328 Hays Street--Helping build a photographic history

The focus of this blog has been exploring the built environment of the Hill Country, with an occasional side trip.  I have several building histories in the works with I need to finish, but today I'm doing something different to introduce you to a new website I've just discovered http://www.whatwasthere.com

This is the Collins Company building.  Its address in 1932 was 328 Hayes Street, but that address today is part of the HEB employee parking lot on Hays between Main and Jefferson Streets.  This photo was taken in 1932, but when I looked at the 1930 Sanborn fire insurance map, there was no building in that block that matched this.  I turned to http://www.newspaperarchive.com and found a number of news items about the Collins Company, a wholesale grocery business.  Here's one from the July 10, 1931, Kerrville Mountain Sun.

Collins Company Again Victimized by Burglars; Loot Valued at $1,000.
For the third time in recent months, the Collins Company, wholesale grocery firm, Tuesday night became a victim of cigarette thieves who made away with a large haul.
The loot consisted of 14 cases of cigarettes, valued at approximately $1,000.  Entry to the warehouse, corner of Schreiner and Hays Streets, [emphasis mine] was gained by breaking the lock on a rear door.  ...
It is believed that an organized band of cigarette thieves is at work in this section, since similar robberies are occurring frequently in small cities and towns surrounding San Antonio.

Some building numbers have changed over time, this being one of them.  The Sanborn map showed that this business once was located in the same block where the city recycling center is, in the corner nearest the traffic light. 

You can find this photo and others at a new website http://www.whatwasthere.com .  It ties historical photos to modern locations using Google maps, building a photographic history of the world. I have put a number of Kerr County photos up--as well as couple from other places.  You can link to it from Facebook as well.  Come join me!

235 Earl Garrett Street

This small building at 235 Earl Garrett Street was built sometime between 1904 and 1910. It has a distinctive skylight, a feature I've not seen in any other local building of that period.
The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps show that in 1904 there was a frame building at this approximate location. By 1910 it had been replaced by this stone building and housed a jewelry store. In 1916 it was a jewelry and millinery shop.
There is a gap in the record between 1916 and 1925.

In January 1925 Isaac W. Van Hoozer purchased the dry good and grocery stock of bankrupt J. W. Burney's store on Schreiner Street and moved it to the building Van Hoozer owned on Earl Garrett, "next to the Kerrville Tailoring Company" according to the February 19, 1925, Kerrville Mountain Sun. Van Hoozer had remodeled and refinished the building and opened the store for business the previous Monday morning (February 16).
Also in January, 1925, I. Van Hoozer, along with other property owners on Earl Garrett Street, was assessed for street repairs. (I was reminded of the game Monopoly!) His assessment was based on owning 13 feet of frontage on Earl Garrett.  The other property owners on the block were M. F. Weston who owned 129 feet; A. C. Schreiner, 50.5 feet; E. E. Dietert 31.0 feet; E. Hawes, 78.9 feet; Sid Peterson 75.5 feet; and C. Wheelus 43.1 feet. (Wheelus owned the Guthrie Building.)

Van Hoozer's business didn't last long, because the July 7, 1927, Mountain Sun reported the following: "Richard Smith, John Burkhardt, and Charles Durrin have opened a restaurant and lunch on Earl Garrett Street in the building formerly occupied by the grocery of I. W. Van Hoozier [sic] & Son.  The interior of the lunch room, which is under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Durrin, is nicely arranged." There is no indication of the name of this business.  Durrin had previously owned a lunch room called the "Midget Lunch Room", also on Earl Garrett Street, and later owned one in the 800 block of Main Street.

The next mention in the newspapers of a business at this location is the Post Office Barber Shop, which is mention for the first time in the newspaper in 1936--the year the new Post Office opened in Earl Garrett Street. This is very likely the same time the barber shop opened. It was owned for many years by W. L. Tillson. When he retired in 1973 he sold to John F. Tom.

When, after many years the Post Office Barber Shop closed, it was followed by the Smokehouse, which sold tobacco products and paperback books. The Smokehouse moved from an earlier location on Water Street. This building is still often referred to as "The Smokehouse" even though it most recently was a law office.

An interesting item I found is the fact that after Isaac Van Hoozer died his son Floyd sold off part of the building, keeping one side, renting out part.  The other part may be in the area where the small garden is today, but I am not sure.  I need to spend more time in the deed books. 

"Texas Treasure" Business Award

The Kerr County Historical Commission is compiling a list of businesses in Kerr County that qualify for the "Historic Business--Texas Treasure" award.
This award recognizes Texas businesses "that have provided employment opportunities and support to the state's economy for at least 50 years."
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/preserve/projects-and-programs/texas-treasure-business-award

The full requirements can be found at the above link, but in general, businesses must have been in continuous for-profit operation in Texas for at least 50 years and must continue to operate the same or very similar business.  The business may have changed hands.  Businesses that have stayed in the same family or have operated from the same place for more than 50 years get special recognition. 

The business gets an attractive certificate to hang on the wall--which it agrees to display. 

Mosty Brothers Nursery, Center Point, est. 1897, is the first business in Kerr County to receive this award.

Here is a list of other for-profit businesses based in Kerr County that appear to qualify.  There may be more. City is Kerrville unless otherwise indicated.

Have been in continuous for-profit operation in Texas for at least 50 years. 

Continue to operate the same or a very similar type of business as it did at least 50 years ago.

Have a continuous record of employment for at least the past 50 years.

Continue to operate as an independent, for-profit business (i.e., it cannot be operating as a subsidiary of or have been absorbed into another business)

Maintain a good business relationship with the state.

- See more at: http://www.thc.state.tx.us/preserve/projects-and-programs/texas-treasure-business-award#sthash.wyOqJbeu.dpuf

• FIRST Insurance Agency of the Hill Country, 1890.
• T. J. Moore Lumber Yard, Ingram, 1892. 
• Kerrville Daily Times, 1910.
• Sanchez Barber Shop, 1911.
• Garrett Insurance,  1918.
• Grimes Funeral Chapel, 1920.
• Camp Rio Vista, Hunt, 1921.
• Camp Stewart, Hunt, 1924.
• Kerr County Abstract Company, 1924.
• Camp Waldemar, Hunt, 1926.
• Camp Mystic, Hunt, 1926.
• Camp La Junta, Hunt, 1928.
• Camp Waltonia, Hunt, 1928.
• Crider's, Hunt, 1926.
• Mosty's Garage 1926. 
• Kerrville Bus Company, 1929. 
• R.C. McBryde Oil, by 1931. 
• Fidelity Abstract and Title,  1936.
• Heart of the Hills Taxidermy,  1937. 
• Kickapoo Kamp, 1943.
• Del Norte Restaurant, 1946.
• The Hunt Store, Hunt, 1946. 
• Mooney Aircraft, 1946.
• Heart O' the Hills Camp, Hunt, 1949. 
• Hill Country Telephone Cooperative, Ingram. 1951.
• Hester Window Coverings, 1951.
• Bernhard's Meat Processing and Market, Ingram,  1952.
• Hill Country Affordable Motors,  1954.
• Hunt-Ingram Gas Company, Ingram, 1955.
• The Rose Shop, 1955.
• Inn of the Hills, 1963.
• Herring Printing, 1964.

If you have others to add to this list, you can comment below or contact me at my blog email address, dgaudier at gmail.com, and I will update this list.

Center Point Depot

1939.  Kerr County Historical Commission Collection.

Date unknown.

2013

The peripatetic 1877 San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad Depot of Center Point, has returned to Center Point from Boerne and is being restored.  It is now in a historic park on San Antonio Street.

The depot has not just seen a lot of travelers, it has also done a lot of traveling.  It isn't unusual for old buildings in Kerr County to be moved to new spots.  It is unusual for one to move multiple times.

The depot was closed after the last train ran in 1971. A story in the September 1, 2012, Kerrville Daily Times, about the return of the depot to Center Point said that in 1984 it was moved to Kerrville where it then served as a private home for almost a decade. 

C.D. Peterson was the one received a permit to move the depot to Kerrville in October 1984. While in Kerrville it was located near the corner of Texas 16 North and Loop 534. A few years later it was sold again and moved to Boerne where it housed offices for a few years. The Center Point Historical Preservation Association raised the money to move the depot back to Center Point in 2012, and is now raising money to complete restoration of the building.

The January 24, 1995, Daily Times reported on an effort by the Comfort Area Development Board to move the depot to that community. The project was apparently unsuccessful. That story called this the second depot building in Center Point.

The December 5, 1984, Kerrville Mountain Sun recounted the memories of Fred Toler, who was a railway agent at Center Point in 1934-35, then again from 1937 for a while. He tells this story:

One day Mr. Holchak [the Southern Pacific agent in Kerrville] told me that the agent's job at Center Point was coming open and he thought I could handle the job. ... Myrtle Elizabeth Baker and I ... decided this was our chance to get married.

... Myrtle and I went down to Center Point and looked things over and as we would be flat broke until we received our first pay check we decided to move into a large room connected to the depot.

Myrtle's mother gave us a table and two chairs, my mother contributed a bed and mattress, the kinfolks gave us a shower of household goods.  

We had no honeymoon as we had to go to work the day after [we were married].

The Center Point job paid $50 per month, which looked like a small fortune to us.

The first night we stayed in the depot we had just laid down when we heard a commotion and looking out the window we saw about fifty people coming towards the depot.

We were both somewhat uneasy, but I put my clothes on and went out to see what was up.  A man named Frank Lane headed the group and he told me that it was customary whenever anyone got married in the town to "chiveree" them.

Mr. Lane explained that it was the town custom to "serenade" newly couples and that we were supposed to furnish refreshments.  They had brought along a fiddle and guitar player and we would have a dance.

The only refreshments we had was coffee, but they didn't seem to mind.  So the music was set upon the large outside unloading platform and the dance when on until about midnight when everyone went home.

... About the time we received our first check the Superintendent of the S.P. dropped off a train one day and told us we would have to move out of the Depot and rent a house.  

We rented one-half of a duplex for $12 a month.  It was one of the few houses in town that had inside plumbing." 

A true luxury!

After about a year he was transferred to Fredericksburg Junction, about five miles below Comfort, the first of several transfers in his railroad career. (Fredericksburg Junction should not be confused with Frederickburg. It sat in the middle of nowhere and was the spot where the Fredericksburg and Northern Railway connected with the S.A.&A.P.)

Mosty Brothers Nursery, Center Point

These photos were taken at the Mosty Brothers Nursery in Center Point.  Mosty Brothers Nursery started in Kerrville in 1897.  In 1908 a second location was added in Center Point.  The Kerrville location, primarily a retail operation, closed in 1985. The Center Point location is a wholesale business.

Water tank. Concrete base is original.

The large, two-story residence at the front of the property was built in 1927 in a pecan orchard at a final cost of about $12,000. The architect and contractor was W. W. Miller of Kerrville.  An elevated water tank, still in use, has been there since the earliest days.  There are smaller post-World War II residences; and greenhouses on the property date back more than 60 years. The business has been in continuous operation by one family for more than a century. During that time the Mostys have been innovators in developing new plant varieties and leaders in their industry’s trade and professional organizations. In 1936 Mosty Brothers Nurseries of Kerrville and Center Point won the contract to supply the landscaping used at the Texas Centennial Central Exposition grounds. To fulfill the contract they shipped six railway carloads and ten truck loads of shrubbery to Dallas. The landscaping featured native shrubs. Today this site is Fair Park, home of the State Fair of Texas.

 In the spring of 2013, the business was awarded a “Texas Treasures Business Award” from the Texas Historical Commission for businesses existing for more than 50 years.

Greenhouses.  Hail storms destroyed the original glass roofs years ago.

Ally Beitel House

Myrta Street entrance, 1929. Kerr County Historical Commission collection.

Washington Street entrance, 2013.

This stucco house at 901 Myrta Street, at the corner of Washington, was built for Ally Beitel in 1925.  Ally Beitel operated the Beitel "Old House" Lumber Yard on Clay Street.  You can read more about the Beitel Lumber Yard and about Ally Beitel here.
The front of this house faces Washington Street and had an address of 847 Washington, but for many years the Myrta Street entrance has been preferred.

Because of his business, Beitel was able to carefully selected the best quality materials to build his dream home. The house is so well designed and built and the quality of materials is so high that very little has been altered.  It still has original lighting and plumbing fixtures. Designed and built by local builders Otto Schwethelm and Bruno Schott at a cost of $18,500, it was valued at $20,000 in the 1930 census.  Interestingly, ten years later, in the 1940 census, it was valued at $8,500.  That is a rather steep decline in valuation even for the Great Depression era.  I'm not sure what to attribute this to.

Beitel died of an extended illness in 1933 at the age of 44. Two months later his widow transferred the property to A. C. Schreiner (who held the mortgage).  It appears she continued to live in the house while she was building a smaller house next door at 849 Washington Street.

In April 1935 A.C. Schreiner sold the house to Edward H. and Maydee Patton. Edward Patton was general manager of the Kerrville Amusement Company which built the Arcadia Theatre and operated it for many years. In 1947 he bought the Blue Bonnet Drug Store and owned it until his retirement. She died in 1955, he in 1973. They are buried in Waco.
The following item appeared in the Sept. 9, 1943, Kerrville Mountain Sun.
"Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Patton have moved to their home on Myrta Street. Mr. and Mrs. David Bruton and children, who spent the past year in the Patton home, have returned to Houston."
Just one month later, on October 6, 1943, the Pattons sold the property to Bennett and Archie Nance who lived there until about 1991.  The Nances owned the house the longest. They were ranchers in Wichita Falls before coming to Kerr County and later on the Divide.

Dr. Tom and Susan Nau were the next owners.  In 1993 Gary and Kathy Miears bought the house and reside there today.

2102 Memorial Drive

This is the original Mosty Nursery location in Kerrville. Mosty Nursery was established in 1897 in Kerrville by L. A. Mosty. The house, reportedly erected circa 1921, originally was frame.  The rock facade was added later.

ca 1929

When Leander A. Mosty (generally known as “L.A.”) arrived in Kerr County in 1897 he took in the landscape and saw a need for fruit, shade, and ornamental trees, not just for the growing town of Kerrville, but also to supply the many farms and ranches being established. He saw an opportunity, purchased land down river from Kerrville, just to the east of where Schreiner University stands today, and with his sons began to grow and sell trees and plants. Trees planted in the early years still stand around Kerr County today.

From a family history compiled by Harvey Mosty, one of L.A.’s sons, comes this account:
“When we came back here from Lampasas in the fall of 1897, we brought a sack of old Indian peach seed. I planted them southeast of the present well, down in the field where the two pecan trees now stand. These pecan trees were planted from nuts given to me by Mr. Hy Welge. They were from the Oliver tree near Junction. The peach seed came up and Lee and I budded them. A friend named Mr. Jump showed us how to bud a tree. The buds did very well and we got a nice lot of trees out of the planting. This was the start of the L.A. Mosty & Sons Nursery. Most of the trees were planted on the farm; however some were sold to neighbors.”

L. A. Mosty developed new varieties of trees, including Mosty’s Cling peach, Mosty’s Free peach, and the Mosty pecan, and shrubs including a two horticultural varieties of the Arizona cypress, a juniper, a yellow Hypericum and a variety of nandina.  He joined the fledgling Texas Nurseryman’s Association. By 1907 the nursery, which at that time had four acres in roses and ornamentals, was certified by the State of Texas.  Operations expanded to Center Point in 1908. When L.A. Mosty died in 1917, the nursery was taken over by his two oldest sons, Lee and Harvey, who changed the name of the business to Mosty Brothers Nursery.   The Mosty brothers soon turned the venture into a wholesale nursery business. Lee and Harvey were able to grow the nursery to become one of the largest in the Southwest offering a second location in Center Point, Texas and expanding the Kerrville operation to include a retail business including the Mosty Flower Shop. Harvey operated the Kerrville location, Lee the Center Point one.
In 1985 the Kerrville location of Mosty Brothers Nursery closed. C.H. Mosty continued the Mosty Brothers Nursery in Center Point with his son Scott N. Mosty where the business continues today.

I'm not sure what the use was between 1985 and 1998. Tannenberger Nursery was here from 1998-2005,  followed by Alexandra's Tea Room.  Currently the property is vacant and for sale.