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The Living Messenger for Kerr County Heroes
Close-up image of the Kerr County War Memorial, 2024.Mistakes happen, but sometimes a mistake becomes a remarkable thing, especially when combined with grace and humor.As a separate project, I’ve been...
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The Kerrville photography of A. E. Self -- from the early 1900s.
Mountain Street (now Earl Garrett Street), November 1908,by Alonzo E. Self.Click on any image to enlarge.Photographs of Kerrville and Kerr County make up an important part of my collection of...
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The men who built the Kerrville State Park in 1936
Company 1823, Civilian Conservation Corps, the men whobuilt the Kerrville State Park in 1936.Click on any image to enlarge.Recently, my friend Linda Stone created a display at the Kerr County...
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Postcards of downtown Kerrville -- from 1907
The Charles Schreiner Mansion, 1907.Click on any image below to enlarge.In 1907, Charles Apelt, of Comfort, Texas, published a series of postcards featuring buildings from downtown Kerrville.They’re...
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A walking tour of downtown Kerrville -- from 1956
Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital, around 1956.Note the gas station on the ground floor -- and the heights of the two different wings of the hospital.Click on any image to enlarge.Schreiner CompanyHow...
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Who is the Kerr County woman in the shattered portrait?
Portrait of woman on shattered glass, photo taken about 1863.Click on any image to enlarge.Often, when people bring me things, I wish someone years ago had taken the time to identify the people shown...
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What secrets are hidden in this circa 1895 photo taken in downtown Kerrville?
A faded photograph -- what secrets does it hide?Click on any image to enlarge.While going through another box of Kerrville photographs given to me by a kind reader, I stumbled upon a downtown Kerrville...
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Louise Hays Park was built in a single day -- April 26, 1950
Just a few of the workers who built Louise Hays Park in a single day,April 26, 1950.Click on any imate to enlargeAs I walked on the Kerrville River Trail through Louise Hays Park recently, I remembered...
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The Centennial of Kerrville’s Methodist Encampment
Hand-drawn map of Mount Wesley, by Viola Kellun Redmond, possibly 1960s.Click on any image to enlarge.Summer camps have played a huge role in the history and economy of our community. The first summer...
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What was the biggest crowd to visit Kerrville – before this year’s eclipse?
The Kerrville depot of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad.probably around 1900. Click on any image to enlarge.Morgan Chesky, news correspondent at NBC News (and Tivy graduate!), asked me a...
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Kerr History 101: The Shingle Maker who founded Kerrville
Sarah, Joshua and Alonzo Potter Brown, 1873, courtesy of Jan Wilkinson.(Author's note: they're holding hands.)Click on any image to enlarge.Years ago, my friends Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller, of...
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Kerr County History 101: How to make cypress shingles
Making cypress shingles: using a maul and froe to splitshingles from a block of cypress.Click on any image to enlarge.In 1940, when he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Forrest Salter...
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Kerr History 101: German Immigrants in Early Kerr County
Rosalie Hess Dietert, and a sampler she made.Click on any image to enlarge.Almost all of us here descend from immigrants; even with Native American ancestors, if you go back in time far enough, the...
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Kerr County History 101: what's the oldest settler-made structure in Kerrville?
Searching for the oldest settler-made structure in Kerrville.Click on any image to enlarge.Consider the old buildings in downtown Kerrville. Since Kerr County was created in 1856, what is the oldest...
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Kerr History 101: How Kerrville really got its name
Our part of Texas before Kerr County was created.Click on any image to enlarge.There is a persistent story about how Kerrville got its name – but is it true?"Joshua Brown, the founder of Kerrville,...
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Kerr History 101: By wagon, cart, on horseback, or by foot
Freight wagons crossing a stream.Click on any images to enlarge.In the earliest days of our community, all freight came here by wagon, pulled by oxen, mules, donkeys, or horses. From the photographs in...
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Kerr History 101: A group of Kerr County paintings at a prehistoric site
Pictographs in Kerr County -- at the 41KR493 site.Access is restricted to the site.There are faint red, black and yellow marks on a limestone bluff in the western part of Kerr County, markings which...
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Kerr History 101: What’s the link between Kerrville and Hummingbird Feeders?
W. R. (Robert) Sullivan, a patient at Kerrville's Veterans Administration Hospital in the 1930s.Many of us have hummingbird feeders hanging somewhere on our houses – ours is above the little slab...
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A new look at an old Kerrville photograph
Kerrville train depot, possibly 1910.Click on any image to enlarge.Though I have published a photograph of Kerrville’s first train depot several times, the image I used was a copy of a copy, and so...
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A wonderfully named Kerrville Band
"Joe's Band" 1911, taken in front of the Charles Schreiner Store.Click on any image to enlarge.Today one can ask the Internet to find and play almost any piece of music, even asking for a particular...
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