Westland Park

Westland Park is bounded by W. Water Street, Woodland Avenue, and Elm Street.
It was originally part of the Lewis dairy farm property, which I wrote about here.
You can read all of my posts about the Westland area here.
The first mention of the park is in the Kerrville Mountain Sun for June 11, 1936, when it reported a birthday party for Emily and Mary Carol Busch thus:

Little Emily and Mary Carol Busch celebrated their birthdays last Thursday afternoon in the home of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Busch on Elm Street in Westland Place.  The young hostess invited their guests to play in Westland Park, which adjoins their home, and here many games and contests were enjoyed.

Emily was 7 or 8 and Mary Carol was 3. The family home was 510 Elm Street.

In March 1937 a crew of city workmen began work on Westland Park, including building curbs, work on adjacent streets and landscaping.
In April the Civic League gave a benefit card and domino party at the Blue Bonnet Hotel to raise money to purchase playground equipment "before the summer tourists arrive in Kerrville".  The price for the event was 35 cents, which included prizes.
They didn't meet their goal, as the first playground equipment wasn't installed until mid-September, the Rotary Club providing financial assistance. The June 8, 1937, Kerrville Mountain Sun reported "It is the hope of Civic League officials to have a supervised playground at Westland Park by next summer.  The park is open for the use of all white children in the city."  Only white children.  Sadly, this was common during the Jim Crow law era. In fact, the entire development was originally "whites only".

In 1939 there was a "Clean-Up Week" in preparation for Summer Playground activities sponsored by the public school system.

The April 28, 1977, Kerrville Mountain Sun reported that Westland Park was rename Elm Street Park and gave the following unfortunate report about some park history:

Due to the heavy flow of traffic on Water, the younger children not only use the park, but Elm Street also, and this is a three block street without much traffic.  It is in constant use, and not as much misuse as when it was built.  The original barbecue pit was demolished, wooden tables and benches were used for firewood, and the swings and other equipment wrecked. … It is now well kept and many adults bring lunches to eat there.  There is a deep well, which furnished water for the Lewis dairy cattle, in the area.  The long cement picnic table was the horse watering trough.

Some time later the park regained the name Westland Park.
Joe Herring Jr. has blogged about this park, including photos of the watering trough.  You can read more from his blog here.

Lewis Dairy Farmhouse

July 2016

This graceful Victorian-style home at 313 Jackson Road, Kerrville, was erected by Judge Danforth Rogers Lewis in 1914 for his family home after he purchased land for a dairy on the outskirts of Kerrville. The land today is Westland Place.  The house is not in its original location.  It was reportedly moved from the corner of what is now West Main and Jackson Road when the land was sold for development about 1925.  The concrete picnic table in Westland Park was once the watering trough in the dairy barnyard. The house originally had seven bedrooms and no indoor plumbing.

Undated

47-year-old Danforth R. Lewis and his family, including wife Lucinda, daughter Mary, and son Arthur L. "Pinky" Lewis, came to Kerrville in 1914 from New York.

D. R. Lewis received his L.L.B. in 1896 from Cornell University and practiced law in Auburn, NY.  He first ran for office in 1897, campaigning as a Republican for Justice of the Peace.  He served 1897-1901, then was elected special county judge in Cayuga County and served three terms. He had been a Republican candidate for the New York state assembly from Cayuga County in 1910.

After poring through old newspapers and other publications, I cannot determine why he packed his bags and left upstate New York for Kerrville. Often tuberculosis was the reason, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Why would a judge and attorney leave an established practice to move two thousand miles away and give up practicing? Was there a friend who encouraged the move? Was it wanderlust? Were they tired of harsh winters?  Did he decide he didn't like the law?  Do any of my readers know? 

The first mention of the Lewis Dairy in Kerrville is in the March 20, 1915, Kerrville Mountain Sun when D. R. and A. L. Lewis posted a trespass notice. "Notice is hereby given that no hunting or other trespassing will be permitted on the Lewis Dairy Farm.  D.R. and A. L. Lewis."
By June of that year they were well enough established in business that they were advertising "pure Jersey milk and cream, delivered to your door twice daily."

In January 1917 they advertised for an experienced dairy man to live in a tenant house and work on the farm.





By 1918 the Lewis Dairy had expanded into hogs, featuring registered Poland China hogs, including a "fine service male."

In January 1920 in a bow to the growing demand for housing they offered one of their cottages for rent "no sick", in other words, no one with tuberculosis.

The February 20, 1920, Kerrville Mountain Sun ran a front-page story about the search for a hospital for veterans and an offer the Lewis Dairy made to sell the property for that purpose.  (The hospital was built east of town instead and became the VA Hospital.)  As a result, rumors were unfortunately floated in town that the dairy was closing.  These were refuted in a letter published in the newspaper.

It was for sale though, and in April 1925 a group of local businessmen purchased most of the Lewis Dairy property for a development that became Westland Place Addition. Then in April 1926 Henry Woodruff purchased what remained of the dairy.  The sale must have not have gone through because the Lewises were again running the farm at the time of Danforth's  death in 1928.
By 1930 Winford Warren took over the dairy. There were no future newspapers items after December 1930, so the dairy may have closed.

Lucinda Lewis died in 1937 in her home near the intersection of Cottage and Lewis Streets.
Danforth, Lucinda, Arthur (and his wife Cynthia) are all buried at Glen Rest Cemetery.

*****
If you have a house you'd like me to research and post on this blog, please post below or email me at dgaudier at gmail dot com.  I use this address only for the blog.

417 Elm Street

1932. Kerr Regional History Center Collection.

This Tudor style bungalow at 417 Elm Street in Westland Addition with delightful eyebrows in the roof was built by William W. Miller, Jr.  The neighborhood began developing in May 1925 when the first lots were auctioned off. I wrote about Westland here.

This house was one of the earliest built in Westland.  On June 23, 1926, Kerrville Development Company sold this lot to Miller for $250.  The deed carried the provisions that the building must cost a minimum of $2,000 to build and finish, and that it was a whites-only community. The only non-whites who could live there had to live in separate servant quarters at the rear.  This racist provision was, of course, voided by law decades ago.

On August 7, 1934, W. W. Miller sold the house to W. E. and Marian Hahn for $3,400.  There was a requirement in the deed that Hahn must carry insurance against fire and tornado.  Within the year the Hahns moved to Baca County, Colorado, and sold the house to Mrs. J. E. (Rose) McCreary "feme sole" for $2,500.  "Feme sole" means "single woman" and indicated she had the right to own property in her own name.  In this case she was widowed.

In 1936 her daughter and grandson were living with her.

On November 4, 1939, her son-in-law and daughter, A. Edward Granes and Emma Pearl Granes, sold the adjoining vacant lot, no. 11, to Rose McCreary for $300 and moved to Cherry Street.  She died 1941 and is buried next to her husband at Glen Rest Cemetery.

While researching this house I came across the best, funniest obituary I've ever seen.
It appeared on the front page of the Kerrville Times August 4, 1938.

Parrot, Hero of San Francisco Fire, Dies at 41.
Closing with peaceful death an adventurous, action-filled life of 41 years, during which he survived fire, earthquake, and revolution, "Polly", a parrot owned by Mrs. J. E. McCreary, 417 Elm Street, toppled over backward in his cage Saturday.

["Polly"... what other name could you possibly give a parrot?!]

"Polly", a native of Mexico City, was a cosmopolite, globe-trotter and and accomplished linguist.  He could converse both in English and Spanish. 
Highpoint in the bird's career came on April 18, 1906, in San Francisco when the great earthquake and fire destroyed the city and brought death to hundreds.  When the first major shock was felt at 5 o'clock in the morning "Polly," with cries of "Help!", awakened the McCreary household.
"Polly" had traveled across the continent, from San Francisco to New York.  He had been to Cuba and returned often to his birthplace, Mexico, a country which he left several times during revolutions, escorted by bullets.
"Polly" was buried under a rose bush, and his spirit doubtless has gone to the parrot heaven where a cracker can always be had for the asking.

After Rose McCreary died the house was rented out.
In 1953 the house was advertised for rent as a 5-room house.  By October, 1955, it was a 6-room house, so this may indicate an addition on the house.

While doing renovations, the current owners discovered evidence of a fire in the past.  Digging around in the old newspapers brought up the Kerrville Mountain Sun, Dec. 23, 1964, report that sparks from a fireplace had ignited the shingle roof. A few weeks later a building permit was issued to W. A. Sullivan to make repairs estimated at $1,500.

The next owners were members of the Leinweber family. Mrs. Lena Pearl Leinweber died here in 1976 at the age of 80.  She had been living with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Cid Bluemel. Sometime after Pearl died her daughter Ferne Eckert retired, moved home to Kerrville from South Carolina, and lived in this house with her husband Clifford Herman Eckert. In 1988 she was one of seven candidates for Kerr County Commissioner, District 1, losing to Dr. Gordon Morgan.
The Eckerts eventually returned to Summerville, South Carolina, where he died 2002.

*****
If you have a house more than 50 years old that you would like me to research, please contact me at dgaudier at gmail dot com. 

343 West Main Street

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ca 1932 Kerrville tax office photo

2013

This house at 343 West Main Street in Westland Place was erected in 1928 for U. S. and Lena Bounds.They purchased the lot in December 1927 from the Kerrville Development Company for $300 and started work on the house shortly after.  She was a member of the Christian Church and often entertained church groups in her home. Her husband was a plumber.  The 1930 census and several San Antonio city directories gives his name as James U. S. Bounds, but he is only referred to as U. S. Bounds in newspaper mentions.

In 1934 the Kerrville Mountain Sun ran several advertisements for "Alberty's Food for TB".  This concoction, which claimed to be a homeopathic remedy for tuberculosis, was sold at two places in Kerrville--at the C.C. Butt Piggly Wiggly and at 343 West Main.  There is no indication that this was a shop selling anything else--only Alberty's Food. The Boundses may have been reps for the product.  At the same time they were operating Nu-Deal Loans and Insurance, offering personal secured loans and insurance of various types.

They moved to San Antonio in July 1935.  They later rented the house to Harper Rawlings who taught vocational agriculture in the public schools for  a few years before moving to Marfa.  By 1940 the Boundses had sold the house to Mack and Leona Morgan. He was proprietor of Five Points Package Store. They owned this house the longest.  Leona lived here four more years after Mack died in October 1961.  After she sold the house, the property changed hands and occupants on a regular basis. Since the names of the occupants as shown in the city directory and the names of the owners as recorded in the deed records rarely match up, it must have been a frequent rental.

It is now houses a small business.

341 West Water Street

Mrs. Theresa Heiman received a permit to construct this residence at 341 West Water Street in Westland Place in July 1947.  In March of 1951 she sold the house to Mrs. Hilda Neunhoffer Roessing. Hilda was the widow of Goswin H. Roessing who had died in 1935 in Hidalgo County.  She never remarried. In 1940 she was in Galveston employed as a typist for a life insurance company. In 1951 she returned to Kerrville, found work at the Veterans' Hospital in the Payroll Department, and purchased this house where she lived until shortly before her death in 1993.  Her obituary was very short, and while it revealed that she was a member of Eastern Star and a Presbyterian, did not include the fact that she was a member of the prominent Neunhoffer family.
Today, like others on this block, this house sees commercial use.

Place Names: Westland Place

Exploring in Westland Place, I became curious about some of the street names in the neighborhood.
While researching another topic, I came across a story in the Kerrville Mountain Sun July 24, 1940, which recounted the origins of some street names in Kerrville.  According to the story, Elm Street was named for the elms in the area, Lois Street is for Lois Fawcett Moore, Florence for Miss Florence Galbraith, and Lewis for Danforth Lewis, former owner of the development.
Since the newspaper said "The names of Circle Drive, Woodlawn, and Center are obvious", I will leave you, dear reader, to determine their meaning.
Left unmentioned are the following streets which according to the county tax records are also in Westland Place: Stephen Street, Milton Street, Rees Street, Stonewall Street, Josephine Street, Lucille Street, Ruth Street, Pershing Street, Lee Street, Patton Street.  These were named for people--but who?

The property was purchased from D. R. Lewis, and the original developers were Edward Galbraith, W. A. Fawcett and J. L. Pampell, E. H. Prescott and Hal Peterson being added later. I assumed that these were mostly the names of their family members, so I turned to census and cemetery records.

So here is what I have learned:
Florence Galbraith was the sister of Edward Galbraith, Lois Fawcett was the daughter of W. A. Fawcett,  Danforth Lewis, a native of New York, sold his farm for development just three years before he died.
Josephine Street was named for another daughter of W. A. Fawcett, Lucille Street for the wife of Milton Pampell. Both Eugene H. Prescott and D. L. Lewis had daughters named Ruth.  Ruth Street could have been named for either, but most likely for Ruth Prescott.  Just to buck the trend, Milton Street was named for the son of J. L. Pampell.  I do not know how Patton Street got its name.
Rees is an old Kerr County family. I have not been able to determine precisely why this name was chosen.  Pershing may have been chosen to memorialize the World War I hero who had recently died.
Stonewall and Lee MAY memorialize Civil War generals.  Of course they could also identify a road laid along a stone wall and someone named Lee.

UPDATE:  An article in the Oct 30, 1947 Kerrville Mountain Sun says Lee Street was named for Judge Lee Wallace and Jackson Street was named for Dr. J. D. Jackson.  Lee Wallace was County Judge at the time Westland first developed.

Can anyone add to this?

To learn about other subdivision in Kerrville go here.

501 Lois Street

1934.  Kerr County Historical Commission collection.

These two photos do indeed depict the same house. Look carefully at the decorative edges on the front of the house and the arrangement of the windows.  At some point the flat roof was replaced with a pitched roof. Flat roofs are notorious for leaking. Perhaps that is why the roof was changed.
The house was built by E. L. Spence, a local homebuilder.  In February 1934, he sold the house to William J. and Ruth Franke. After Ruth died in 1936, W. J. Franke tried to sell his stucco home in Westland "all modern conveniences".  In the end he kept the house and remarried. His second wife, Margaret, was17 years younger. He died in 1968.  She lived here five more years before selling to Herbert and Lucile Brehmer who owned Brehmer's Jewelers.
This block has had slow commercial encroachment. Businesses have operated out of this house since Kirby Vacuum sales opened in 1980. 

343 West Water Street

This house may be one of the last built in Westland Place.
In June 1947 Mrs. Theresa Heimann sold the lot to John R. Saucier, an electrician at the Legion (VA) hospital. The next month he obtained a building permit for a residence at 343 West Water Street to cost $4,950.  In January of 1948 he sold the house to D. L. McEachern. In September 1949, Earl B. Starr purchased the house and based his business--fitting and repairing Acousticon hearing aids--from home. In April 1951 he sold many of his household possessions and left town. Miss Annie Mae Morriss was the next owner. Her family ranched on the Divide where she taught school for a while.  She later lived in San Antonio for some time before returning to Kerrville, purchasing this home where she lived until her death in 1957.  Two years later the Kerrville Times reported "Mrs. Paul (Frances) Wilson has moved into the former Morriss and Burleson home on West Water St., which she purchased.  Col. and Mrs. G. D. Burleson have moved to their ranch in the Junction area, and Mrs. Hadda Morriss has gone to the ranch home near Mountain Home of Dora Sproul and Mrs. Gus Sproul."  In March 1961 she married Alex M. Holekamp. They owned the house ten more years before selling to Harvey Stone. During at least part of that time it was a rental.
The property changed hands a couple more times.  It remained residential until 1999 when a home health care service moved in.  It has housed an assortment of small businesses ever since.

345 West Water Street

This house in Westland Place, at 345 West Water Street, has had only two owners since it was constructed in 1939.
The lot, which changed hands several times early on, had more owners as a vacant lot than the house has had.

The Kerrville Mountain Sun reported June 1, 1939, that the Kerrville Realty Company had sold this lot to J. M. Johnston and wife.  A couple of weeks later he obtained a permit to erect a seven room frame resident at 345 West Water Street. When the house was completed the Mountain Sun ran the following story on August 8, 1939: "J. M. Johnston's New Home Ready for Occupancy.
One of the most complete and comfortable small homes to be constructed in Kerrville during the past few years is the new residence of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Johnston at 338 [sic] West Water Street.  The attractive five-room Colonial style frame home has hard-wood floors throughout, with colorful stipple finished walls.  The new wall construction lends the appearance of plaster, but in many ways is more to be desired.
Other features of the home is the use of Venetian blinds throughout, the sightly tile drain boards in the spacious airy kitchen, the unusual design of the beautiful rock mantle in the large living room and the attractive electrical fixtures.
J. G. Rosson was the contractor, Temple Lumber Company supplied the materials, Henry Storey was the painting contractor, and W. B. Brown Company installed the plumbing."
J. M. Johnston was the proprietor of the Central Service Station at 904 Main Street. "Phone 13".

Mary Johnston lived here until 1988. In February 1989 a conditional used permit was granted for a real estate office, which opened May 1989. In a transitional area between residential and commercial, the property remains in commercial use today.

328 West Water Street

ca 1932, Kerr History Center Collection.  Note the sidewalk in front.

This little Tudor style cottage in Westland Place was erected in the fall of 1929 by P. M. Wright, a local developer.
In November 1928, R. Holdsworth and his wife sold this lot to William Auld for $575. A few months later he sold the lot to P. M. Wright for $400, taking a loss. Wright then erected the house.  The first owners of the house were Harry and Estanislada? Gordon, who purchased it in February, 1930, for $3,250.  A native of Lithuania, he was a local businessman, who initially ran a grocery store in Legion, but by this time was in the automobile business, selling Durants.  Within the year he expanded to Hudsons and Essexes.
His wife, also foreign born, was from Mexico. Her name is difficult to read on the 1920 and 1930 census, but it appears to be Estanislada. 
The next owners were Ludwig and Estelle Rickels, who lived here from 1932 until October 1939 when they sold to Doris Johnson.
This property changed hands often, but remained a residential property until March 1987 when the City of Kerrville approved a conditional use permit for a dentist office. It has seen commercial use since then.

Westland Addition

There are still buildings closer to downtown to research and write about, and I'll get back to those, but today I'm going to move further afield and explore the Westland Place Addition, which runs northwestward more or less between Junction Highway and Town Creek.  Some of the streets are West Main, West Water, Cox, Elm, Cottage, Lewis, and Woodlawn.

Westland Place, a planned automobile suburb, was developed northwest of downtown Kerrville beginning in 1925. Kerrville was booming, with the population increasing from 2,300 in 1920 to 4,000 in just five years.  Much of this growth was undoubtedly due to the new VA hospital at Legion. In addition, as automobiles became more affordable, more and more people owned them. It was easier for people to get around and they began to move away from the commercial area. Folks no longer needed to be within walking distance of their place of business. The time was right for this new project.

The new subdivision was heavily advertised in the local papers. As you see here, the first lots were sold at auction Thursday, May 7, 1925.  The Kerrville Mountain Sun, April 30, 1925; reported its development this way, "This addition, called 'Westland Place', is a part of the Lewis tract, recently purchased from D. R. Lewis by a party of Kerrville men, composed of E. Galbraith, W. A. Fawcett and J. L. Pampell, who have since then taken E. H. Prescott and Hal Peterson in on the proposition. Only a part of the tract is being placed on the market at this time, the balance to be developed later." The men organized as Kerrville Development Company. The newspaper reported that one contract had already been let for a home, which was to begin construction the end of the week.
The auction was conducted by Auctioneer A. Harris, known as "Last Minute Harris".  He had a reputation of selling 237 lots in 180 minutes in a similar event and planned to conduct this auction with similar vigor.  Automobiles shuttled buyers to the development and back, a band provided music, and $300 in gold was given away.
At first access was from the extension of Water Street.  The subdivision featured gravel streets, sewers, water, electric lights, and telephone service. Early photographs also show sidewalks.
Commercial development is encroaching on the edges, but there are many original homes, some nearly 90 years old, still standing.

This neighborhood has enough architectural integrity and age to qualify for listing--as a neighborhood--on the National Register of Historic Places. 
When I say that, it makes people nervous, because they believe they will lose property rights.  In fact, there are no Federal or state laws limiting property rights if your property is on the National Register.  In some cities, there are local regulations, but I don't think that is the case in Kerrville. Listing does not even prevent demolition, but the historic designation would be lost in that instance. 
Click here to learn more about National Register listings. 

501 Florence Street

2011

This rock house in Westland Addition, built in 1929, now houses Texas State Optical. Originally it was the home of Marguerite and Joe Pachek.  The other side of this house, shown below, will be more familiar to most.

When Pampell's added a pharmacy department in the 1920's, Miss Marguerite Fussell was the first pharmacist hired.  She later married Joe Pachek.  In 1939, the Pacheks opened their own pharmacy, Plaza Drug, at 809 Main Street.  They moved the pharmacy to 233 Earl Garrett Street July 1, 1950.

1932. From the  Kerr History Center collection