Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Alamo: cemeteries, urban)

[quest51210]

lol...

Originally Posted by BudB

As a 17 year old, I graduated from Highlands in 1963 satx56 so you can do the math for our relative ages. The tree you describe is also intriguing as it grew across WW White from United Gas and the same blue smoke was what figured into the haunting of UG. You mention a Chinese graveyard and that's a story I'm keenly interested in as I've heard about it several times and always in a different place tho in the same general area. It was somewhere in the Stinson Field region possibly within the airport's footprint or just south. There are also many of the original San Antonio Chinese interred at Mission Burial Park that borders Stinson Field on the west and north so maybe some were buried nearby very early. In 2005 I published a definitive history titled "Chinese Heart of Texas; San Antonio's Chinese Community 1875-1975." It covers the first 100 years of the Chinese in texas which was mostly a San Antonio story since they came here after building the Southern Pacific railroad from Cal. to near Langtry. It's a great story since it also covers in detail the so called Pershing Chinese who were brought to Fort Sam Houston in 1917 after being massacred and chased out of Mexico by the murderous Pancho Villa. Anyhow, do you know anymore about a Chinese graveyard?

[jg1208]

The last Albertson's store in our area, New Braunfels, Tx. is closing.

[Willsatx]

I miss Albertson's a lot, they had the best warm choclate chip cookies. The one at Gilbeau-Tezel was my favorite one.

[breegirl]

Originally Posted by texasguy30

When I was a kid I heard there was a place by Chachos called the Midget Mansion. I know they tore the place down but has anyone actually seen the place when it was still there?

Just curious.

I went to "Midget Mansion" one time in the early 80's. The gate was still opened at that time. I don't know if you could get into the house or not at that point. It was night time and so it was very creepy. We never got out of the car. We were parked for a few minutes and were just chatting about what to do next when we heard a knock or thump outside the car. I am sure it was just our imagination or a small animal but we high tailed it out of there quickly!

[breegirl]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

Question for anyone who can answer it, at the corner of Blanco and West Ave in front of Marshall's there is a flower shop. Anyone know what it was many years ago? Been very curious.

Is it on the Blanco side in the corner of the lot? If so it was a gas station for a long time.

[jg1208]

I remember 2 Texaco Gas & Eats. One at IH-10 & Fred. Rd. and one
at IH-35 & O' Connor. That one had the best steak fingers.

The O' Connor location was demolished and replaced with a modern
Texaco truck stop probably late 1989, and is now a Shell Truck Stop.

Does anyone remember a warehouse fire in the early 70's at the NE
corner of IH 35 & O' Connor ? Possibly VW Car parts ? My mother-in-law
tells me that S.A.F.D. and Live Oak Fire Dept. sat there and watched it
burn while they argued on who should put it out.

[Been There B4]

Originally Posted by jg1208

Does anyone remember a warehouse fire in the early 70's at the NE
corner of IH 35 & O' Connor ? Possibly VW Car parts ? My mother-in-law
tells me that S.A.F.D. and Live Oak Fire Dept. sat there and watched it
burn while they argued on who should put it out.

Yep. I was attending Roosevelt HS when the fire broke out. You could see the smoke for a long, long ways off.

From what I learned at the time, the warehouse contained a large stock of magnesium engine parts that, once ignited, was no match for the sheet metal structure (it was a very large warehouse) and the roof literally melted, providing plenty of oxygen to support continued, intense burning.

Regardless of FD jurisdiction the structure and contents were probably already lost since magnesium burns extremely hot and the fire simply could not be extinguished, especially since water applied to mag fires just makes the fire worse.

[BudB]

That fire helped put a couple guys into business because among other stuff stored in the warehouse were thousands of Volkswagon parts. So a couple guys named Don & Bill bought whatever was saved from the fire and opened a very welcome VW parts house on Bitters Road. That place gave me and lots of other Bug, Van and Type 3 drivers a place to buy VW parts at prices better than the dealerships who had a near monopoly on the stuff until then. I had a 1956 Bug, two 67's and a Type 3 during that period and often needed something from those guys. They also did short block rebuilding and sold the occasional rebuilt VW from the early 1970s on for at least ten or fifteen years as I recall. Can't say what happened to them later because by the early '80s, Austin, where I live, had gotten its own VW parts places and shops other than the always pricey dealerships so I stopped driving to SA to trade with Don & Bill.

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by breegirl

Is it on the Blanco side in the corner of the lot? If so it was a gas station for a long time.

Thanks for the answer, but i guess they just moved across the street.

[kmerian]

Originally Posted by BudB

To MajMM and the Boss, many thanks for pointing out the so called Chinese Cemetery to us. Looking at the Weird Texas fotos it appears to be a fairly typical family cemetery, probably Hispanic Catholic. The witchcraft sign is meant to keep the Satanic/Voodoo types from using the site for their silliness. I live in Austin and we even had it going on in a large municipal cemetery here back in the '90s adjacent UT's baseball stadium just off I-35 so not secluded at all. How Chinese became associated with the cemetery in discussion is impossible to say by now; so be it. While researching my Texas Chinese book, I visited a small family cemetery near LaGrange that definitely had a half dozen Chinese buried in unmarked but documented graves. They had died from typhoid fever while working on the GALVESTON, HARRISBURG AND SAN ANTONIO RAILWAY in the early 1880s. There are also Chinese railroad dead in West Texas in small plots since they were commonly buried together. One near the old tunnel beyond Chispa and another alongside the tracks near Pecos is a grave holding five Chinese where railroad crews have maintained the site for nearly 130 years or so. Chinese Ghosts are another issue altogether about which I have nothing to add but am grateful for the input here that has settled the Stinson Field location for me. There are at least a couple books on San Antonio's ghosts for those who want to know more including one just on the Menger Hotel's spirits.

The reason it is called the Chinese Cemetery is because its real name is the Loma China Cemetery. Loma China means "Chinese Hill". There was a town named that in this area about 1900