20 posts tagged “history”
A lot can happen in a week, especially if you leave town for a short vacation.
I was pleased to read (online) the news accounts of the Cailloux Foundation’s gracious exit from the debate concerning the fate of the Arcadia Theater. I have consistently stated the Cailloux proposal, which offered to reconstruct the old theater’s auditorium into an open-air facility, was innovative and should be applauded. I like it when ideas come from “outside of the box” thinking.
I even enjoyed reading the letters to the editor which are critical of the course I’ve proposed: restoration of the Arcadia Theater. I’ve come to expect some criticism whenever I offer leadership on an issue. (Note to Mr. Hyde: your figures are off. I’ve cost the taxpayers of this community much, much more than you cite, though some might argue the expense has made the community better. Still, the jury’s out. Perhaps my efforts here have been a total waste of resources. You might be right.) Just remember Herring’s Second Law of Politics: You can accomplish almost anything if you get the right people to oppose you.
I would suggest we need a vigorous debate about the future of our old downtown area. The decisions made in the next few months will impact that area for a generation. The Peterson brothers’ idea of tearing down the old St. Charles Hotel and building a self-sufficient little hospital/office building, complete with a gas station on the ground floor, was a good decision for the Old Town area, but one which also impacted the neighborhood for more than fifty years. Likewise coming decisions will also impact the area. There’s a change in wind direction right now and this is the time to plot a new course for the little ship.
I am sympathetic to those voices who suggest Adam Smith’s concept of an ‘invisible hand’ is at work in the Old Town area – wiping away those structures and institutions which are no longer of economic utility. I am also partial to the voices who would like to preserve a portion of our community’s past. (Duh. Please see the past 12+ years’ worth of columns.)
I suppose my argument is this: there is a third way. Perhaps there’s a way to repurpose an old thing – say a vacant and deteriorating movie theater – into something that’s economically viable in today’s climate.
I would never propose we save the Arcadia simply to preserve a specimen from the past, like a fading butterfly pinned to a display board.
If the Arcadia is to be saved it should be made a vibrant part of our community, a place where we gather to celebrate a variety of events. It should become a place that builds community, a place where we share the special benefit of living in this place at this time. It should become a place where people want to be.
The Arcadia, in my opinion, should not be made into a 1950s-era movie house. If the community supported it economically as a single-screen 1950s-era movie house, I’m thinking the Hall family, who are experts in the business of presenting movies to the paying public, would never have shuttered the old girl in the first place. Their new facility, the sparkling Rio 10 Cinema, reflects the changing economics of that industry, where a small crew runs many screens simultaneously, where the stadium seating offers comfort and clear lines of sight, where the sound is superb. Asking a restored Arcadia to compete with that would be like asking a Model T to compete with a new Ford Mustang. We might feel nostalgia for the Model T, for its look and the memories it affords us, but my money would be on the newer car.
Nor should the Arcadia become merely a mini-Cailloux Theater (the facility previously known as the Kerrville Municipal Auditorium, managed by the able crew of Playhouse 2000).
Nor should the Arcadia be transformed solely into a meeting space for conventioneers visiting our city.
Nor should it be a neglected department of our city government. I still feel the city should give the Arcadia to a non-profit group. As I’ve offered before, I would be happy to form such a group.
There are those in our community who are much cleverer than I. If we work together on the Old Town area, and the old Arcadia Theater in particular, I’m thinking there is a solution that might just work, though I’m not completely sure what form that solution might take. There are examples elsewhere from which we could learn; there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who has been, without a doubt, a costly citizen.
Wow! What a response!
Last week I wrote about finding the movie “Irene” on DVD – the old silent film is historically interesting for Kerrville, since it was the first film shown at the Arcadia back in 1926.
I rambled here last week that I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia and invited anyone who was interested in watching the film with me to drop me an email (joeherringjr .at. gmail .dot. com) or a postcard (615 Water Street, Kerrville).
Honestly, I thought I might find 10 people who’d watch the old film with me. We 10 would sit in the dark old Arcadia and root for Irene (played by Colleen Moore) as she searched for happiness. I could see us sitting there in our lawn chairs, munching popcorn, the film flickering as projected on a bed sheet.
Let’s just say a few more than 10 people want to see the film. Ok, a lot more than 10. I had to call a friend at the City to see how many people could safely be in the old theater at one time. We might need to have two shows. Maybe three.
So, if you missed sending me a message last week, but want to be included in the invitation list, please drop me a line. There are a few logistical problems to solve, but I’m still hoping to present the movie at the Arcadia soon.
The show will be free, and I think the experience will be fun. For the first time in 81 years the people of Kerrville will see this old film together in the same theater where it played.
I do have a bonus challenge for my engineering friends: how can we cool down the old theater to a comfortable temperature? There is no air-conditioning in the old building, and it can be quite warm in there. Too warm to enjoy the 93 minute movie.
I’ve had two suggestions, both good. First, we could show the film on a Saturday morning. The building is coolest then. Or, we could wait until autumn.
But I’d like to show it at night, with the Arcadia sign flashing in the night sky. And I’d like to show it right away, while people are talking about the future of the Arcadia.
So – if you have an idea how we can cool the old building down (inexpensively) to show the film, please drop me a line.
* * *
Speaking of old films, I got a great email from Cheryl Johnson, office manager of our local Time-Warner office, this week:
“Time Warner Cable will be hosting "Hollywood in the Hill Country" on Saturday, July 21st. We will be doing a free showing of the movie "Casablanca". This will be held at Louise Hays Park - Centennial Stage. The movie is to begin at sundown so it should be around 8:30PM. We would love for you and your families to join us! Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets or coolers. Sit back and enjoy the movie!”
Now that sounds like fun! I hope the weather is good for them – this is something I’d like to see done often, and eventually, I’d like to see old movies presented at the Arcadia Theater.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who likes old movies.
A small package arrived by mail to our office Thursday. It is still wrapped in plastic, like a ham or a gift basket, and I haven’t unwrapped it.
Though I want to, I cannot.
Though the plastic is transparent, I’m not sure what I’ll find when I open it. Sure, I can see right through the wrapper. And I even know what I’ll find when I open the little plastic case when I tear away the cellophane. I’ll find a disc, a shiny plate of plastic with microscopic pits arranged in some secret code only a DVD player can comprehend.
And, according to some research I’ve done on the inconvenience we call the Internet, I even know the basic outline of the information on the disc. It contains a story, the story of an Irish lass named Irene.
“A hardworking but under-achieving Irish girl loses her job and gets tossed out by her tough mother,” the jacket reads. “She turns to her gold-digging friend and turns the head of a society man until his mother finds out about her family. How can it end?”
Elsewhere, I’ve written about the story recorded on this particular disc.
It’s “a saga about the life of a poor, beautiful Irish lass whose dire economic circumstances obscure her royal lineage. She worked as a shopkeeper’s assistant, selling dresses. A local grandee had obtained the job for her there as a model; the villainous shopkeeper had demoted her to lowly clerk. During a grand fashion show, the grandee notes the absence of his protégé, storms to the dimly lit store, costumes the girl and returns with her to triumph, and eventually love – discovered on a rusting fire escape, outside the fashion show.”
I even wrote “the scenes of the fashion show were ‘registered in subdued tones of the Techni-color process, a new idea which has recently been discovered by those who invented the method of color photography.’”
Here’s the deal: I’ve found a digital copy of the 1926 movie “Irene.” This probably means nothing to you, Gentle Reader. But in my recent obsession about the Arcadia Theater, it means a lot to me. You see, ‘Irene’ was the first movie ever shown at the Arcadia.
“On the warm Tuesday evening of June 29, 1926, a flock of folks crowded into a newly built hall to watch the comedy film “Irene,” starring Colleen Moore.”
Yep, about 81 years ago exactly, the first movie shown at the Arcadia has returned to Kerrville. On Thursday afternoon I tapped the still-wrapped case of the DVD against the wall of the old silent Arcadia Theater. I don’t know why, but it felt good. Like a circle was finished, one that started in that hot summer of 1926 and was completed in this wet summer of 2007.
A picture of Colleen Moore is on the cover of the plastic case. She’s pictured looking out of a doorway wearing an oddly-shaped hat. She looks hopeful, as if expecting something.
Here’s what I’d like to do, if I can figure out a way to bring it all together. I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia, projecting the DVD-encapsulated movie against a bed sheet or some other make-shift screen, not unlike the way movies were shown in the classic film Cinema Paradisio. I’d like anyone who was interested to show up, bring a lawn chair, and watch the old story with me. I’d like to share the story with a crowd of people, munching popcorn in the dark, hoping dear Irene finds her way to happiness.
Not unlike the crowd in 1926. In the same place. Watching the same movie.
It would be an interesting historical experiment: Not only would we be watching the same movie they saw that first evening, we’d be following the same story, feeling some of the same emotions.
If you’d like to be there, drop me a line, either by mail or by email.
Maybe I can figure out a way to make it all happen (there are some technical, permission, and air-conditioning issues to be solved). If so, if you let me know you’re interested, I’ll send you an invite. It might be quite fun.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wonders what the crowd saw that now distant evening.
Those who’ve read these weekly columns – faithfully presented here each week since my current editor was in grade school – will know I have more than a passing interest in local history.
In presenting stories of our community’s past, I guess I’m hoping to instill in others this love of our heritage here.
I’ve tried various ways to promote preservation of our community’s few remaining historical buildings. I served for a time as the chair of the Kerr County Historical Commission, I served as chair of our community’s recent sesquicentennial celebration.
And I’ve put my own money where my (often unquiet) mouth is – spending more than I should to build a collection of Kerr County historical items, from photographs and commemorative plates to one of the few surviving programs of the 1936 State Championship Football game, where the Tivy Antlers battled the Amarillo Sandies. I have a small Taylor guitar with the words “Kerrville Campfire Edition” written on the rosette. I have soda bottles from Pampell’s and the H. E. Butt Grocery Company (“Silver Valley Sparkling Beverages”). I have books written by Kerrville authors.
Many of the items in my collection were given to me, I’m glad to say. I couldn’t have afforded all of the items in my collection. I have doors from the rooms of the old Blue Bonnet Hotel, and the switchboard from that old hotel; I have old newspapers, and several thousand photographs.
Yeah, I kinda care about local history.
So the recent proposal to tear down most of the Arcadia theater concerns me. While I applaud the Cailloux Foundation for thinking “outside of the box” with their innovative proposal, and also for their generous contributions to our community, I think historic preservation is far more important than the idea of having an ‘open air’ theater in the downtown area. Their plan, while preserving the current façade and lobby area of the building, will completely destroy the rest of the building, replacing the auditorium of the theater with a high-dollar pole barn.
Besides, a reasonable plan already exists to restore and renovate the theater, a plan that will be funded by visitors to our community through allocation of the hotel/motel tax monies. And, in a series of future columns, I hope to share some ideas I’m hearing about the future of our downtown area.
Since the Arcadia will be in the news for the next few weeks, I thought it would be good to share an old column, first published in the late 90’s, telling the story of the theater:
On the warm Tuesday evening of June 29, 1926, a flock of folks crowded into a newly built hall to watch the comedy film “Irene,” starring Colleen Moore. They were greeted with “cooled” air and a saga about the life of a poor, beautiful Irish lass whose dire economic circumstances obscure her royal lineage. She worked as a shopkeeper’s assistant, selling dresses. A local grandee had obtained the job for her there as a model; the villainous shopkeeper had demoted her to lowly clerk. During a grand fashion show, the grandee notes the absence of his protégé, storms to the dimly lit store, costumes the girl and returns with her to triumph, and eventually love – discovered on a rusting fire escape, outside the fashion show.
The scenes of the fashion show were “registered in subdued tones of the Techni-color process, a new idea which has recently been discovered by those who invented the method of color photography.” This probably explains the choice of this movie, a First National release, as the film for that particular evening. The film was in color.
“Irene” was the first film shown in the newly built Arcadia Theater.
The citizens were very proud of their new theater. There was an older movie house, the Dixie, near the corner of Washington and Water streets, on the northern corner, where the Home Center is today. The Dixie is remembered for its wooden bleachers, where patrons tucked their feet up to avoid the rats that ran along the floor eating popcorn and nibbling on shoelaces. The Arcadia, by contrast, was a Movie Palace.
Built at a cost of $90,000, the new theater featured high-tech (for 1926) projection equipment (a pair of Powers projectors), a ‘Gardner Velvet Gold Fibre Screen,’ a Hillgren-Lane pipe organ, and seating capacity for 1,000. The building looked very different then: it featured a Spanish mission façade, and the 16x40 foot ‘arcade’ was accented with rough plaster and hand-hewn beams. In the ‘arcade’ were seven display cases.
Seating was also arranged differently than the seating many of us remember. In addition to the ‘orchestra’ and balcony seats, there were also eight loges with five chairs each. Smoking was allowed in the balcony seats only.
The small stage (8 x 15 feet) was furnished with scenery from Volland Scenic Company of St. Louis, and included a “beautiful mountain and river scene, typical of the country surrounding Kerrville. It is a remarkable reproduction of nature, done in oil.” There was also an orchestra pit measuring 7 ½ x 25 feet; this was the home of the pipe organ.
The neon sign we see frantically flashing in the night sky is not the original sign for the theater. The first was about 15 feet high and extended six feet above the building, with 16” letters. The lighting flashed on and off at intervals, but was not neon; the coloring of the letters was done by placing ‘glass color hoods’ over the lamps, and red and green and amber were the predominate colors. There was a twinkling torch and a ‘flowing’ border driven by an electric motor.
The Bart Moore Construction Company built the building. Mr. Moore was also the president of the Kerrville Amusement Company, which owned the Arcadia and Dixie Theaters, and he would serve as the Arcadia’s first general manager.
Admission prices for the first week of performances were 25 and 50 cents.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who spent many hours at the Arcadia Theater.
They met at a bridge party in the early 1950s, Gordon Monroe and Gene Lehmann, and over the course of their careers, they changed Kerrville. Friday morning they were honored by the city at the dedication of a park which will bear their name, the Lehmann and Monroe Park. The pair not only donated the land, but also funds with which to develop the park.
Newcomers might not realize what these two accomplished, and, even after going over my notes and reading several pages of information, I’m not sure I know all that they accomplished. But, Gentle Reader, some of your neighbors live in Kerrville today because of the efforts of these two men.
When I was a boy, Kerrville was much different than it is today. It was small, and, if we’re frank with each other, it was isolated. Most of the community’s businesses were in the “L” made by Earl Garrett and Water Streets; residences filled up most of the larger streets, like Sidney Baker and Main Street. There was nothing, really, beyond the Five Points area heading toward Ingram, nothing much north of the stadium and the high school on Sidney Baker, and nothing but farms and ranches south of the river on State Highway 16. Kerrville then was not much larger than Bandera is today. It was small. Many had a direct interest in keeping it that way.
When Gordon and Gene met, Gene was running his family’s store, Lehmann’s, a chain which was a 5c & 10c type store; the Kerrville Lehmann’s became Winn’s when I was a child; it was where the surgical annex of the hospital is today on the north side of Water Street in the 700 block. Gordon was managing the Burton Insurance Agency. Their first real estate venture together was to purchase some apartments on Lois Street, and though they developed other projects independently, such as the Lehmann family’s Inn of the Hills, or the Monroe interest in the Heart o’ the Hills Bowling Alley, now part of the Family Sports Center, they soon formed a very successful land development team.
Their innovation to development in this area was a simple document, something called a Contract for Deed, which allowed a buyer to make a small down payment (sometimes as low as $100), and then start making payments on the land. According to a family member, no one was offering this to land buyers – the only other avenue to purchase land was to make a very large down payment (say 20-40%) and then make payments, if your credit was deemed good enough.
This approach was very successful for the partnership, and, after having good success on their first few ventures, they decided to ‘go out on a limb,’ and purchase the former Louis Schreiner Ranch south of the city in about 1967. This purchase was divided into parts we’d all recognize today: Rio Robles, Glen Oaks, Loma Vista, Loyal Valley, and Kerrville South Ranches. This land included the white Louis Schreiner mansion which later became the headquarters for L. D. Brinkman’s operations here, the land which now holds Albertson’s, the Wells-Fargo bank tower, and, I believe, the land where the new Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital is being built.
I might be wrong, but the pair might have purchased this ranch (of about 3300 acres) from the family of Robert Hays, the husband of Louise Hays, for whom the adjoining park is named.
And, even as they were busy changing the map of Kerrville, they still had time to serve our community: Monroe served as our mayor (hosting First Lady Lady Bird Johnson at the dedication of our Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library); Lehmann served as president of the Kerrville school board. They also served our community on numerous committees and task forces.
It’s funny to me how different generations view people. By the time I was old enough to realize there were other businesses in town besides the grocery store and a certain print shop, the partnership of Gene Lehmann and Gordon Monroe was already quite successful. I distinctly remember a maroon Rolls-Royce with an Aggie bumper sticker plastered on the paint – the paint! – above its chrome rear fender, which I took as a funny Aggie joke. I also remember taking swimming lessons at this absolutely huge house overlooking the city, where the pool was lined with cut stones.
But there was a time when an older generation thought the two had little chance of success. There is an old story I’ve heard several times of a golf game where one of the members of a founding family of Kerrville, a family whose success had depended upon keeping Kerrville small, made the remark that “it looks like the Go-Go boys [Lehmann and Monroe] are going to make it after all.”
Yep, you might say that.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who remembers looking south of the river and seeing no businesses at all.
Who knew that milk jugs, capped and half-filled with water, could be a musical instruments?
Thursday evening at the Cailloux Theater the Symphony of the Hills once again made the unexpected happen. The symphony, under the able leadership of Dr. Jay Dunnahoo, is itself something quite unexpected.
I remember several years ago being interviewed by an reporter from the Wall Street Journal. During the interview, I mentioned that the Symphony of the Hills had a performance the following evening, and I invited him to attend with me.
There was some silence on the line, not unlike those recent television ads about dropped cell phone calls. When the reporter finally spoke, he asked “There’s a symphony in Kerrville, Texas?”
Yes, I told him. We not only have a symphony, we have a good symphony right here in Kerrville, Texas.
Last night’s program was a little different from previous performances – not all of the music was familiar. We were treated with music many of us had never heard before. It was like going to the grocery store and getting to pick a treat – on the condition you picked something you’d never tried before. Ms. Carolyn and I occasionally do this at H-E-B, a game which has led to some very tasty discoveries. That’s how I felt about last night’s performance – new musical discoveries.
I was also pleased to see what an impressive managing board the symphony has put together. I served on the symphony’s board until recently, so I feel I have a unique interest in who works on its board. We all want organizations with which we’ve worked to succeed, and the newcomers on the board are quite impressive. I think the symphony board, under the able leadership of Joseph Benham and H. D. Maxwell, is in quite good hands!
Now, about those milk jugs: One of the pieces performed last night was Robert W. Smith’s “The Great Steamboat Race.” Just before it began, members of Tivy High School’s chorale paraded into the auditorium carrying these half-filled plastic containers. The formed a semi-circle around the audience, standing in the aisles.
The piece is about an actual steamboat race between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee which occurred in 1870. The two paddle-wheelers faced off because the Natchez had just completed a record-breaking run from New Orleans to St. Louis in an amazing three days, 21 hours and 58 minutes. Not to be outdone, the captain of the Robert E. Lee challenged the Natchez for a race along the same course. It’s a dramatic piece about a true story.
I remember as a child traveling with my family through the southern states and taking a ride on a steamboat, the Delta Queen. I stood in the bow of the boat watching those giant blades slapping the Mississippi, watching the water tumble from the blades as they left the river. It was quite impressive.
Last night in the Cailloux theater I remembered that ride vividly. On cue the members of the Tivy Choir began to shake those milk jugs in unison. The sound was very much like the paddles on the steam boat. And, because they were around us in a semi-circle, the sound surrounded us, just like it did on the steamboat that long ago summer.
Likewise, during the Grand Canyon Suite, during the familiar passage called “On the Trail” which mimics a mule ride down into the depths of the canyon, I remembered my own ride down the trail years ago when our children were small. That ride was seven hours of pure terror for me; my mule had a death wish, and he wanted to take me with him.
We’re lucky, you know. Our little town, despite its size, and its location at the edge of the Sonoran Desert, has many blessings – and one of them is the Symphony of the Hills. Next season the Symphony is doubling the number of performances so more people can attend; since their performances always sell out this will allow many who cannot attend an opportunity to be a part of the audience.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who considered shooting a mule named Rufus after his adventure at the Grand Canyon.
Really, Dad, I’m Ok.
146 years ago a young man, George A. Staples wrote a series of letters to his father in Virginia from a tiny settlement called Zanzenburg, Texas. We call that community Center Point today. George Staples was employed as a school teacher, but from his letters it seems his classroom was small – the children of one family plus one other student.
I came across copies of these letters thanks to my good friend Jane Ragsdale of Heart o’ the Hills Camp for Girls in Hunt. An acquaintance of hers, Les Staples, gave her the copies, and she forwarded them on to me.
I have tried for the past 4 weeks to summarize each of the letters because they have some historical significance for our community. They were written during the heady days when our state chose to secede from the Union, and they were written from a community which was in the center of the debate; one of the citizens of Zanzenburg, Dr. Charles Ganahl, was actually a delegate to the secession convention, and from what I can gather, was also the largest slaveholder in the county.
I relate stories from this part of our history not because it’s a proud moment in the history of our county. As Lincoln said, whenever he heard someone make an argument for slavery, he wanted to try it out on them personally. I relate these stories because they reflect the prevalent thought in our county during the Civil War era. It shows a picture of our history, warts and all.
Though these letters were written almost 150 years ago, it’s evident that some things do not change. The last letter in the series is a letter of reassurance. George A. Staples is trying to soothe his family back in Virginia, to assure them that he’s safe out here in the wilds of Texas.
“There is no personal danger to be apprehended from the Indians down the low – all the danger is on the stock – they will steal horses, mules, and &c but will not attack a man if they find he is armed – there is no danger in my going in bathing as I always go in in the daytime and the Indians never come out except in the night, that is in the sight of houses – and the river is within 50 yards of the House – it is not swift at all – but very deep in places – but I can swim like a duck – so there is no danger.”
He also writes that he misses his family:
“If I succeed in as I hope to do in business I expect and hope it will not be over two years from this time when I will see you [again. I have never missed] you so badly in my life. I never yet was so long from home but the longer I am away the more I learn to depend on myself – and I think that is something gained.”
He writes about his career:
“The country is so thinly settled that school teaching unless it be in a city or in a college is not so profitable as living in a [state] where a person can become more widely known and stands a chance of improving his situation after his character is established.”
He writes of young women:
“The Girls do not occupy my thoughts any longer than when I am in their company and that is very seldom. I have only been visiting twice since being up here and that was to see a Mr. Lane who lives about a half mile from here and keeps a bachelors’ Hall. I went up and spent the evening with him.”
He writes of secession politics:
“I am sorry indeed that Virginia has so far forgotten herself as to think ever of remaining in the Union – with the North. I heard it though rather vaguely before I got your letter of the 24th February – but that confirmed it – I am almost ashamed to claim her as my native state if she does not secede. It will build up Texas – as the persons – or a majority at least that will leave her will emigrate to the place where there are the greatest inducements and I think Texas is the first in that respect. I hear that since Virginia has determined to remain in the Union that Louisiana intends to petition for readmission – if she does she ought to be rejected by both confederacies. And if my individual feelings were to be consulted before Texas should so dishonor herself as to sue for readmission, if we were compelled to owe allegiance to any government, Texas should be made over to Queen Victoria – rather than remain in Union with those she has just left.”
He writes like many young men, saying “I will start my journal to you when I get it done – this place is so dull that it is very seldom that I can find an incident to jot down in it.” Perhaps he was again trying to persuade his Virginia family that there was no danger here, or perhaps he was lonely in a thinly settled place where he felt he could never ‘establish his character.’
I contacted Les and George Staples, brothers and descendents of the young letter writer of 1861, to find out what happened to young George. Did he study law? Did he become a cattle baron? Did he succeed in business? What was ‘the rest of the story?’
Les Staples wrote “George Staples, my great-grandfather, wound up in Texana, Texas. He fathered 4 boys and 2 girls there. Texana no longer exists. It was a river port and when the river silted up and the railroad went west of the town, the whole town packed up and moved to Edna. Edna is the county seat of Jackson County.”
George Staples adds some interesting details: “I have the original letters and probably know as much as anyone else. He settled in Jackson County, probably at Red Bluff which no longer exists. He had a number of children and named all his sons, including my grandfather, after men he served under while fighting for the Confederacy. My grandfather’s name was Archer McAmy Staples and his brothers included Oliver Hardeman Staples and Henry King Staples. Henry King Staples became editor, owner and publisher of the Edna Herald for 48 years and his brother Hardeman ran the linotype machine. Edna was or became the county seat of Jackson County after the railroad was put through. My understanding is that it was originally known as Macaroni Junction because it was a supply depot for the Italian railroad workers brought in by Count Telferner who got the contract to build the railroad. After Edna became established, most of the inhabitants of Red Bluff moved to Edna. One of my great Aunts was Maggie Staples who lived in the family house which was moved to Edna. She died an old maid many years ago. My father was named George Archer Staples and I am a Junior. My son is George III, known as Rex as is befitting royalty.
“I believe from the letters that the first George’s father’s name was Charles, as I have a letter or two from him as well. I do not know for certain, but suspect that George’s middle name was Anthony as Uncle Hardeman’s son was named George Anthony and the Archer I received was the last name of one of the confederate officers George served under.
“From desultory research I have concluded that the journey started near Lynchburg Virginia somewhere near the Pedlar River, which is the water supply for the city.
“My increasingly dim memory seems to recall that George married a woman named White and I know that there are relatives of that name. Texas was a hard place to make a living after the civil war and all indications are that George never accumulated any significant wealth, either in land or cattle.
“Family legend indicates that the Staples men were all good looking and had a weakness for fast horses. I personally attribute their success and good fortune to hybrid vigor.”
So the young correspondent fought in the Civil War, stayed in Texas, and became a father. Given the names he gave his sons, a gifted researcher could determine George Staples’ role in the Civil War.
Thanks, Jane, for sharing these letters with me.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native.
For the past three weeks, I’ve related portions of some letters my good friend Jane Ragsdale of Camp Heart o’ the Hills in Hunt has shared with me – letters written during the history-laden weeks when Texas chose to secede from the Union. One of her acquaintances, Les Staples, sent her copies of letters written by his grandfather, George Staples. The letters are dated 1861 and addressed from Zanzenburg, Kerr County, Texas. Zanzenburg was an early name for the community we now call Center Point.
The third letter in the series, dated March 3rd, 1861, gives details of his work as a teacher in Zanzenburg:
And while I might be accused of stretching it out, I hope to conclude the series next week with the 4th letter. I admit I got sidetracked last week when our 1861 correspondent mentioned the KGC, an organization I’d never before heard of, though I should remembered something about the KGC since the Sam Lanham Digital Library at Schreiner University has a generous collection of documents pertaining to the strange organization. These are available online at http://digital.library.schreiner.edu.
Young George Staples wrote his father from Zanzenburg, March 3rd 1861 about his plans for the future:
“So fast as I make money I am going to buy Stock Cattle as that is the most paying business one can engage in here…
“Cousin Melanis … attends to the Cattle for Cousin Maurice for ten years, and at the end of that time he receives either a half or a third (I forget which) but either would be very profitable as they have about 2000 head of very fine cattle and at the end of the ten years I have no doubt but what they will number 3000 head.
“I am more and more please with Texas. I don’t think I could content myself now to live in a state where I could not take a wild scamper over a prairie occasionally. The vegetation is beginning to put on very much here now, the trees are budding and the briars and small shrubbery are beginning to have small leaves on them.”
Not content with becoming a mere cattle baron, young Staples also writes “I myself have a strong inclination for the study of law and as soon as I have permanently settled myself in business I will take up a course of law study. I think my talent lies in that way and if I am competent, that is if my talent and intellect is sufficient, no effort of mine shall be wanting or neglected to make myself an accomplished lawyer.”
He also wrote about his other academic efforts, learning to speak Spanish, and “I am also reading my Latin & Greek and am carrying on a course of Mathematics, and besides I read a great deal. My Eyes do not trouble me at all now I can see as well as ever I could and can read by candle without the least pain.”
It’s amazing what you could accomplish back then, before the distraction of television, don’t you think?
Next week I’ll wrap up this series with a letter dated March 14th.
Until then, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native.
For the past two weeks, I’ve reported about some letters my good friend of o’ the Hills in Hunt has shared with me – letters written during the history-laden weeks when chose to secede from the . One of her acquaintances, Les Staples, sent her copies of letters written by his grandfather, George Staples. The letters are dated 1861 and addressed from Zanzenburg, . Zanzenburg was an early name for the community we now call Center Point.
The third letter in the series, dated March 3rd, 1861, gives details of his work as a teacher in Zanzenburg:
“I am still engaged in school teaching with Mrs. Connor and very well pleased so far. I only get $18 for teaching Mrs. Connor’s children and have only one scholar besides – where as Cousin Maurice Simons offers me $250 for the first year.
“I have yet to take my first drink, there is 100 per cent more drinking in Virginia than in Texas, so far as I have seen, her citizens are remarkably moral considering the youth of the state.
“I have not yet heard the returns of the Election on the secession ordinance but I think it passed and I sincerely hope that has also by this time dissolved her connexion [sic] with the North. I hear from occasionally by the newspapers and also from . I am a rigid unconstitutional Secessionist and should civil war take place rest assured I shall not be long in joining the Southern Army.
“I am going to join the K.G.C.’s this Spring, about every second man one meets in is a member of the order. Are there any in ?”
I looked into what KGC could stand for and think it might have been the “Knights of the .” Here’s what Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says about the organization:
“The association was founded by George W. L. Bickley, a Virginia-born doctor, editor, and "adventurer" who lived in . He organized the first castle, or local branch, in in 1854 and soon took the order to the South, where it was well received. It grew slowly until 1859 and reached its height in 1860.
“Its original object was to provide a force to colonize the northern part of and the West Indies and thus extend pro-slavery interests, and the Knights became especially active in . Bickley's main goal was the annexation of . Hounded by creditors, he left in the late 1850s and traveled through the East and South promoting an expedition to seize and establish a new territory for slavery. He found his greatest support in and managed within a short time to organize thirty-two chapters there.
“In the spring of 1860, the group made the first of two attempts to invade from . A small band reached the , but failed.
“The South’s secession and the outbreak of the Civil War prompted a shift in the group's aims from freebooting in to support of the new Confederate government. For example, on February 15, 1861, Texas Ranger Ben McCulloch began marching toward the Federal arsenal at , with a cavalry force of about 550 men, about 150 of whom were Knights of the representing six different castles. While volunteers continued to join McCulloch the following day, U.S. Army Gen. David E. Twiggs decided to surrender the arsenal peacefully to the secessionists.”
I had never heard of the KGC, but evidently it was strong in this area during the early 1860s.
By coincidence, there is another connection to the story above; the H. E. Butt Grocery Company, which was founded in in 1905 by Florence Butt, now has its corporate headquarters in the old Arsenal complex in .
There are more details in this third letter, and I’ll write about them next week.
Until then, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a native who enjoys local history.
Last week I reported that my good friend Jane Ragsdale of Camp Heart o’ the Hills in Hunt had shared some letters with me – letters written during the history-laden weeks when Texas chose to secede from the Union. One of her acquaintances, Les Staples, sent her copies of letters written by his grandfather, George Staples. The letters are dated 1861 and addressed from Zanzenburg, Kerr County, Texas. Zanzenburg was an early name for the community we now call Center Point.
Center Point is a quiet community today, but in 1861 one of the leaders of the secessionist movement, Dr. Charles Ganahl, resided there, making Center Point one of the hot spots in the effort to break Texas away from the US. Dr. Ganahl was a fervent secessionist, having served in the Secession Convention in Austin, and was one of the signers of the “Ordinance of Secession” that, once approved by the voters, officially separated Texas from the Union; that document was passed, 166-8, on February 2, 1861.
These letters, written in the fever of the era, convey what people were thinking in our part of the world during those months.
It’s through source documents like these letters that I learn more about the history of an era than from a shelf of books. The raw, unfiltered, unedited words of eyewitnesses is always preferable (at least to me) than tomes written in an ivory tower and tossed out of the window to readers waiting below.
Last week I shared the highlights of Staples’ first letter home – and now I share some of his second letter, dated January 27, 1861, less than a week before the “Ordinance of Secession” was adopted in Austin.
“I will now give you as good a description of Texas as I possibly can,” young George Staples wrote to his father. After copying a surveyor’s report about the coastal areas of Texas, Staples begins to describe the land around Zanzenburg:
“It would impress you to see the Guadalupe Mountains,” he wrote, describing the hills around here, not the Guadalupe Mountains in deepest West Texas. “They are as large and high as either old Banks Mountain or the Big Piney; just as round as a potatoe [sic] Hill and the most of them entirely destitute of any kind of growth, while all of them are encircled with collateral ridges as if it had formerly been laid off into immense Corn Rows, but the land produces well. Corn yields about the same as Virginia. Also, there is no tobacco at all raised here, but all vegetables produced abundantly, with two crops per year. I have not seen an apple or pear tree, … neither a Walnut or a Hickory nut. All the fruit … are figs, plums, a few peaches, raspberries, water & musk melons, and etc.
“The timber we have is Live Oak, Post Oak…
“The cattle raising business is the most profitable one can engage in, that is when a man has sufficient capital to commence with. Cattle cost from $5 to $9 per head, and increase fast enough to make a nice profit of 30 to 75 per cent per annum. It requires a strong able bodied man to attend to them besides the horses. A herd of 2000 head requires an overseer and about 5 or six extra hands.
“Sheep raising also pays very well. They cost from $1.50 to $2.50 per head and foal twice a year though it requires a shepherd to be with them constantly. We do not have to sow our seed to reap here, but go out in the prairie and cut any where.
“I have gotten to be quite a good rider since being here and also a tolerably good hand at roping or lassoing cattle. It is very exciting to work roping and branding cattle. The manner of doing it is this: the hands scatter out and collect all of the cattle in the prairie for miles around in a large strong pen. Frequently there are more than 2000 to gather and in the center of the pen is a post firmly fixed in the ground. The hands go in with ropes of from 30 to 50 feet in length. In one end they have a noose which they swing around their heads two or three times and then throw it at the animal they want to [brand. The noose] settles over its head. It is then thrown down and branded with a hot iron brand. Cousin Milams’ brand is the [Diamond SS]. The cattle frequently show fight and in such cases hands enclosed in a pen it requires all a person’s bravery, skill and coolness to escape being gored. And between the hollering of men and the bellowing of the cattle and the sizzle of burning flesh, [it] provides a most exciting noise.
“I am going to invest all the money I can make in Cattle and Land. I am practicing economy now and to show you that I am I’ll tell you what I bought this winter. Viz – 1 pair of boots, 1 pair of shoes and 2 pair socks. These are all I have bought with the exception of paper, pens and ink, envelopes and stamps. I am now wearing a black vest you bought for me in… Richmond.”
“I will not need any money as I have some now…”
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who made it to work in downtown Kerrville each day during the snow and ice, and wondered where the rest of you were hiding.
