

Number Three: "At least one of the tunnels in downtown Kerrville," published in April.
There are persistent stories of tunnels in the downtown area of Kerrville. In at least one case, the stories are true.
At one time there was an Ice Plant in the 800 block of Water Street, on the river side of the intersection of Water and Washington Streets. Parts of the old plant still exist, and beneath the driveway of One Schreiner Center a tunnel and subterranean room can be found.
Ed Hamilton was kind enough to share photographs taken during an engineering survey of the tunnel.

Woolls Building, Center Point, around 1902

Number Two: "Where was Zanzenburg, Texas? (Hint: Kerr County.)," which was published in August.
Zanzenburg was the original name of Center Point, Texas. The original name was given by a landowner there, Charles de Ganahl, who named it for his ancestral home in the Austrian Tyrol. The name was changed to Center Point in 1872 by Dr. G. W. Harwell, who was postmaster at the time. There are several stories about how Center Point got its current name, but the one that seems to make the most sense was it was a trading center roughly in the halfway between Kerrville and Comfort, and halfway between Fredericksburg and Bandera.

Freight wagons, west of Kerrville,
around 1900, from the collection
of Jeff Blakely Sr.

Number One: The most popular column in 2018 was "From Kerrville to Junction by Wagon," which appeared in January.
This story, about freighters carrying goods between Kerrville and Junction was a surprise hit, carried mainly by the wonderful photographs loaned to me by Jeff Blakely Sr.
Travel between Junction and Kerrville was slow and occasionally dangerous. There were 13 creek crossings between Mountain Home and Ingram alone. There were many very steep inclines between here and Junction, and occasionally a robber or two.
Stage travel between Kerrville and Junction took most of a day, and hauling freight between the two towns took even longer. Travel today, in our air-conditioned automobiles, is comfortable and fast, taking about an hour.
Thanks so much for your kind words about my column this year. I appreciate your support and encouragement.
Until next year, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wishes you a healthy and happy 2019. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 29, 2018.

My new book about Kerrville and Kerr County is available online, at Herring Printing Company and at Wolfmueller's Books.

Customers at Lehmann's Luncheonette, Kerrville, 1960s.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Over 20 years ago I asked readers to share their stories about Kerrville restaurants, describing eateries of old, food palaces now gone, cafes of yesterday.
I enjoyed this one from Barbara Moose, of Kerrville:
"There wasn't a Saturday morning that was missed when my girls and I went to Lehman's counter for breakfast."
Lehman's was a variety store that was once on Water Street, in the 700 block. The two-story stone building was originally the Schreiner Wool Warehouse; in its last use, it was a Winn’s store. It was torn down in the 1990s, and stood about where the outside dining area of Cartewheels is today.
Ms. Moose continues about those breakfasts with her girls, enjoying a "breakfast of a toasted chicken or tuna fish sandwich of all things on a Saturday morning.
"It was grocery day, but we had to eat and drink first. The marquee was listed at the top in red letters, there was no menu. You kind of told the girl behind the counter what you wanted. You got a ticket, and paid for it up front as you left the store.
"When Lehman's was torn down to make way for bigger things, the wood flooring is in my house today, believe it or not."
Karen Landrum Samford sent me a story about a restaurant that fits into that category:
"One place I remember my mother and aunt liked was called 'The Grove.' It was a neat place, located about where the River Oaks Shopping Center is today, on Junction Highway.
"I remember," Ms. Samford continues, "we would drive under lots of big old shade trees. That's probably why they called it The Grove. The carhop would come take our order. The only food I can remember were the corndogs. I loved the golden buttery tasting cornbread on those corndogs.

Blue Bonnet Hotel, Kerrville, 1950s

"Another place I remember was the diner in the Bluebonnet Hotel. The R. B. McKinnons had the restaurant at the time I remember it. They were friends of my grandparents and parents."
The Bluebonnet Hotel was an eight-story hotel at the intersection of Water and Earl Garrett streets, across Water Street from today’s Francisco’s Restaurant. It was torn down in the 1970's to make room for a parking lot and drive-through bank; then the drive-through bank was torn down to make more parking. It was once an elegant hotel that overlooked the Guadalupe River.
Ms. Samford tells about the Bluebonnet Hotel: "we would go there on Sunday after church for dinner. It always smelled so good. Hot roast beef sandwich (open) with mashed potatoes and green beans. Of course, brown gravy on everything. It was so good. The adults would sit at a table near the bar (counter) and my two brothers and I would sit at the bar. Of course, we always had plenty of iced tea!
My favorite letter was sent in by Pauline Mosty, and is entitled "Smells of Kerrville -- 1945 -- and Rat Cheese."
I have fond memories of the Mostys, and I miss them.
"Long ago smells of Kerrville are very special to me. My memory takes me back when I, a very timid seventeen year old, was newly hired by the Lower Colorado River Authority located at 211 Earl Garrett Street.

Henke's Meat Market, Kerrville

"Our chief clerk was Leon Miller. He was still a bachelor, with a very healthy appetite. He pulled some money out of his pocket and told me to pick up the food for 'a feed.' I was instructed to go for Bar-B-Que, bread and Rat Cheese. I was born in Kerrville, so I knew where those good smells came from, but how would I explain what Rat cheese is?
“With delicious smells guiding my way, I turned the corner and went down Water Street. The smell from Henke's Meat Market was tantalizing as Chester Henke sliced the meat. The bread baked by Robert Wolfmueller was still warm."
Henke's Meat Market and Wolfmueller's bakery were in the 800 block of Water Street that is opposite the One Schreiner Center building today. The H. E. Butt Grocery store stood where the driveway to the One Schreiner Center building is now; when I was young, I believe that the same building housed the C. R. Anthony Company store, next to the Vogue dress shop.
Mrs. Mosty continues: "I really dreaded to go into H. E. B. because I had to ask for that Rat Cheese. Dusty Sanders wrapped the cheese without blinking an eye. I came to know that our Mr. Miller had his own name for things and the merchants understood.
"The meal I shared that noon, with co-workers who would become my lifelong friends, tasted as good as it smelled. I was a very lucky girl!"
History is more than dry memorization of dates and facts, trying to remember which general led which charge. Sometimes history is the story of a well-remembered meal, of toasted tuna sandwiches, or hot roast beef with gravy, or even Rat Cheese.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who likes to eat. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times January 5, 2019.

Tivy Cheerleaders, from the 1963 "Antler,"
the yearbook of Tivy High School.
Click on any image to enlarge.

This week a kind reader brought by six different editions of the "Antler," Tivy High School's yearbook, adding 1945-48, 1961, and 1963 to my collection.
It was timely having these arrive at the beginning of 2019, when I've busy building budgets and plans for the new year, the part of the year when I'm most focused on time, especially the year just completed and the new one unfolding.

Tivy downtown Pep Rally,
1947 yearbook.

This thinking about time continued as I read through the yearbooks, seeing familiar faces from the 1940s and 1960s involved in activities I remember from my own time as a Tivy student in the late 1970s, activities which continue at the school today. It reminded me much of small-town life repeats each year.
The yearbooks show young people engaged in high school traditions: academics, sports, clubs, music and socializing. The tone of the book from 1945 is not that much different from the 1963 edition. The students and most of the faculty are different folks, of course, but the books show young people who look happy and bright, busy at school.

Spikettes, marching on Main Street,
1946 yearbook

There were senior class plays and dances in the gym; roller skating at the "Point Inn;" football and basketball; homemaking classes and future farmers. As always, a few students were put in the spotlight: most beautiful, most popular, best all-around.
Some of the clubs from 1945 reflect the war still raging all over the world. There was a U. S. O. club, which helped with Red Cross projects, and waste paper drives. The war didn't end until the summer of 1945. The yearbook also featured hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations, and had the words to the Tivy Fight Song and Alma Mater printed in its pages.

Tivy Band, on Clay Street,
1948 yearbook.

The senior class of 1946 had a page dedicated to their baby photos, which are wonderful. The 1946 book has more pages and photos, too, than the previous year. I'm guessing supplies were available after the war.

Tivy yell leaders, at new
Antler Stadium, 1945 yearbook

The 1947 book introduced some color to its pages -- not in full-color photographs, but in accent colors announcing the different sections. The book has quite a few photographs of downtown Kerrville, too.

Tivy Antler staff,
1961 yearbook.

In 1948, many of the students' photos included nicknames, and I wondered if these were names the students picked themselves. Other students had a career listed after their name, such as restaurant owner, or nurse, or coach. A few of the girls listed housewife; a few of the boys listed rancher.
The two books from the 1960s show a lot of technical innovations. The photos are better, and the typesetting is also better. I guess only a printer would notice these things. I was surprised to find several familiar faces among the students, having never realized they were raised here and were Tivy graduates.
Some people think time runs in a straight line, and some think time is like a pendulum. Others believe it is like a circle, with the seasons going round and round. Reading through these yearbooks made me think time was a straight line for individuals, but more like a circle for communities.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who graduated from Tivy many, many years ago. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times January 12, 2019.

My books are available here, with FREE SHIPPING.

James "Bucky" Evertson, Oak Park Farm, Kerrville, 1957,
with Champion Dairy Animal at the first Hill Country District Boys Livestock Show held
in what was then called the Ag Barn, but is now called
the Hill Country Youth Event Center.

The Hill Country Junior Livestock Show, which has been underway this week at the Hill Country Youth Event Center on Highway 27 past the V. A. Hospital, has a long history in our community.
While competitive showing of livestock and agricultural products had its start locally at the West Texas Fair, which was held annually around the turn of the century here in Kerrville, those contests were among adult ranchers and farmers.
In 1933, C. F. Freeman, who was the Tivy High School vocational agriculture teacher, organized an exhibit of "fat lambs" in downtown Kerrville on the site where the post office would later be built, at the intersection of Earl Garrett and Main streets.
The March 2, 1933 edition of the Kerrville Times reported the event on its front page:

Front-page story of
Williams and Freeman's success at
the Houston Fat Stock Show, 1933.
Click to enlarge.

"The vocational class has been feeding lambs under the direction of Prof. C. F. Freeman, and Tuesday was the day set for judging as to the winners.
"Sid Peterson, Arthur Real, and Caspar Real acted as judges and made the following awards:
"Best Lamb: First Prize, $10, to John Robert Williams; Second Prize, $5, to Jim Grey Freeman. Best pen of two lambs, first prize, two ewe lambs, to John Robert Williams. Largest gain: first prize, 4 lambs, John Robert Williams. Jim Gray Freeman had on exhibition the largest lamb, weighing 121 pounds.
"The lambs were shipped by truck Wednesday to Houston, where they will be entered in the Fat Stock who in that city, and will be offered for sale at the close of the stock show.
"19 boys, members of the Tivy vocational class, made entries of fed lambs in the local showing were Martin Stehling, Tom Rogers, Jim Grey Freeman, Neil Gillies, Clifton Dickey, Elmer Earl Wren, Henry Allen, John Robert Williams, Rudolph Radeleff, Guy Kincaid, Leo Rodriguez, Leroy Grona, Doyle Nichols, Hollis McDonald, James Spicer, and J. E. Rose."
Other members of the class raised pigs; Edward (Happy) Granes started with a pig weighing 80 pounds, and after four months feeding the pig's gross weight was 385 pounds. Gerald Swearingen's pig grew from 80 pounds to a gross weight of 250 pounds.
The lambs shipped to Houston had some success there. John Robert Williams won two first prizes, a second, and a third prizes; Jim Grey Freeman a second, third, and fourth prizes; Tom Rogers won a fourth prize.
From this beginning, the livestock show grew. "In 1935," according to an article in the January 16, 1991 edition of the Kerrville Daily Times, "200 supporters attended the show and prize money of $55 was awarded to the winning exhibitors.
"The Jaycees took over the stock show in 1937. They moved the location to the old Schreiner warehouse, and encouraged even more local support."
By 1939, over 2000 spectators watched the exhibition of 250 animals. In 1940 the Greater Kerr County Boys Fat Stock Show was organized, with Pierce Hoggett as chairman. In 1941 a $7,500 livestock pavilion was opened, which was called "a new era in the development of blooded stock in this area" by the Kerrville Mountain Sun.

Bucky Evertson also had the
Champion Dressed Fryers
at the 1957 HCDBLS.

During the war years, from 1942-1944, prize money was paid in war stamps and savings bonds, and many of the buyers donated their animals to the American Red Cross.
The first Hill Country District Livestock Show and Auction was held in 1945, under the direction of the Kerr County Livestock Show Association, the Kerrville Kiwanis Club, the Kerrville Rotary Club, and both local chambers of commerce.
In 1948, 275 boys showed more than 1000 head of stock.
In 1953, the Kerr County commissioners court approved a $200,000 bond election to build an agricultural building; in 1954, the commissioners approved the purchase of 90 acres, the present site of the Hill Country Youth Event Center. The first livestock show held on this site was in 1957.
Since then the building has seen additions, renovations, and expansion. It's truly a remarkable event center today.
This year the Hill Country Junior Livestock Show is celebrating its 75th birthday. Over those 75 years young men and women have learned valuable lessons about hard work, grit, and determination. All of this has been made possible by countless hours of volunteer labor, support from our community, and clear-headed direction by several generations of leaders.
Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is proud of the success of the Hill Country District Livestock Show. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times January 19, 2019.

Joe's new book is available by clicking HERE

A difficult task

The Story of the First Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair

Earl Garrett died 100 years ago today

Photos from Kerr County in 1968

The Sad Story of Sidney Baker, who died 100 years ago this week

An Amazing Booklet with Kerr Connections: Lazy E 342

The Shingle Makers who founded Kerr County

How to make cypress shingles like Kerrville's settlers

Kerr County was jubilant 100 years ago today. And yet....

A gift to Kerrville

Making Sugar on Johnson Creek in 1907

My New Book is Available for Pre-Order!

Pre-Publication Sale!

To order, click HERE.

Instructions:

How to Save $4.95 on Shipping:

Select "Pickup" as shown

How to enter the Promo Code to save $5.00 off your order

Promo code is NEWBOOK

Courthouses of Kerr County

Kerrville's Schreiner Institute in 1929

A Kerr County Christmas Story from around 1912

The Christmas Edition, 1899: The very first issue of the Kerrville Mountain Sun

The five most popular Kerr history columns of 2018

Kerrville folks remember good places to eat

Tivy yearbooks: time capsules of ink and paper

A brief history of the Hill Country District Junior Livestock Show