Sears-Roebuck Kit Houses

Last week I did a program for the Kerr County Historical Commission on the topic of kit houses in Kerr County, focusing on the Sear-Roebuck & Co. Modern Homes kit houses.
I was told some time back that there are a dozen in Kerrville.  No one I talked to had a full list, so I have not located all of them yet, but here are some.  The first group are all along Earl Garrett Street.
501 Earl Garrett Street
608 Earl Garrett Street
609 Earl Garrett Street  (The Crescent style, one of the most popular Sears houses.)
612 Earl Garrett Street
There is another one on Earl Garrett that is owned by the H.E. Butt Foundation.  I have to confirm the address before linking.

One additional possible Sears house is the house at
816 Earl Garrett Street   Note this is a POSSIBLE kit houses.  I am still working on this.

There is a house near the corner of Harper Road (700 block) and Holdsworth Drive (400 block) that I have been told is a Sears house.  It was once the home of Jeanne Slobod (now deceased).
 
For a few years Sears offered home mortgages.   Researching for this program, I went to the Kerr County Courthouse to look for mortgages recorded in the deed records and discovered two.
Both of these properties were built outside the city of Kerrville.

One of them,  in 1928, was for a house at the Kerrville Sanatorium, located about 2 1/2 miles from Kerrville on the Fredericksburg Road.  We do not know if that house is still standing, and if so, if it is at the original location or of it was moved.  The city limits were different then. "Two and a half miles from Kerrville" would place this particular sanatorium at about I-10 and Sidney Baker Street today.

The other house with a Sears mortgage, located in the 400 block of China Street in Center Point, it was built by Benjamin and Mary Mattingly in 1931 and was covered by local rock.  The family story is that the rock is river rock from the Guadalupe, but the rock is reddish in color, not typically found around Center Point, so it may have been hauled in.

If you can add to any of this, pleased comment below, or email me at dgaudier at gmail.com

The Carriage House behind 425 Water Street

Until June of this year a small two-story building known as "The Carriage House" sat behind the Kerr Regional History Center at 425 Water Street. That small building is probably as old as the house in front, erected in 1914. This summer the building was removed as part of a "campus improvement" plan.The lower floor had suffered considerable water damage, but the upper floor had beautiful, fine-quality woodwork well worth keeping.

The Carriage House

The lower floor was removed and the upper floor, which was a self-contained apartment, moved to a lot in Ingram, the new owner hoping to sell it to someone who appreciated the quality of the building and materials.

Many people have talked about the beautiful woodwork on the second floor.  This week I was loaned some photos of the building taken several years ago.
It was indeed beautiful inside. I commend the purchaser for removing the house instead of tearing it down.

Prepared for moving

The interior woodwork

Another view of the woodwork

Kerrville Regional History Center No Longer Managed by Kerrville Genealogical Society

This week the City of Kerrville ended the long relationship between the Kerrville Genealogical Society and the Kerr Regional History Center.  Here is the press release from the KGS concerning that.

For immediate release – Sept 8, 2014 – Kerrville, Texas

Kerrville Genealogical Society To No Longer Assist in Managing the Kerr Regional History Center
       
For more than 40 years, the Kerrville Genealogical Society has partnered with the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library to provide genealogical research assistance to the community.  Since 2003, when the Kerr Regional History Center moved to the historic Scott Schreiner house adjacent to the library, the Kerrville Genealogical Society and a group of other volunteers have cared for the research materials housed in the History Center and have provided thousands of hours of free assistance to members of the public researching local and regional history.

On Sept. 8, 2014, in a meeting attended by the board of the Kerrville Genealogical Society, City Manager Todd Parton, Mayor Jack Pratt , City Councilman Gary Stork, Library Director Laura Bechtel, and Director of General Operations Kim Meismer, Parton announced that the Kerrville Genealogical Society was to no longer provide assistance in managing the Kerr Regional History Center.  Volunteers who wish to continue volunteering at the History Center must now go through the same process library volunteers do.

We believe the deteriorating relationship between the city and the board of the Kerrville Genealogical Society began in 2011 when the  Kerrville Genealogical Society discovered  that money from a trust fund that had been intended to benefit the History Center was being using incorrectly by the city. This error was initially corrected by the city when it was brought to their attention, but it is unclear whether the trust fund money is currently being properly used. A formal audit would clear this up.

The city has now decided that city assets should be managed by city staff. The city says it plans to keep the building open for the same hours it was open before, which would be 18 hours a week. However, this  potentially means 36 hours a week of additional paid staff time because, for security, at least two persons need to be available at the History Center when it is open.  This expense will have to be funded by city taxpayers.  In the past, volunteers kept the building open at no charge.

The Kerrville Genealogical Society is saddened by this move by the city of Kerrville. The Kerrville Genealogical Society has over the years spent thousands of dollars of its own money garnered from public donations purchasing such things as a microfilm reader, a refrigerator, and a microwave in the staff lounge, file boxes, books, and more.  Until the recent building renovations, required due to recently discovered structural problems, the city had spent virtually nothing on maintaining the building or its amenities. There seemed to be a lack of interest in the building. History Center volunteers cleaned the building, organized and indexed the collection of documents, and provided thousands of unpaid hours of volunteer time to assist the public. 

The Kerrville Genealogical Society will be moving its assets and materials from the History Center soon. Despite this, the Kerrville Genealogical Society will continue to offer high quality programs and a newsletter, and will be looking for a new home for its materials. In the meantime, we will do our best to handle genealogical and historical inquiries by mail or email. 

We may be contacted at  kerrvillegensoc@gmail.com

V-K Garage

This tile and concrete block building at 305 Washington Street was erected in 1952 for L. W. "Van" Vansant and John Klingemann for their new V-K Service Garage. Below is the January 14, 1953, advertisement from the Kerrville Mountain Sun for the garage opening.

Both were established auto mechanics.  'Van' Vansant had been been with a Ford agency for the previous 18 years, and in auto service for a total of 28 years. Johnny Klingemann was a veteran of World War II and had moved to Kerrville eight years earlier from Austin. 

Their business must have been very successful, because in six years they expanded their facility, more than doubling their floor space.  The owners Van and Johnny held an open house Saturday, February 14, with coffee and doughnuts.

A photo caption in the newspaper read:

Ready for their open house Saturday, L. W. Vansant and Johnny Klingemann are shown in their greatly enlarged V-K Service Garage.  Floor space was more than doubled in the addition, and the owners say it is the largest independent garage in the Hill Country.  Perhaps Van and Johnny are estimating how much coffee and doughnuts their visitors will need Saturday.

In June 1989, Belle Vansant's obituary appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times. She was age 88.  The obit reported she was a Georgia native and had married Lester Wilson Vansant in 1927 in Alabama.  Also a Georgia native, he died September 4, 1984, in Kerrville.  They are buried at Garden of Memories.
Residents of Kerrville since 1932, Mrs. Vansant and her husband were co-ownersof V-K Garage, where she served as bookkeeper for 15 years.  He retired from the business in 1969.

The other initial co-owner was John H. Klingemann.  By 1972 he had become a broker with John McCollom Realty. Klingemann, who was born in 1921 in Hays County and died in Kerrille June 21, 2008, is also buried in Garden of Memories next to his wife Virginia.
 
It appears that the business was sold about 1969, but I don't know the new owners.
The V-K Garage continued in business until early 2000. By April 2000 the business had closed and the contents were auctioned off.  In September of that year the V-K Garage became a stage for Playhouse 2000 while the city auditorium (now the Cailloux Theater) was being redone.  The small theater continues to host theater-in-the-round productions.

Update on "Trouble at the Depot--1915"

Several people have been working on the project to find out when the 1915 railroad passenger depot actually opened. You can read more about it here.
We now know that the lawsuit, claiming the new depot "inadequate and unsuitable and inconveniently and dangerously located", was instituted by Herman Mosel, the West Texas Supply Company, and Henry Welge.  Herman Mosel owned a saloon across from the old depot, West Texas Supply Company was a general merchandise business next to the depot, and Welge brothers had a feed and camp yard opposite the depot. They were unhappy that the passenger depot was moved two blocks away.  That must be why it was  called"inconveniently" located.  It was inconvenient to them in that they probably feared their businesses would be negatively affected by the move.  If people then were anything like today, that's  not unrealistic. Today people complain about downtown parking if they can't park directly in front of a store.  It's "too far" if they have to walk a block.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

You can see on the 1916 Sanborn map where the businesses were located.  I've also included it on this page, but you can manipulate the map and see detail if you go to the direct map link.

Within a few years, all those businesses were closed.  Prohibition forced the closure of Herman Mosel's saloon in 1920. West Texas Supply Co. had been closed a long time by 1937 when it was remembered in a newspaper store.  In 1920 J. E. Palmer bought the old H. Welge residence and a half interest in the Welge store, warehouse, and camp yard, as well as half interest in the produce and feed business of J. W. Burney.

G Street Bridge Inscriptions, Kerrville

Since posting this yesterday I have received new information, which appears in italics.

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything for weeks.  I know you've missed me. :)
There's been a lot going on.

An email came in this week about old inscriptions near the old G Street bridge in Kerrville, so a couple of us from the Historical Commission met the writer this morning. Here is what we saw...

 In the 1940 census are two men named Charles Durrin. Charles Durrin, the father, was 44, and was a proprietor of a cleaning shop.  His wife was Elva, age 37 I think.  His son was also Charles Durrin, age 18 in 1940 and working at a soda fountain.   It was probably the younger Charles Durrin who left his mark.  He would have been 13 in 1935.  They lived at 413 Lytle Street in 1930, and on Hwy 16 in 1940.

With the help of some others, I've learned more about Charles Durrin.
Charles Durrin  (son) continued in the clothes cleaning business. The business was located on Broadway.  Durrin's Cleaners was THE cleaners in Kerrville for many, many years.

Another carving reads David Robert Cason 1935.

From the June 6, 1935 Kerrville Mountain Sun.

Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Cason and children, accompanied by Mrs. Cason’s mother, all of Dallas, arrived in Kerrville last week end where Mrs. Cason and children will spend the summer.  Mr. Cason returned to Dallas Sunday, but will spend his vacation here later.

(They returned home end of July.)

This may be the family of David Robert Cason.  I don't see L. E. Cason in the census, so the initials in the paper may not be right.  It appears we have a couple of young teens in a flush of freedom having fun in the summer exploring.

Update: L. E. Cason is Lonnie Elihu Cason, a newspaper printer.  His wife's name was Golda Marguerite Cummings, known as Marguerite.  They divorced after April, 1940.  The Casons lived in Dallas, but visited Kerrville often.  They had three children.  The names of the two boys were David Vance Cason, born 1929, and Robert Freland Cason, born 1931. 

So it was actually two brothers, named David and Robert, not a boy named David Robert. They were ages 4 and 6 in 1935, so they most likely had some help carving their names.

Thanks Mike and Francelle for your help on this.

The last one may possibly read Flores M. W.  Can anyone help with this or add to the story?

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