Historical Markers in Kerr County
Texas·62 places·Page 1 of 3
History
A. C. Schreiner, Jr. Home
Prominent Kerrville rancher, businessman, philanthropist, and civic leader Charles A. Schreiner built the original part of this house in 1897 as a wedding gift for his son C. A., Jr. In 1912 it became the home of Schreiner's grandson A. C. Schreiner, Jr. (1890-1963), also an active area business leader. The second floor, arched porch, and tile roof were added in 1927.
Industry & Science
Apelt Armadillo Farm
In the late 1890s, Charles Apelt (1862-1944) opened a unique commercial enterprise at this site. Apelt, a German immigrant, came to Comfort in 1887 and worked as a farmer. Here he encountered the armadillo, an animal native to the Americas, and began to develop a commercial use for the mammal's hard shell.
History
Brown Cemetery
During the late 1840s, Joshua D. Brown (1816-1876) traveled from Gonzales and established a cypress shingle mill on the site of what is now Kerrville. This cemetery dates from 1872, when Brown's nephew, Thomas Goss was buried here. The graves of Brown and his wife, Sarah Jane (Goss), and Sarah's parents, the Rev. John and Mary Goss, are also located here.
History
Camp Verde General Store and Post Office
Mercantile business opened 1857 as Williams Community Store, serving trade around Camp Verde Army Post (site of U.S. War Department's 1857-69 camel experiment). Post office opened in 1887. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971
Military
Camps Verde, C.S.A.
Texas frontier regiment outpost was established 1862, 11 mi. southeast and near old U.S. post Camp Verde. Part of Red River-Rio Grande line of posts a day's horseback ride apart. The troops furnished own guns, mounts, but often lacked food, clothing, supplies. Still, scouting parties, patrols effectively curbed Indian raids until war's end. Kerr County population was 585.
History
Captain Charles Schreiner
(1838 - 1927) Enterprising businessman. Born in France. Moved (1852) to U.S. with parents. Served with distinction in Texas Rangers, 1854-1857. Fought with Confederacy in Civil War. In 1869 began general store in Kerrville. Activities expanded to include banking, ranching, and marketing wool and mohair. He also started one of first wool and mohair warehouses in Texas.
History
Captain Joseph A. Tivy
In 1837 Joseph A. Tivy (1818-92) and his two sisters came to Texas from Canada. After serving as a Texas Ranger, Tivy joined his sisters in the California Gold Rush of 1849. There they operated a hotel and he later served in the State Legislature. After returning to Texas in the late 1850s, Tivy fought in the Civil War, attaining the rank of captain.
History
Center Point Cemetery
The earliest known settlers in this area were Mrs. Elizabeth Denton and her children and slaves, who arrived in 1852. They were joined in 1858 by the family of Dr. Charles Ganahl, who named the new community Zanzenberg, after his hometown in Austria. The town became known as Center Point in 1872, and settlers continued to moved into the area.
History
Center Point Christian Church
The Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has been a part of the community and surrounding area for more than 135 years. The church was founded by traveling Kentucky Minister Green L. Surber in 1879. His parents, Adam and Jemima Surber, had moved to Center Point and both died here, giving a probable reason for Green to come.
Industry & Science
Christian Dietert Mill
German millwright Christian Dietert built mills at Comfort and Fredericksburg before moving here in 1857. With the assistance of a young German miller named Balthasar Lich, he constructed a mill and dam near this site to serve the pioneer settlers of the community, then called Kerrsville.
History
Cypress Creek Cemetery
The oldest documented grave in this cemetery is that of Laura Steves Boerner (d. 1861), whose husband, Wilhelm Boerner, was killed at the Battle of Nueces in August 1862. Also interred in the small cemetery on Sturdy Oak Farm are children, pioneer settlers, and two strangers who died of tuberculosis while traveling through the area.
History
Divide School
The first school classes held in this vicinity began in 1882, in the home of a hired teacher. The only two area families with children paid the instructor's salary. In 1893, William and Lou Wharton provided land for a one-room schoolhouse to meet the growing needs of the local ranching families. Originally located approximately one mile southeast of the present Texas Highway 41 and U.S.
History
Early Settlers of Kerr County
(The Shingle Makers) The earliest permanent settler at this point on the Guadalupe was Joshua D. Brown (1816-74), a native of Kentucky who came to Texas in 1830 and settled at Gonzales near a fellow Kentuckian, James Kerr, surveyor and resident manager of Green DeWitt's Colony. Brown did military duty for the Republic of Texas.
History
Education in Hunt
Established about 1915, the Hunt School combined the earlier rural schools of the North and South Forks of the Guadalupe River that served the children of the early settlers of Kerr County. Increased enrollment and floods prompted the community to build a new school farther from the river in 1926. In 1934 citizens voted for incorporation of the Hunt Independent School District.
History
First School House
Built in 1852 by J. L. O'Conner at Center Point with cypress logs (12 by 14 inches) cut from nearby Guadalupe River. Mortar was a hand-mixed solution of baked lime and sand dug from local shallow pits. The making of cypress shakes for roofing was first industry along Guadalupe in Kerr County. Cabin served as first school for pioneer Texas children in Center Point community in 1858. Moved to Y.O.
History
Gatlin Site
The construction of the new Spur 98 bridge across the Guadalupe River in Kerrville in 2004 was the catalyst for an archeological investigation yielding an extensive ancient Native American site near this location.
History
Great Western Cattle Trail
In 1874, rancher John T. Lytle founded the Great Western Cattle Trail, which became the primary route through which cattle came to northern U.S. markets. The route, also known as the Western Trail, the Dodge City Trail and the Fort Griffin Trail, was over 2,000 miles long, extending from Texas to Canada.
History
Gus F. Schreiner Home
In 1883 wealthy rancher and banker Charles Schreiner bought this land. His son Gus F. (1866-1962) later acquired the property. In 1901 Gus and his wife Huldah (Rummel) (1872-1943) erected the first floor of this house, called "Cedarcrest". "Mr. Gus" operated Schreiner Land and Livestock Co. and served on Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission.
Architecture
Guthrie Building
In continuous use since 1887, this building is one of the oldest in Kerr County. It is named for newspaper publisher Robert Guthrie, who was born in Scotland where generations of his family ran the same newspaper. Robert established the Kerrville Eye in May 1884 as the successor to the News that his father John began printing in 1882. John also published papers in Bandera and Boerne.
History
H-E-B
Charles C. Butt, his wife, Florence (Thornton), and their children moved to San Antonio from Memphis, Tennessee, in 1904. The following year they moved to Kerrville, where Florence invested $60 to open the C. C. Butt Grocery Store on November 26, 1905. Located on Main Street, the store was on the first floor of the building and the family lived above. The youngest son, Howard E.
History
Henderson Cemetery (Two miles north)
Howard Henderson (1842-1908) came to Texas in 1857. He was a survivor of the Civil War Battle of the Nueces in 1862, in which he and other Unionists were ambushed by a Confederate force near the Nueces River. He later served as Texas Ranger. Henderson married Narcissa Turknett in 1866 and they settled near this site.
Civic & Local
Hermann Sons Home for the Aged
A fraternal group originally for persons of German descent, the Sons of Hermann grew rapidly after the founding of the first Texas lodge in 1860-61. At a meeting in Austin in 1913, members voted to establish a home for the aged, to be called "Altenheim". This was one of the first homes for the aged started by a fraternal group in Texas.
History
Hunt
Farmers and ranchers settled along the North and South Forks of the Guadalupe River in the late 1850s, forming the Japonica and Pebble communities. In 1912, Alva and Lizzie Joy bought land at the confluence and named the central settlement that developed there in honor of Robert Hunt, the prior landowner.
History
Hunt Japonica Cemetery
The oldest legible tombstone in this cemetery is that of George T. Henry. It is dated 1872, sixteen years after the formal organization of Kerr county. The graveyard is located between the town of Hunt and the early community of Japonica. It has been used for the burial of many area pioneers and their descendants, and contains a large number of unmarked graves.
History
Indian Sites on Cypress Creek
Named "Sturdy Oak Farm" for an ancient live oak, this property has belonged to the Lich family since 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Perry Lich became the owners in 1945. Three significant prehistoric sites on this property indicate its importance for human habitation for at least 10,000 years. Tools from the sites represent several archaeological periods from Paleo-Indian through Archaic times.
Elsewhere in Texas
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