This month in Gonzales history - Aug

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1912:

  • August 1, the San Antonio/Aransas Pass Railroad has made contract with the light company to install street lights at their crossings at Wallace, Water, College, and Hamilton Streets. Also a light at the passenger depot.
  • August 15, five electric fans are installed in the Methodist Church. The Baptists got fans earlier this year.
  • August 22, estimated population of county 44,286

1915:

  • August 12, Broers family burial ground on East Avenue belonging to Fred Boothe and Mrs. Jahnke is being cleared. The graves will go to either the Masonic Cemetery or the IOOF Cemetery. The first grave was in 1849 when the family first came to Gonzales. This particularly referenced stone will go to the IOOF Cemetery. (This block is bordered on the north by St. Andrew Street, on the east by Fair Street and on the south by St. Lawrence Street; it is a parcel of land about 15 yards square, situated nearly in the center of the block where Broers and others were buried. This is the block where the old Cotton Mill stood.)

1916:

  • August, City Council banned all medicine shows, peddlers and carnivals from the city’s squares and streets.
  • August, 250 delegates of the African-American Baptists met for 52nd annual session of the Mount Zion Association at the Gonzales County Fair grounds

1928:

  • August 2, two new classrooms will be added to the northeast corner of the high school building. The contractor is F.B. Meisenhelder. Cost about $5,000. Also, a cafeteria will be added.
  • August 9, the two huge alligators that made their home in the large cement tank at the Cotton Mill have been sent to the happy hunting ground as the Cotton Mill manager requested that Marshal N.D. Cone shoot them. They have been escaping too often and were a menace to the community. One weighed over 600 pounds and they were each about seven feet long.
  • August 16, T-41 weathervane moved to top of fire station/city hall (Block 24). It had been given to John DuBose by W.B. Houston many years before and he presented it to the City. It had originally been on the top of the R.A. Houston House and remained there when the house became the Arlington Hotel (razed circa 1926)

1955:

  • August 26, Elvis Presley performed at Independence Park, part of Louisiana Hayride

1960:

  • August, Wuest’s Grocery opened (northwest corner of Block 22). Cole and Remschel Houses were razed to make space. It became a Handy-Andy in the 1990’s and the Lone Oak Grocery in 2003. In 2008 it closed its doors. 2013 it became Family Dollar Store.

1962:

  • August 30, Chamber of Commerce will move into its new offices at 427 St. George Street (in the Randle-Rather Building) on September 4.

1971:

  • August 12, the Gonzales Elks voted to purchase the former Boothe-Fehner Egg Processing Building, on two acres on the south side of Highway 90-A by-pass, and convert it to a lodge home. The building has a kitchen, dining area, and dancing area.
  • August 12, Perry’s opened at 508 Saint Matthew Street
  • August 19, the Harral home at the corner of St. Joseph and St. Matthew was razed in order to make a space for a Texaco Service Station to be built. The house was owned by Mrs. Elmer Gustafson at the time. George Littlefield had originally built the house for his sister, Mrs. Mildred Littlefield Harral in about 1898.

1972:

  • August 31, Mrs. Myrtle Bluhm closed her career as librarian at the Gonzales Public Library after working for twenty-five years.

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