Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Kirby: financing, child)

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by kevinm_03

I remember the Bookstop bookstore on N. New Braunfels. I used to love going to that store in the late evening. Now it's a boring art gallery, they should've kept it the same.

I agree loved the futuristic sign it had.

[940]

Very interesting history, GWhopper...I'm headed back down to SA tomorrow for Christmas..I may have to drive over to the old location of Wolfe's Inn and snap a pic or two of what's left of the old stone wall.

[Primo]

Originally Posted by 940

Very interesting history, GWhopper...I'm headed back down to SA tomorrow for Christmas..I may have to drive over to the old location of Wolfe's Inn and snap a pic or two of what's left of the old stone wall.

This is on what is left of the wall to Wolfe's Inn...at the Corner of Fredericksburg and Wurzbach....

[Primo]

The Nine Mile marker is on the right pillar...the short wall connecting the 2 pillars is new. This must have been the arched entranced to Wolfe's Inn.

[Primo]

Same entrance....1959

[940]

How sad to see what's on that corner now from Primo's current pic of the two rock pillars...what a shame to have torn down Wolfe's Inn and what we have left is that old gas station-looking structure.

[Primo]

Originally Posted by 940

How sad to see what's on that corner now from Primo's current pic of the two rock pillars...what a shame to have torn down Wolfe's Inn and what we have left is that old gas station-looking structure.

IT is amazing how the conservation society, city, etc, picks and choose what historic things stay and go.

Why was a historic building like Wolfe's Inn torn down in order to build a Po-Folks and Diamon Shamrock?

Why was the mansion and farm land at I-10 and Wurzbach...which was on a hill top with a view of the entire city...torn down for a Lowes?

Most of the Springs that feed the San Antonio River on the Incarned Word Campus are now covered by parking lots, and soccer fields...and...all you see now water coming out of a pipe from the side of the parking lots and Fields?

The Onion House has been in disrepair forever...why hasn't that been preserved? At least it is still standing
Same things with the stage coach house at Leon Springs.

[txtea]

Originally Posted by Paka

Check out just beyond Marshall HS at the corner of Echart Rd where it T intersects with Abe Lincoln...turn left and go about 1/2 mile...the towers and the little building in the middle (with the radio stations call letters on it) still sit in the middle of the field. Towers are easy to find...and I think the property is up for sale now.

Those radio towers and building you speak of are the KCOR spanish radio station....been here forever. I live right behind them now! The old KKYX radio station and towers were where the new walmart is now....that was wayyyy out in the sticks back then.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by Primo

The Onion House has been in disrepair forever...why hasn't that been preserved? At least it is still standing Same things with the stage coach house at Leon Springs.

Have you been by there lately? The Huebner-Onion house is being restored by the Leon Valley Preservation Society! There are also two other old German homesteads, the Grenwelge/Braun Farm Complex across from Nichols Elementary and the Jospeh Steumple farm next to the Sonic at 1604 and Braun, which have been saved from destruction. I agree that there needs to be more of an effort to preserve the landmarks that represent San Antonio's history; but at least some are being saved. We had a nice discussion about it here, and even discussioned possibility of the Heubner-Onion house being haunted here!

By the way, I had not heard about the Stagecoach House in Leon Springs...now we have to go check that place out! Thanks!

Oh, and in search for info on it, I came across this great list of Registered Historic Places in Texas on Wikipedia!

Cheers! M2

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Primo

IT is amazing how the conservation society, city, etc, picks and choose what historic things stay and go.

Why was a historic building like Wolfe's Inn torn down in order to build a Po-Folks and Diamon Shamrock?

Why was the mansion and farm land at I-10 and Wurzbach...which was on a hill top with a view of the entire city...torn down for a Lowes?

Most of the Springs that feed the San Antonio River on the Incarned Word Campus are now covered by parking lots, and soccer fields...and...all you see now water coming out of a pipe from the side of the parking lots and Fields?

The Onion House has been in disrepair forever...why hasn't that been preserved? At least it is still standing
Same things with the stage coach house at Leon Springs.

I was at the RIM Shopping Center yesterday, battling all the traffic. At the back of the center (and I mean you have to drive BEHIND the Best Buy and Target stores, where the loading docks are) I found a brand-new road that runs back to 1604 parallel to I-10. All the land on either side of this road is clear-cut, obviously in preparation for new retail and residential communities. As the road nears its end near Tradesman drive, there is a very old, very interesting farm house that is simply standing out among all this leveled land. Trust me, drive down this road once and you can't miss it, its the only thing there. I'll go back after Christmas day and take a picture of it. I don't know the story of this house, but the area developers have so far preserved it. Maybe San Antonio is developing a conscience about its history beyond the Alamo after all. I'll see what I can dig up about this place, if anything.

In addition to San Antonio doing a better job of preserving it's history, all that clear cutting also reminds me that SA needs to do a better job of preserving it's trees. I am sick and tired of seeing builders clear cut trees to build new neighborhoods and retail spaces. Not only is the loss of all these trees, I think, environmentally wasteful, but it also it makes no practical sense in the long run. When a residential area is developed and all the trees cut down, you wind up with a bunch of new houses surrounded by newly planted young trees. It will be a decade or more until these trees reach adequate size to properly offer cooler shading to the residential home, thus reducing the amount of energy needed to cool that house in the summer months. 10 years of wasteful energy could be avoided if developers simply worked with the natural landscape. Plus, a new home surrounded by large mature trees is more appealing than one surrounded by saplings.

And on the retail side, I can't stand going to some major retail outlet and parking on some giant strip of asphalt baking in the sun, with no shade trees in sight to offer up some relief. There are a few notable exceptions, the Wal-Mart on 281/1604 or the HEB at DeZavala, but for the most part, every new Lowe's, Target, Best Buy all force me to leave my car roasting in the heat and direct sunlight, absorbing all that heat during the summer. This always brings an unpleasant aspect to the shopping experience for me as a consumer.

I know leveling the land and clear-cutting the trees makes it cheaper for the developers to build their buildings in the end. But I think San Antonio should pass some kind of city code requiring a specific percentage of the existent trees on the lot be preserved during the construction process.