History
Sunset Cemetery
The earliest marked graves in this cemetery are those of James and Susan Dowdy's four children. They were killed by Indians in 1878, soon after the family migrated from Goliad. However, local tradition says the first interment in that of M. B. Shults. Plain stones mark burial sites of four Byas children who died in the 1880s typhoid epidemic. Early pioneer H. L.
Civic & Local
Texas Lions Camp
Located on land once owned by Kerrville founder Joshua Brown, this has been the site of rehabilitative facilities since the 1920s, when the American Legion established a sanitorium here, followed by a United States Veterans Administration hospital in 1925.
History
The Comparette Home
This Victorian house was built in the Tivy Addition by S. W. and Laura Smith in 1890. After several other ownerships, Dr. R. H. P. Wright, a prominent Kerrville physician, occupied the property from 1896 to 1905. One of his daughters, Fay, married Texas Governor Coke Stevenson. D. H.
History
The Cypress Creek School
Pioneer German settlers of the Cypressville community, later known as Cypress Creek, formed a school district in 1879. The original frame schoolhouse was replaced by this structure in 1908. Built of limestone quarried on Otto Lich's property, it was completed under the supervision of stonemasons Charles and Otto Bartel.
History
The Dowdy Tragedy of 1878
The pioneer family of Susan (1830-1913) and James Dowdy (1818-1900) moved from Goliad to Kerr County in 1878 and settled on Johnson Creek. Shortly after the family arrived, four of the Dowdy children, Alice, Martha, Susan, and James, were killed by Indians while tending sheep near their home. The attack occurred on Oct. 5, 1878, at a site about 3.5 miles northwest of present Ingram.
Civic & Local
The Famous Door Cafe
The Famous Door served the African American community in Kerrville for seventy years as a cafe, grocery store, and most prominently, as a dance hall. Henry Kelley established his cafeand grocery in the 1920s, at a time when Jim Crow laws segregated and restricted all aspects of life.
History
The Original Building of Tivy School
Captain Joseph A. Tivy, a Canadian born in 1818, settled in Kerr County about 1870. He served as Kerrville's first mayor and as a Texas legislator. He surveyed most of the Kerrville area and gave land for a city park. In 1890, he gave 16 and 2/3 acres for a school on this site and 100 acres to be sold to build and furnish the school. Classes began October 1891.
Entertainment & Sports
The Pampell Opera House
Originally a frame structure, this building was completed about 1895. It housed the M. V. Gregory Hotel and Store when local merchant John L. Pampell (1871-1958) bought the site in 1901. He converted the second floor into a 450-seat auditorium and used the ground floor for the manufacture and sale of candy, ice cream, and carbonated drinks.
History
Turtle Creek School and Cemetery
This schoolhouse and nearby burial ground originally served the pioneer settlers of the Turtle Creek area. The oldest marked grave is that of Miles L. Denton (1856-75). Also buried in the cemetery is Susan Elizabeth Bird (1866-87), the wife of J. Fisher Bird who patented the survey.
History
Wharton Cemetery
One of the earliest settlers in Kerr County, William Watson Wharton (1799-1871) purchased 640 acres when he came here in 1857 with his wife Thankful (1803-1885) and their three sons. The family's cabin stood near this cemetery. Wharton's is the oldest marked grave in the plot.
History
Y.O. Ranch
Charles Armand Schreiner (1838-1927), a native of Alsace-Lorraine, immigrated to Texas with his family in 1852. He joined the Texas Rangers at age fifteen, and in 1856 entered the cattle business at Turtle Creek in Kerr County. He left to serve in the Third Texas Infantry during the Civil War, and returned to Kerr County in 1865.
Civic & Local
Zion Lutheran Church
Zion Lutheran Church This congregation has roots in worship services conducted in family homes as early as 1898 and was organized in 1901 with seven charter families. The Rev. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Hans Ernst Ermisch, who also assisted Lutheran parishes in neighboring communities, was pastor for the first two years.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
