This month in Gonzales history

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1836:

  • April 21, victory at San Jacinto means Texas is now a free republic

1887:

  • March 2, a candy pulling was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Fly.
  • March 12, the Houston brothers will start a herd of 3,000 one- and two-year-old steers up the trail on the 15th.

1902:

  • April, James F. Miller home, “Walnut Ridge” completed. Built of brick with a slate roof, it has 14 large rooms, and attic and a basement. Sixty acres of land adjoin the home, with several acres forming a fenced yard. Bricks were made by Gonzales Sunset Brick and Tile Company. Six cedar trees were planted in front by Colonel Amasa Turner in 1872 (Miller’s father-in-law) Architect was J. Reily Gordon. The house had an 18,000-gallon underground cistern with a charcoal filter so that when the river water became murky, it was shut off from the house and the cistern water was used. Acquired by T.F. Harwood in 1912. 

1912:

  • April 5, City Council meeting results: the new light system install by Citizens Electric Light and Power Company was accepted. A few more suspension lights strung over the center of the streets will be installed. There were complaints voiced that some building owners let their gutters end at the top of the building instead of running the water all the way to the ground. Water falling 12-14 feet from the tops of the buildings was causing damage to streets and sidewalks.
  • April 5, Hoskins Brothers had Easter gloves, shoes, waists, parasols, fans, and hosiery for sale.
  • April 12, parents are admonished for allowing their daughters to wear laces, muslins, gauze hose and slippers to school. The girls should wear heavy woolen clothing for comfort and health.
  • April 15, a telephone small enough to fit in a vest pocket has been invented in England. It can be attached to connections found in public places.
  • April 15, The Inquirer reports that the Titanic sank at 2 p.m. on April 15 and that the crew and passengers went down with the ship, but that this report has not been verified. Every ship within 200 miles of the Titanic immediately rushed to the location to provide assistance. Passengers and crew numbered an estimated 2200 souls. The first SOS had been received at 1 a.m. 
  • April 17, reportedly 1300 died on the Titanic. All survivors were picked up by the first ship on the scene, the Carpathia, and numbered 868.
  • April 17, R.A. Remschel let a contract for a new building to be erected on the southwest corner of St. Andrew and St. Paul Streets. It will be 60 feet deep and 110 feet across. Meisenhelder is the contractor.
  • April 22, Gonzales Drug Company, L.C. Brenner proprietor, and W.H. Talley of Gonzales Hatters, both advertise that they will clean your hats and make them look like new.
  • April 23, the foundation is almost completed on the Dilworth Bank building and the brick masons are set to begin their work. (Corner St. George and St. Joseph- Block 20)
  • April 23, Mrs. H. Reese, Jr. is offering eggs for hatching. They are from a heavy-laying, prize-winning strain.
  • April 26, the Inquirer reports that winter has bid us a farewell and that ladies may now “safely don their thinnest lingerie frocks and carry that ever pretty adjunct to the summer toilet, the fan, without fear of being caught in a norther before returning home.”
  • April 26, clean-up days continue and citizens are urged to get rid of unsightly ant hills by pouring gasoline in the hole and setting fire to it.
  • April 26, Louisiana has been suffering from a record-breaking flood and it is predicted to last another two months. With it comes disease and a plague of snakes.

1913:

  • April 2, Gonzales is to have a new State Park “Includes the whole of East Avenue proper, beginning at the high school campus end and extends a distance of three miles due east.” (the high school was at this time on the College Street campus)

1918:

  • April 4, all clocks set one hour ahead (daylight saving program). 
  • April 4, on this day the US Senate declared war with Germany

1918-1919:

  • Influenza Pandemic. 20-40 million people died world-wide. Most susceptible were those from 20 to 40-years-old. One fourth of the population of the U.S. was affected.

1922:

  • April 27, at 7 p.m. Dilworth Bank demonstrated new invention called a “radio”
  • April 29, Guadalupe River flooded, crested at 25.5 feet

1925:

  • April, Neuman Roof Garden opened for the season
  • April, 24 lots, east of North Avenue and north of the city, that had been the old fairground were sold

1935:

    • April 16, Gonzales Rotary Club formed

1940:

  • April 22, report that Fred Scheske was to go to Mayfield, Kansas to work with the training team for the St. Louis Browns.

1960:

  • April 2, Joan Blondell, famous actress, visits patients at Warm Springs

1965:

  • April 22, the Remschel Lumber Company awning fell off the building taking part of the top of the building with it. The building is on Saint Francis Street, between Saint Louis and Saint Paul Streets. This happened on Tuesday the 20th. The building was being used by Schwarz Motor Company but is still owned by Mrs. J.F. Remschel.

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