The Wings of Freedom Tour brings historic aviation to your community. See – hear – touch and even ride in one of the aircraft that changed the world. Included in the tour will be a B-17, B-24, P-51 and a Huey Helicopter. Aircraft will be on display and fly from the Gillespie County Airport, 191 Airport Rd. off Hwy 16 S.
It was 176 years ago today that Texas declared her independence from Mexico. Just four days later, the Alamo would fall. Here’s an interesting timeline of the Texas Revolution. And here’s a history of the State Flag of Texas. Celebrate by drinking a Texas beer.
Karl Itz and Ludwig Evers, Karl’s brother-in-law, acquired the land from Peter Itz in 1867. When the three lots were partitioned, Ludwig took the corner lot. While Ludwig farmed and ranched in the northwestern part of the county, they moved into town in their old age and settled in the little log and rock house which was adjacent to this place. The floorplan of this building was fairly simple. Downstairs there was one large room, with a thick stone wall dividing it from the smaller back room. Underneath is a large cellar. At one time the steps led up along the east wall on the inside of the building, but these have been removed and an outside stairway put in their place. The upstairs was originally one large room, which was later divided with frame partitions. When the building was renovated, the rock walls in the front were knocked out and the show windows and additional upstairs windows were added. At one time the John Knopp family lived upstairs and he operated a saloon downstairs, selling groceries and some staples. During these years this place also figured in the “beer war.” At the time Frederick Probst was brewing beer on the street behind here and it was selling for 10 cents a glass all over town. Knopp sold Pearl Beer from San Antonio and sold it for 5 cents a glass. Probst closed his brewery a few years afterward. Later a doctor, feeling that goat’s milk would cure most people’s ills occupied the building and kept a lot of goats here to supply the demand. He shortly went out of business. The building has housed a dentist office, a millinery store run by Mrs. Louis Henke, Otto Schneider’s grocery store, Walter Knopp’s grocery store, Haversack Wines, W-K Electric, and now David’s Pit Barbecue.
Carved in the limestone rock above the doorway of the old William C. Henke home is “1886,” the year this house was built. The townlot was originally granted to P. Friess, and the next townlot to the west was granted to Peter Behrens, who later acquired the corner lot. He sold it to Julius Splittgerber, who took out a mortgage from Sophie Spaeth. They defaulted and the land passed into the Spaeth’s hands. Sophie’s husband, Ludwig, was killed by Indians in 1870 at age 39 while working in the fields on his place near Enchanted Rock. Sophie sold the corner lot to William Henke, son of Heinrich Henke who ran a meat market on Main and Llano Streets. William founded the Uptown Henke Meat Market. (William’s sister, Anna, was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz’s mother.) William ran his market from the front porch, originally. The butchering was done at different locations around town and the finsihed products were sold here. The porch was enclosed with Laden, or shutters, that made the porch an ideal spot to sell meat. Henke later added a frame structure over a back cellar and moved the shop into it. When he passed away, his children built the concrete building next door and that became the butcher shop, which closed in 1949. While the Henke’s lived here, the parents slept in at the back of the south side of the building, and their 10 children used the three rooms upstairs.
This house was built in the 1860s or early 1870s as a rent house. It was built on property originally granted to Conrad Kolmeier, whose grandson Otto married Dorothea Crenwelge who lived next door. Wilhelm Crenwelge bought the property in 1856 and it stayed in the family until 1960. The property was bought by Erwin Kraus in 1963. The house is still being rented out.
John Schmidt built a log cabin to the west of the house site in 1850 that has been torn down, then sold it to Jacob Schneider in 1852. In 1860, Schneider, by this time blind, sold the property to Wilhelm Crenwelge. And his heirs lived in this house until the mid-1950s. Wilhelm Crenwelge lived in the log and rock house next door while his parents used the bigger house after it was finished. He and his father were wheelwrights and conducted their business here. The Crenwelges raised a large family on the property.
By the 1930s, Erwin and Paul Kraus who used the building for storing Coca-Cola and Pearl Beer. They ran their business from the building on the corner. They sold the property to Mary Crenwelge, no relation to the previous Crenwelge owners, in 1966, who conveyed it to her son Milton in 1972.
The Crabapple Historic School (located off Hwy 965 at 14671 Lower Crabapple Rd.) will be open to the public this Saturday, December 10 from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. as part of the Friends of Gillespie County Historic Country School Trail’s monthly open house and fund-raising promotion. A map to the school, and other schools on the trail, is available at the Fredericksburg Visitor Information Center at 302 E. Austin St. Admission is by donation. For more information, call the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau at 830-997-6523.
With the crispness of fall in the air, the Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg is opening its gates for Log Cabin Days – Living History, a special event where families can experience life on the frontier, on Saturday, Oct 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Kids can take a turn at making rope, churning butter, grinding corn, and spinning wool. Demonstrators will show how to wash with a scrub board, weave pots, create “seed art,” and perform other household and homestead chores.
Throughout the day, visitors can explore the Pioneer Museum’s entire 3.5-acre site. Features include one of the first stores in Fredericksburg, a smokehouse, blacksmith shop, one-room schoolhouse, and an original Sunday House.
All Living History activities are included in the regular museum admission – $5 for adults, $3 for children. The Pioneer Museum is located in downtown Fredericksburg at the corner of Main Street and Milam Street.
The Gillespie County Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve historic sites and objects in Gillespie County, while promoting interest in Texas history. For more information, call (830) 997-2835.
A brief history of Lower South Grape Creek School (#6 on the driving map. located at 10273 East US Highway 290): Built in 1901. Consolidated in 1960. On holidays, such as Washington’s Birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, students presented programs. All parts were memorized and families and the community were invited. Christmas plays were held inside this school with the front area having a curtain, and the students using a side window for the entrance and exit. Santa Claus handed out oranges, apples, and candy, and lit the candles on the Christmas tree. One year his beard caught on fire. He quickly exited through the window and headed for the well.
Current activities: The first community club was organized in 1960. It includes third and fourth generations of former students and neighbors. The Club meets quarterly throughout the year for a social. The restored building is used for weddings, reunions, meetings, and other community activities.
Stop by Saturday between 11 am and 4 pm to learn more
For more information, please visit historicschools.org
The Lyndon B. Johnson State and National Historical Parks will hold a birthday celebration on Saturday, August 27 in honor of what would have been LBJ’s 103rd birthday. Festivities at the Hwy 290 E. locations near Stonewall include a wreath-laying ceremony at 10.00 a.m. at the Family Cemetery at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, followed by an old-fashioned party with games and refreshments at the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site. In honor of the significant date, the $2 interpreter’s fee to tour the Texas White House, Johnson’s family home on the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, will be waived that day. For more information, call 830-868-7128, ext. 231 or visit www.nps.gov/lyjo.
