Donkey Barn

This unusual building is about to undergo renovation and I do plan on posting updates as it progresses.  Located in Brackenridge Park this building was originally one story and was believed to have been the location of the barn built to house the hay and, possibly, donkeys used on the Donkey Trail in the park. 

In 1916 the San Antonio Rotary Club gave 12 burros to the children of San Antonio.  They were tended by a one-legged man known only as "Peg".  The San Antonio Light ( April 8, 1917) states that all the kids just loved Peg.  The donkeys were originally kept in corrals built next to the river, but in 1920 Ray Lambert, the Commissioner of Parks and Sanitation credited with much of the development of the park, took bids to construct a barn near the corrals. 

It is not clear if the building actually was used to house the donkeys or just hay for them and the nearby zoo.  In the 1920's children enjoyed the simple pleasure of a ride on the trail through the park on the back of a donkey; what a wonderful, simple time! The rides ended during the 1940's as a result of World War II.

The second story and the Alamo-style parapet were added in 1956 when the building was converted to offices for the Department of Parks and Recreation. The visible line above the door denotes the addition.  I can only assume that the window motif (in the style of the Rose Window at Mission San Jose) and the buttress like towers were added at that time.

The current renovation will replace the roof, convert the interior into office/educational space, and make the building handicap accessible.  Upgrades to electrical systems are also included.  The cost is estimated at $500,000.

Reptile Garden, Brackenridge Park

Remains of the front gate

The Reptile Farm had originally opened in 1933 in close proximity to the Witte Museum.  It would move twice before coming to this final location in 1939 when permanent stone structures replaced the temporary structures made of planks, barbed wire and old sheet metal.  The NYA assisted museum employees in constructing the large tank and surrounding snake houses.

These snake "apartments" featured steam heat to keep the snakes comfortable!

The first snake garden had opened on June 8, 1933, and was stocked with rattlesnakes captured on surrounding ranches and bought for 15 cents a pound, alligators that had been purchased at 50 cents a foot, and turtles. This was a solution for the abundance of snakes on area ranches and it provided income to the brave souls who rounded them up and brought them to the garden.  But the real benefit was for the Witte Museum.  Admission was 10 cents and within one week the garden had paid for itself; this was the Depression!  

The garden's popularity would continue throughout its existence.  A history of the Witte Museum states that it is believed that this was the first such facility in the United States. A popular attraction at the garden was a weekly rattlesnake fry; the last fry would be held on September 14, 1950.

Side of main entrance

South Texas was hit with a severe drought in the 1940's and snakes became scarce.  When the San Antonio Zoo opened their Reptile House the remaining snakes at the garden would be transferred to it in 1942.  The garden would switch to alligators as a substitute attraction; from 1952 until its closure in 1975 the garden displayed alligators and crocodiles. The snake garden closed when the manager, George Kimbrell, retired and took his collection to Arkansas.

The original roof structures are long gone, but the snake pits and other enclosures are still visible.  At the time of these pictures work was underway to remove debris and overgrown vegetation.  I doubt if there any plans to re-open the snake garden, but at least the structures are still visible and somewhat intact.  Their future remains to be determined.





Joske Pavilion

The Joske Pavilion has hosted many events since its construction in 1926 and is regarded as one of Brackenridge Park's signature structures.

The pavilion was built with a $10,000 bequest to the city of San Antonio from the estate of Alexander Joske, a prominent retailer.  This bequest was given in memory of Julius Joske and Albert Joske. The nomination form for Brackenridge Park to the National Register of Historic Places describes the pavilion as being built of  "dark random course stone".  The pavilion was renovated as part of the city's park renovation project during 2003-2006; the funds came from a $6.5 million bond issuance.

The structure was designed by Emmett Jackson, a prominent architect in the San Antonio area.  He designed many buildings still in use today, and collaborated with other architects on major projects such as the Municipal Auditorium. He designed several structures for Brackenridge Park.

There is a very large fireplace on the south end of the structure.  It is topped with a dome cap with arched openings similar to the arches on the sides of the pavilion.  The north end of the structure has an Alamo-type parapet.

The buttresses appear to be wood but are really painted concrete.

 

The Alamo-style parapet was a very common feature on buildings built during the 1920's

This is the north end of the building, seen from the inside



The Pavilion has four windows patterned after the Rose Window at Mission San Jose.  This was another popular building motif in the 1920's.



The Joske Pavilion is located on the land inside a u-shaped curve of the river.  The river flows close to the east side of the pavilion and then curves around the little island to the west.

 

South of the pavilion are 19 picnic tables, benches and fire pits built by the Works Project Administration (part of the New Deal) during 1938-1940.  Like most of the picnic areas in this park, they are usually occupied.





Low Water Crossing Bridge

I have to offer a note of explanation before preceding with this post.  When I started this blog I had in mind that I would use it to share information about historical buildings I planned to visit.  I would photograph, research and report on my findings.  I had certain parameters that I set about what I would and would not post.  The result of my boundaries was that I found that I was so confined by them that I couldn't write. I was also frustrated because due to the heat, illness, work, school, and life that I had not been able to take all the little trips I had planned;  I felt that I could not write about just the things I was finding where I lived.  But this little bridge that I'm going to post on changed my whole perspective.  With its discovery I realized that I'm living in the middle of a vast amount of historical treasure that I need to discover and share.  So, there are no boundaries on this blog anymore.  I'm going to post it as I find it and I'm going to enjoy myself!

This little bridge crosses the San Antonio River at E Woodlawn and River Avenue.  It has been closed to traffic for many years, but previously it connected with the golf course.  It is part of Brackenridge Park, too. It was built in 1939 as a New Deal Project.  There is a faint imprint in the concrete that has the initials "NYA" (National Youth Administration) and the year 1939.

I had no idea this little bridge was nestled in this quiet neighborhood of Craftsman style cottages  until I saw it mentioned on the nomination for Brackenridge Park into the National Register of Historic Places.  With the help of Google satellite I found it on the map; it was just a short distance from my office.  This was my first realization of the nearness of history all around me.

I drove over after work that same day.  Even though I knew where it was on River Avenue my heart just skipped when I saw it.  There it is, there it is!  I had found my treasure.  I had to circle around and park on one of the streets of the neighborhood since parking is prohibited on River Avenue.  I'm sure if anyone went by they had a good laugh at a professionally dressed woman in 2 inch heels walking across the sidewalk on the left side of the bridge.  Equally funny, I'm sure, was the scene of me squatting down to make the picture of the imprint in the bridge! 

This was such a peaceful setting; the only sounds were birds calling and the ripple of water falling over the steps.  I could have lingered for quite a while to reflect on the scenes this little bridge had seen since its construction. I did wonder about the young men that helped to build it and the hands that had pushed the stamp with the NYA logo into the wet cement on a day long ago.

Brackenridge Golf Course

A recent post covered the history of the Borglum House.  I had a double surprise when I visited it to make pictures for the post (I love it when this happens!)  .  It was July 3rd and my office had closed at noon; since the Borglum House was just around the corner I headed out to find it.  I have to admit that although it is close to where I work and that I've been in and around this area for many years I had never been down on the golf course property where it is located.  

After I finished making pictures I noticed this clock by the clubhouse and decided to walk over.

There was a marker with information about the early history of the golf course. As I stood in the hot sun reading and photographing the marker I saw a small building sitting to the side.  I probably wouldn't have paid it much attention except that it had several plaques embedded in the wall and that means it might be a building with a story.

 



 

It is a building with a story, it was part of the New Deal.  It was one of several projects done on the golf course by the National Youth Administration and is referenced in the Park's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (see below). This simple marker is the only clue to the building's past.

 

View of the back of the clubhouse, seen from the course



The nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places summarizes the history of the golf course so well that I have to quote it here:

Noted golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast of Philadelphia designed the eighteen‐hole Brackenridge Golf Course, which was completed in 1916. The wooded site, filled with native trees, spanned both sides of the river and the water works channel that ran directly through the course. Footbridges spanned the river and channel. The course has been extensively remodeled since its completion, most notably in the late 1960s when US Highway 281 cut through the park’s western edge. The Tillinghast layout was left intact with the exception of the twelfth and thirteenth holes. The course was redesigned to fit the reconfigured site by course manager Murray Brooks and consultant George A. Hoffman. A major course renovation in 2008 restored Tillinghast’s design, to the extent possible.

Three stone bridges, built to span both the old water works channel and river, still stand at various points on the golf course. Originally there were five of these structures, all likely built by NYA workers; NYA construction of the bridge over the water works channel on hole number three is documented in newspaper accounts. NYA workers also completed a starter house (standing), caddy house, tee boxes and drinking fountains.

 

The Tudor style clubhouse of rubble stone, concrete, and wood was designed by local architect Ralph Cameron and completed in 1923. The main entrance to the building is on the north through an arched doorway topped with a fanlight. The west elevation features a tall chimney and rounded tower with conical roof. The tower is topped with an original weather vane depicting a golfer. An open porch and doorway on the east elevation has been closed in. A gable‐roofed room projects from the east elevation, connecting to a second story gabled dormer with tall chimney.  Walls are of rubble stone and the east elevation features half timber finishes on the upper level. Chimneys are of brick and stone. Windows and doors have a combination of curved and flat brick lintels and arches and brick and concrete sills. Windows are a combination of wood casement and steel frame. The original shingled roof has been replaced with asphalt shingles. The building was remodeled in 1968 by Johnson and Dempsey architects.

The Tudor style of the clubhouse is obvious from both front and back. 

 I have been unable to confirm that this is one of the three remaining bridges, but suspect that it probably is



I stepped inside the pro shop to ask if anyone knew about the history of the little, at that time, unidentified building.  One of the guys walked out to look at it with me; he didn't know what the building originally was, but he did know about the history of the course and explained how the construction of the freeway altered the course design! The inside of the building was beautiful, too but I was so distracted thinking about the little building that I didn't look around or make any pictures!

Some interesting facts: 1)  The golf course, and much of this area, has been the subject of numerous archeological studies and surveys that turned up valuable information about earlier cultures. 

2) In February 1922 the course was host to the first Texas Open tournament.  Other tournaments followed and eventually led to the creation of the PGA Tour.  Mike Souchak set a PGA Tour record  for lowest 72-hole score in the 1955 Texas Open played on this course; that record stood for 46 years. 

3)"Old Brack" had the honor of being the first course listed in the National Registry of Historic Courses.

Today the course is managed by the Alamo City Golf Trail, a non-profit management group that oversees seven courses. 

The view of the course from the Borglum House looks at the 17th hole

Borglum House (Pump House #2)

Today's door leads into a structure mentioned in a previous post about the Upper Pump House.

In 1885 George W Brackenridge purchased land about a mile downstream from the Upper Pump House and built a second pump house. He felt the original plant was becoming insufficient to meet the growing demand for safe water in San Antonio.

The pump house looks out on the Brackenridge Park Golf Course which was built in 1915-1916. It is just a few steps from the current Club House built in 1923. (future post)

Today the building is known as the Borglum House. Gutzon Borglum  lived here while designing the models for the carvings for Mount Rushmore.  He had come to San Antonio in 1924 at the request of the Texas Trail Drivers Association who were hoping to have him complete a sculpture honoring the early trail drivers.  Borglum leased this property and spent $7,000 remodeling the abandoned building and adding the 650 square foot wooden addition.   The addition of skylights and the serene views of the golf course made the property an ideal artist's studio. 

When Borglum left the studio in 1937 he gave his key to the director of the Witte Museum.  The studio would be used by various artist groups until 1961.  By the late 1970's the building was in a sad state of neglect, including the collapse of the roof.  Friends of the Park came together to save the property and in 1981 it was added to the Register of Historic Places. The building was used for a few years as an architect office, but then fell into disrepair again.  In 2007 it was included in an extensive renovation of Brackenridge Park and the golf course. 

Today there are no signs of the raceway that moved the water upstream to the reservoir and probably few people realize this charming little building's original purpose. 

Upper Pump House

The Upper Pump House (AKA Pump House #1)



I have been in and out of Brackenridge Park for many years, yet I had never noticed this old rock structure with its twin tunnels until recently. Amazingly, I had driven by the street side of the building and never thought about what it was, or might have been. When I noticed the structure from across the river I was puzzled about it, especially since I had never noticed it before.  So I crossed the river to explore it and was even more intrigued. There was a plaque that I started reading, just skimming through until I realized that one of the pictures was the Amphitheatre in the Botanical Garden.  I realized that I needed to start over and re-read carefully! With a little more research I realized that this structure had an amazing past.

In 1877, the city of San Antonio gave a contract to J. B. LaCoste and his associates for supplying the city with water from the spring at the head of the San Antonio River. The San Antonio Water Supply Company built a raceway and a pump house a half-mile below the headwaters on the property of George W. Brackenridge. 

Water falling from the end of the raceway had sufficient force to operate a large turbine which was connected to plunger pumps, forcing water uphill to the reservoir,  located in what is today the San Antonio Botanical Garden.  From there it was distributed by gravity to taps in people's yards (at that time, there was no indoor plumbing).

The current drought-like conditions give a good view of the tunnels

 

A water works plant had been in discussion since 1869 when Brackenridge's mother bought the property; even before then there had been debate about the ownership of the headwaters, known then and now as the Blue Hole.   The springs had become contaminated by outhouses and garbage; typhoid fever and malaria were rampant in San Antonio.  In 1866 a devastating cholera epidemic caused the community to realize there was a link between sanitation and disease; it desperately needed a method of water distribution that would eliminate the possibility of contamination.

There was much discussion and many talks, but nothing could be agreed upon.  Government and politicians moved slowly then, just like now, and there were several failed attempts to start a water system.  Brackenridge was determined that the city should own the springs, and had even offered to sell them to the city provided that they never be sold again;  that offer would also fail because the price could not be negotiated.



LaCoste had expected hundreds of people to sign up for service, the number was in the tens, and the unprofitable water works was sold to Brackenridge in 1883. Under his direction and foresight, the struggling water works system was built into a valuable asset.  In 1885 Brackenridge foresaw the possibility of the original plant being insufficient to meet the city's growing needs, and he purchased property along the River about a mile downstream where he built a second raceway and pumping plant to move spring waters to the reservoir. That structure is also still standing today.



This is the street-side view of the pump house

In 1888, from his observations of the wildly fluctuating spring flows, Brackenridge became convinced there was danger of complete failure of the springs as a source of water for the city. In 1889 and 1890, he drilled large artesian wells into the Edwards Aquifer, some of the first Edwards' wells. Spring flows became much less important as a water supply source.  Brackenridge's concerns were proved right when a long drought and the drilling of more Edwards' wells did impact the flows of the springs in the late 1890's.
 
Brackenridge was heartbroken and unable to watch the demise of his beloved springs.  He decided to sell 280 acres including the Blue Hole to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word for $120,000, and in 1899 his Water Works Company donated 343.73 acres of land for the establishment of Brackenridge Park. In 1925 the Water Works Company was sold to the city of San Antonio, and operates today as the San Antonio Water System.

Next post:  The Blue Hole