Rebekah Lodge, a sister lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was formed. State law was passed to record births and deaths, and an oil boom took place. On March 12, the first load of cabbage ever sent from Gonzales was shipped out by J.B. Wells and Son, while in April, nine carloads of brick were sent to Wharton by Sunset Brick and Tile Company. The same month, Representatives Judge Weinert of Seguin and F.A. Schlick of Gonzales authored the bill creating the Pasteur Institute, which was a part of the hospital in Austin, for the treatment of rabies. On May 4, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas were organized and later became custodians of T.N. Matthews/J.B. Wells House at 830 Mitchell Street. However, the cotton crop was severely damaged by boll-weevils. Instead of one bale per five acres, it only averaged one bale per twelve to fifteen acres.
B.B. Hoskins bought the Reese Building on the corner of St. George and St. Paul, and it became a B.B. Hoskins, Sr. and Sons Mercantile business (Block 34). Gonzales school children collected money and had a stone placed at the “first shot” site, while the L. Burchard building at 413 St. George Street was completed (south side Block 23) and later became Mohrmann’s Drug Store. The Gonzales to Harwood train ride was cut to fifty minutes, a distance of twelve miles. Water Works Company built a new pump house with 22″ thick walls; 16 x 20′, 12′ walls, and a new pump brought the total to three pumps, now with a capacity of 2,700,000 gallons per day.
In July, the Inquirer lamented “the Fourth of July and no band or balloon,” and on July 9, gold and silver were found on Kleine Brothers’ property nine miles north of Gonzales, with gold assays at $620 per ton. However, Methodists reported that the two towers and the front of their building, built in 1900, would probably have to be removed and rebuilt due to poor workmanship, with the walls cracked and the gable leaning out. A good apple crop was reported, but the Inquirer stated that “what this city needs is a good meat market, an ice cream parlor, and above all a good restaurant.”
On September 24, public schools opened, but enrollment was down due to sickness. On October 8, work began on a new fire station facing south on St. Lawrence Street (Block 24), across from the county jail. The upstairs was divided, with one side being for firefighters’ sleeping quarters and the other for City Hall/Municipal Building. On October 17, Lexington Camp Number 706, Woodmen of the World, came into existence, while in the same month, fear of yellow fever caused many quarantines. Those coming into Gonzales from San Antonio were required to spend ten days in quarantine on Reese place north of Gonzales. Finally, the Gonzales Nursery made its first shipment of fig trees, 250 pounds, to Denison, and Chauncy Vaughn Bright bought into the Gomez Jewelry Store, making it the Gomez and Bright Jewelry Store at what was then known as 118 St. George (now 411 St. George).
