Does anyone have any information on Schuler Sign Company which was located on E. Commerce in San Antonio?

[TrapperL]

It would great if you had pics. I helped lay out the goldleaf template as a kid with my grand father. He lived with us at the time as my grand mother died in 1954 when I was just 7. Those signs were done about 1956-1957 era. I remember it was a large job for the entire sign company. Lone Star had bought the Hall of Horns collection and moved it to the brewery in 1956. The templates were actually laid out in our 3 car garage on Avondale. The garage was more of a barn with 3 sliding doors which we used as a barn when my dad was raising chickens for Bill Church of Churchs Fried Chicken. After the chickens were wiped out with a bad case of the pink eye and then there was no way to cure it, we used it as a garage with my grandfather using the south end with a table that would resemble a drafting table. He would use large pieces of paper and sketch what he wanted and after he got it right, I would come behind him with a sharp pointed rolling wheel that resembled a spur on a metal handle. As I followed his pencil marks, it perforated the paper. When he took it to the job site, he would tape the layout in place, rub it down with a caulk bag, take it down and then you could see the dot matrix on the glass to follow. He did his gold leaf this way and paint as well.

Hope this has been helpful to you. It's brought back a lot of memories for me. I can even remember the smells of the linseed oil, turpentine, his cigars that he didn't smoke but chewed, his Old Spice cologne, etc. And he always wore a 3 piece suit. Didn't matter if it was just to spend time around the house, he wore a 3 piece suit, even when painting. I still have his pocket watch that he had in his suit vest. He also wore a hat unless he was inside the house. He went to work everyday even after having several heart attacks. He was 92 when he died. He was a great guy and even today I still miss him.

[roger929]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

It would great if you had pics. I helped lay out the goldleaf template as a kid with my grand father. He lived with us at the time as my grand mother died in 1954 when I was just 7. Those signs were done about 1956-1957 era. I remember it was a large job for the entire sign company. Lone Star had bought the Hall of Horns collection and moved it to the brewery in 1956. The templates were actually laid out in our 3 car garage on Avondale. The garage was more of a barn with 3 sliding doors which we used as a barn when my dad was raising chickens for Bill Church of Churchs Fried Chicken. After the chickens were wiped out with a bad case of the pink eye and then there was no way to cure it, we used it as a garage with my grandfather using the south end with a table that would resemble a drafting table. He would use large pieces of paper and sketch what he wanted and after he got it right, I would come behind him with a sharp pointed rolling wheel that resembled a spur on a metal handle. As I followed his pencil marks, it perforated the paper. When he took it to the job site, he would tape the layout in place, rub it down with a caulk bag, take it down and then you could see the dot matrix on the glass to follow. He did his gold leaf this way and paint as well.

Hope this has been helpful to you. It's brought back a lot of memories for me. I can even remember the smells of the linseed oil, turpentine, his cigars that he didn't smoke but chewed, his Old Spice cologne, etc. And he always wore a 3 piece suit. Didn't matter if it was just to spend time around the house, he wore a 3 piece suit, even when painting. I still have his pocket watch that he had in his suit vest. He also wore a hat unless he was inside the house. He went to work everyday even after having several heart attacks. He was 92 when he died. He was a great guy and even today I still miss him.

Wow, what great memories you must have. I grew up on the SE side not far from Avondale.

[TEstrada]

Hello,
I would also like some info about his company. My father in-law, Tomas Estrada, worked for "Mr. Schuler". He was an immigrant from Tampico, Mexico when he was first employed by Mr. Schuler. Schuler taught him the business, as well as English. Eventually Tomas opened up his own business painting signs in San Antonio and surrounding areas by hand (a lost art). Tomas greatly admired Mr. Schuler , and was always been appreciative of the opportunity Mr. Schuler had given him at such a young age. I'm wondering if anyone has any more information or pictures of the work my father-in-law did while while working for Schuler. Tomas does not have much time left with us and I'm researching for his obituary. Thank you for any information you can provide.

[TrapperL]

If you can get into the SA Conservation Society website, they have pics of the different locations that the sign company was at. As I recall, Tomas came around about the time they moved to Austin Street location. The building is still there but the awning on the south side of the building is gone. Tomas did a lot of signs on commercial trucks. He did 3 for me. Sorry, no pics for you. It would be hard to say which work he actually did. There's not much of a way to track that info. At the time, if you wanted a hand painted sign on anything, Schuler Sign was the only one in town that had the old time craftsmen. Everybody else was doing screen print mostly on steel or vinyl and the sign was screwed or glued to whatever. Sign painting is a lost art these days.

I have a thread going in regards to ghost signs in SA. Tomas would have painted some of them. I plan on being downtown next week to start building a file on the ghost signs. I found a number of them this AM. I plan on posting them when I get enough together.

[Rob420]

Wow so happy that I found something just bought a house on E Carson. The transom window above the front door has the address painted on the window and it says (SCHULER 81)

[Soviet]

Originally Posted by Rob420

Wow so happy that I found something just bought a house on E Carson. The transom window above the front door has the address painted on the window and it says (SCHULER 81)

Think you could post a pic?