Bee County Historical Commission - 132 Matching Results

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Skidmore Float in Beeville Parade in 1916

Description: Photograph of the Skidmore float in the 1916 parade in Beeville. The Bee County Fair Association was organized in 1890. One of the features of the Fair was the spectacular parade with decorated floats pulled by both horses and automobiles, and bands furnishing music for the pageant. The first fair grounds were located about two miles west of the city on what is now known as Viggo Road. Farmers and ranchers exhibited agricultural products and livestock, and the women displayed articles of clo… more
Date: unknown

Jones Chapel Methodist Church Historical Marker

Description: Jones Chapel Methodist met in an old school house until they built a sanctuary in 1889, on land donated by Captain A. C. Jones to three former slaves, who served as trustees of the new church. Charter members included Classie Douglas, Ann Felix, Felix Garner, Lawson Glenn, Serena Hodge, Ellen Jones, Ben Lott, Leanna Lott, Mose Lott, J. J. McCloud, Carrie McCampbell, P.M. McCarty, Kimmie Nancy, Elvira Newton, Rebecca Simms, Wesley Simms, I.E. Starnes, George Steward, Katy Ware, Sam Ware, Harrie… more
Date: unknown

Saint Rose Cemetery

Description: Photograph of Saint Rose Cemetery, an historical African-American cemetery in Beeville. St. Rose Cemetery located at 1302 East Hefferman St, lies on a 2.5-acre tract. In 1901, Nancy Williams, a former slave, was the first person buried in the new cemetery. Mose Lott and Allen Canada, builders of the first school for African Americans in Beeville, are also buried here. Since this picture was taken, the Lott-Canada Alumni Association erected brick pillars with brass plaques at both entrances to… more
Date: unknown

Lott-Canada School

Description: The original school for Black Americans was founded in 1876 in the Stephen Canada store seven miles above Beeville. In 1886, when the Methodist Church was moved to make room for the railroad depot, lumber from what is known as the “old Methodist Church” was given to build the second school for the Black American children. Mose Lott and Allen Canada were the carpenters who built the school at 107 Burke Street. The school operated at this location until it burned around 1929. Built in 1931, t… more
Date: unknown

Professor William E. Maddera

Description: Photograph of Professor William E. Madderra, a Latin and Greek scholar, and a master mathematician. Professor W.E. Madderra, one of the most brilliant and intellectual teachers, started his teaching career in Beeville in 1898, In 1999, Mr. Madderra moved to Nacogdoches to serve as superintendent, however he returned after a year when his uncle, Superintendent T.G. Arnold, became ill. In 1900 the board named him superintendent, a position he held until his death in 1936.
Date: unknown

The Wood Ranch

Description: Photograph of Glen Clare on horseback working cattle on the Wood Ranch Southeats of Beeville. Across the bottom of the picture are the words "The Wood Ranch, with Glen Clare, southeast of Beeville."
Date: unknown

McClanahan House

Description: Photograph of the two story McClanahan house located on 206 East Corpus Christi Street. The McClanahan House is the oldest business structure in Beeville. The building, the second store built in Beeville by George W. McClanahan, was erected around 1867 on the east side of the courthouse square, near Poesta Creek. The house served as general store, lodging house, and post office. It was built in the pioneer western style, with southern porches. McClanahan was Beeville’s first merchant; he was… more
Date: unknown

The Campo Santo

Description: Located off the Refugio Highway 202, the Campo Santo burial ground is not accessible to the public. The old cemetery is located on the head right of 1829 settler Jeremiah Toole of New York. Toole’s isolated oak-log home stood on the San Patricio-La Bahia Road. His family was in constant danger of attacks from Indians and invading armies.
Date: unknown

The Westside School for Mexican Americans Historical Marker

Description: Photograph of the historical marker dedicated to the West Side School for Mexican Americans. The West Side School for Mexican Americans, also known as Jackson School, was built in the early 1900’s. A two-room frame building served students until 1932, when it was replaced with a brick schoolhouse that stands today. In the 1940’s, the American GI Forum and League of United Latin American Citizens fought against inequality in schools. Their cases in Texas courts and the U.S. Supreme Court decisi… more
Date: unknown

Praeger Building 1906

Description: Photograph of the Praeger Building located on the corner of Washington and W.Corpus Christi Street. San Antonio businessman, Albert Praeger (1864-1930) moved to Beeville in the 1890’s to open a hardware store and tin shop. In 1906, Praeger built this Romanesque Revival structure on the northwest corner of the courthouse square to house his hardware business. In 1925, Central Power and Light began providing the city with water. With a reliable source of water, Mr. Albert Praeger made plans t… more
Date: unknown

The Evergreen Cemetery

Description: Photograph of four different photographs from the Evergreen Cemetery. The Evergreen Cemetery is on Block one of the original town site map of Beeville. It is the town’s oldest cemetery and is bounded by Polk, Bowie, Filmore, and Hefferman Streets. First owned by G.W. McClanahan, the land was bought in 1862 by the county for “public burying ground”. In 1872, H.W. Wilson donated the northeast strip, land was added on the northwest, and the court gave consent for a fence. The cemetery was restor… more
Date: unknown

N. A. S. Chase Field

Description: On June 1, 1943, Chase Field was commissioned as a Naval Air Auxiliary Station to train naval aviators during World War II. The base was named for Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Brown Chase, who went down in the Pacific on a training flight in 1925. After the war, Chase Field was closed until 1953, when it was reopened during the Korean War to help with the over-crowding at NAS Corpus Christi. In July 1968, Chase Field was elevated in status to a full naval air station. With the end of the Cold War and the d… more
Date: unknown

Commercial National Bank

Description: Photograph of the Commercial National Bank in Beeville Texas. Beeville’s second oldest bank, Commercial National Bank was organized on January 11, 1893. It was during this meeting that officers and directors were elected and the capital stock was set at $50,000, or 500 shares at $100 each. The bank opened for business on May 15, 1893. Dr. L.B. Creath, a retired doctor who had moved to Beeville from the Austin area some years before; and D.C. Stone were listed as the Commercial’s organizers… more
Date: unknown

Beeville Main Street 1914

Description: View of Washington Street in 1914 looking north. The red brick three stories building on the left was the first “skyscraper” for Beeville. It was the Grand Opera House, built by A.F. Rees and E.J. Kinkler at the corner of Washington and Bowie Streets in 1907, and opened in 1908. Many Broadway stage plays, musical comedies, and light operas were presented in the opera house. The building was destroyed by fire in 1919. The building to the left of the Grand Opera House was Beeville’s first ba… more
Date: September 29, 1914

First National Bank of Beeville

Description: Postcard showing Washington Street in Beeville Texas. The ornate building on the left, at the intersection of Bowie and Washington, was the First National Bank of Beeville's location from 1894 to 1960. The First National Bank of Beeville was organized on December 30, 1889, and opened on the courthouse square in 1890. Prior to the opening of First National Bank, people left their money either in sacks under loose floor boards behind the counter of Captain A.C. Jones’ store on the east side of… more
Date: unknown

Rialto Theater Drawing

Description: Drawing of the Rialto Theater. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio.
Date: unknown

Rialto Theater

Description: Photograph of the "Front of Rialto Theater, Beeville" as stated at the bottom of the photograph. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio. The first radio station in Beeville was located in the threatre'… more
Date: unknown

Inside of Rialto Theater

Description: Photograph of the interior of the Rialto Theater. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio. John Eberson (1875-1964) was a Romanian born American architect best known for movie palace designs in the atm… more
Date: unknown

Beeville Main Street 1909

Description: A 1909 postcard of Washington Street facing north in downtown Beeville. On the left of the card a corner of the Grand Opera House is visible. The First National Bank of Beeville can also be seen at the corner of Bowie and Washington on the same side of the street as the Grand Opera House. Washington Street is not paved in this picture. It will be 1921 before Beeville paved her principal streets.
Date: unknown

Photograph of Captain A. C. Jones

Description: Photograph of a portrait of A. C. Jones. A veteran of the last battle of the Civil War, Captain Allen Carter Jones was born in Nacogdoches County in 1830 to early Texas settlers. He served as sheriff in Goliad County from 1858-1860. Jones joined the Confederacy Army as a private when the Civil War began. Within eighteen months, his leadership abilities resulted in his promotion to Captain. In 1874, the Captain settled in Beeville where he became a merchant, banker, land owner, philanthropist… more
Date: unknown

Barnard E Bee and wife, Anne

Description: Barnard Elliot Bee attorney, soldier, and statesman, was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1787. He was the son of Thomas B.Bee who was a member of the Continental Congress, and was Justice of the U.S. Circuit Court of South Carolina under President George Washington. In 1836 Barnard E. Bee and his family moved to Texas and settled near Houston. He served as Secretary of State under David G. Burnet’s ad interim government, and escorted Santa Anna to Washington DC after the Battle of San J… more
Date: unknown

Thompson Building 1892

Description: Photograph of the Thompson Building located on 108 West Corpus Christi Street across from the courthouse. The Thompson Building built in 1892 in the Victorian style, was the first brick building in Beeville. The building was built by grocer, J.C. Thompson (1836-1905) of brick from the Calavaros kiln near Elmendorf. Upstairs in 1892 was the law office of Lon C. Hill, who later founded Harlingen. The “Beeville Light Guard” was later housed on the second floor. Acquired in 1910 by Eureka Telep… more
Date: unknown
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