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Visitor Guide

Improvements to the High School, the Courthouse, and Jail

In January, Stahl Brothers sold forty carloads of feathers to a Chicago firm. Meanwhile, S.F. Halamicek and his son, Roy, opened Halamicek Auto Supply on the east side of St. Joseph Street, possibly renting from C.E. Dilworth. In February, the Texan Theatre opened in the J.S. Lewis Building on St. George Street. March saw the opening of the Rialto Theatre on St. Joseph Street north of Dilworth Bank Building. In April, an announcement was made that the first dance of the season would be held at the Breezy Roof on May 3. Glen Wallace and his orchestra of San Antonio would provide the music for this occasion. In May, the Continental Hatchery opened and shipped five to six thousand turkey chicks every week until it burned to the ground in mid-August.

August brought two new classrooms to be added to the northeast corner of the high school building, with the contractor being F.B. Meisenhelder. The cost was about $5,000, and a cafeteria was also added. On August 9, two huge alligators that made their home in the large cement tank at the Cotton Mill were shot by Marshal N.D. Cone as they had been escaping too often and were a menace to the community. One weighed over 600 pounds, and they were each about seven feet long. August 16 saw the T41 weathervane moved to the top of the fire station which also housed “City Hall” on Block 24. It had originally been on the top of the R.A. Houston House, placed there in the 1880s when the house was completed. Houston died, and the house became the Arlington Hotel. When it was razed circa 1926, the weathervane was placed on top of the Randle-Rather Building. W.B. Houston then gave it to family friend, John DuBose, and he presented it to the City.

In September, the Courthouse and Jail both got a gas-steam heating system. The Courthouse got twelve heaters, and the jail got nine. On October 4, it was estimated that over 20,000 people attended the county fair on the first day, and it was later reported that 50,000 attended the fair on October 11. On the same day, J.C. Penney advertised khaki pants for $0.98 and a four-piece suit for boys at $9.90. In November, a group of Gonzales farmers protested against the three “mammoth” dams that were to be built by the Hunt Development Company of Delaware across the Guadalupe River in Gonzales County. On November 8, the old Boothe building at the corner of St. Louis and St. Joseph streets was razed, and a modern filling station was erected in its place by Dr. J.A. Maness. The Boothe family had conducted business there for more than sixty years. On November 15, citizens protested against the felling of two huge live oak trees that formed a gateway into the City on East Avenue near the bridge. Finally, in 1900, the Church of Christ was organized in Gonzales.