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L
- Texas Theatre, c1929, TE Photo, 2000
R - The Palace Theatre TE Photo, 2002 |
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Seguin
has an outstanding assortment of 19th century and early 20th
century buildings. It also has a devoted group of preservationists,
local historians, an active garden club and librarians who take care
of business. It's also a Main Street City and is home to a couple
of writers, one of whom happens to be a town barber.
We have to wonder if Janice Woods-Windle (author of True Women) co-authored
a book with Charley
Eckhardt (Tales
of Badmen, Bad Women and Bad Places) if their book would be called
Truly Bad Women. |
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Selected
tidbits from Seguin's interesting history
Texas Beef:
It's what was for dinner in California
In
1854, a Seguinite named Michael Erskine made trail driving history
when he drove 1000 head of cattle from Guadalupe County to California.
That's right, California. No explanation was given for this destination,
but we're sure the cattle were put to good use. A few years later,
one Andrew Erskine was killed at Antietam, but we don't know if
it was a son or brother of Michael.
Death in
the Garden - Manhunt to the Red River
The Seguin Garden Club is one of the few in the State
of Texas to have a Texas Brands Inspector buried on their grounds.
By brands, of course we mean cattle brands. There was a bit of brand
changing going on in the area in 1877. The Inspector - a man named
Henry Holmes Batey made a request to inspect a rancher's cattle
as they were about to be driven across the Guadalupe River. The
man refused and while Henry later napped with his eyes shaded by
his hat, he was shot in the head.
His brother
trailed the cowardly assassin all the way to the Red River. After
he returned he would only say that he saw the man ride into the
river heading toward Indian Territory. He was silent when asked
if the man made it to the other side.
When the railroad
was the primary economic force in Seguin, a rail line one mile long
was extended to downtown to convey people and parcels downtown.
This mule-driven line was Seguin's only public transportation
system. In addition, the hotels that were in operation at that time
had their private hacks which were forerunners to our so-called
"courtesy cars" of today.
Seguin
Hotels > Book
Your Hotel Here & Save |
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Seguin's
mule-drawn streetcar
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
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The
Southern Pacific Railroad Depot c. 1910
Razed in 1987
TE Postcard archives |
The
Southern Pacific Railroad Depot c. 1910
Razed in 1987
The beautiful Seguin Railroad Station was demolished in the late 1980s
when the railroad determined that vacant stations along their line
were liabilities. No consideration was given to relocation, although
the city would've gladly cooperated. |
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Plaza
Hotel and the hanging tree
c1935
Old postcard TE Archives |
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The
1898 Nolte Bank Building designed by J. Riely Gordon
TE Photo October 2000 |
J.
Riely Gordon is primarily known for his Texas courthouse designs,
however his other buildings include the Arizona State Capitol building,
several county jail buildings and at least this one bank.
His Texas
courthouse portfolio includes Ellis,
Comal,
Lee,
Gonzales,
Wise,
Bexar
and Victoria
Counties.
Seguin
Hotels > Book
Your Hotel Here & Save |
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Hometown
Author
TALES OF BAD MEN,
BAD WOMEN, and BAD PLACES :
Four Centuries of Texas Outlawry
by C.F. Eckhardt
Texas Tech University Press, 1999
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Seguin
Tourist and Local Information
Seguin
Chamber of Commerce: 427 N. Austin Street
1-830-379-6382
Website: http://www.seguintx.org.
Seguin
Hotels > Book
Your Hotel Here & Save |
Seguin Texas Forum
Subject:
Woman
Hollering Creek
At one time, back in the early '80s, the Highway Department sign
at Woman Hollering Creek actually did read Woman Hollow Creek. It
stayed that for about a year until somebody got through to the folks
who put up the signs & told them what the name of the creek actually
was. This was when there was an effort to identify the names of
all the rivers, creeks, & draws in the state & put road signs with
the names on them. There are a lot of 'Five Mile Creek,' 'Fifteen
Mile Creek,' & similar signs, because some of the creeks didn't
have actual names. They were called "that creek you cross five miles
out of town on the County Seat road."
Along State 16 below San Antonio there's Macho Creek. This has nothing
to do with the modern usage of the word 'macho.' 'Macho' is the
Spanish word for a gelded mule.
There's a creek in Seguin, tributary to the Guadalupe, that
apparently has never had a name. At any rate, when the state tried
to find out the name of the creek so a sign could be put up, no
one--not even the oldest folks in town--could remember the creek
ever having a name. - C. F. Eckhardt, September 06, 2006
Request
for info from Kingsbury
and Seguin
My Father's name was Francisco Navarro Verdeja and he was raised
in Kingsbury, Texas in the mid 1920s... When I was a young girl
he used to tell me stories about living in Kingsbury and Seguin.
I used to think "Wow!" Living out in the open with lots of land
and trees and listening to the family sing their songs on the porch.
The smell of home cooking... what more could anyone ask? So young
and enjoying life on the ranch - poor but yet so rich.
When World War II began my father and all of his brothers were drafted
and they wouldn't see each other for awhile. My father told me that
he hadn't heard from his brothers for months - and one day his company
had stopped to rest. As they were resting another company was moving
out. It wasn't until later that evening my father found out that
his brother Patricio was in the company that had just pulled out
- and he missed seeing him by a few hours... more
Texas
Escapes November 2000 Feature Town
© John Troesser
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