Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Victoria, Alamo: leasing, disposing)

[Willsatx]

Passed by Colonies North today and thought about the old handy Andy and Winn's stores, wish the mall part was still open.

[Eily71]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Does anybody know where Bowen's Mill used to be? I think this was in Alamo Heights, on the banks of the San Antonio. If anybody has any memories of this place, or knows any information about it and would share it, I would really appreciate it.

Below is an image of Bowen's Island ca. 1874 showing a mill. It is a scan from my copy of A PLACE IN TIME, a collection of photos from the Express-News archives. The book was published by the E-N in 1980 and is long since out of print.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library on the Alamo grounds may turn up more info on this subject if you are really curious.

Now for the picture.

[940]

'A Place In Time' is a terrific book...I've got a copy of it somewhere too...I'll have to hunt it down and look for this. Thanks!

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by 940

'A Place In Time' is a terrific book...I've got a copy of it somewhere too...I'll have to hunt it down and look for this. Thanks!

I guess I gotta try and find this book. I'll guess I'll have to hit ebay or used bookstores.

Something else that is gone but not forgotten for me is the Book Den, the little used bookstore behind Maggie's near San Pedro. I found a lot of great out-of-print book finds out there.

[GWhopper]

Does the book "A Place in Time" mention a village called Avoca? Primo brought this to my attention and now my curiosity has been raised.

This is what I pulled off the Incarnate Word website, which is where the "lost" village of Avoca used to exist.

"The Village of Avoca is a complex of five apartment buildings resting on the edges of the San Antonio River. The complex gained its name from the lost Irish ghost town of Avoca that was established in the same site in the mid-1830s. The founder of the original Avoca Apartments, Willian E. Howth , said the area reminded him of his home -- the famed Vale of Avoca in Wicklow, Ireland."

And also from the same site, but in an area dealing more with the headwaters of the San Antonio river (Thanks Primo!):

“I assume that back in the 1800’s, all of these springs ran all the time,” Mulcahy said. "The area was well-populated, even then; remnants of the old Village of Avoca and its water-powered grist mill, active in the mid-Nineteenth Century, can still be seen west of Miller’s pond, adjacent to the soccer field."

[Willsatx]

I like books that have pictures of the old SA.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

I like books that have pictures of the old SA.

Sadly, there are not enough of them.

[940]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

I guess I gotta try and find this book. I'll guess I'll have to hit ebay or used bookstores.

'A Place In Time' is hard to get now but I did find this...

MCLEMORE, DAVID - A Place in Time: A Pictorial View of San Antonio's Past

I'll also try to find my copy to see if it mentions Avoca...or maybe Eily71 can check for you!
I actually have a lot of old San Antonio picture books..I should start scanning pics and putting some of them on here...

[Eily71]

I did a thumb thru of A PLACE IN TIME....no mention of Avoca. This book actually has very little text...just enough to make one curious lol. Finding nothing in the book , I decided to google and found the reference to the apartments which from the way the reference reads, are part of Incarnate Word student housing. Another link led me to the Early San Antonio History thread on this forum and a post by wCat from 22 February 2007.

I was in Austin and stopped in the GLO....what a trip! The historian was a sweet elderly lady that couldn't WAIT to show me the real maps in a huge vault. Many of them were original pen and ink survey maps of early county boundarys.

If anyone ever gets to go up there, ask to look at the huge map of Bexar County. It's about 6ft sqare or bigger and is in a huge plat drawer. She showed me a very early map of San Antonio and right above the San Antonio river source, about where Olmos Dam is now was a very small settlement called "Avoca". Supposedly Davy Crockett had a home there for the short time he was in San Antonio. I think "Avoca" is a Scottish word.....I'll have to check on the meaning.

So it sounds as if the lost Irish settlement of Avoca is in the Olmos Basin area and may even be underwater due to the dam. Maybe wCat has more info on this?

There are more stories regarding Davy Crockett and his very short stay in San Antonio. That is what makes a hero of mythical proportions, which Crockett and the other defenders have become. Davy Crockett was in San Antonio not quite a month before the Alamo siege began and he stayed in town.....the areas around LaVillita and San Fernando Cathedral. When I worked at the Alamo as a guide, we actually kept a list of stories concerning Crockett and the other defenders. I wish I had copied it before I left in 1982.

As I said in my post upthread....DRT Library is a wonderful place to immerse yourself in the history of the Alamo, San Antonio and Texas in general. Warning: One path WILL lead to another ! lol

And being the trivia addict I am, I googled the meaning of Avoca...."great estuary", "where the bright waters meet" "where the river meets the bay/sea" or "the meeting of waters". There is no fact too obscure, no bit of trivia too small, lol.

Anyway, hope wCat's post helped.

[amylen]

I Lived Several Blocks From Armands. Mom Used To Send Me Up There To Get Bread And Milk. There Was A Place Called Pops Just Up The Street (a Ice House). Copelands, A Seafood Restaurant Was Just Across From GIBSONS. Not Sure Why I Remember The Area So Well, But I Want To Longfellow And Walked To Stranges Party House. Seem To Recall That He Served Bbq.
Just To Let You Know This Area Is Very Rough Now. I Don't Remember It Being That Way Before.