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| Parking lot view to show the brickwork of the original building. |
In 1944 an effort began in Kerr County to establish a War Memorial in the form of a building that would also honor all who served.
The initial effort was intended to raise money for a memorial auditorium, club rooms, and public library annex next to Antler Stadium. Fundraising was going along at a slow steady pace when the Kerr County War Memorial Association (KCWMA) received a generous bequest. In 1951 Walter Jarmon, who owned two lots at the corner of Washington and Main streets, left his entire estate for the benefit the Kerr County War Memorial Association. It was decided to build a war memorial building on the Main Street property instead.
In 1954 the KCWMA deeded the property to the county on the condition that the property be used "toward erection or equipping or/and maintaining a public building to be dedicated to the honor of those who have served the United States in all Wars." The county had two years to use the property or it would revert to the KCWMA.
They did not meet the deadline and it did revert to the KCWMA. In 1959 the organization deeded the property to the City of Kerrville and in 1960 the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium opened. In 2000 the Cailloux family made a generous gift to expand and improve the Municipal Auditorium. As a result the building was renamed the Cailloux Theater when it reopened March 27, 2003.
The building must remain as a war memorial or it reverts to the KCWMA or its successor.
To meet this requirement, the memorial to Kerr County's war dead through Vietnam is found carved in stone on the stairway landing in the lobby. Large as it is, it is easy to miss. In fact, since I usually just go directly to my seat and don't dawdle in the lobby, I didn't even know it was there until a few days before I wrote this.
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| "In memory of those persons who gave their lives in the service to and defense of this country." |
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| Memorial wall in lobby |
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