853 Clay Street

This house at 853 Clay, at the corner of Myrta Street, was erected between 1922 and 1925 by the Kerrville Lumber Company for Raymond A. Franklin and his wife Kate. At the time Franklin was superintendent of schools for Kerrville, a position he held for 15 years. He was about 22 when he took the job. When he left he was earning the princely sum of $3,000 a year.
Mrs. Franklin taught at Franklin Junior High School for 10 years. One of her classes interviewed pioneer settlers and produced a history of Kerr County based on these oral histories.  The Kerrville Genealogical Society has a copy.
FJHS was named for him, at the students’ request, during his tenure.  In December 1935, after Franklin spent three weeks at the Veterans Hospital, a special meeting of the school board was called. The Franklins resigned and left town and the junior high school was renamed Tivy Junior High School.

On On Oct 6, 1922, J. M. Hamilton and his wife Mary Hamilton transferred a lot on Clay Street (Cage Addition, part of lot 14,  Block G) to their daughter Kate Franklin and her husband R. A. Franklin for $1.
The deed record is confusing on this next part, but it appears that on October 12, 1922, the Franklins contracted with Kerrville Lumber Company to buy lumber on credit to erect a dwelling house. The lumber company then sold the note to H. C. Robinson.  I initially assumed they then immediately erected the house, but it does not appear on the November 1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, which suggest it was not yet built. Perhaps the lumber was not released until it was paid for. The lien was released by H. C. Robinson to Kate Franklin and husband on July 16, 1925. This is the probable date construction began.
The Franklins sold this property in July 1937 to S. S. Webster of Harlingen. Webster had lived in Kerrville before, having built the Caroline Courts several years earlier.  In May 1938 Webster obtained a building permit for a dwelling on Myrta Street at a cost of $750.  This may have been a small secondary residence behind the main house.  At some point Webster poured concrete for a sidewalk from the front door of the house to Clay Street and inscribed his name “S S Webster”.  It is visible today.

Sanborn map of 853 Clay Street in 1930

We know they were living at 853 Clay Street before 1930 because of this item in the March 6, 1930, Kerrville Mountain Sun:

Mrs. Ann Hudspeth, West Texas Pioneer, Buried Here Tuesday
Funeral services were held Tuesday for Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Hudspeth, 85, a pioneer of West Texas, who passed away Monday at the home of he  daughter, Mrs. J. M. Hamilton, in Austin.  The services were held Tuesday afternoon from the home of Raymond A. Franklin, 853 Clay Street, conducted by Rev. J. B. Alford of Austin. Interment was made in Glen Rest Cemetery, under direction of the Kerrville Funeral Parlor. … in 1895 they moved to Kerrville where the aged lady made her home until three years ago. Her husband [James A. Hudspeth] preceded her in death on August 7, 1920. He was a discharged Confederate soldier from Arkansas.  [Raymond Franklin was a grandson.]

The Franklins sold this property in July 1937 to S. S. Webster of Harlingen. Webster had lived in Kerrville before, having built the Caroline Courts several years earlier.  In May 1938 Webster obtained a building permit for a dwelling on Myrta Street at a cost of $750.  This may have been a small secondary residence behind the main house.  At some point Webster poured concrete for a sidewalk from the front door of the house to Clay Street and inscribed his name “S S Webster”.  It is visible today.

In April 1944 S.S. Webster and his wife sold the property to C.A. Sackrey. The Sackrey family initially came to Kerrville for health reasons, but daughter Emma did not survive. They decided to stay and moved from a rental on Golf Street to this house they purchased. Then in September 1946 C.A. Sackrey and his wife sold the house to Mrs. Ruth V. Roome, former postmistress of Bandera.

The Kerrville Times reported the following on March 24, 1949. "Mr. and Mrs. Bill Arnold have purchased the residence of Mrs. Ruth Rhome at the corner of Myrta and Clay Streets and will move into the place within the near future.  The house was built by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Franklin several years ago.”
The Arnolds are mentioned often in the old newspapers, being very active in the Baptist church, the PTA, and other organizations.  The February 20, 1952 Kerrville Times reported  Mrs. Bill Arnold was hosting a Conversational Spanish-English class at her home at 853 Clay through the Tivy Elementary PTA.

In August 1965 Bill A. Arnold and wife sold the house to Richard L. Reeves whose heirs own the property today.

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Census Notes:
The 1930 census shows Raymond Franklin owned and lived in a house at 103 Jefferson St. valued at $7500. I think the Jefferson Street address is wrong.  The last page of the census in each district is commonly a list of people who got missed the first time around. There are several families listed at this address. Most likely the census taker was sloppy or trying to get done by the deadline and simply listed names with no effort to provide addresses.

I think there is also an error in the1940 Census. It shows Samuel S. Webster lived at 583 Clay in 1940. This family group is also out of order. Note the address is anagram of 853, which other records indicate is where her really lived. He was born ca 1875 in Tennessee, wife Sarah and operated a tourist court in 1940.