Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Nacogdoches: elevation, photographer)

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by wCat

GW.....I found a reference to the location and a picture. It looks like it might have been a home that was converted to a restaurant or lodge of some sort. The picture is very faded, but it looks stucco and sort of a Spanish Mission style building. The directions say that it was two miles up Nac from Broadway on the right hand side of the road (going North).

Oh...it was purchased by G.A. Ball in 1946....not sure if that was a new owner, or if he purchased it from someone who had already established the restaurant.

I'll be very interested to hear what you find out about it. It looks very interesting.

The area that I mentioned in my post above would be outside 410 and not in the right location....so that answers the "dreaming" question!

Thanks for the info! I post back when I have a more complete history.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by wCat

Remember Toudouze? Wasn't there a camera place named Toudouze Camera STore? I'm hearing some cheezy jingle in my head about "clickety click at Toudouze". Am I dreaming?

Ha..here I go again....replying to my own post! I've had this dumb jingle stuck in my head and mentioned it today. Someone mentioned that it was "STUDER'S"! I got the middle part right!

[wCat]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Thanks for the info! I post back when I have a more complete history.

GW...another correction....the article mentioned the "owner" as being GA Ball, but this couple apparently were proprieter's....not the actual owner of the house. Didn't want to send you off on a goose hunt!

[hhwolfman]

Originally Posted by BudB

Where is Pecan Valley Park? At first I thot you meant the Lions park below Highlands HS.

I am not very good with names and it was over 25 years since I was there. I think you would go down Goliad Passed South Cross and take a right by the Stop and go and Baskin Robins,( I can't remember the Street name) and go a Mile or two and it was there. HHW

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by BudB

Where is Pecan Valley Park? At first I thot you meant the Lions park below Highlands HS.

BudB, I assume this fellow is speaking of what I knew as Hi-Lines Park. It was located on Pecan Valley Drive about 1/2 way between Southcross and Roland Ave.

Originally Posted by hhwolfman

I am not very good with names and it was over 25 years since I was there. I think you would go down Goliad Passed South Cross and take a right by the Stop and go and Baskin Robins,( I can't remember the Street name) and go a Mile or two and it was there. HHW

Huh! Thanks wolf, it's probably Hi-Lines Park you're speaking of!!

[georgepwebster]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Fox photo has been barely mentioned here. How many remember these little drive-up Kiosks? They were based in San Antonio, and revolutionized the consumer photographic market in the US, so much so that Kodack had to aquire them in the mid 1980's.

Fox Photo dates from at least the early 1920's or teens. I've some mailers my Grandmother used from West Texas in the mid-20's.

So, Wishing Well Manor would've been what is now a few blocks north of Nacogdoches & 410? There used to be a large older home south of Hillview on Nacogdoches. It may have been torn down for McMansions. I vaguely remember when Bitters was the city limits, because we drove just past the tracks (now at Wurzbach Pkwy) to purchase fire works.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by wCat

GW...another correction....the article mentioned the "owner" as being GA Ball, but this couple apparently were proprieter's....not the actual owner of the house. Didn't want to send you off on a goose hunt!

wCat, no problem, I was able to figure that out early on. Looks like the Wishing Well Manor only lasted about a year. It was opened in late 1946 but was closed by early 1948. There is not much history on G. A. Ball, other than a small article stating he had come to San Antonio from somewhere else and loved it here, and decided to open up the Wishing Well Manor. He ran the restaurant but did not own the building. In the real estaste section of the 1948 papers, I found several listings for a house that was formerly known as the Wishing Well Manor. The ads said that the property "must sell" and they were asking $35,000. Remember, this was a large property that contained the main house, a barn (used for dancing) and several guest houses.

So, end of story for the Wishing Well Manor, right? Not so much. The advertising used to sell the house noted the owner as a Mrs. Jack Cones/Cones Studio. Now this was a name with some significant history attached to it.

Jack Cones came to San Antonio in 1890. I think he came from the east coast, but can confirm that later. What is known for sure about him is that he arrived in a top hat, fancy coat, and frilly "high-brow" clothes. This was not the normal mode of dress in SA at the time and he got a lot of ribbing for it. Cones wanted to be a photographer and applied with the already established Barr Photography Studios. Barr, the owner, told Cones in his first interview something like "I think you'll do alright, but you have to get rid of the clothes."

Cones did just that and rose quickly in the fledgling photography industry at the time, opening up a studio on Navaro street and later at 3125 Broadway. He recieved numerous national awards and was a recognized leader in the photography industry not just in SA, but in America at the time. He built the house and other buildings on Nacodgoches sometime in the first 2 decades of the 1900's ( I think it was in the 1920's since that's when newspaper articles start mentioning it), but later built another residence outside the city on Bulverde road that in the few faded newspaper photos I could find looked an aweful like the first one, all stucco and spanish tile.


He died around 1942, but his wife and son continued his tradition. His wife recieved as many national accolades as he did, and wound up listed in "Who's Who in American Photography" in 1943. Her son Jack continued the tradition and was running the studio at least through 1963, which is the last article I saw for him, but I really didn't look that hard.

In a nod to the sexism of the day, in 1947 Mrs. Cones was awarded Honarary Life Membership to the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, the first such woman in the nation thought to do so at the time. However, she was not actually given a membership card which was reserved to men, but was given a specially made lapel pin at the time.

Now the good stuff. The original home and former Wishing Well Manor are still there on Nacogdoches. Just inside the loop, on the left hand side you can see it. It's fronted by an obviously ancient low limestone wall, and screened a bit from the road by tall greenery (most planted by Bexar County, as declared by a plaque on one of the driveways). You can drive along one side of it and see the main building, the barn, the guest houses, and this very mysterious three-story tower structure which looks like a building used to support a windmill, but with no windmill. It's all one big private residence now.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by georgepwebster

Fox Photo dates from at least the early 1920's or teens. I've some mailers my Grandmother used from West Texas in the mid-20's.

So, Wishing Well Manor would've been what is now a few blocks north of Nacogdoches & 410? There used to be a large older home south of Hillview on Nacogdoches. It may have been torn down for McMansions. I vaguely remember when Bitters was the city limits, because we drove just past the tracks (now at Wurzbach Pkwy) to purchase fire works.

That's what I was first wondering, too. wCat mentioned it should be inside the loop, since in the original directions to get to it, it never mentions crossing any major intersection, just to go up Broadway from Alamo Heights, and make a right at Nacogdoches, then drive down that street until you saw the building on the right side. It could not be missed.

However, there was no 4-10 at the time, that stretch of road was still called Military Highway then (and well into the 50's) and not even much of a real highway by modern standards. However, that section of Military Highway was still pretty well-known at the time, so to not mention it in the directions to the Wishing Well Manor didn't make sense unless the you didn't have to cross Military Highway to get the Manor. Using this logic, a description of the house, and a crappy newspaper picture of the place from 1947, I was able to find the house today, just inside loop 4-10.

(Don't tell my wife, I was suppose to be putting up the Christmas tree while she was working Saturday, instead I ran off to find this place. Then I dropped the Nikon camera I bought for her and broke the lens. I am trying to replace the lens before she finds out....but she always seems to find out about these things!!!)

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by satx56

Heh!! Hi CR, I don't recall the Champions name at all. All the years of my recollection "Silver Saddle" was at the corner of 181 S. & 410. Seems like I may recall it being changed to SS or to something else from SS later on! Champions only rings bells as a present time sports bar I think I've been to!! Hilltop a little further out 181 just before the Elmendorf cutoff! Hill Top was legendary..it was around a long time! I don't recall ever actually going to either for dancing. Me and a buddy did drop some girls off at Hill Top. It was after the "Pleasanton Cowboy Homecoming" big street dance. That was around 1972 and Mel Tillis was there! We came back from the coast just in time for the dance. Myself and three buddies! Don't recall what time we got out of there. There was another Big barn looking building inside 410 on Presa(181) about a third of the way towards Military Dr. Don't recall what that was at one time!! Golden Stallion on Ackerman was my principal hangout. Although I went to "Randy's" occasionally. I also went pretty regular to dances in Castroville and Quihi!! Those were the days!!

LOL! My sister was Cowboy Homecoming Queen in the 70's and my father won Cowboy of the Year during the same time.

[ernye1]

I remember the Record Hole; it's where I'd go by my albums. I remember there was such a large selection that I would have to decide which ones to buy each time I went.