Trouble at the Depot--1915

You never know when you'll stumble across an interesting little-known tale.  Yesterday, I did some research for the owner of Depot Square, and discovered a little known controversy surrounding the former San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad depot in Kerrville, now housing a restaurant--Rails-A Cafe at the Depot. The depot was erected in 1915 to replace an earlier frame one destroyed by fire. I have just discovered that the construction of this depot was so controversial that the debate appeared in papers across the state. 

A March 20, 1915, story in the Kerrville Mountain Sun reported that this new brick depot was to be ready in 60 days--in time for the summer tourist trade.  Newspaper accounts at the time suggest the depot was finished more or less on time, so that wasn't the controversy.  The story unfolds below.  It began with a lawsuit filed by certain currently unknown parties in Kerrville to prevent the use of the depot.


The first mention of the controversy appeared in the July 31, 1915, Mountain Sun. The newspaper reported the following:

The injunction suit against the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad company seeking to prevent that compnay from using their new depot erected between Clay and Tchoupitoulas streets was heard in vacation by Judge Barney Wednesday.  General Attorney A. J. Boyle, General Manager J. S. Peter, Land and Tax Agent Geo. Chamberlain, of the Aransas Pass were among those in attendance.  Barnett & Geddie were attorneys for the plaintiffs.  The trial of the case consumed a greater part of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and resulted in the injunction being granted as prayed for. 

Have any of my readers heard this story?  Does anyone have any idea who the plaintiffs were--other businessmen, local residents, elected officials? 

The following appeared in the Galveston Daily News, May 10, 1916, p. 7, as part of the report of the regular monthly session of the railroad commission, which at that time actually concerned itself with matters pertaining to the railroad! 

Argument was heard in the Kerrville depot controversy, where there is a division between the mayor and some of the citizens.  Today's petition asked the commission to order the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad to build and maintain what was characterized as an adequate passenger station at Kerrville, located on the old depot site and on the south side of the tracks.  It also protested against the petition of the mayor of Kerrville and the San Antonio &  Aransas Pass Railroad for permission to use the brick depot constructed by the San Antonio & Aransas Pass.  The new depot is declared inadequate and unsuitable and inconveniently and dangerously located.  There is a injunction pending in the courts to prevent the use of the depot.

Why was this new building considered "inadequate and unsuitable and inconveniently and dangerously located"?

The San Antonio Evening News of September 18, 1919, p. 5 reported that the Kerrville SAP Depot hearing had been postponed.
More items about the controversy appear in the Evening News for several weeks. Then the October 27, 1919, Evening News reported a resolution.

Order Will Compel Use of New Depot
Austin, Tex., Oct. 25?--Assistant Attorney General W. J. Townsend is drawing an order for the Railroad Commission which will require the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad Company to use its new brick depot at Kerrville.  This follows the hearing and the two years' legal controversy.  Some two years ago the commission ordered the Sap to build a new depot at Kerrville.  The railroad erected a handsome brick structure, but on an entirely new site.  Its use was enjoined by certain citizens, and it has been closed for 18 months.  When issued the order now being prepared will permit the railroad to move into its new quarters.

Few 1919 issues of the Kerrville newspapers exist, so we cannot determine exactly when the passenger depot finally opened, but presumably before the end of the year 1919.

So, loyal readers, do any of you know more about the lawsuit or the parties involved or have anything to add to this story?  You can comment below, or email me at dgaudier at gmail dot com

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.)