The Onion Creek Post Office

 

The Post Office's front door

In July 2020 I shared a brief history of the Onion Creek Stagecoach Park in Buda, TX.  I recently returned to Buda and stopped by the park to explore this small, limestone block building behind the stagecoach stop house.  From reading the National Register of Historic Places nomination form I knew that it had served for a few years as the Onion Creek post office.  Truthfully, there isn't much to see, but there is some history here worth mentioning as the post office and the stage stop worked together to serve the community and connect it with other communities in Texas and beyond.

Carved lentin above the post office door, possibly commemorating the celebration of the Nation's centennial

The Austin to San Antonio stagecoach route found the Onion Creek area ideal for a stopping place to water horses or to change them out if needed.  The route was considered to be a "Fast Line" in that it only took 13 hours to travel from Austin to San Antonio. Modern travelers often feel is still takes that long due to congested traffic!

Hays County, Austin to the North with San Antonio to the South

Quite possibly travelers along this route would have taken the stage operated by the team of Sawyer & Risher.  The 4-horse stage left San Antonio every other day at 6 A.M. with stops in Selma, New Braunfels, San Marcos, and so on until reaching Austin.  From Austin you could connect with the rest of Texas and beyond.  (source:  Texas Transportation Archive).

The Onion Creek post office and stage stop were established in April 1875.  Here, the mail would be delivered and picked up and the team would be watered with fresh water from nearby Onion Creek.  If need be, horses could be changed out at the stop.  Travelers rarely spent a night at this stop, it was the equivalent of a modern-day rest stop along the interstate.

Originally there was a small rectangular window under this carving on the side of the building.

The post office was a one-room limestone brick structure, constructed between 1875 and 1876.  Facing the door of the structure was a two-room dog trot cabin that was home to the postmaster.  The post ofice would only serve this area for a few years until the post-Civil War boom brought growth to the area as well as the International & Great Northern railroad;  the stagecoach line was discontinued. The town of Buda (pronounced Bew-dah) was officially established and the post office relocated a short distance into town.

View of the back of the post office. 

On the left side of the building are the remains of a cistern and concrete water trough.  The piece of equipment behind the building is the remant of a pump house that was attached after the stage stop closed. The little building was in a very delapidated state when restoration began.  Happily, the post office building has withstood the test of time due to its outstanding craftmanship, considered very unusual for the time period of its construction.

Before restoration. Photo c. 2002, retrieved from NRHP nomination form 8.31.21

Onion Creek Post Office and Stagecoach House

The high bluff overlooking nearby Onion Creek made it a convenient location for a post office and stagecoach stop along what is now known as the Old San Antonio Road running from Austin to San Antonio, Texas. Water from the creek provided refreshment for the stagecoach horses and the sight was conveniently located near the highway. Ground was broken for the small, limestone post office in 1875 along with a two room dog-trot style house.

The post office was finished in 1876 and served residents of the community and stagecoach passengers until 1880 when the Postmaster moved the post office to the nearby developing town of Du Pre, renamed Buda (pronounced BYOO-dah). in the late 1880's. The completion of the International & Great Northern Railroad lines to San Antonio and Laredo ended the necessity of a stagecoach stop.

These very large oak trees to the side of the house probably saw the stagecoaches arrivals and departures.

T.E. McElroy and his wife bought the house and surrounding 234 acres and developed a successful livestock and agricultural program while eventually adding over 1,000 acres to the ranch. In 1906 Ann and John Severn purchased the ranch from the McElroy estate and continued the ranching operations.  Upon their deaths the house and property saw several owners and the eventual sale of individual tracts of land.  In 1998 the current owners, brothers Victor and Joe Stanzel, donated the house, post office building, and remaining 51-acres to the City of Buda with the stipulation that the house be restored and used for community purposes.

Renovation on the house revealed answers to questions about its transformation from the 1875 two room dog-trot style cabin to its current appearance.  Updates are traced to 1885, 1900, 1920, and 1950.  The Severns were very influential citizens and are thought to be responsible for the 1920 renovation; the house has been restored to that time period with the exception of a mantle painted by artists that rented the house for a time in the 1970's.

Evidence found during the renovation process indicates that the house was originally oriented to face the tributary of the creek located to what is now the rear of the house. The two rooms on either side of the front door comprised the original two room dog-trot cabin.

Each renovation seemed to change the structure even more while making it useful and modern for the residents.  As a result, it assumed some strange characteristics that added interest to the house.

I stumbled upon this property on a recent visit to Buda and had no idea of its historical significance until I returned home and began researching it.  I did not make many pictures, so a return trip when the weather cools off is on my go-to list. The surrounding park features many amenities as well as walking trails through the former stagecoach stop and ranching property.

The house serves at the Buda Visitor Center, but is currently closed due to the COVID pandemic.  However, from reading the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places designation about the evolution of the cabin to modern home I am sure it will be worth exploring.

The remains of a watering trough are located a short distance from the house.

This one room building tweaked my imagination as to its original purpose.  There is a vent pipe visible on the back of the roof indicating that there was some type of wood burning stove inside.  Possibly the ranch office, but I'll have to find out on the next visit.

San Antonio Post Office and Federal Courthouse

Construction of the United States Post Office and Court House in San Antonio began in 1935 and was funded through the Public Works Administration of the New Deal. It was finished in 1936 and opened in 1937. Local architect Ralph Haywood Cameron designed the building in association with renowned Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret under the direction of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department.

When it opened the basement and first floor were air-conditioned, making it the first post office in the nation to have air-conditioning. Today this building is known as the Hipolito F. Garcia Federal Building and serves as the courthouse for The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, but a small post office branch still operates in the lobby. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

 "Its construction accomplished several goals--generating employment, housing all federal agencies in a single building, and streamlining San Antonio's quickly expanding postal needs.

A skillful example of Beaux-Arts classicism, the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse is indicative of the federal government's goal of expressing democratic ideals through classically derived architecture featuring grand scale, symmetry, and refined details.  The six-story building encompasses an entire city block and is constructed of steel and concrete clad in rich local materials--Texas Pink granite and Texas Cream limestone.  The building is polygonal in plan, centered on a central light court.  Its façade (south elevation) emphasizes a centrally recessed porch behind a screen of six monumental Ionic columns, rising to support an entablature that continues all around the building." (Source: U.S. General Services Administration )

East side of building

 

The building is at the north end of the Alamo Plaza Historic District.  The grounds of the Alamo are just across the street and to the right of the main entrance.  The building gives the appearance of confidently watching over the grounds of the Alamo and at the same time gives a sense of guarding all that our Federal government represents.  

"The grand Beaux Arts federal building was a beachhead of centralized, federal power. Through its front south façade, which faces Alamo Square, it linked Texas’s independent frontier spirit with the order and reason represented by the federal government. 

 (Source: American Institute of Architects )

One of the side entrances

 

In 1937, New Mexican artist Howard Cook won a national mural competition sponsored by the Treasury Department's Fine Arts Section to paint a 750 square foot fresco in the lobby of the Federal Building. "San Antonio's Importance in Texas History" was completed in May 1939 at a cost of $12,000. The 16 frieze panels depict the history of San Antonio. The mural was painted using the fresco technique of paint applied over wet plaster.  The murals were restored in 1999. These murals and the lobby are stunning; I was totally unprepared for their impact when I first visited the building!

     

The building has undergone a $50,000,000 renovation funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act economic stimulus package.  Trivers Associates of St. Louis provided a sensitive renovation that maintained the historical integrity of the building while adding the required modern updates.  The front entrances are now open again and visitors don't really notice the glass partition that guides them into the security check point to enter the building. Light fixtures like the ones shown with the murals were restored, but re-worked to be energy compliant.  Click on the Trivers link to see beautiful pictures of the inside of the building as well as an aerial picture that shows the open interior space of the building.

This building is remarkable, not only in its design and in its history, but also in the fact that it represents preservation and continuation merged together.