Knapp Crossing

Next to Chili's on the Junction Highway is a boat launch area and Guadalupe river access.  Newer residents doubtless think this is simply a boat launch, but it is actually the remnant of an old road that still lies under the river.   For many years it was a river crossing known as Knapp Crossing. Knapp Crossing Road was flooded when the Upper Guadalupe River Authority built a new dam just downstream in 1980.

I have been told that Knapp Crossing was named for a much loved physician.  Dr. Dwight Rufus Knapp, a graduate of Yale and Cornell Medical School, came to Kerrville in 1931 from Danbury, Connecticut, and established a practice at the old Secor Hospital. He came to Kerrville on a business matter, fell in love with the Hill Country, and spent the rest of his life here.  
A loyal reader said he built a large Spanish style house across the river and that this road was the access to his house.
Dr. Knapp is buried at Glen Rest. 

315 Earl Garrett Street

In February 1946, A. A. Roberts sold the lot this building stands on to F. M. Sherrill who then erected this one-story building to house his photography business.  
On March 14, 1946, the Kerrville Mountain Sun reported "Frank Sherrill... has announced the opening of a photographic studio, temporarily located in the McManus building at 1512 Water Street.  Mr. Sherrill has purchased a site on Earl Garrett, but the building is being delayed."  The newspaper reported he was a graduate of Texas A&M and had served for four and one half years in the "Photographic Section of the Air Forces."  
He finally settled into this space in August 1946.

Three years later the business changed hands and became Babyland Studio and Camera Shop.
In late 1950 Dr. D. W. Handley, chiropractor, had his office here.
There have been numerous small businesses here ever since.

It was remodeled in 2009 by Cynthia Thomas.

1621 Broadway

This distinctive two story rock building at the corner  of Broadway and G was erected in 1936.  The June 4, 1936  Kerrville Mountain Sun reported this:
"New Caroline Cafe will open Sunday.   H. E. Dixon, owner of Caroline Courts, and his son, William Dixon, .... announced they would formally open the new Caroline Cafe Sunday.
The cafe is in a new two-story rock building at the corner of Broadway and G Streets, opposite Rusche's new Sinclair Station.  William Dixon will manage the cafe, which will offer short orders, place lunches, sandwiches, beer and wines.  Service will be given at the curb.  The place will carry a small stock of groceries."
(Caroline Courts were tourist courts at the corner of Water and G Streets. Erected about 1930, they were torn down long ago. Culligan Water is there now.)
 

The Caroline Cafe changed hands several times over the next three years. The last mention of the Caroline Cafe is in 1939, so presumably it went out of business. 
Since then, the upstairs had been mostly residential, while the ground floor has had some commercial use over the years.

Downtown Executive Center

Original look to 325-327 Earl Garrett St.  Courtesy, Joe Herring Jr.

This office building at 325-327 Earl Garrett Street was originally the offices of the Kerrville Daily Times.  The Times moved here from earlier offices a block away.  
On November 18, 1926,  the following notice appeared in the Times.  "We have moved into our new quarters, on Earl Garrett Street, next to Moore and Saner Lumber Co., and most cordially invite the public to call on the Kerrville Times." [Moore & Saner was on the downtown side of the railroad tracks.]  The newspaper offices remained at that location for twenty years.

Then, in late June, 1946, G. Rankin Starkey, owner and publisher of the Kerrville Times, received a permit to erect a commercial building at 325 Earl Garrett at an estimated cost of $13,000. The building became the Times offices. The newspaper remained here until 1981, when it moved to offices on Jefferson Street and this property was sold. 

In 1981 both the Kerrville Mountain Sun and the Kerrville Daily Times reported a flurry of building permits for this property, the most significant being a request from Lucien Freedle in August 1981 for a remodeling in the amount of $6000, and a request for a permit for a rock exterior, cost not reported.  That is when the building received its current look.
In July 1982 this building is referred to as the Downtown Executive Center for the first time.

612 Earl Garrett Street

1929, Kerr County Historical Commission collection

In December 1924, in response to development that was occurring just outside the downtown area, the City of Kerrville sought bids for street improvements, curbing and paving on Earl Garrett Street. This house was one of a number of buildings going up at that time, mostly in the Craftsman bungalow style.  Many of the houses erected at that time remain. This stretch of Earl Garrett Street today features 80 and 90 year old homes and is referred to as the Garden District.

This is one of those rare instances where we know who did the landscaping. The sepia tone photo was taken in 1929 for Mosty Nursery and Landscaping as a record of their work. While the landscaping is vastly different today, the exterior of the house is little changed over the years.

Dr. J. E. McDonald purchased this property April 22, 1921, for $900 from E. H. Prescott, who had purchased it a year earlier from Charles Schreiner.  While is very likely this Craftsman bungalow was built in 1920 or 1921, I have not been able to determine the exact date and therefore am uncertain whether the house was built by Prescott or McDonald.
Dr. Mcdonald lived here briefly with his first wife Izma. After they divorced she and their son Joseph, Jr., continued to make this their home until he graduated from Tivy High School.  She then moved to San Antonio in late 1941.

Dr. McDonald's second wife, and mother of his second son, Charles Edward, was Lillian.  They also lived in Kerrville.  Dr. McDonald died of a heart attack in March 1940 while in San Antonio.

This house was featured in the December 1998 American Bungalow magazine.

Johnson Building

This hollow tile building at 806-810 Main Street was erected in early 1941 for J. F. Johnson at a cost of $1,200.
The newspaper reporting of business addresses is a little confusing, but it appears that the first business at 806 Main Street was the Panama Cafe which opened in March 1941.  In August 1942 the owners advertised "For Sale: Nice new cafe doing plenty of business. Just right for man and wife to handle, seating capacity about 40, Panama Cafe".  It appears they were not able to sell the business and finally just closed it down.  In December 1943, the World War II Ration Board offices moved to 806 Main Street "in the building formerly occupied by the Panama Cafe".
White Auto Store (which sold appliances as well as auto parts) was in this space by May 1949. About a year later, in late April 1950, there was a fire that started near the back of the store.  The store was closed for about a month for repairs, then reopened.  At the end of November, the White Auto Store suffered an even more devasting fire. The heat was so intense, the display windows at the front of the store cracked and the cars on a toy train in the window melted. The owner was charged with arson, but found not guilty in a jury trial.   In September 1952, White Auto Store reopened two doors down (at 810 Main) under new ownership where it operated until 1959.
After the fire, the building was once more renovated, and Frank's Cafe opened.  The March 29, 1951, Kerrville Mountain Sun reported "New Name, New Location For Frank's Cafe.  Free coffee will be served Monday at the formal opening of Frank's formerly the Chicken Pie Shop at their new location at 806 Main Street.  The popular restaurant will move to the larger quarters only two doors from the present location, on Friday and Saturday.  Frank's will be operated by the owners, Mr and Mrs. Frank Zumpf."

The first business at 808 Main was Kerr County Abstract Company.  They were here a couple of years when White Auto Stores moved in. It's not clear to me if White Auto Stores occupied two spaces for a while, or if it simply moved next door.

The first business at 810 Main appears to have been the World War II Price Control Board, later joined by the Area Rent Control office.  About the same time the Price Control Board and Rent Control office moved out, in the summer of 1946, James H. Blake announced me had moved the B & L Furniture Store to 810 Main to enlarge his showrooms. By 1952 the White Auto Store was in this space, followed by the Lucretia Michon Rothman dance studio.

These are only the first of a number of small businesses have come and gone from these spaces since.

812-814 Main Street

According to the November 20, 1930 Kerrville Mountain Sun, a frame building that formerly stood at 812 Main Street was the original location of Florence Butt's grocery store. By 1930 there was a dry cleaner in the old building.

In 1938, Mrs. Samuel Friedman, who now owned the property. sold the two-story frame building with the condition it be moved off the lot so that a new hollow tile and stucco structure could be erected.  The November 10, 1938  newspaper reported, "Upon the sale of the old building which was purchased by Fred Evertson, agreement was made that it should be moved from the site by November 15.  The old frame house was declared to have been a landmark for more than four decades." ( This news report said the old Florence Butt grocery building was moved.  I wonder where it was moved to.)
The new building, with space for two store fronts, was designed by architect A. W. Malin.
The first two tenants in the new building were Star Cleaners at 814 Main, and Durrin's Confectionery at 812 Main. Both were owned by Charles Durrin.  Durrin's Confectionery sold soft drinks, tobacco, candy, and ice cream.  It featured a soda fountain and "private booths".
By late 1946 Main Book and Stationery had opened at 814 Main Street. Books could also be rented there. I found that curious since by that time there was a public library in Kerrville.  Perhaps the selection at the library was inadequate, or perhaps the library wasn't available to everyone.
These were the first of many retail businesses in this space.