Signs Around Town; or, How to Make One's Mark.

I'm working on several historical projects  at the moment and have gotten a little behind in posting on this blog.  I hope to get back to posting more regularly soon.

When I was in grad school we were taught that renovations to commercial buildings often only made changes to the ground floor.  If you looked up you could learn a lot about the building's history. I would add that looking down also yields clues to the past. 

In Kerrville there are many signs of the past around town, not just old buildings, but real signs. Four are shown here.  It might be fun to point these out to your children or grandchildren.  

This first sign is you may have already seen on this blog. It's the tile entry for the one story annex to Pampell's.  Once there was a jeweler here.  It wasn't the first business, but it's the one remembered.

The next sign is embedded in the step at the corner entrance to Francisco's restaurant in the Weston Building at the corner of Earl Garrett and Water streets. This sign is the reason the building is known as the Weston building instead of the Barlemann building. Charles Barlemann erected the building, but C. T. Weston, who owned it later, is the one we remember.

This is a sign you have to know about to find.  Hart's law office is upstairs over Baublit Jewelers at 719 Water Street. This sign is at the base of the stairs and can be seen through the glass door.

The Guadalupe Cafe on Water Street was a popular restaurant from 1920 until 1932, when Bill Saludis bought it and combined Bill's Lunch Room and the Guadalupe Cafe into the Manhattan Cafe.  The building the Guadalupe Cafe was in was torn down when the Chas. Schreiner Bank expanded into modern facilities. That building later housed the Bank of America until it moved to Main Street in June 2012. The only remaining part of the building that housed the cafe is this wall.   

Here we have one more sign, perhaps the most familiar of all of these. This sign over the entrance to the now-closed Arcadia Theatre on Water Street has been promising coming attractions for many decades.  The theater closed in 1988.  It is awaiting new life. Until recently, the theater was being renovated, but work has now stopped, hopefully only temporarily. This is not the first attempt at restoring or renovating this historic theater.  Can we hope that something will indeed be coming soon?

Pampell's Opera House

 2011

Pampell's Opera House, located at 701 Water Street, is one of the most familiar buildings in downtown Kerrville, The historical marker says Pampell's was erected about 1895 as the M. V. [sic] Gregory Hotel and Store. However, I have learned from fellow history buff Lanza Teague that the building is probably older. According to his 1931 obituary, William V. and Julia Gregory purchased the lot at the corner of Water Street shortly after their marriage in 1880.  There was an existing building on it which they operated as a boarding house.  In a few years they expanded,  building a small hotel and grocery.  It is unclear from the obituary whether they added on to their existing building, or built an entirely new building. Family lore says the existing building was expanded. The photo at the bottom is said to have been taken between 1880 and 1890, so whether the building was replaced or added on, Pampell's is several years older that thought.

 John L. Pampell bought the hotel in 1901 and converted the upstairs into a theater and meeting space.  Access was by an outside stairway.  He didn't always run the theater himself, rather he sometimes leased it out. Other operators included Joe Jennings' Gayety Theater 1912-13 and John Sharfstein's Peoples Theatre in 1918.
This multi-purpose building even served as a skating rink.  On October 27, 1906, J. L. Pampell announced "I have reopened my skating rink in the Opera House. Rink will be open Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday afternoons."
Downstairs Pampell manufactured candy, ice cream, and carbonated drinks. Later it became a pharmacy.

Originally a wood frame building, it was stuccoed in early1910 and received its current brick facade in 1928.

All three building facades are shown on this page.

Stucco Facade mid-1920s.  Kerr County Historical Commission Collection

Wood frame facade of Gregory Hotel, ca 1880-1890. Courtesy Lanza Teague