Thriving Poultry Exports, Community Improvements

The Gonzales County News newspaper was established, but later closed in 1942. Farmers National Bank also closed down. On February 1st, the Kleine Opera House, which had been owned by the Kleines since 1853, was sold to Iley and Sons who planned to convert it into a poultry plant. The building, which had been erected in 1877 and had been in the family’s possession since then, was probably the two-story frame building in pictures of that time. On March 14th, Lynn Smith installed an air conditioner in Crystal Theatre, and on March 17th, the Mexican Baptist Church was erected on west St. George Street. On April 14th, the Federal Government appropriated $8,500,000 to improve navigation, flood control, and power on the Guadalupe River. It provided for a five-foot-deep, one hundred-foot-wide channel to be dug from the LA/TX inter-coastal waterway to three miles above Victoria, and also provided for the construction of Canyon Reservoir. The Cotton Mill was open and working with half the crew. On May 4th, the Cotton Mill produced 30,000 yards of fabric and had 110 employees, and on May 5, the San Marcos River banks were lined with dead fish due to a recent rise in the level of water that caused saltwater and slush from oil fields above to be released into the water, killing the fish. On May 12th, the Stahl Brothers Poultry business reported that it would have shipped out 2.5 million pounds of eggs by the end of the season on June 1. Eighty-six people were employed, with 64 of them being women. The Stahls also sent out five railroad cars of old roosters, twenty cars of fowls, and seventy-five cars of turkeys this year, with a daily output of approximately 10,000 turkeys. On May 30, J.B. Wells, Jr.’s camp house on Santa Anna mound was opened. On July 10, the Gonzales Cotton Mill sold over 50,000 yards of duck fabric to J.C. Penney. On July 11, the WPA sewing rooms received summer fabric (7127 yards) from the Gonzales Cotton Mill. The WPA provided employment for the needy, made well-made garments for the relief effort, and provided job training for young girls. On July 20, NYA boys were employed to repair, paint, and improve county schools, while on July 24, construction of the Boy Scout building was to begin with the NYA boys quarrying nearby rock. In August, citizens were urged to plant as many crepe myrtles as possible.