1312 Water Street

The original address for this house was 1212 Water Street.  The streets in this area were renumbered about 1929.

This house at 1312 Water Street has some characteristics that have caused me to think this might be a 19th century house.  However, continued research indicates that it is more likely this was built by Ben Davey sometime between 1910 and 1914.  Here's my reasoning:

The legal description of this property is Block 10, Lot 17, Tivy Addition.  On July 31, 1907, Sid Peterson sold lots 9 and 10 for $525 to J. H. Chapman.  On Oct 16, 1907, J. H. and Ida Chapman sold lots 9 and 10 for $550 to Oscar P. Garrett, an average of $225 per lot.
Oct February 25, 1910, Garrett sold these two lots to Miss Mabel Grace Davey for $600. At the time she was a 23-year-old schoolteacher at Tivy. On June 10, 1914, she married Robert B. Knox.
On January 31, 1920, R. B. and Mabel Knox sold just lot 10, the one this house stands on, to John F. and Visa Surber for $600. Note that the value of the property had doubled in the intervening ten years. This suggests that the house was built in that time period.

ca 1932.  Courtesy, Kerr County Historical Commission Collection

Mabel's father Ben Davey was a building contractor. He very likely built this house for her, perhaps in anticipation of her marriage.
Ben Davey was at one time in partnership with Bruno Schott, veteran Kerrville builder. Many of the early buildings in the area were constructed by the firm.

John F.  and Visa Ann Surber, the next owners, and their heir Annie Rotge together owned the house for fifteen years. He had been a farmer but by 1920 he was no longer working.
In 1936 Charlie Hansen, an employee at the VA Hospital, purchased it.  He died in 1961, but his family owned it another six years until 1967. The Hansens owned the property the longest--31 years.

Over the next dozen years there were four separate owners.  It continued to be residential property until D. K. Livingston bought it in 1979. Liquidation Outlet opened here at the end of that year--the first of a series of small businesses located here ever since.