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.





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