Shared history: 
New columnist will offer look into area’s past

Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on January 10, 2025

The Council and Steagall Families, circa 1895. My Kerrville Ancestors

I love a good story and could listen to a gifted storyteller for hours. I also love to tell a good story, especially if it inspires laughter or the desire to know more. Recently, I was asked to tell the history of Kerrville and the surrounding area in this paper, and I am excited to have this opportunity.

Another historian has been occupying this space for many years, and I am neither taking his job nor treading on his turf. Joe Herring Jr. is a good friend of mine, and I am writing this column with his full blessing and encouragement. I am honored that both he and Wanda Garner Cash, who recommended me for the job, think I am the right person to continue the local history column for the readers of The Kerrville Daily Times.

Before I tell you my first tale, I’d like to use today’s column to tell you a bit about myself and what makes me an appropriate voice to tell the story of our beautiful part of Texas.

You may know me as the executive director of the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center, the community art center housed in Kerrville’s old post office building. Professionally, I have been involved with Kerrville’s creative community since 2007, but when I am not at work, I have many hobbies that keep me busy. Two of those hobbies are genealogy and researching local history.

My family settled in Kerr County sometime around 1890, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to be born here. While most of my childhood holidays and summers were spent visiting grandparents in Kerrville and San Antonio, I grew up in Midwestern towns in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois. My dad had a job that required us to move every few years and, as a result, I grew up never feeling a sense of belonging or having roots.

After one too many years of sliding on the treacherous winter ice in northern climates, my mom decided to leave the Midwest and bring her children home to “God’s Country,” where, according to her, it never snowed. (As luck would have it, she brought us back in 1983, the year Kerr County had 13 inches of snow — but that’s a story for another day.)

I was 15 when mom moved us to Kerr County and, for the first time in my life, I had a sense of what the term “hometown” meant: I was attending classes with kids whose parents went to school with my mom, I had ancestors buried in local cemeteries, and I got to spend time with older relatives who could tell me family stories and historical tidbits about the area.

My grandfather's lumberyard in Kerrville, circa 1930.
The building was located at 410 Water Street

I credit my mom and aunt for sparking an interest in Kerrville history. Whenever I was in the car with my mom - running errands or whatever - she would tell my funny stories about places we would pass or what used to be in what building when she was a kid.

My aunt, who was born in Kerrville in 1907 and was a history teacher at Tivy, would tell amazing stories about people and places from “way back when.” She also had a collection of old photographs I would study with intensity any time she had them out.

These women and the stories they told made me want to know more about Kerrville and the surrounding area: I heard how my ancestors dug a cave into the banks of the Guadalupe, where they could hide if bandits or natives were nearby. I learned about one-of-a-kind characters who lived here and legends of the area. I was told what it was like to live through the epic flood of 1932.

There were so many stories, and I quickly learned that Kerr County has a history that is unique and very different from other communities in the Hill Country.

As I’ve matured as a historian, I’ve discovered that I am not happy simply hearing an old story, I have to dig into the details and find the story behind the story. As a result, I have learned that some local legends were twisted over time and that once I dug into the facts behind the story, a richer and even more fascinating story would be revealed.

I’ve taken a lot of what I’ve learned over the years to support the work of the Kerr County Historical Commission, shared images of “lost” photos of Kerr County with other local historians and have developed a walking history (or ghost tour) of downtown Kerrville. If you get me started talking about something involving local history, it’s hard to get me to stop. 

Next week, I will tell you the story about men behaving badly, a shooting downtown and the true story behind a local legend. Stay tuned!