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Ode to a Tree: Remembering Kerrville's "Postal Oak"

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 Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on July 25, 2026

The post oak in front of the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center before the July 16 Storm 

If you are familiar with the old Post Office building in downtown — now home of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center — you may have noticed a big change in the yard this week. The big, beautiful oak tree that has stood sentry in the front yard fell victim to the storm on July 16. 

In the grand scheme of damage in Kerr County, the loss of a tree is minor, but the loss hit me hard all the same.

For the better part of 19 years, I have worked in Kerrville’s historic Post Office building — I started here as the manager in 2007 and am now the director of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center. I have worked other places but have recently come to the realization that KACC is my professional home, and I will be here for a while.

As a local history geek, I enjoy working in and maintaining a historic downtown building, although the maintenance presents many challenges. As an artist who has very little free time to work with my own medium, I find inspiration and joy in working with local visual artists and watching them grow in confidence and abilities.

The oak in 1935 as the Kerrville
Post Office was being built.

KACC’s building, at Main and Earl Garrett streets, was built in 1935 and is made of solid poured concrete. Before the building was here, this corner of downtown housed Capt. Charles Schreiner’s garden and greenhouse. The tree, a post oak, was part of the Schreiner’s garden and was at least 100 years old when it fell.

In 1935, Schreiner saw a need for Kerrville to have a dedicated post office building in a central location downtown. He donated the lot next to his home — his garden — to the U.S. government as a location for a state-of-the-art postal facility. Before 1935, the postal service in Kerrville was housed in various shops and buildings around town.

I believe Schreiner is also responsible for Kerrville’s one-of-a-kind post office building. Back in the 1930s, our country was coming out of the Great Depression. In an attempt to put Americans back to work and jumpstart the economy, the Works Progress Administration was formed. The administration employed 8.5 million workers and artists to construct roads, government buildings and complete other infrastructure projects. WPA post office buildings were built using a uniform designs and featured a mural in the lobby.

Kerrville’s art deco Post Office building was neither designed nor built by the WPA. There was no mural in the building, but it did have an ornate plastered ceiling with egg and dart molding in the lobby in the early days. Ayres & Ayres, a prestigious architectural firm based in San Antonio from 1894-1977, designed the building and contractors were hired to complete the project.

A 1950s Post Card featuring the Kerrville Post Office and the post oak standing strong.

Atlee B. Ayres and his son, Robert M. Ayres, designed many iconic buildings in San Antonio, including the McNay Art Museum and the Freeman Coliseum. They also designed and built another well-known building in Kerrville: the A.C. Schreiner Home on Water Street, now the Heart of the Hills Heritage Center.

Photos taken during and after the construction of the Kerrville Post Office show the distinctive double-trunked post oak standing in front of the building and, for 91 years, it continued to grow, casting a welcoming shade for downtown visitors to enjoy.

I’ll admit, seeing that beautiful tree collapsed across the front yard last week made me cry. KACC’s yard looks barren without the stately oak standing proud out front. We are paying homage to the KACC “Postal Oak” by giving sections away to area woodworkers and artists in hopes that they will make something beautiful from the wood and bring it back for a show to benefit KACC in the spring of 2027.

Our community has been through the unimaginable over the past two years, and we have learned how to pick up the pieces of what’s left and find a way to carry on. Some of us have dealt with greater losses than others and for a while, I felt guilty for mourning the loss of a tree. After all, it was just a fallen tree and a few minor damages.

Still, it was a loss of something I thought would always be there, and it will not easily be replaced.

From our damaged river landscape to a decimated home or business, we are all facing a loss on some level.Atlee B. Ayres and his son, Robert M. Ayres, designed many iconic buildings in San Antonio, including the McNay Art Museum and the Freeman Coliseum. They also designed and built another well-known building in Kerrville: the A.C. Schreiner Home on Water Street, now the Heart of the Hills Heritage Center.

Photos taken during and after the construction of the Kerrville Post Office show the distinctive double-trunked post oak standing in front of the building and, for 91 years, it continued to grow, casting a welcoming shade for downtown visitors to enjoy.

I’ll admit, seeing that beautiful tree collapsed across the front yard last week made me cry. KACC’s yard looks barren without the stately oak standing proud out front. We are paying homage to the KACC “Postal Oak” by giving sections away to area woodworkers and artists in hopes that they will make something beautiful from the wood and bring it back for a show to benefit KACC in the spring of 2027.

Our community has been through the unimaginable over the past two years, and we have learned how to pick up the pieces of what’s left and find a way to carry on. Some of us have dealt with greater losses than others and for a while, I felt guilty for mourning the loss of a tree. After all, it was just a fallen tree and a few minor damages.

Still, it was a loss of something I thought would always be there, and it will not easily be replaced.

From our damaged river landscape to a decimated home or business, we are all facing a loss on some level.

The "Postal Oak after it fell on July 16


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