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Photograph of McClanahan House entry way. 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.In 1962, the building was purchased by the Historical Society for $600, and moved to its present site. The building is still the “home” of the society, and meetings are held there periodically.

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 clothing which they had made by hand. After a few years, the annual fair succumbed because of lack of interest only to be revived in 1912, on a much larger scale. The exhibits building was then located about three blocks west of Poesta Creek on the left side of Corpus Christi Street. The big social event was the crowning of the Queen of the Fair, held in the Grand Opera House. During World War I the fair was dormant because so many of the young men were in the armed forces. At the end of the war it was revived and continued until 1933.

Photograph of the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church congregation standing outside in front of the church before their Sunday Services. The church was organized in 1884. Behtlehem Baptist is the oldest African-American congregation in Beeville. Charter members included Matthew Broadus, Peter Flannigan, L. Broadus, Martha Bess, M. Peters, Salanas Davis, and Edna Canada. Served originally by a circuit pastor, the congregation held Sunday services in a schoolhouse donated by Captain A.C. Jones. The church purchased land from Jones and built its first sanctuary in 1893. In 1926, the original white-frame structure and its two towers were replaced by a larger, but smaller structure. The church has been replaced several times since then, including its most recent construction in the 1980’s. It is located at 108 North Burke Street.

Photograph of the historical marker for the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in front of the modern day Bethlehem Baptist Church. The church was organized in 1884. Behtlehem Baptist is the oldest African-American congregation in Beeville. Charter members included Matthew Broadus, Peter Flannigan, L. Broadus, Martha Bess, M. Peters, Salanas Davis, and Edna Canada. Served originally by a circuit pastor, the congregation held Sunday services in a schoolhouse donated by Captain A.C. Jones. The church purchased land from Jones and built its first sanctuary in 1893. In 1926, the original white-frame structure and its two towers were replaced by a larger, but similar structure. The church has been replaced several times since then, including its most recent construction in the 1980’s. It is located at 108 North Burke Street.

Photograph of Jones Chapel Methodist Church, an African American church that has served the African American community of Beeville for more than 100 years. The church is located on 115 North Leverman Street. 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, Harriet Williams and Mary Williams. Many of the early members were former slaves. In 1926, the present frame church was built on the original site, where the congregation fervently serves the African American community of Beeville.

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, Harriet Williams and Mary Williams. Many of the early members were former slaves. In 1926, the present frame church was built on the original site, where the congregation fervently serves the African American community of Beeville. It is locate at 115 North Leverman Street.

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 replace the wrought iron sign which had been donated by the Juneteenth Committee. The dirt road has also been replaced with a paved road by the county. In 2008 a dedication ceremony was held after Saint Rose was desigated a Texas Historical Cemetery.

Saint Rose Cemetery was designated a Texas Historical Cemetery during a dedication ceremony in August 2008. Dr. Barbara Welder, chair of the Bee County Historical Commission, spoke at the dedication which was attended by Lawrence Oaks, Executive Director of the Texas Historical Commission. This historical African American burial ground was formally deeded in 1921. However, some burials took place prior to that; with the earliest known burial being that of a former slave, Nancy Williams, dating from 1901. Among the prominent individuals interred here are Mose Lott and Allen Canada, the two men who built the first Beeville schoolhouse for African Americans; several veterans of conflicts dating back to World War I; and Mrs. Mary Canada, who was a mediator between the black and white communities during the “incident free” desegregation of the Beeville Independent School District.

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, this third school was named “Lott-Canada” in honor of the builders of the former school. The Lott-Canada School was partially funded by the Rosenwald Foundation and the building was named for the CEO of Sears at the time. In the fall of 1955, students were transferred to BISD, where integration was peacefully concluded. In 1960, the school was closed; however, it continued to serve the community as the Special Education Building for the school district until it was leased to Coastal Bend Community College in 2008. Today is it used by the college for Customized and Continuing Education, Adult Basic Education/GED, and English as a Second Language classes. Of the 450 Rosenwald schools built in Texas, Lott-Canada is one of only forty known to be standing. Members of the Lott-Canada Alumni Association have created an exhibit in the school that details the building’s history and contains artifacts from the old school days donated by former students. In 2008 the school was awarded a Texas Historical Marker and is on the National Register.

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.

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."

Photograph of cowboys herding cattle on the Ed Brown Ranch. The Brown family has been in Bee County for several generations. Austin II's great grandfather operated the mercantile store on the square in town. Austin I, his son, was in the bulk fuel business. As a wholesale dealer for Magnolia, which later became Mobil, he delivered kerosene and gasoline to farm families with a wagon and team. Every time he made a dollar or two, Austin Brown I bought a little piece of land. He began putting the ranch together in 1924. The headquarters operation, where their preconditioning facility is located, is in Bee County, but they lease several other ranches in South Texas. Early on, like many South Texans, the Browns ran Brahman cattle. In 1945, Ed bought some registered Hereford cattle from a man in the area. He began crossing these Herefords with the Brahman cattle and ended up with a "tiger stripe-looking animal," Austin says. "My grandfather found out right quick that the first cross (F-1) was one of the best animals ever developed for Texas." Eventually the Browns phased out the Brahman cattle altogether and began building their Hereford program. Today they continue to maintain a base herd of 200 registered Hereford cows.

The Grand Opera House was a three-story building located on the corner of Washington and Bowie Street. Owners were A.F. Rees and E.J. Kinkler. Murray Eidson was the manager. His family owned the 1880's opera house located on the courthouse square. The Grand Opera House opened in January 1908 with W.B. Patton in a comedy, The Slow Poke. Admission prices were 75 cents, $1, and $1.50. There was a balcony, and four boxes, or loges. Some of the best dramas, comedies, and musical plays that came south were shown. William Jennings Bryan delivered his famous "Prince of Peace" address in the Opera House. People came from Goliad, San Patricio, Live Oak, Karnes, and Refugio counties, and Beeville became an entertainment center. The Grand Opera flourished for about eight years, but with the coming of movie theaters attendance begin to drop, and many of the big stage shows stopped coming south. In December 1919 a fire destroyed the building.

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 among the first to buy auctioned lots in the newly formed town of Beeville in 1859. McClanahan also served as schoolteacher, postmaster, county clerk, innkeeper, and Sunday school superintendent. After McClanahan’s death, L.F. Roberts purchased and operated the store for many years. In 1962, the building was purchased by the Historical Society for $600, and moved to its present site. The building is still the “home” of the society, and meetings are held there periodically.

Photograph of the Hugo Heldenfels home located at 514 North Monroe Street and built in 1886. Hugo Heldenfels and Viggo Kohler formed a partnership known as Kohler & Heldenfels, and operated a lumber yard a the corner of Washington and Cleveland Streets in the 1880's. Mr. Heldenfels was born in Germany, and died in 1896.

Photograph of a side view of H. F. Matthews' home located on Washington Street. It stood at the corner on Washington Street, across from the Queen Hotel. Also known as the Mathews Building where furniture was sold on the first floor and the second floor was rented. In its present location, it served as the Moose Lodge, the May Rooming House and was owned by Mrs. Ann Reed, owner of the Kohler Hotel.

Photograph of John Clark Wood's cottage. Near the Creek by the old gin where John Clark Wood and family lived temporarily when they moved from Refugio County in 1888. They built a home on North Adams where they later resided.

Photograph of the Cook home located on 1001 West Cook Road, built by John Cook himself. Born in 1846, in a Texas-bound wagon train, cattleman John Cook fought in the Civil War at age 17. He married Frances Miller in 1866. The cooks lived in a rock house nearby until their tarried Victorian mansion was wired for electricity and completed in 1897. In 1918, the U.S. Cavalry established a camp here..

Photograph of the Fizer home, where G. W. Fizer and his family lived. Mrs. Fizer, sister of H.P. Mathews, was an early teacher in Beeville Schools.

Photograph of Dick Scott's home located on 710 South Saint Mary's. At the end of the first decade of the twenty century, W.C. and Zella Buerger built the large two-story house. In 1915, the Buergers sold the house to a nephew of Captain A.C. Jones, John R. “Dick” Scott and his wife, Sudie. Later owned by O.D. and Sylvia Rudeloff and then by Mrs. Lois Mueller, the grand old mansion was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Cruz Alaniz, Sr. in 1958. In the late 1990’s, their daughter-in-law and son, Olga and Luis Alaniz, restored the old Scott house, where they enjoyed its close proximity to their business, Alaniz and Perez Garage, just across the street.

Photograph of R. L. Eidson's home located on 104 North Jefferson. Occupied by Miss Lois Eidson. The Eidsons were part owners of the Beeville Opera House on N. Washington.

Photograph of the A. C. Jones home located on 611 East Jones Street. The house reflects early 20th century Baroque-style architecture with large formal rooms , eight fireplaces, hardwood floors, and high ceilings. Philanthropist and supporter of local schools, Mrs. A.C. (Jane Field) Jones (1842-1918) built the house on this site after Captain Jones’ death in 1906. Governors and other Texas leaders were welcomed here. Located on the hill where the college stands today, the first and much grander A.C. Jones home was sold to John Flournoy and moved into town by mule and wagon. It stood facing Flournoy Park until it was razed in 1946.

Photograph of Al Marsden's home located on 211 East Jones. The home was bought from W.S. Gaddy, Baptist Minister, and moved from the center to the side of the block. It was later owned by Mrs. Eldridge Adair and the R.M. Royals.

Photograph of Cleo Ray's home located on 312 South Kathleen. Robert Nutt, Sr. built the house, and then sold it to John Timon who added the porches. The John Wilson family was the next owners. They removed the kitchen and dining wing from the main building to make servant quarters at the rear of the lot. Mrs. Ray was Clara Elizabeth Wilson. The home is now owned by Mark and Debbie Parsons.

Photograph of the Buelow House located on 211 East Fannin Street. It is a Victorian styled two-story house. Mr. Buelow built this Victorian turn of the century home for his New York actress bride, aunt of Mrs. Carl Heldenfels. A.V. Schvab purchased it for his family when he came to Beeville in 1906. In later years it was occupied by Ann Schvab Reed.

Photograph of Tom Lyne's house located on 1701 North Madison. W. C. Stephenson designed the house. In 1910, Tom Lyne moved his family to Beeville from Live Oak County. Because he loved the railroad, he built his house near the tracks north of town. As a cattleman he took advantage of the SA&SP line in Bee County. He drove his cattle from his ranch in Live Oak County across the Nueces River into Beeville to ship them off to market in San Antonio. The house is now owned and occupied by the William B. Mosers. Mrs. Moser is a granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Lyne.

Photograph of Albert Praeger's home located on 613 South St Marys Street. Albert Praeger was born in Victoria in 1864. He moved to San Antonio with his family, where he attended school and later trained as a tinsmith. In 1892, as a newcomer to Beeville, he married Miss Elizabeth Webber of Beeville, and opened a tin shop on the courthouse square in 1893. In 1906, Mr. Praeger, a successful and respected businessman, built a new brick building on the corner of Corpus Christi and Washington Streets. He built a second story for storage of large items like windmills, wagons, and buggies. He also installed the town’s first elevator, which was driven by hand.

Photograph of the George home located on 801 North Adams. The house has raised cottage architecture. In 1890, Will J. and Julia George built their home with lumber from her father, Major J.H. Wood’s house. Cattle baron, J.H.Wood came from New York to join the War for Independence in 1836.

Photograph of William McCurdy's home located on East Cleveland Street. Mr. McCurdy was the publisher of the Beeville Bee, Beeville’s first newspaper. The home is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Garza.

Photograph of the A. J. Turner/Saffold home located on 612 East Corpus Christi Street. Formerly owned by Mrs. A.J. Turner.

Photograph of Giles Carter's home, located on 306 West Carter Street. Later known as the Lutt’s Place and home of Mrs. A.J. Ryan.

Photograph of Jim Little's homestead located on Cadiz Road. This home was built in 1870 on the F9 Ranch, which was granted to Jim Little in 1873. The home is made of cypress and heart pine that came first by steamer from Florida to Saint Mary’s, and was then hauled by ox-cart to the ranch. A kiln on the ranch made caliche bricks for the chimneys. It had a good water well. Travelers such as Mexican horse traders camped on the site. It was a stagecoach stop on San Antonio-Brownville Road until the railroad came into the area in 1886.

Photograph of Wilbur Ray's home located on 211 North Buchanan Street.

Photograph of W. E. Maddera's, superintendent of Beeville's school system, home. As superintendent of the Beeville school system for 34 years, William Eldridge Madderra (1870-1936) was responsible for much of the development of the town's early educational programs. Madderra, for whom a local school building is named, purchased this house in 1907, three years after its construction, and lived here with his wife, Donna (Irwin), until his death. The house features late Victorian detailing and a three sided-bay to the right of the porch. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983.

Photograph of Camp and Helen Ezell's home located on 1313 West Flournoy. A settler's "box" home, board-and-batten construction. Lumber is Florida long-leaf pine from a house torn down in Old Saint Marys by Robert A. Ezell. The house has three chimneys; one served as flue for the dining room fireplace and kitchen stove. Ezell (1845-1936), a stonemason, built at this creek site in 1892. His wife, Sarah jane, daughter of the the influential legislator L.B. Camp, was born at Mission San Jose, San Antonio. Camp Ezell, a historian and Beville Bee-Picayune editor, and wife Helen can be seen standing on the porch of the house.

Photograph of the R. W. Linke home located on 1011 North Avenue C. Originally designed in 1913-14 by F.W. Heldenfels, who was one of the architects of the Bee County Courthouse. Their daughter, Gertrude later lived there.

Photograph of John Clark Wood's home located at 315 North Adams. John Clark Wood was a pioneer settler in South Texas. The house is the present site is the home of Dr. and Mrs. Frank Dehnisch.

Photograph of the Turner Wilson home located on 100 North Buchanan.

Photograph of Paul Bauer's home located on East Milam. Bauer and Son was an established saddler which existed in Oakville, Goliad, Yorktown and Beeville. The founder of the Bauer Saddle Shop, Frederick Bauer, a renowned saddler in Germany arrived in Galveston in 1855 and opened his first saddler in Yorktown. The Bauer’s made their famous Bauer saddles for over one hundred years, and worked in several Texas towns before settling permanently in Beeville. Paul Bauer was listed as a saddler in the 1910 City Directory, and his son, Fred, was listed in later directories through 1948. Fred’s saddle shop was located at 328 North Washington St. The last Bauer saddle was made by Fred in 1950, the year he died.

Photograph of Sid Johnson's home located on 811 North Buchanan. . Formerly owned and occupied by Agnes Mae Johnson Nichols.

Photograph of the Chambliss home located on 403 South Tyler. The house was built by F.G. and Louanna Chambliss in the 1890’s, on property once owned by the first medical physician in Beeville, Dr. Leander Hayden. Dr Hayden came to Beeville from San Antonio in the 1850’s. The house was later occupied by Miss Sara Chambliss. Fred G. Chambliss was judge of the Thirty-sixth Judicial District from 1912-1919. Judge Chambliss was active in the formation of the Citizen’s Party, a political party formed in Bee County in the 1920’s by Protestants and Catholics to break the the KKK's hold on the county’s politics. Mrs. F.G. Chambliss (Louanna W.) was the daughter of Joseph Wilson, who settled on the Aransas in 1852 where he engaged in the cattle business. Mrs. F.G. Chambliss was a charter member and past president of the Rosetta Club. She was an early member of St. Philips Episcopal Church (1888). Chambliss Hall, a large room with kitchen facilities connected to the west side of the church, is named for Mrs. F.G. Chambliss and her daughters, Mrs. J.T. (Dorothy) Hall, and Miss Sara Chambliss.

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.

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 decision Brown v. Board of Education ended the legal segregation of schoolchildren. However, by 1938, high school students from the West Side School had already been integrated with A.C. Jones High School. Integration of all Mexican American students was peacefully completed by the mid 1950’s. Long after this second school’s ipso facto case of segregation was remedied in the 1970’s, the building continues as the Adult Education Center and as a reminder of the teachers and students who worked to improve the lives of the Mexican-American population.

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 to turn the second story of the Praeger hardware store into apartments; they would be the first downtown apartments in Beeville. W.C. Stephenson was the architect for the apartments. In 2002, the new state-of-the-art Joe Barnhart Bee County Library was opened in the newly restored Praeger Building.

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 restored in 1970. Thanks to the efforts of the Evergreen Cemetery Association’s efforts in 1998, the cemetery is lighted at night and blanketed with wildflowers in the spring.

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 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of armed forces was greatly reduced and on July 1, 1991, Chase Field was put on the list for closure. VT-26 was decommissioned May 22, 1992, with VT-24 and VT-25 de-commissioned on September 18, 1992. Finally, on February 1, 1993, Chase Field was officially disestablished, bringing an end to fifty years of service in naval training.

The marker for the railroad in Bee County is on the site of the old depot on West Bowie and North Madison Streets. On June 14, 1886, the first San Antonio and Aransas Pass train arrived in Beeville to a cheering crowd. The arrival of the railroad to Bee County came after Uriah Lott, the man responsible for building the S.A.&A.P. railroad, made a formal railroad proposition to Frank O. Skidmore, a wealthy stockman on the Aransas River, asking for a $100,000 bonus to bring the railroad to Bee County. Mr. Lott appealed to stockmen interested in hauling their cattle to market. The committee in charge of raising the bonus was made up of A.C. Jones and John W. Flournoy. In January 1886 Sheriff D.A.T. Walton showed Mr. Lott around Bee County by buggy, and the committee informed him that they had already raised $55,000. Uriah Lott then headed his railroad through Bee County. After the takeover of SA&AP by Southern Pacific in 1925, the depot became a Southern Pacific station. In 1958, the depot was razed, and the last train left Bee County in 1994. Before the railroad all freighting was done by wagon, and most of it came from Saint Marys on the coast.

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. Dr. Creath served as the bank’s first president and Stone served as its cashier. Following the organizational meeting, the bank’s first building was erected on the northwest corner of the courthouse square, at the intersection of Washington and West Corpus Christi Streets. The original building was razed when a new one was erected in 1965, but when it was built it was considered to be “one of the most substantial and modern bank buildings in the county.” The trimmings were made of Pecos red sandstone and Burnet granite and the interior had furniture of antique oak and brass mountings and openings. The vaults were made by the Hall & Marvin Safe and Lock Co., and being encased in solid masonry were considered to be absolutely burglar-and fire-proof. Because of droughts and the "panic' of the 1890's, the bank experienced many difficulties from its beginnings until 1900 when the county finally had a banner crop year. Under the leadership of John W. Flournoy, who served as president from 1898 until his death in July, 1916, and new supporters, the bank flourished from then on. On October 1, 1999, Commercial National Bank was sold and became First Prosperity.

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 bank, the First National Bank of Beeville, which opened in 1890, and moved to this location by 1894. This postcard shows the modes of transportation available in the early 1900’s, a buggy, automobile, wagon and horse. By 1908 automobiles were owned by several individuals in Beeville.

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 the Public Square, or in kegs under that same counter. The increase in population and trade volume brought on by the arrival of SA&AP, and the Gulf, Western & Pacific Railroads in the late 1880’s made the establishment of a bank necessary. Note the electrical lines along Washington Street. Electrical lights went on in Beeville on November 30, 1896.

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