The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 185
539 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
city's buildings and their own property were threatened by fire, men
named Krempkau, Steves, Froebel, Degen, Rische, Wagner, Zork,
Staffel, and Hummel organized a volunteer fire department'-and if
they happened to be the first to recognize the need and fill it, so much
the better.
German settlers were among the most intrepid, as well as the most
flexible, entrepreneurs in the city. Quick to establish a business when
they saw a demand, and adaptable in cutting their losses or expand-
ing according to circumstances and opportunities, they soon filled San
Antonio with signs and products bearing German names. Among the
early businessmen was Simon Menger, who came as one of Henri Cas-
tro's colonists to Texas in 1846, at the age of thirty-nine, and who can
claim to have been both San Antonio's first music teacher and its first
manufacturer. Menger, who had been a teacher in Germany, apparently
found life in Castroville too limited for his liking and in 1847 he set-
tled in San Antonio to become the first known music teacher in the
city's history, giving instruction in both vocal and piano music. He
also claimed to have founded or directed several of the earliest choral
groups and music societies in San Antonio and West Texas. Even after
taking up his other profession, he continued to teach music until he
died in 1892.
Until the time that Simon Menger opened his soap factory in 1850,
San Antonians washed with soap imported from Mexico. The Menger
Soap Works was not only San Antonio's first industrial undertaking,
but also the first soap factory in the Southwest. In a red limestone
building which still stands on the banks of San Pedro Creek at Martin
Street, Menger placed his vats on a flagstone floor, and heated tallow,
lye, and other ingredients to make his soap. He seems also to have
manufactured tallow candles and vinegar in this factory. His products
were distributed first by wagon and later by railroad throughout Texas
and the Southwest."
Until the death of Menger's son Erich in the early years of the twen-
tieth century, the factory continued production, reaching at one time
'Unidentified clipping, "Fire Department Pride of San Antonio for 80o Years," in "San
Antonio Scrapbook, 1gog-1964," Texas Collection (University of Texas Library, Austin).
'Louis B. Engelke, "San Antonio's First Music Teacher," San Antonio Express Maga-
zine, March 26, 1950o.
6Lewis Fisher, "Mengers Tell of Soap Industry," The North San Antonio Times, October
7, 1971; Carland Elaine Crook, "San Antonio, Texas, 1846-1861" (M.A. thesis, Rice Uni-
versity, 1964), 52; Edward W. Heusinger, A Chronology of Events in San Antonio (San
Antonio, 1951), 24.185
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973, periodical, 1973; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101202/m1/215/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.