USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
San Antonio in 1873.
Let us take stock of San Antonio as it was before the railroad, us- ing for the estimate the words of persons who wrote of the wonderful old city at that time. With the approach of the railroad in his mind, Ed- ward King spoke of San Antonio's isolation (though certainly exagger- ating its effects), thus: "San Antonio is the only town in the United
1 Glimpses of Texas, 1873, Scribner's Magazine.
292
293
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
States which has thoroughly European aspect. . . Once arrived in it, and safely ensconced among the trees and flowers of Flores street, or on any of the lovely avenues which lead from it out into the delicious surrounding country-there seems a barrier let down to shut out the outer world; the United States is as a strange land. In San Antonio you may hear people speak of 'Going to the states,' the 'news from the states,' etc., with utmost gravity and good faith. The interests of the section are not so identified with those of the country to which it be- longs as to lead to the same intense curiosity about American affairs that one finds manifested in Chicago, St. Louis and even in Galveston. Although everything which is brought into San Antonio from the outer world toils over eighty miles of stage or wagon transit, the people are well provided with literature; but that does not bring them any closer to the United States. Nothing but a railroad ever will."
In a very comprehensive manner. King outlines the chief business resources and interests of the city at the time, and mentions the rail- roads that were then building toward San Antonio and which have since made this either an important station or a terminus. "San Antonio," he says, "has so long been a depot for military supplies for all the forts on the southwestern frontier, and for the supply of the Mexican states this side of the Sierra Madre, that many of the merchants are not in favor of the advent of railroads, fearing that with them trade will move beyond the venerable city, and not remembering that, should that be so, the rail- roads will bring ample compensating advantages. The sooner Western Texas has railroads, the sooner will the Indian and Mexican difficulties be settled ; the sooner will all the available rich lands be taken up. Even now the business done by means of the slow wagon trains, which can at best only make twenty miles per day, is enormous, amounting to many millions yearly : what would it be if railroads penetrated to the now un- tamed frontiers ? Many of the appliances of civilization are fast reaching Western Texas for the first time; San Antonio now has four prosperous banks .- she had nonc before the war,-gas-lights, two daily papers, and a weekly for the German population ; how can she avoid railroads? Three lines are at present pointed directly for the antique city ; the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad, which is now completed from Harrisburg to Columbus, and is to be continued from Columbus to San Antonio : the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific R. R., which at present extends from Indianola to Victoria, and has been graded to Cuero, thirty miles beyond Victoria ; and the International Railroad, which contem- plated touching both Austin and San Antonio, thus opening a through line to Longview in north Texas, and southwesterward to Mazatlan on the Pacific, with a branch to the city of Mexico. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas will also touch at San Antonio.
"The residences on Flores street are all completely embowered in shrubbery, and many of them are intrinsically fine. There are few wooden structures in the city; the solid architecture of previous cen- turies prevails. Most of the houses and blocks on Commerce street and other principal streets are generally two and sometimes three stories high; there are some fine shops-one or two of them being veritable museums of trade. It is from these shops that the assortments are made
294
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
up which toil across the plains to the garrisons and to Mexico ; and a wagon train, loaded with a 'varied assortment,' contains almost every- thing known in trade. Through the narrow streets every day clatter the mule teams, their tattered and dirty-clothed negro drivers shouting fran- tically at them as they drag civilized appliances towards Mexico."
Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad.
In 1877 the railroad came. In the previous year the county had voted, by 58 majority, in favor of the Pierce Railroad subsidy of $300,- 000, insuring the building of the "Sunset" line to this point. "There is a sort of romance attaching to the road that brings into daily communica- tion with the world this city, that like Nacogdoches and Santa Fe, for nearly two centuries has stood on its long untraveled trails," wrote Mrs. Spofford in. 1877. "This road was built, single-handed, by its owner, Mr. Pierce, who is said to be the largest landholder in the world. The bed in all its length is broad and firm, much of it made of the solid con- crete deposits which are found on the line, the ties are laid with an exact precision, the rails are steel, and the bridges are of iron, with piers of solid masonry that defy the floods. On the occasion of its opening the San Antonians displayed a unique hospitality. To. every guest that came over the road they gave literally the freedom of the city-the best they had to offer. Bed and board and fruit and flowers were his; any garden where he wished to stroll was his; any carriage that he chose to stop upon the street and enter was his; any bar across which he wished to drink-and their name is legion-any cigar he chose to take. For three days the three hundred guests were entertained as kings and princes entertain, and were dismissed without having been allowed to pay a bill. It has always been a long and fatiguing stage- coach ride thither; but now the Texan is pouring in to visit its sanctuaries."
Last February (1907) occurred the thirtieth anniversary of the advent of the railroad to San Antonio. An interesting account of this event, and an editorial, with special emphasis upon the progress since that date, appeared in the Daily Express, and are here quoted :
Thirty years ago todav (February 19, 1877) there was a sound of revelry in the Alamo City. The inhabitants of San Antonio were entertaining as their guests the state officials and hundreds of excursionists from Houston, Galveston and intermediate points, who had come here on the first train run into the city, for the purpose of celebrating the occasion of the completion of the road. The Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company had given the city what its citizens had been working and hoping for twenty years, a railroad that would connect them with the Gulf of Mexico.
The celebration was probably the biggest that had ever been held in the State of Texas. The railroad company had given passes to those who wished to assist in celebrating the completion of the road, and great numbers enjoyed the novel experience of riding on a railroad train.
A committee of prominent citizens was sent out to Marion to meet the party of excursionists, which included the officers of all the roads then in this state. In the Governor's party were: Governor Hubbard, Lieutenant-Governor Wells Thompson, Attorney General Bokon, Assistant Attorney General McCor- mick, State Treasurer Dorn, Private Secretary to the Governor Martin, Adjutant General Steele, Superintendent of the Insane Asylum Rainey, Chief Justice Rob-
295
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
erts and Appellate Judges White. Ector and Winkler. Judges Norvell and Stewart. In the party from Galveston were Mayor Fulton and eight aldermen.
On returning from Marion the committee which went out to meet the excursionists was met by the following reception committee: Mayor French, Aldermen Hahn, Teel. Muench, Judges Devine, Waelder, Upson, Noonan and Dwyer, H. Grenet, J. E. Dwyer, F. Guilbeau, C. Elmendorf, A. B. Frank, J. F. Minter. Sol Halff, J. T. Thornton, J. S. Lockwood. E. Reed, J. Groos. J. H. Kampmann, Leonardo Garza, James Callaghan, W. H. Maverick, S. C. Bennett, N. O. Green, H. B. Adams, A. Michael, W. B. Knox, John James, I. P. Simpson, T. Schlenning, P. J. Biesenbach, Ed Steves, A. Oppenheimer, Max Krokau and Louis Huth, Jr.
The party and thousands of enthusiastic San Antonians then returned to the city from the depot, which was then on Austin street.
The order of march was: A detail of torch bearers, Tenth Cavalry Band, United States Infantry, Alamo Rifles, United States Cavalry. Governor and state officials, county and city officials, Commanding General and Department of Staff, band, citizens.
Gustav Frasch, who enjoyed the occasion, said yesterday :
"The train comprised fifteen passenger coaches, baggage and mail car. On this train came about 800 excursionists and a number of passengers. Each of the excursionists was given a souvenir, consisting of a piece of colored satin cloth, upon which the following inscription was printed in black letters, viz .: 'Celebra- tion, Feb. 19, 1877. Sunset route, G., H. & S. A. R. R., welcome. To the Gov- ernor and staff, the Lieutenant-Governor and officers of the "Lone Star" State; to the judiciary ; to the Queen City of the Gulf. the commercial portal of Texas: to the Bay City, the pioneer of Texas Railways; to the City of Hills, the capital of our Great State; to all her sister cities and towns and to all guests "The City of the Alamo" extends a hearty welcome.'
"This special train with the excursionists arrived here about 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon, February 19, at the terminus of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad grounds on Austin street, at the proposed depot site, upon which a temporary platform was erected for the occasion and the convenience of passengers. The mayor of this city, James H. French, all of the members of the City Council and other city and county officials : also the whole fire depart- ment, under command of its chief, Major J. H. Kampmann, formed in procession at the Alamo Plaza and marched out in a body, headed by a brass band, to the depot grounds to meet the excursionists.
"Upon the arrival of the train the excursionists were given a rousing hurrah and a hearty welcome. At the same time the band was playing several pieces. The procession, after greeting the excursionists, was again formed in line, with the band ahead, playing, and all the visitors who arrived with the train were escorted to Bowen's Island, where a splendid lunch with plenty of beer was served to all visitors.
"After dusk the island was lighted all over with china lampions and coal oil cans. Many speeches were made from a large platform erected for that pur- pose and a jolly good time was had by all present. In the large pavilion dancing was kept up until the next morning. A fine display of fireworks was given after the speechmaking, which was admired by everybody. Music was kept up all night, and plenty of it. The excursionists had with them two brass bands of their own.
"I may also state that thirty vears ago we had similar fine weather here as we had during January last and this month, and no cold weather of anv conse- quence was experienced during the months of January, February and March in the year of 1877. The farmers had a good, favorable season and made a good harvest."
San Antonio Then and Now.
Thirty years ago Monday the first train entered San Antonio, and the be- ginning of the phenomenal progress that has made this city the foremost of the Southwest was inaugurated.
Proud as the city then was of its metropolitan privileges, it was, after all, not a citv. but a country town, but it was a country town with a history and a future. The spirit and energy and initiative that makes a great city was here
206
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
then and is now. The growth that those thirty years have brought will be as nothing to the development of the next thirty years.
Those who remember the straggling town then with its unpaved streets can hardly recognize it as the bustling, handsome city of today, with its modern buildings, street cars, telephones and the like. The description of the celebration published in the Express of February 20, 1877, lays much stress on the fact that Chinese lanterns were swung from the cornices of the Menger Hotel and fes- tooned every window, making "a brilliant and glittering spectacle."
Could that reporter have looked into the future and seen the blaze of elec- tric glory that borders the roof lines not only of the Menger and the other buildings on the plaza, but of many more on Houston and Commerce streets, not on festal nights alone, but every night, his eyes would indeed have bulged at "the glittering and brilliant spectacle."
In nothing, perhaps, more than in the growth of the Express itself is the growth of this city shown. The paper which contains the account of that great celebration was a small, four-page affair, chiefly of advertisements, with only about a column of telegraphic news. The differences between that and the modern daily of from twelve to sixteen pages, with forty to sixty pages Sunday, with foreign and state telegraphic reports and its own engraving plant, latest type- setting machines, presses, etc., may be taken as a fair index of the San Antonio of thirty years ago and that of today.
Now the wheels of progress move so much more rapidly, and the currents of the age are sweeping us on at a rate that makes the movement of that dav seem like standing still. Consequently the greater San Antonio of 1937 will probably look back upon "the likely little city" of today with a comfortable smile of superiority.
January 1, 1879.
On January 1, 1879, the Daily Herald "took stock" of the year's progress of the city, and gave in detail the status of the city's various affairs on that date. The following is an extract of the essential facts of the article named, showing the city during the first year of the rail- road era :
City Limits.
The bounds and limits of the city of San Antonio as defined by the charter "include a square of which the sides shall be equi-distant, measured from what is now known as the Main Plaza, and three miles therefrom, or six miles square." The city is divided into four wards.
Ward No. I has 47 streets, three of which are macadamized; three public squares or plazas, and 225 building blocks.
Ward No. 2 has 86 streets, eight of which are macadamized; three public squares or plazas; one public park, San Pedro, and 350 building blocks.
Ward No. 3 has 58 public streets. seven of which are partly macadamized ; three public squares or plazas, and 225 building blocks.
Ward No. 4 has 66 public streets, seven of which are partly macadamized, and 238 building blocks.
Public Lands in Bexar.
From L. C. Navarro, County Surveyor, the Herald receives the following report :
There has been about 1,135,500 acres of public land taken up within the last year, leaving about 3.500,000 acres of public land subject to location. Some of the finest grazing lands in the state are still vacant. Lying in the western part of the county, it has but recently come into demand, owing to former raids of Indians in that section.
Some forty persons have taken advantage of the homestead act, which grants 80 acres to single persons and 160 to families by living on the land for three years. Persons wishing to take the benefit of the homestead act may select the vacant land they wish, file an application for a survey, and after living on it for three years the state grants a patent. Alternate sections can be pur-
297
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
chased at from $60 to $65: solid certificates at from $1.co to $2 per acre. Lands of the International Railroad can be purchased at from $2.25 to $2.50 per acre.
General Statistics.
The City of San Antonio is represented by 2518 taxpayers. Out of this number 961 have made renditions of their property to the city assessor; the balance, 1,557, have made no renditions.
The total valuation of taxable property in the City of San Antonio, for the year 1878. is $8,789,510; the amount of rendered property is $4,274.012, and that of unrendered property is $4,513,498.
The same is classified as follows: Real estate, $6,733,315 ; personal, property, $794.440 ; merchandise, $918.060; banking stock, $333.000; real estate owners un- known. $8,695. Total, $8.787,510.
The assessment per ward for 1878 is as follows : Ward I, $2,379,510: Ward 2. $2,205.839: Ward 3. $1,914.370; Ward 4, $1,263,627.
The following shows the increase of property in each ward since 1876; Ward I, $151,181 ; Ward 2, $227.344: Ward 3, $434,080; Ward 4. $211,550.
The city assessment for 1878 is apportioned among the following nationali- ties : Germans (including Alsacians, Polanders and Swedes), $4,778,815: Ameri- cans and English, $3.149.747 ; Mexicans, $519.418: French, $534,890; Irish, $401 .- 335; Spaniards, Italians and Hungarians, $III,950; colored, $46,650.
Churches.
The number of churches and places of worship in this city are as follows : Catholic, 5 to-wit: San Fernando Church. St. Mary's Church, St. Joseph's Church (German), St. Michael's Church (Polander), and Convent Chapel. Episcopal. I ; Baptist, I; Presbyterian, I : Methodist, 2; Methodist German, 1 ; German Lutheran, I; Jewish Synagogue, 1; African, 4. Total, 17.
Population of the City.
The approximate population of the City of San Antonio at the present time, according to nationalities, is as follows: Americans, English and Irish. 7,800 : Germans (including Alsatians). 7,600; Mexicans, 3.470; Spaniards, 25; Italians, 25; French, 310; Swiss, 60; Hungarians, 17; Dutch, Belgians and Swedes, 32; Polanders, 178; Chinese, 2; Africans (or descendants), 2,178. Total population, 21,704.
Fire Department.
Gustav A. Duerler, chief.
The department is composed of the following companies :
Milam Steam Fire Engine Company No. I; engine house, south side Market street, between Yturri and Cochran streets. Regular meeting first Wednesday of each month.
Ed ยท Braden, foreman; Fritz Schreiner, assistant; E. Schreiner, treasurer ; John Rosenheimer, secretary; En:il Menger, engineer.
The company was organized June 6, 1854, and received its first charter in 1858. It is provided with a Silsby engine and 1,500 feet of hose. Number of members, forty-three.
Alamo Fire Association No. 2; engine house, west side of Avenue C. be- tween Houston and Travis streets. Regular meetings first Wednesday in each month.
William Hoefling, foreman; C. Zuchlag. assistant; Chas. Degen, treasurer ; F. C. Heneisen, secretary.
The company was organized December 21. 1859, and incorporated Feb- ruary IIth, 1860. It is provided with a Silsby engine, and its rolls exhibit the names of forty-five active members.
Turner Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 ; truck house in Alamo buildings, on Houston street.
B. J. Mauermann, foreman : Ferdinand Herff, assistant ; Ed. Dreiss, treasurer ; E. Schaefer, secretary ; W. Kellner, house keeper.
The company was organized January 29th, 1869. and incorporated April 20th, 1871. It is equipped with a Babcock hook and ladder truck and two hose carts with I,oco feet of hose for city hydrants. The company musters forty-five.
Hand Fire Engine Company No. 3: engine house at Fourth Ward Market.
298
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
This company has thirty-five members on its rolls and is composed of colored men. Jasper Thompson, foreman.
Hand Fire Engine Company No. 4; engine house on Presidia street. The company, composed of colored men, has a membership of forty. Henry Riley, foreman.
Casino Association.
Organized September 12th, 1854. Meets every Monday evening, for busi- ness. Building at the junction of Casino and Market streets. Hall fitted up for dramatic and operatic performances. President, Chas. Griesenbeck; vice-presi- dent, E. Dosch; secretary, F. Grothaus; treasurer, A. Dreiss, Sr .; bookkeeper. C. Dannheim.
San Antonio Turn-Verein.
First organized August 22, 1857, and reorganized September 5, 1866. Presi- dent, A. Siemering; vice-president, B. Mauermann; secretary, Alex Kuhn; treasurer, Alb. Beckmann.
Meet on every second and fourth Wednesday of each month at Meyer's Hall, Alamo Plaza.
Hardly could a more charming description of San Antonio be found than that written by Harriet P. Spofford.1 She described the city as it was just after the coming of the railroad, thirty years ago. Sympa- thetic in her judgments, and with poetic insight of the historic past and the potentialities of that time, her pictures of the San Antonio de Bexar in 1877 have an interest and beauty that few other contemporary de- scriptions possess.
A Picture of San Antonio Thirty Years Ago.
Arriving in San Antonio from the snowbound north in the month of March, when the town was a wilderness of blooming roses, hedging in the gardens, latticing the verandas, and clambering over the low roofs, she finds quaint beauty at every turn. "Most of the houses are long and low and narrow, of a single story, and but one step from the ground, built of a cream-colored stone that works easily and hardens in the air, and so placed that the south wind or east shall blow in every room-the wind that blows all day from the Gulf, and makes the fervent heat itself a joy. These charming dwellings stand with little regularity or uniformity, but here and there, facing this way and that. just as the winding roads wind with the winding river, and always half buried in a sweet seclusion of leaf and blossom. Not roses only, but all the other flowers under heaven: lilies and myrtles and geraniums make the air a bliss to breathe; aloes sit drawing in the sunshine, sud- denly to shoot it out in one long spike of yellow bloom higher than the house itself; the Spanish dagger lifts its thick, palm-like trunk and bristles at a thousand points around its great cone of creamy bells ; the euphorobia clothes its strange and lofty stem with a downy green, and then flowers with a blossom like a red bird just alit; in every vacant space the acacia 'waves her yellow hair.' There are groups of bananas, too; there are walls of scarlet pomegranate, one blaze of glory; lanes lined with the lovely leafed fig tree; and the comelv mulberry tree. grown to an enormous size, is dripping with its blackening and delicious fruit.
1 In Harper's New Monthy Magazine, Nov., 1877.
299
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
"In and out among these houses slips the San Antonio river, clear as crystal, swifter than a mill race; now narrow and foaming along between steep banks rich with luxuriant semi-tropical growth, and with the tall pecans on either side meeting above them in vaulting shadow ; now spreading in sunny shallows between long grassy swards starred with flowers, twisting and turning and doubling on itself, so tortuous that the three miles of the straight line from its head to the market place it makes only in fourteen miles of caprices and surprises, rapids and eddies and falls and arrowy curves, reach after reach of soft green gloom and flickering sunshine, each more exquisitely beautiful than the other. It flows by the Mexican jacal, and through the wealthy garden, around the churches, across the business streets with its delight- ful glimpses. You cannot escape it; you think you have left it behind you, and there it is before you, hurrying along to the forests on its two hundred miles to the gulf."
A visitor in 1907 can appreciate the description of the "sinuosities of the countless streets of San Antonio, which are a complete maze, and among which one may wander a year and yet find intricacies unknown before. The town lies in its valley in the board basin of its great hills, and upon both sides of the river, and the serpentine course of the river, crossed by a score of bridges and as many fords, is such a confusion and a snare that you never know upon which side of it you are. The streets in the old part of the city are exceedingly narrow, and by no means clean, and the sidewalks are narrower yet, and worn in ruts by the tread of many feet. Many of the buildings on these streets are of adobe, all of them a single story in height, most of them with galleries, as the veranda and piazza and porch are called. Some of them have a curious front, the wall projecting a couple of feet above the line where eaves should be, and pierced by rain-spouts, forming a breastwork be- hind which the defender lay protected, while through the rain-spouts firing down into the streets, which, in the furious old times that this town has known, with now one master and now another, were wont to run with blood.
"Narrow as the streets are, they are incumbered in every way and made still narrower. Here the incumbrance is carts full of huge blocks of unhewn stone, which are handled by brawny Mexicans and negroes, without derricks, and which the citizens patiently submit to see cut in the streets day by day instead of in the stonecutter's yard; here it is a train of clumsy Mexican wagons covered with canvas and drawn by oxen whose yokes are bound upon their horns, thus occasioning every jolt to jar the brain, and shortening the term of service of the stoutest beast. Often the Main plaza is entirely covered with these teams, the great oxen lying all day in the sun there."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.