Banner Graphic - Kristy Watson - Polonyx Graphic Design A Flood, An Old Book, A Life’s Journey
The Story of R.W. Whitworth Winter2020 By Andy Crews In the midst of a hot summer in 1909, Rob- 451 N. Main St. ert Whitworth passed away in his home on
Boerne, TX 78006 Landa Street. He had lived in Boerne for
nearly forty years and were it not for his - 830-249-3053 2021 obituary appearing in the San Antonio Ex- press newspaper, one might think he was
just another small town farmer. The head- —
line read, “Death Claims Veteran: R. W. In this Issue: March February January Whitworth of South Boerne Had Fought in Robert W. Whitworth Both the Mexican and Civil Wars – Was 79 Charles Bonnet Alfred Giles, Pt III Years Old.” Autos’ Early Days, Pt II A Guy Like This? Four and a half years later, after yet another Spirits at the Jail? devastating flood in downtown San Antonio, Boerne’s Resort Past Joseph Brown, an employee with the Texas Education Agency, found a waterlogged book in the gutter in front of the Gunter Ho- tel on Houston Street. The first few pages of the little book were missing but it was clear
that it was someone’s handwritten journal.
The only indication of the owner was a name next to an illustration of a man standing Robert W. Whitworth next to a Saguaro cactus – R. W. Whitworth.
The journal begins with Robert’s arrival in America in 1846 at the port of New Orleans.
He was only 16 years old. He had come from Yorkshire, England and was accompanied by a friend, William Beddome, who was from Manchester. The circumstances of their
immigration are not known but their intentions were to travel north to Fort Union, in what is today North Dakota, to become hunters and trappers on the American frontier. Despite having their firearms stolen from them in New Orleans, they traveled north by Remembering Fondly Kendall Co. History Advocate steamer up the Mississippi to St. Louis and there took the steamer Little Missouri up Theda Sueltenfuss. the Missouri River to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas – as far as they could travel by boat. She will be missed. Whitworth describes in great detail the life along the rivers: discussing the local settlers, industry and even types of trees and fauna along the riverbanks.
(Continued on page 2) 2 Robert W. Whitworth, continued
“...with beautiful green Prairies stretching as far as the eye can reach and spotted with flowers, High Bluffs cut and hollowed into Towers, arches, Buttresses &c [sic] by the washing of the two combined Sculptors, the rain and the River, and here and there a piece of barren rocky land where the rattlesnake abides unmolested….,” he writes.
In Ft. Leavenworth, the two adventurers discovered “some young fellows of about our own age” that were part of a battalion encamped there. Whit- worth lied about his age in order to enlist and, along with his companion, joined up with the fellows in Mormon Battalion who were marching to Cali- fornia. Over the next eleven months, they marched through the American Southwest with Robert journaling and illustrating along the way, on what is still the longest march in American military history. The battalion was mus- tered out in Los Angeles, California where his journal ends. But Robert’s ad- venture continued. Not long after, he was alerted to the gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill and he moved north to Sacramento to try his hand at pro- specting.
Robert remained in California with some success until December 1850 when he returned to England, which involved crossing Panama on foot. By August 1851, he was back in the United States, getting married in Memphis, Tennes- see. He finally settled in Bellville, Texas in early 1852. After serving in the Confederacy from 1862 to 1865, and experiencing the death of his wife and three of his six children, he remarried and moved to Kendall County in 1871. Six more children were born to him and his wife, Fannie Whitworth. They farmed in Pleasant Valley until their later years when they moved to a house on the corner of Landa and Hickman streets. Fannie died in 1920 and is bur- ied next to Robert in the Boerne Cemetery. The Pleasant Valley schoolhouse was built on land donated by his children.
Left: Robert Whitworth at home, 201 Landa, Boerne, Texas.
Right: Robert Whit- worth’s obituary, San Antonio.
Andy Crews is a great-great grandson of Robert Whitworth’s son, Thomas Beddome Whitworth. He wishes to thank Dr. David Gracy, who published the Whitworth journal in 1965. Dr. Gracy passed away on Sept. 26, 2020 in Aus- tin, Texas. Godspeed and into the breach! 3 Johann Carl Bonnet Early Settler, Kendall County Commissioner in 1862 By James and Kathryn Hurst
Johann Carl Bonnet arrived in Texas with his parents and four siblings in 1846. They emigrated from Charlottenburg, Nassau, Prussia, and sailed to Texas aboard the Harriet as part of the Meusebach colony. They land at Galveston, where they endure many hardships and delays, face an epidemic of fever in Indianola, and finally reach New Braunfels after an ox-team trip of three weeks. A few months later, they move to San An- tonio and live in tents along the San Antonio River.
By 1850, Johann Carl becomes known as John Charles, and he is a stone- mason. In July of that year, he marries Anna Elise Klemm, and they have their first child, Caroline Emilie. In 1856, he acquires a piece of land along Joshua Creek, between Boerne and Comfort, where he raises cattle. Albert and August Beversdorf had settled there a few years earli- er and never seemed bothered by the Indians. Charles hopes to share in their good luck, but family stories tell that the first night he moves up there, the Indians steal and slaughter one of his fat work oxen only a few yards from where he is sleeping. In the agricultural census of 1860, he has fifteen improved acres, 145 unimproved, a horse, and seventy-one head of cattle. He becomes a United States citizen on 31 December 1860 through his father, Phillip Bonnet, who is still living in San Antonio. Less than five weeks later, Texas secedes from the Union. Having just sworn allegiance to his new country, is it any wonder that he and his Johann Carl Bonnet sons are Union sympathizers?
Charles signs the petition to form Kendall County in 1859 and serves on the first Commissioners Court in 1862. Dur- ing a special session on 8 March 1862, Chief Justice Joseph Graham, with three of the four commissioners Adam Vogt, Charles Bonnet, and James C. Nowlin, meet "to organize the County of Kendall." Christopher Rhodius, the fourth commissioner, is unable to attend the meeting. County Clerk, Hermann Holzapfel, records the minutes. The first order of business is to discuss the boundary line between Blanco and Kendall Counties. The commissioners approve the survey. Next, is to set up polling places in the precincts for residents to vote on the county seat. At the next meeting on 18 May, County Clerk Holzapfel records, "On motion of Ch. Bonnet, it was resolved that the County Clerk be directed to give official information to John James and Gustavus Theisen in San Antonio that at an election held on 26 April according to law, Boerne was elected as the County seat by a majority of 67 votes above Sisterdale, and that he requests them to make and deliver the titles for the 14 lots each, which they proffered to give to this contingen- cy." On one of these lots, the county later builds the first courthouse. Charles Bonnet is present for the next meeting on May 29. On 13 September, the County Clerk does not record attendance, so it is not sure if he attended. Charles Bonnet is not present at the 17 November meeting, and no explanation is given. He does not report in as a commissioner again.
(Continued on page 4)
4 Bonnet, continued
The Civil War is now in full swing, and all able-bodied men are required to serve the Confederacy. Bonnet enlists in the Comfort militia for Precinct Two. He does not stay in the militia for long; his Union sympathies lead him to avoid the Confederates. His brother Peter goes to Mexico with Adolph Zoeller to join the Union Army. On 12 October 1862, while swimming crossing the Rio Grande, Peter and seven other men are shot by Confederate soldiers. Peter dies a few days later in Piedras Negras. Five years later, Peter's name is inscribed on the newly erected Treue der Union Monument in Comfort.
At the end of 1863, after evading conscription in the Confederate Army for over fifteen months, Charles and the Bev- ersdorf brothers also travel to Mexico to join the Union Army. His brothers Daniel and William go with them. In Brownsville on 1 February 1864, he enlists as a private in Co. H, 1st Regiment Texas Cavalry, for three years. He is ap- pointed First Lieutenant and is assigned to the Gulf of New Orleans. In January 1865, he writes his commanding officer requesting a discharge. "Being driven off by the rebs from my home in the State of Texas, I left a wife and nine children alone where there is nobody to take care for. My family is in a great want, as the last letter from my wife states, so that I am compelled to ask for my discharge." On 7 February 1865, his discharge is approved in New Orle- ans, but he does not officially muster out until 4 November 1865 in San Antonio.
Charles returned home and continues to raise cattle, which he butchers and takes to market. He regularly reports to the Commissioners Court on the number of beeves slaughtered. Elise and Charles have their last-child, Caroline Lena Bonnet in 1867. Anna dies in 1878 and is buried in the Boerne Cemetery. Two years later, Charles marries Catherine Chambers For- schen, who has a child from her previous marriage. She and Charles have five children together. Charles died in 1892 and is buried with his first wife, Anna Elise Klemm. 19
In 1900, Catherine is living in Boerne with three of her daughters. By 1910, she is living in San Joaquin, California, with her sons, Joseph Bonnet, and Wil- liam Forschen, and her daughter-in-law, Ethel Bon- net. In 1920, Catherine Bonnet is listed as the head Bonnet Headstone, Boerne Cemetery of the household in San Joaquin. Her son Joseph is living with her, as is her stepson, 50-year-old John
Bonnet. Her son, William Forschen, and daughter-in
-law, Ethel, are not recorded, and three granddaugh- ters and two grandsons live with her. Catherine died in San Joaquin on 23 April 1939, but her burial place is not registered.
Many of Johann Carl’s descendant still live in the Texas Hill Country.
Bonnet First Families Book, Genealogical Society of Kendall County; Court Minutes, Vol. 1, 1862-1885; “Johann Carl Bonnet,” Ancestry.com;“Johann Carl Bon- net,” Familysearch.com; Recollecions of Boerne and Kendall County; Kendall County Commissioner; Rivers, Ranches, Railroads & Recreation: A History of Kendall County, Texas
5 An English Architect in Kendall County Alfred Giles, Architect (1853-1920) Part III By Myrna Flach Langford
English immigrant Alfred Giles’ legacy in the region began with a burgeon- ing San Antonio architectural practice. Focused on quality and design ele- ments, with each new mansion or courthouse project thrust his way he continued to burnish an already solid reputation, ultimately raising his profile as an impeccable master designer. Immersed in dimensions and perspective, Alfred added a few layers to his own well-established profes- sional life, first marrying Annie Laura James in 1881, and then in 1886 ac- quiring initial parcels of land in northwest Kendall County which he and his brother-in-law, John H. James, grew into the 13,000-acre Hillingdon Ranch. He now lived in two worlds: San Antonio where he operated his architectural enterprise and the massive Kendall County ranch northeast of Comfort that was his home.
Laura’s Ranch Diary Alfred’s wife, Laura, kept a diary intermittently for years 1883-84 and 1892-95. During 1883-84 she wrote of their marriage, San Antonio, and the trip to Europe. And from the details she recorded in 1892-1895, she seems quite comfortable in the country environment. She gives us a precious glimpse of their home life as well as observations of the natural world around them. Laura writes she admires nature, feasts her “eyes on the hills; Dame Nature spread down her carpet of green.” She writes of her gratitude for the rains, with mentions of the spring house being full, springs having ice cold water clear “as crystal,” and in drought the glorious springs drying up. In our present management of the land, we often look for comparisons of water and spring situations to these early historical records. Architect Alfred Giles Following are further tidbits from Laura’s Diary:
Alfred was overwhelmed with work when first at the ranch, she writes…building a fence, altering and additions to the existing house. She enjoyed the new gallery, finding it cooler than San Antonio.
She mentions many city visitors to the ranch of James family members, workers and families. A few neighbors men- tioned are Bierschwale, Rosenthal, Doebbler, Groebe, Karger, and Codrington.
She often has helpers with their ever increasing number of children, and with the cooking. She includes cooking de- tails of her own, an English plum pudding recipe, making and sharing food with neighbors of bread, butter, goat milk, cheese- making in the wash house (the beautiful wash house she says draped with honeysuckle, prairie queen rose and morning glory vines), wild cherry jelly and brandy tonic, orange marmalade, ginger and sponge cakes, meat twice a week from the railroad camp where they butcher every day, venison, honey in the comb and beekeeping by son, garden vegetable plantings of mustard, lettuce, cabbage and cucumber seeds, potatoes slips, beet roots, mint seed- lings from creek. From the orchard, peaches, apples, apricots. She wishes to learn medicinal value of area plants,
(Continued on page 6) 6 Giles, cont. specifically mullein, button willow, beggar louse. As a hobby, she enjoys painting on canvas and china. Alfred gives her Hawthorne’s Works to read.
She reads in New York papers of the cholera in New York City which “is getting alarming” and she mentions people wanting to come to the ranch to get away from it.“ It seems impossible for it not to reach here” she worries. “I am awfully glad to have a place here to stay.” The Giles family curtailed a trip to the Fredericksburg Fair “as they have Typhus fever there I don’t think it wise to take the children.” Also when visiting San Antonio she was uneasy about her children playing with others who were just over the whooping cough. Of ranch work, she keeps up with activities… rest of cattle delivered and put in the 640, first sale of steers at $19 a head. She notes almost a year since Alfred first had those windmills started and they are just about finished, now Boars getting out of pens, grass roots Alf pulls in dense areas and plants in others, Alf had weeds cut off. Hauling in Johnson grass from upper field– she hates this grass and pulls from garden. Alfred and son varmint hunting. “Alfred cleaned out the cistern today,” she noted “milked the cows, put new laths on the picture gallery, cleaned out the hon- ey house. I don’t like to see work on Sunday but Alfred says it is positive rest for him to stir after being confined in the office all week.”
Their children are beloved to them. She hears weaning a child during new moon will gain and do well, and wonders at the advice. Covered in ticks were the children she exclaims. She sews for them and their dolls, she plans to teach Amy how to read, a tea party and book Uncle Remus for Amy’s birthday. The family stayed in Kerrville a short while in 1893-94 while Geoffrey underwent treatment for a nail stuck in his foot, and Palmer was born a few weeks later. All of which led to the next year, when much of their life was concerned with the heart-breaking death of much loved 11 yr. old Amy from typhus, believed caused by drinking water at a picnic. Laura frequently mourns the loss of her first baby and of Amy in the diary.
. Annie Laura James Giles enjoyed painting the landscapes of Hillingdon Ranch
One never knows when a voice from the past will add richness and enlightenment to the written historical record. Once again, it happened for us at an event for the Hillingdon Ranch book at the Texas Book Festival in Austin. A smiling eager gentleman, .Mr Pete Rose, approached us with a most interesting story. His maternal grandmother, Mary Barton Hall Paterson was born in 1862 in London and when circumstances found her in Texas, she was hired by Alfred Giles as a governess for his four children. Miss Hall and Mrs. Giles, both amateur artists, would together enjoy plein air painting jaunts on the hillsides of the ranch whenever they had time. Mr. Rose had a few years previously found himself near Hillingdon Ranch while doing geological mapping work and was graciously welcomed to a visit with Palmer and Edith Giles. - Author 7 Giles, continued
El Paso Trial
Giles and others were falsely accused of fraud involved in the plans and construction of the El Paso Courthouse. “This confounded old examination only takes up time,” he declares in his letters home during the lengthy trial in 1885. Conclusive evidence was presented and Giles et al. were completely and publicly exonerated. During the trial in El Paso, Giles stayed at a hotel in the city and writes to his wife every day how distraught he is by the process, thinking it would be over in a few days but it lasted 3 weeks. “How hard it does seem that I should have to be away, my darling” he writes to her and signs as Lonely Old Husband Alf. His wife meanwhile gives birth to one of their daughters while he is away, and in letters he asks about El Paso Courthouse “the little angel.” Finally Laura receives a telegram. “Will Image Source: courthousehistory.com start home in a day or two.” The entire episode would last three years, including the last legal filing of a civil suit by Giles. Was his reputation damaged even though there was the public exoneration? This debacle in his career has an interesting possible bearing on events just a few years later, as pointed out by Meister in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly article, as to why initially the credit for the com- pleted Marfa’s Presidio County Courthouse was not given to architect Giles. Meister believes Giles didn’t want the recent stigma on his reputation rehashed and possibly taint the new Presidio County courthouse in Marfa (see be- low). Also followed, perhaps coincidentally, a majority of his future work was in Mexico.
Confusing records regarding the name of architect for the 1886 Presidio County Courthouse Recently, confusion has been cleared and appropriate credit finally given to Alfred Giles.
Next Edition: An English Architect in Kendall County, Alfred Giles, Architect (1853-1920) Part IV The 1900s – Closing Out the Giles Legacy 8 Autos’ Early Days – A Kendall County Perspective — Part II Boerne Hosts Road Adventure: San Antonio Auto Club’s 1910 Road Run By Bryden Moon
Part clever marketing and seemingly part wishful thinking, last edition we explored the Old Spanish Trail (OST) and the OST Association’s aspiration to create a seamless coast-to-coast southern U.S. high- way that would connect St. Augustine with San Die- go. Kendall County civic and business leaders from Boerne and Comfort desired to be part of its official routing, and secured it during a late 1919 conference in San Antonio, ten years before the entire OST was finally certified as completed in 1929. Today we’ll explore the first autos in the region, intertwine some early auto facts, and highlight a road run by the San Antonio Automobile Club that caravanned into Ken- dall County in 1910. The Crossroads of Mobility Eras on Boerne’s Main Street
During the “dawn of the motor age,” an emerging groundswell due to the novelty and “revolutionary” nature of these horseless carriages captured the imagination of its era. Why the fascination? Speed for one…rough calculations of early autos top speed and sustained mph, left ox-carts, buggies, wagons and even individual horses and mules “in the dust” of the unpaved roads. So how do the 19th century conveyances compare? A young pair of oxen, not pulling any actual load, just the oxcart, might top out at 4 mph.
Carriage and wagon horses, depending on the fitness of the horses, generally trot between 10 and 15 miles per hour; fac- toring in rest breaks they can travel 50 miles in 8 to 10 hours Comparative Top Speeds (thus 6 to 4 mph). It’s estimated that the fastest gait of horses, Ox-Drawn Wagon - 4 mph the gallop, averages 25 to 30 mph. The competing early autos Horse-Drawn Carriage - 15 mph didn’t sputter, and many could rocket: the 1908-1927 Model T Horse & Rider - 30 mph Fords could reach 45 mph, and the next generation Model A Fords, a lofty 65 mph. Ford Model T - 45 mph
Ford Model A – 65 mph Not surprisingly, it was San Antonio, then the second largest city in Texas, where the regional inauguration of early autos was first documented. The San Antonio Transportation Muse- um’s Hugh Hemphill, who is the author of San Antonio on Wheels, tells us that the first models introduced locally were not Fords (Henry Ford’s Model T wasn’t produced until 1908), “The first recorded horseless carriage in San Antonio, an elec- tric vehicle, was delivered to the Staacke Brothers livery service on Commerce Street in 1899. The San Antonio newspaper…described it having four bicycle type wheels, steered by a tiller and capable of seating two persons. As the Staackes were agents for Studebaker it is reasonable to suggest it was one of this company’s initial and brief foray into electric powered cars.”
(Continued on page 9) 9 Autos’ Early Days, continued
“The first gasoline powered car in San Antonio arrived in 1901,” and Mr. Hemphill adds that due to their price tag, San Antonio’s first owners were a special subset, “because automobiles were so expen- sive at this time, often costing more than most houses, the earliest examples in any given city were usually acquired by a doctor, who could usually justify the cost as he could now make double the number of house calls than with a horse, of which some local physi- cians owned three teams, or a banker. It was a member of the latter group, J.D. Anderson who was head cashier at the City Na- tional Bank at 224 W. Commerce Street…drove his $1,795.00 Haynes-Apperson.”
1901 Haynes-Apperson Company Ad Hugh Hemphill introduces us to more of San Antonio’s early auto scene, “1902 saw the arrival of at least two more horseless carriag- es. In January a steam powered Locomobile appeared and Louis Heurmann became the make’s sales agent in the city. And in the summer, bicycle shop owners Lewis Birdsong and Frank Crothers acquired one of the first mass produced vehicles in the world, the single cylinder Curved Dash Oldsmobile (see 1905 sheet music cover - below), which sold for $650.00.”
The following year, in October 1903, the San Antonio Automobile Club (SAAC) was established. With originally 13 members present, they appear to have been very active, designing roads runs to vari- ous communities, asMr . Hemphill describes, “Their first outing, to the Medina River near modern Von Ormy, set out from the Bird- song & Crothers store at 214 East Houston, where the Majestic The- Circa 1902 Locomobile ater now stands. Twelve cars took part. Five were Curved Dashes. The others were a Pope-Toledo, a Thomas, a Ford, a Locomobile Steamer, a Woods Electric, a Haynes-Apperson and a French import, a Richard Brazier racer. The thirty mile trip on unimproved roads proved successful.”
This outing was followed up with other road runs, includ- ing an excursion into Comal County, “…the club negotiat- ed huge boulders at Cibolo Creek to visit New Braunfels and its mayor, Harry Landa, one of the town’s first auto- mobilists.” And as it turns out, one of San Antonio Auto- mobile Club’s jaunts carried them into Kendall County. The San Antonio Automobile Club’s road trip to Boerne was profiled in the Monday, March 7th edition of the 1910 San Antonio Daily News, with the splashy headline, “Club Run is Big Success.” As the Boerne heavyweights, including Mayor Willke, rolled out the red carpet it is easy to see why the sub-headline read, “Boerne People Entertain the Local Tourists Royally.” Curved Dash Oldsmobile (Continued on page 10) Featured on 1905 Sheet Music 10 Autos’ Early Days, continued
” rom the newspaper article it appears that both guests and F hosts enjoyed a successful Sunday outing and feast hosted in The Opera House Boerne’s Opera House (see inset), “the run…met at Boerne a reception that was a royal one in every particular, the entire city turning out to greet the visitors and give them a banquet Having only incorporated the prior year, at the city hall…” in 1909, the City of Boerne was without a The SASC gushed continual praise of the welcome mat laid out dedicated city hall facility; the Boerne by their Boerne hosts, “Two dozen machines carried over a City Council co-opted the Opera House, hundred people to Boerne to a day which proved the most en- located on the corner of Main Street joyable of the in the history of local motordom.” and Courthouse Street (today’s San Anto- nio Street) for routine meetings and spe- cial events and used it as their City Hall.
As the San Antonio Daily news article wound down we learned that, “Throughout both the run out and the return, an average rate of under eighteen mile an hour was main- tained by the pilot car.” And fitting Hugh Hemphill’s profile of those who could afford to be early adapters, from the notable roster of participants listed at the article’s conclu- sion, out of 17 names, five were doctors, including two of Dr. Ferdinand Herff’s descendants, Dr. Adolph Herff and Dr. Ferdinand Herff. San Antonio Auto Club’s Trip to Boerne March 7, 1910 San Antonio Daily Express
Call it a coincidence, but there appears to have been a lingering “automotive” afterglow in Boerne, two days after hosting the San Antonio Auto Club. Held at the same facility, the Tuesday, March 8th Boerne City Council meeting, conducted in the Opera House was dominated with automobile-related topics.
The treasurer’s report dealt with the city’s Road Fund, followed one topic later with “City Ordinance #122, was read – passed & carried as follows It is hereby ordered that the owners of all automobiles in the city of Boerne shall procure a license for each & every machine & shall pay for such license the sum of 50 cents – said license to be numbered in consecutive numbers & number secured on a prominent place on the rear of each machine.” One amendment and one motion later, a final mo- tion was made and carried, “…to authorize the street com- mittee to spend the sum of $50.00 on improving Main Street.”
Boerne was embracing the new era of mobility! Boerne City Council Minutes - March 8, 1910
(Continued on page 11) 11
Autos’ Early Days, continued
Boerne Main Street Circa 1910 Post Office (left) Boerne State Bank (center) Bakery (right) later extended for H.L Davis Insurance
Next Edition: Autos’ Early Days – Kendall County Perspective – Part III
140 years ago (on 1/18/2021) published in the San Antonio Express newspaper for Busch Beer
12
What’s a Guy Like You Doing in a Place Like This? By Donna Peacock
He might have clicked the heels of his custom-made top boots three times, thrice repeating “There’s no place like home” and found himself in the wrong Kendall County. He’s not in Illinois, anymore. Instead, he sits, sprawled, fully bronzed, on a bronze bench in Boerne, Texas, facing Haupstrausse, his back to the Main Plaza, in this German-founded town. But Wild Bill Von Hickok just doesn’t sound right.
Yet here he is: frontiersman, army scout, feared gunslinger, respected lawman who hasn’t fought a gun battle for years, who’s lived off his reputation, joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, then wandered the West, tried to make a living as a gambler; was arrested several times for vagrancy, suffered from failing eyesight, wore dark glasses, was sensitive to light. He was married but a few slanted outward with foot turned in. What’s he doing here? Bizarrely months before he went to Deadwood, South Dakota; positioned in an unlikely place, perhaps became a regular at the poker tables of the No. 10 a bit like Dorothy in Oz, blown in Saloon. With no time to draw his ivory-handled pistols, he was shot in the back of his head. by a tornado or twist of history. He stares straight ahead: bored, Didn’t finish playing his hand: resigned, confused, or satisfied “Deadman’s Hand,” it’s called. with believing Boerne is safe Somehow, dead or alive, he sits today in Boerne, Texas, a town with him there to watch over – or, simply, watch. Misplaced, he never even visited, where, now, vagrant; his vision blurred by he tolerates tourists who pretend disease, seeing little, wondering to tousle his bronzed, shoulder-length hair, or cuddle under one of his arms, thrown where he is.
13 Old Jail Museum? Spirits of the Season? By Ron Cisneros
With its hues of various red, brown, yellow, and orange, the fall season summons the closing of a year and a wistful desire to reminisce on the passing year and even times long since gone. Its shorter days and low-hanging sunlight evoke introspec- tion and reflection, leaving one’s spirit somewhere between melancholy and joyful contentment. Speaking of spirit, it seems the season from fall to early winter is filled with many stories of spirits. From the ghouls of Halloween to Dicken’s ghosts of Christmas, the chill of autumn is a siren’s call to specters from another place not quite our own.
Historic small towns, with their old buildings, seem especially hospitable to visitors from another dimension. Boerne seems to be on every ghost’s radar. Stories abound of hauntings upstairs at the Joseph Dienger building, the old Bergmann Lumber building (now Tusculum Brewery), Ye Kendall Inn, and the old Country Spirits restaurant (Carstanjen-Hall Home).
It appears as if the old Kendall County Jail might have an after- life uninvited guest too. Volunteers working to repurpose the old jail into a museum have spoken of a visitor whose identity has yet to be determined. Dean Sprowl experienced several visits in one evening. Is it possible with all the renovations in the old jail that the volunteers have kicked up something more than a little dust? And what might be the purpose of this visitor’s appearance; to help with the renovations, perhaps?
Despite the desire to quickly leave the premises as the sun settles below the horizon, and to not work alone, the volunteers at the Old Jail are working tirelessly and with, ahem, spirited determination to share the fascinating story of Kendall County’s past. And as one season yields and unfolds into another, so too does our county’s history with its future. Today’s volunteers may very well become tomorrow’s spirit docents, welcom- ing you to explore our county’s history and heritage.
For more information on events or how you can volunteer, please visit us at facebook.com/kchistoricjail.
14 Welcome to Boerne, Texas Serving as a Gateway for Hill Country Travelers Boerne’s Natural Treasures Lured Seasonal Guests By Bryden Moon
Boerne’s nascent hospitality industry mirrored its sparse development; carved out of wilderness in 1852, community infrastructure was minimal as C. Hugo Clauss described, “It was in the year 1855 when I arrived for the first time in the Cibolo Valley. Boerne…consisted of a few huts.” Early travelers would camp out or stay in the homes of early residenc- es. When the number of more permanent households grew, so did the sophistication of family- run accommodations.
Boerne’s overnight industry benefited from its location, always having the major regional route a stone’s throw away, beginning with the histor- ic Camino San Saba (Camino Viejo), a pathway used by Native-Americans and Spain’s expanded empire, to today’s IH10. Just thirty miles north of San Antonio, Boerne was a natural layover for travelers into or out of the Alamo City. With the 1887 arrival of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad to Boerne, the iron horse supplemented horses and horse- drawn buggies, wagons and stagecoaches, reducing the trip to and from San Antonio to three hours. Then the horseless carriage was added into the mix. Boerne profited, when in 1919, the developing coast-to-coast southern auto route, romantically named the Old Spanish Trail, was channeled through its downtown.
Boerne’s well-promoted and well-deserved reputation for a healthy cli- mate, including promotional touts of fresh air, cooler climes, and un- Cibolo Creek View of Boerne Hotel spoiled creeks, nestled in a unique & romantic landscape, contributed to Present Day “The Kendall” make Boerne a vacation get-away and summer retreat. Boerne capital- ized on being a good host with a never-ending “welcome” mat.
The Boerne Hotel (once called Ye Kendall Inn and today’s The Ken- dall), with its prominent Main Plaza position, holds the distinction of hosting visitors for aound a century and a half. South of the Cibolo Creek, the Kendall House was an early facility managed by Boerne’s second postmaster, John O’Grady. Other early Boerne Main Street accommodations included the St. James Hotel, and several of Boerne’s finest family inns that cozily appended“ House” after the family’s name: the Becker House, the Vogt House and south of Cibolo Creek, the Phillip House (later called the Cibolo House and today Phillip Manor). Newspaper ads touted the American House and Main Plaza’s St. Louis Hotel. Business directories from the 1880s listed the March 24, 1885 Ad San Antonio Light Central Hotel, the Platz Hotel and Staffel’s Hotel. Long-time residents recalled the Pioneer House and Oppermann House.
(Continued on page 15) 15 Welcome to Boerne, continued
Boerne Hotel – Old Post Card, Present Day “The Kendall”
January 18, 1881 Ad March 24, 1885 Ad San Antonio Daily Express San Antonio Light
Newspaper accountings paint Boerne as a robust community, almost bustling with activity and guests. A pair of Gal- veston Daily News articles capture the energy.“ The continued clatter and rattle of wheels through Boerne is highly indicative of travel and buzz of business, and one looking up the street and seeing the throng of wagons and carriages would think of the neces- sity of a police force to clear the way for pedestrians. This is as it should be, for Boerne is a live and progressive place. The town is full of visi- tors.” (July 26, 1877) “Boerne is having a veritable boom in the way of visitors and health seekers. All the hotels and boarding houses, private houses and cottages for rent are crowded. Even tents are being brought into requisition. Besides the resident guests at the Boerne Hotel, upward of fifty guests were registered last week.” (July 23, 1892) (Continued on page 16) 16 Welcome to Boerne, continued
Becker House on Main Street Vogt House on Main Street
St. James Hotel on Main St. (across from Main Plaza)
Platz Hotel Ad