Winter Comes to East Texas

We've had a rougher winter than usual, although I know those of you who live in colder climates would say we don't know what winter is.  And you're right, of course.  It all depends on what you're acclimated to.  I've always wanted to take a photo of a cardinal in snow and I got my chance yesterday.  It actually snowed here!  What you see is about the extent of our white stuff and of course it was gone by early afternoon.  It was a very fluffy thick wet snow so it piled up pretty quickly.  I coaxed this handsome fellow to our deck by putting out some sunflower seeds and he accommodated my request.

Ancient Window

Mission San Jose

San Antonio

Post Office Murals - 4 (Smithville, Texas)

A Texas Ranger apprehending two bandits who have stopped under an oak tree to divide their loot is the subject of Minette Teichmueller's mural painted for the Smithville, Texas, post office in 1939.  The bad guys have their hands raised in surrender, probably in awe of being found by one of the elite Texas law enforcement officers.

After receiving the commission for the mural, Ms. Teichmueller could find no subject of local interest, even though it is believed that she was born and raised in La Grange, only 20 miles from Smithville.  She finally settled on a piece depicting the legendary Texas Rangers feeling confident that the subject would attract wide interest.  In a press release she was quoted as saying, "Texas Rangers are still known throughout the world for their cool courage and deadly aim."  I'm sure she would be pleased to know that 45 years after her death in 1970 that the Rangers continue to be held in high esteem.

Ms. Teichmueller died in Nacogdoches, the county seat of the county in which I presently reside, in 1970.  She received the sum of $670 for her mural in 1939.
Smithville is a lovely small town 45 miles southeast of Austin, 120 miles west of Houston, and 314 miles north of Scissors, Texas, on the Mexican border.

(Historical information for this post has been taken directly from The Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi.)

Ruins

Between Nacogdoches and Douglass, Texas

McAlpine's - Phoenix

When I spent two weeks during November in Phoenix I had lunch one day at McAlpine's (pronounced ma-KEL-pines), an authentic, old-fashioned soda fountain just north of downtown. They've been serving up egg creams and thick malts since 1928 in this former Rexall drug store decorated with tons of nostalgia. American Pickers would have a heyday in this place.

In addition to yummy cheeseburgers, BLT's, egg salad sandwiches, chili burgers, and the original wooden booths and soda fountain, you can browse through vintage clothing and furniture shops.  I give McAlpine's ***** for a super lunch!

Kendall County Courthouse (Texas No. 43)

During the San Antonio trip on Christmas Eve my daughter and I drove to Boerne (pronounced Bernie) just 30 miles north of San Antonio to visit a cousin who recently moved to this charming little town.  Although it wasn't originally on my must-have photographs list of Texas courthouses, we found this jewel and I couldn't resist.  I didn't even have my camera with me (What, you say?  I had left it in my car while we rode with my cousin on a quick trip around town, so I was able to get this photo with my iPhone).  This is the restored old courthouses but the new one looks very similar, being constructed from the same type of materials in a complimentary architectural style.  For some reason I didn't bother taking a picture of the new one and I should have.  But it was Christmas Eve and I didn't want to impose on my relatives' holiday time with children and grandchildren and I was in somewhat of a rush because we had planned to drive on further to another historic town in the area.  It's such a charming place that I know I'll return and hopefully will be able to spend some more time in this quaint little town settled by German immigrants in the 1840s.  Both the town and the county have one of Texas' richest histories.

The old courthouse was originally constructed in 1870 and is the second oldest courthouse in Texas in continuous use since its construction, which leads me to believe that it still houses active county offices.  It experienced a series of expansions in its 145-year history, including the addition of the front facade in 1909, thus explaining the 1909 date shown in the photo.  The interior was restored and the building rededicated in 2010.

Boerne has a population of 10,500.  It is 225 miles west of Houston, 300 miles south of Dallas, 340 miles southwest of my home, and 90 miles south of Baby Head.

Happy Valentine's Day

Residential neighborhood, Nacogdoches, Texas

Grapeland Public Library

I love to see buildings repurposed after they cease being used for what they were originally built for.

Jasper Mural

A few Sundays ago I decided to take a short road trip to Jasper, about 96 miles from here (yes, that's a short distance when you live in Texas), to photograph its 1889 courthouse and the post office mural painted in 1938.  Sundays are usually good days for both these photo ops, one, because there are generally few, if any, vehicles, parked around courthouses on Sundays, and, two, there aren't any people in the post offices but the murals are always in the public area of the post office, which is open 24 hours a day.  Did I just say "always"?  Would you believe that the Jasper post office mural is behind the teller area in the locked portion of the post office?  And would you further believe that I arrived in Jasper right at high noon when the sun was at its most glaring and every angle to photograph the courthouse was just not the right place for the glare of the day?  I spent some time checking out the the small town (population 8,000), having lunch at a local cafe (pretty good chicken fried steak and fried okra but not the best I've ever had) but the lighting conditions simply did not change and when I returned home that evening my computer conveyed my sentiments that my photos were just not good enough to even bother.  Don't you hate days like that?  After a 200-mile round-trip day I came home with few worthy photos but chalked it up to experience.  I couldn't move the building, I couldn't change the weather and the lighting conditions, and I couldn't unlock the post office door to see the mural, but I did find a pretty decent mural in town that I felt I could share.

Painted on the side of a building on a corner in the downtown area I found this mural which lives on the wall of a former pharmacy/now a medical supply company in this little town.

It certainly reminded me of a Norman Rockwell painting.  And the day wasn't an entire waste.  I went on to a neighboring town which had a cute little courthouse and then an even smaller town where I found the best mural I've ever seen.  I'll be showing you those in days to come.  And I suppose someday when I have some free other (other than a weekend day) I'll travel back to Jasper to take a photo of its historic courthouse and the post office mural.

Mission San Jose - San Antonio

Founded in 1720, Mission San Jose is the largest of the Texas missions.  Its imposing complex of stone walls, bastions, granary, and magnificent church was completed in 1782.  It is located a short drive from downtown San Antonio.  We actually took the trolley which dropped us off and we stayed for two hours and still didn't have time to take the guided tour which is offered by the National Park Service.

Much of what is visible today at Mission San Jose was reconstructed by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s as part of the New Deal.  The dome and the bell tower and one of the mission walls had been destroyed over the intervening century and a half.

Fine carvings rivaling those of European edifices on the facade of San Jose's church gave it the title "Queen of the Missions."  A recent restoration was accomplished of the carvings by unknown artisans.

The present carved doors were crafted in 1937 by Peter Mansbendel to replace those removed in the 1880s' renovation attempted by the Benedectine monks. Mansbendel reproduced the original door design in 2.5-inch thick black walnut in a mere six weeks.   Small doors fitted within the larger ones are used to enter the church.

La Ventana de Rosa, the Rose Window, is located on the south wall of the church sacristy.  The window, sculpted ca. 1775, has been the object of both legend and admiration.  It is considered one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in North America.  The meaning behind the name is currently unknown, but legend has it named for Rosa, the betrothed of Juan Huizar who many believe created the window.

A simple cross sands in a small garden in front of the convento which provided housing for the missionaries and the lay assistants.  In 1795 the convento consisted of nine rooms downstairs and five upstairs.  The ruins standing today reflect a major renovation begun by Benedectine monks who took over the mission in the 1850s.  Benedictines from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, purchased the mission complex from the Diocese of San Antonio with plans of developing it as a school for boys. The American Civil War intervened and the property reverted to the diocese, and the work was never completed.

Mission San Jose is an active parish.  Visitors are welcome to attend mass on Sundays.

This will conclude my series on the San Antonio visit.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I saw.  There are a few other posts that I will be making in the future based on some of the cities I went through during the five-hour drive to and from San Antonio.  Since returning I've discovered that Vicksburg, Mississippi, is closer to my home than San Antonio!  Texas is indeed a large land and I'm in love with its history.

San Fernando Cathedral

The most prominent building in San Antonio, the San Fernando Cathedral, sits in the heart of downtown San Antonio.  The mother church of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, having been built between 1738 and 1750 by the Canary Islanders who were brought by the Spanish crown to settle the area, is one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States and the oldest standing church building in Texas.  

In 1831 Jim Bowie was married in San Fernando.  In 1836 at the beginning of the siege of the Alamo, Santa Anna ordered the blood red flag of no quarter to be raised from the cathedral tower, a signal to the men inside the Alamo that they would not be spared.  In 1936, one hundred years later, during a renovation charred bones and other items were found in a box beneath the sanctuary railing that was believed to contain the remains of the men who died at the Alamo.  After the battle Santa Anna had the bodies burned in giant pyres outside the fallen fort and the ashes were reported to have been later collected and buried at the church. Today a small coffin holding those ashes is enshrined in the cathedral.  In 1987, Pope John Paul II visited San Fernando, the only visit of a pope in Texas.  In 2003, a $15 million renovation project was undertaken.

San Antonio Federal Building

In the preceding post about the San Antonio post office mural I had a great shot of the lobby that I wanted to post to show the gorgeous interior of this building.  It's almost as if the lobby were constructed to showcase the murals rather than the other way around.  And then while renaming the images for a file I keep of my blog posts I ACCIDENTALLY COPIED ONE OF THE MURAL PHOTOS OVER THE PHOTO OF THE LOBBY!  I tried everything I could think of to get it back but nothing worked.  So if you know of a way to uncover that image, PLEASE DON'T TELL ME.  I don't want to know at this point because I'll just kick myself again for being such an idiot.

So in the alternative, above is a photo of one tiny area of the lobby but with enough detail that you can see the beautiful arched windows and the chandeliers which hang throughout.

The exterior of the beautiful Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and United States Courthouse is also an architectural beauty.  The Beaux Arts style structure was one of many new post offices constructed in the mid to late 1930s under Roosevelt's New Deal program to relieve widespread unemployment due to the Great Depression.  Many of these new post office buildings were chosen for the mural program.  The San Antonio post office and courthouse was the first federal building in the country to be installed with a new technology called air conditioning.  It is located on Alamo Plaza across the street from the Alamo and today still houses a branch of the U.S. Post Office and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The exterior entrances are equally ornate, consisting of brass ornamentation featuring eagles and shields under arches.  The building was renamed in honor of Judge Hipolito Frank Garcia in 2004.

Post Office Murals - 3 (San Antonio, Texas)

The mural in the federal building and courthouse in San Antonio is an absolute wonder. "San Antonio's Importance in Texas History" is the title of this giant fresco (meaning painted directly upon the wet plaster of the wall) circles around all four walls of the post office lobby.  Howard Cook, the artist, was paid $12,000 for his commission and was required to use scaffolding in order to paint the masterpiece.  It took two years for him to complete the work.

Each of the 16 panels with a short description follows.

Staring in one of the corners of the foyer are the first and last panels.  The first, on the right, depicts Spanish conquistadors, priests, soldiers, and native people along the San Antonio River.  The left represents agriculture as an industry in the area.

Franciscan friars instructing indigenous people in agriculture and religion; construction of the missions.

Canary Island settlers trading in San Antonio Plaza.

The light streaming through the arched windows in the late afternoon made my photo-taking somewhat difficult.

Mexico gains independence from Spain 

and the area is now under the control of the Mexican government.

Stephen F. Austin brings the first pioneers.

Left:  Death of Ben Milam.

Right:  Colonel William Travis draws a line in the dirt with his sword and asks for volunteers to stay at the Alamo and fight.

(Note:  Ben Milam's leadership helped inspire fellow Texans to retake San Antonio in 1835 at the Siege of Bexar and to ultimately win independence.

Only one man crossed Travis' line in the dirt to indicate he would not fight for Texas independence.  Also pictured are Jim Bowie, known for his famous Bowie knife, to the left of Travis and Colonel Davy Crockett to the right.

Left:  The Texans make their last stand at the Battle of the Alamo.

Right:  The capture of Santa Anna; Sam Houston being treated for a leg wound at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Sam Houston presents his sword to the cabinet members

of the first congress of the Republic of Texas,

symbolizing the change of leadership.

The Council House Fight, where 30 Penateka Comanche leaders and warriors, as well as some five women and children of the tribe, 

were killed by Texas troops in 1840, 

an event which hardened Comanche hostilities.

Texas is annexed by the United States.

Longhorns being driven to market. 

Left:  Coming of the industrial area.

Right:  Cattle ranching and vaqueros.

Cook won the national mural competition sponsored by the Treasury Department's Fine Arts Section for his artwork.  The mural was restored in 1999.  

Moses Austin

This statute of Moses Austin stands on the grounds of the San Antonio City Hall. His son, Stephen F. Austin, is perhaps more widely known and is called the Father of Texas, having been instrumental in bringing the first settlers into this area which was controlled by Spain.  However, it was Moses' dream to settle this vast land and he came to San Antonio in 1820 to petition for a land grant.  In 1821 he received approval to settle 300 American families on 200,000 acres.  But Moses died before completing his plans and responsibility for establishing the colony fell upon Stephen.  So if Stephen F. Austin is the Father of Texas, should we refer to Moses as the Grandfather of Texas?

Moses was a native of Connecticut and is considered to be one of the founders of the American lead industry.