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

[rexkwandosatx]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

I could be wrong, but I thought Jade Fountain came before Royale Burger. I remember going the Jade Fountain on Fredricksburg inside the loop in the mid to late 70's, the building is still there I think. I remember the Royal Burger on Callaghan and I-10 opening in the late 70's or early 80's.

GW, I do recall the Jade Fountain being at the now present day Las Palapas location as late as 1987-88. that year was the first year i lived out Blanco Rd, and i even asked my mom recently if she remembered the place and she said, "yeah it was there before El Pollo Loco, which later became Las Palapas..." and she even said that "some burger place was there before the Jade Fountain, i think..."

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

I could be wrong, but I thought Jade Fountain came before Royale Burger. I remember going the Jade Fountain on Fredricksburg inside the loop in the mid to late 70's, the building is still there I think. I remember the Royal Burger on Callaghan and I-10 opening in the late 70's or early 80's.

How ironic that royal burger on callaghan and blanco became las palapas.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Primo

.....
There is a lot of history on that hill top....just don't know what it is.

This goes way back....to the early 20's or 30's, ...not a whole lot of info, but it's a place to start searching land owners if anyone has that interest.

@ approximately the SE corner of Callaghan and Vance Jackson was 150 acre track (on both sides of the RR track) owned by HD Manton and F Longe/Lange.

Across Vance Jackson and South of Callaghan was 159 acres owned by the estate of CF Weston.

Following Callaghan to the West all the way to Fred Road (long before I-10), John Frost owned about 600 acres.

Back to the Vance Jackson/Callaghan corner on the NorthW side, Dr. John W Kinney owned 355 acres. To the NW of him was the Wurzbach farm of 742 acres extending from Vance Jackson all the way to Fredericksburg Rd.

..... wish there was time to research all that area. There must be tons of interesting history along there.

[Primo]

Originally Posted by wCat

Back to the Vance Jackson/Callaghan corner on the NorthW side, Dr. John W Kinney owned 355 acres. To the NW of him was the Wurzbach farm of 742 acres extending from Vance Jackson all the way to Fredericksburg Rd.

..... wish there was time to research all that area. There must be tons of interesting history along there.

I remember when I was in high school...I had a coach that claimed their deer lease was a big ranch that was at the corner of Vance Jackson and Wurzbach..the area now known as Colonies North. He said this was in the 50's I know for a fact that Wurzbach was a dirt road in 1968 and was paved for the first time a few years later.

[Primo]

VANCE JACKSON ROAD
The first half of this combination was named for the family who not only owned the famous Vance House downtown (p. 14), but also had a ranch northwest of San Antonio and speculated in land all over this area. William Vance (1813-1878) originally came to San Antonio along with his father and brothers James and John as commissary agents for General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War in 1846. The brothers stayed on after the war and built the first army barracks in San Antonio. A two-story building adjacent to the barracks was later converted into the Vance House, and they were active in many other business ventures.
Born in New York State but raised in Kentucky, William H. Houston Jackson (1803-1888) came to San Antonio in 1849 to establish a ranch on the Emanuel Leal grant of 640 acres, which was located "about 7 miles northwest (from downtown) as the crow flies." During the Civil War, he saw action in many battles including Vicksburg against Grant, attaining the rank of Brigadier General. After the war he was a Justice of the Peace in Bexar County, but his major interest appears to have been raising cattle.
Since it was customary to name a road for the properties it ran between, it is reasonable to assume that Vance and Jackson owned adjacent lands in the northwest part of the city.

WURZBACH ROAD/PARKWAY
In 1904, William Wurzbach, along with his father-in-law Gustav Schmeltzer, bought 1400 acres in northwest San Antonio. A homestead was built in 1909 in a pasture where the HEB store at IH 10 and Wurzbach now stands. The family built a road so they could get around the farm, and the original road extended up the hill as far as what is now Fredericksburg Road. Wurzbach was an attorney and also County Judge. The family subsequently deeded the road to Bexar County, and when the proposed Wurzbach Parkway is finally completed across the city north of Loop 410, the name will extend far beyond the original family property.


I will find more.

[wCat]

Thanks Primo! The map I have is a very old survey map, but was an updated version of land holders from the early land grants. According to this map, it shows the Vance property to be in the vicinity of where Fred Rd and Vance Jackson meet. There is about 100 acres remain (cira 1920-30) that belonged to J. M. Vance. The remaining tracts surrounding this acreage seem to be family members and descendants of John M Vance. Some of the land holder names were Weir, Yates, Spencer, Metzler, Schmeltzer, Williams, Landa, Stevens, Elmendorf, Moeglin, Basse, Locke and Cunningham....just to name a few. They seemed to be partitioned off in about 100 acre sections.

I did find a small remainder of some "Keller" land on the NE side of Jackson Keller belonging to "Adam Keller".

This particular map doesn't indicate any remaining "Jackson" holdings that I can see, however I have seen earlier maps that do.

It's sometimes confusing to look at these maps and think that many of these people "lived" there, but many lived in town and owned land all over. Without looking at census records and property deeds, it's hard to really know where they "homesteaded" from just looking at this map. I've run across census records where some families were recorded twice....because they had farms and ranches out from the city....but also homes in town. Sometimes the info was collected from neighbors or servants who would tell the names of who owned the land and sometimes lived there.

It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

I love to info!!! Hope you have more!

[Willsatx]

Great stuff primo, I was going to ask you about Huebner Rd any history on that street?

[jg1208]

This past summer I realized how much I miss the old 1/2 mile stock car
track on Hwy 16. It was open from Aug.77 to April 2007 and I have many
fond memories of many Saturday nights out there. I was there the 2nd
night it was ever open and didn't go again until Aug.of 81. I got the racing fever and with a ton of help from friends built a a car for the
'82 season. After only racing 4 or 5 times realized I would rather help
on pit crews and did on three different teams until 1987. I guess times
change and the land is worth more for a different purpose.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by jg1208

This past summer I realized how much I miss the old 1/2 mile stock car
track on Hwy 16. It was open from Aug.77 to April 2007 and I have many
fond memories of many Saturday nights out there. I was there the 2nd
night it was ever open and didn't go again until Aug.of 81. I got the racing fever and with a ton of help from friends built a a car for the
'82 season. After only racing 4 or 5 times realized I would rather help
on pit crews and did on three different teams until 1987. I guess times
change and the land is worth more for a different purpose.

Some of my old stomping grounds !! That Track always seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and vanished a few years later. My daughter and her husband actually raced towards the end out there. They're now building several cars for dirt tack out 281S. towards Floresville!! There are other Race Tracks around here!

[Dwangle]

I was big into VW's in the early 70's and knew friends that raced them. I can't remember where the track was.