San Antonio Early History! (Howe, Ingram: middle school, live, estate)

[wCat]

Originally Posted by jasonedwards

Hello there, I recently purchased a home near Mac Aurther high school. I am told a man named Ivan Kemper bulit it in 1960-61. Van Buren st. runs into Woodbury Dr. Mr. Doyle (neighbor) told me that it used to be called Poppe Rd. The Van Burens live on Van Buren st. (used to be the Poppe place). Poppe Rd. used to run all the way to Blossom Rd. through my lot. Can any one tell me more of the history of this area? When was the High School built? What was around it? I am wondering if it was an onion farm since every spring a white flowered onoin looking plant pops up in many yards. Also whats with all of the pecan trees? I have 7 of them and when they produce, they are yummy!
Thanks, J.E.

Hi Jason! Lucky for you to have so many pecan trees! They do well in this part of Texas!

I can help with a little info. The name you are referring to is "Pape", but it is pronounced "poppy". The Pape family has been in San Antonio for years, and the subsequent generations have had successful businesses throughout the city. You might see the engineering company by the name of "Pape-Dawson" around a lot. The younger generations have accepted the pronounciation changes to "Pape" ie rhymes with "cape", but there are a few elders that will kindly correct you if you say anything but "Poppy".

The Pape family had huge land holdings all in the MacArthur and Airport area....and also many other places in Bexar county. A great portion of the airport property belonged to them before the airport was built.

I don't know specifics about your property without knowing exactly where your lot is.

I have seen maps (and maybe someone can get an ariel) of the land where "Bitters" continued straight across the airport and then bends North over past Nakoma and connects to "Bitters" about a 1/2 mile before it crosse 281. If you drive over behind Blossom Athletic center you'll find another bit of "Bitters" Rd. It winds up through that little neighborhood on the SW corner of Nakoma/Jones Maltsberger and Starcrest. (How Starcrest got over to that side of the Salado creek is still a mystery to me!)

The County offices (not at the court house) have a "maps" department of a lot of old maps of roads in Bexar county of areas before they were incorporated into the "city". That might be a fun place to dig to find early streets and developments in your area. Also, if you have the time and interest, you could trace back the title holders of your property at the Courthouse. Often they would have "plats" of the developments and neighborhoods as they planned them. (Gosh....I'm giving away all my secrets! ) Just kidding.....I love digging into useless trivia! I wish I could get paid to do it!


Good luck! Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions!

[wCat]

Jason.....have you looked at the map that Smuboy posted on the 1st page? It's about the 9th post on this thread.

If you find Bitters Rd and Wetmore, you'll be in your general neighborhood. I just noticed that there used to be a little community in the NE corner of Wetmore and Bitters called "Salado Valley". I've never noticed that before. It probably got swallowed up by the development and the city. I might have been just a post office/general store or maybe a stage coach route at one time. I'm sure you noticed the few little remaining old houses that are on Wetmore Rd right near the Broadway and Wetmore intersection. I forget what they are....little shops or a sandwich shop? Maybe someone there might know a little about the history of those little houses and the area!

BTW - that map also show how Bitter crosses that NE end of what is now an extention of the airport!

[wCat]

Jason.....here ya go! We had some fun tonight digging a little for you.

1st....the VanBuren house was built in 1901. It was most likely one of several houses built by the Pape's. There were a LOT of them, but we identified a group of Pape brothers who were living in Justice Precinct 3, Dist 13 of Bexar County in 1910. They were all enumerated on "Nacogdoches Rd"....which is most likely the main road that their farm was on. "Pape" Road (now VanBuren) did most likely cut right through your property and went on across the Airport. They had huge land holdings all in that area.

These brothers (were grown and married in 1910 and were actively farming.) There were four of them out 14 children born to Conrad Pape (born 1938 in Prussia) and Christine Pape. This Conrad (#2) was the son of Conrad (born 1802 in Wurtenburg) and Dorthea Pape. The elder Conrad (#1) Pape and his wife Dorthea came to Texas through Indianola, TX through the efforts of Prince Karl Solms and initially lived near New Braunfels....later established as Smithson Valley named after their neighbor Benjamin Smithson.

The four brothers in your area were:

Conrad Pape (#3) born 1861 in Texas
Willie (William) Pape born 1864
Gustav Pape born 1877
Rudolph Pape born 1880

There were other Pape families near but were most likely first cousins.

We don't know who was the actual land owner in 1901 when the existing house was built, but you could very easily trace the deed records back from the VanBuren house to see who might have built that house.
Edit: Just checked the 1900 census and Conrad (#3) and William Pape were living in Bexar County and are shown as "owners" of their property. The location isn't clear in that census record. Gustav and Rudolph were still living in Comal County in Smithson Valley with their father Conrad Pape (#2) in 1900.

BTW - Just for interest....Conrad Pape #3 also named his first son "Conrad"...so there was another little Conrad (#4!)

From what I understand....most of that neighborhood was built in the mid/late 50's. I believe the descendants of these brothers held on to a lot of that land up until it was all parceled off.

My guess is that the little community of "Salado Valley" was also established by the Pape's when they left Smithson Valley to purchase land in Bexar County.

Most of this information was acquired through Bexar County Appriasal Dist, Bexar County Deed Records, and US Federal Census Records and Ancestry.com......All from public records.

There's probably a lot more to uncover!

Have fun!

[SAnative]

Wow, great thread! I love learning about how things used to look; love the pics and maps.

My parents often comment that it's so hard to believe how fast our city has grown.

[jasonedwards]

Thank you for all the information. I'll get me a metal detector now.

[jimbobvandy]

Here's a link to a great bird's eye view of San Antonio in 1873.

AMON CARTER MUSEUM: TEXAS BIRD’S-EYE VIEWS: BROWSE

[wCat]

Hi Jimbob! Thanks for bringing this forward! I was not having any luck finding it in my search!

Did you ever get your maps? I'm planning a trip up to Austin to the GLO to dig in person!

[jimbobvandy]

I did get them. 28x28 color for $20. Could not believe it. I just ordered that bird's eye view from the Witte for $90. It comes as a digital image and can be reprinted custom.

[ericmapes]

Incredible Picture of IH-10 @ De Zavala in 1966! What source did you find it from? I 'm looking for a picture of the old De Zavala homestead that was torn down around 1957. Any idea where I might be able to locate one?

Thanks,
Eric

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by ericmapes

Incredible Picture of IH-10 @ De Zavala in 1966! What source did you find it from? I 'm looking for a picture of the old De Zavala homestead that was torn down around 1957. Any idea where I might be able to locate one?

Thanks,
Eric

Where was this homestead? I have some info on the DeZavala families in SA and would like to connect it with yours.