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Michael Barr
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When
C. H. Guenther first went into the milling business on Live Oak Creek
near Fredericksburg,
Sam Houston was
a United States Senator, Bigfoot
Wallace carried the mail between San
Antonio and El
Paso, and the combined population of Lubbock
and Amarillo was
zero.
Carl Hilmar Guenther was born in Germany on March 19, 1826. He apprenticed
as a miller but left Germany for the thrill of frontier life in America.
He landed in New York in 1848, and after a short stay he traveled
to Wisconsin. Later he sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans;
then by steamship to Indianola
on the Texas coast. He walked to San
Antonio and then New
Braunfels but decided to make his way to the German settlement
of Fredericksburg
on the Texas frontier. |
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Carl
Hilmar Guenther
(1826-1920)
Courtesy Fredericksburg Standard |
When Guenther
came to town in 1851, the citizens of Fredericksburg
rolled out the red carpet. Millers were important people in frontier
communities.
Guenther bought land along the banks of Live Oak Creek where he built
an earthen dam and a millhouse. The site of Guenther's mill is just
north of the Live Oak Creek bridge on Highway 16, between the bridge
and Lady Bird Johnson Park. |
Guenther's Mill
in Fredericksburg, circa 1851
Courtesy Fredericksburg Standard |
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The
gears and working parts of the mill were made of wood, but typical
of Guenther, the millstones were the best money could buy. They
were carved from a special kind of quartz found only in France.
The millstones came to the Texas coast by ship and then to Fredericksburg
by ox cart.
Soon after establishing himself in business Guenther married Henrietta
Dorothea Pape from Fredericksburg.
The first few years were good to the young couple, but in 1859 a
drought hit West Texas. The Pedernales
puddled up and Live Oak Creek went bone dry. With no water to turn
the wheel, Guenther's mill stood still as a tombstone.
He had to find a more reliable power source.
So Guenther sold his place in Gillespie
County and bought property in San
Antonio a mile south of the
Alamo. He built a mill powered by the San Antonio River and
one of the first houses in what is now the King William District.
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Guenther's company
struggled at times until the railroad came to town and solved the
grain supply problem. And with the coming of the railroad, markets
extended far beyond the range of ox carts and horse-drawn wagons.
By 1885, sales exceeded Guenther's wildest dreams.
In 1898 the business was incorporated under the name C. H. Guenther
and Son, Inc., using the trade name Pioneer Flour Mills. |
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Time
has washed away every trace of Guenther's mill on Live Oak Creek,
but Pioneer Mills is still doing business in San
Antonio. Its sales territory covers 22 states in the South and
Southwest. Many of its products, including Pioneer All Purpose Flour,
are on the shelf at HEB.
C. H. Guenther's company is reported to be the oldest continuously
owned family milling business in the country. Corporate offices
are at 2201 Broadway in San
Antonio. Dozens of Guenther's descendants are shareholders in
the company.
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©
Michael Barr
"Hindsights" October
1, 2016 Column
Sources:
Fredericksburg Standard, April 28, 1971, p9, section 3.
San Antonio Express, December 31, 1931, "Pioneer Mills Dates Back
to '51," p4A.
San Antonio Light, September 27, 1959, "Pioneer Flour Texas'Dean,'"
p4G. |
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