602 Bluebell Road

This ranch-style house in Blue Bell Hills, erected in the early 1950's, has provided meeting space and parking for Trinity Baptist Church since 1990.
I wrote about the Blue Bell Hills development here.
There have been many property owners, few of whom lived here long--averaging about three years each until the church bought it. This won't be a particularly interesting blog post. Most of them weren't in the news much, probably because most didn't live here long. Perhaps one of you can add some color.

In November 1949, Blue Bell Hills sold to Jim W. Weatherby, trustee, part of lot 12 block 1 of the Blue Bell Hills Addition.  In August 1950, Weatherby in turn sold the property to Don and Marjorie Bowen who, two months later, sold the lot to Carroll and Ethel King.
The Kings may be the ones who built the house.  He worked for the Kerrville Bus Company before moving to Midland in September 1951. 
In the 1950 city directory the address does not exist.  In the 1952 directory the house was up, but vacant. As a matter of fact, the house was listed as vacant in all the city directories from 1952 to 1956, sometimes with the address of 600 Bluebell.

In 1952 T. O. "Dick" and Hattie Mae Midkiff sold to A. A. and Georgia Wehmeyer.  After Georgia died in 1954, her widower continued to live here until December 1956 when he sold the house to Paul Meredith.
In March 1957, the newspaper reported as front page news that Mrs. Courtlandt Eaton, age 73, of 602 Blue Bell Road, had died.  A native of Montreal Canada, Mrs. Eaton (nee R. H. Martel Davis) had lived in Golden, Colo., coming to Kerrville in September of the previous year.

James R. England purchased the property in 1958.  The April 2, 1958, Kerrville Times reported his arrival along with the news that his first duty was to go to Austin for a briefing.  Sgt. England was the new head of the Kerrville sub-district office of the State Highway Patrol.

The city directory reported that the house was vacant between 1962 and 1965.
Over the next twenty five years there were seven owners.
For those really interested other owners and residents include: 1967-1972 realtor Temple J. Duderstadt, 1975 Shirley Swindel, 1975-76 Dean Guy (who remodeled), 1977 H. Ellis Thomas who sold to Norman E. Mayfield in September of that year, September 1977-February 1980 Mr. and Mrs. Norman E. Mayfield, 1980-86 Mrs. Lillian D. Edwards; 1986 Marguerite and Floyd Forehand.  Forehand was a football, track and basketball coach at Peterson Middle School for a short time before going to Schreiner College (now Schreiner University) in a coaching position.

In September 1990, Trinity Baptist Church bought the properties at 602 and 606 Bluebell Road for parking. While 606 is gone, this house is not.  Instead, much of its lot was paved and the house used for church activities. Newspaper mentions call it the Trinity Baptist Annex.

714 Bluebell Road

This ranch-style house at 714 Bluebell Road was built in 1950 or '51. The tax records say 1952, but since the first owners  arrived in Kerrville in 1950 and were settled enough in the house to host the Blue Bell Hills Garden Club in October of 1951, that date is clearly wrong.  George and Roberta S. Harley were the first owners.  I have not been able to learn who built the house, but I do know the Harleys purchased the property from the developer of Blue Bell Hills--realtor G. C. McCoy.  The house has been described as "solid" and well-built.  This house has beautiful shade trees in front, which unfortunately kept me from getting a good clear photo. It's better to take these photos in winter when the leaves are off.

George Foster Harley was a civil engineer with a specialty in hydraulics, supervising the construction of hydro-electric dams in several states.  In 1950 he retired from the Public Works Administration and came to Kerrville where he died in 1957.  Roberta Harley continued to live in this house until 1975 when she moved to Midland. They are buried in a family plot in Columbus, Georgia.

Cleo and Frank Prestwood were the next owners. A local newspaper noted that her collection of Lalique glassware was the centerpiece of the home they had furnished with a mix of antiques and modern furniture.  He worked in the wholesale grocery business, retiring in 1974 and moving to Kerrville. Prestwood married Cleo Burke, who was from Houston, after he retired.  A member of the Texas Rose Growers Association, his avocation was growing roses. Mentions of their home in the newspaper often included a description of the many roses used to decorate. Although it is never stated, I would not be surprised if these were his roses.  Prestwood died in 1989 and is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tyler.  His widow kept the house three more years before selling. She died in 1996 and is buried in Galveston.