OST Research Suggestions. Minutes of the March 2007 Meeting of OST100 - OST Research Materials and Lecture

Transcription

1 Minutes of the March 2007 Meeting of OST100 - OST Research Materials and Lecture (Please find research materials lists posted at the end of these minutes) A volunteer for State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, Terrell Baptiste generously drove from Austin, Tuesday, March 13, 2007 to open Representative Martinez Fischer's local Fredericksburg Road Office for our OST meeting held while the full staff attended to legislative duties in Austin. We thank the representative, his staff and dedicated volunteers for their continuing support of OST100. The Bexar County Historical Commission has generously funded the digitizing of the St. Mary s University Blume Library Old Spanish Trail collection from the 1920s OST Board of Directors. That collection being posted on was organized for storage by archivist Brother Robert Wood. Other library, university, museum and on-line research sources collected by Our research Team were displayed March 13 th and are now posted at the end of these minutes. We thank Charlotte Travis, Pat Ezell and Marlene Richardson for generously sharing their lists of materials used as they gather information and build the stories of OST people, buildings and sites. This March Tuesday evening, Michael Ingraham, Ph.D., gave the first of several lectures on the Old Spanish Trail (OST) Association Headquarters Archive: Promotion of a Transcontinental Highway ( ): Chronology & Context In this first presentation the archive of over 1500 individual item was described in full, elementally and statistically--and its contents shown in relation to the astounding growth of U.S. highways and automobiles in the twenty-year period 1913 to Ingraham inventoried and studied all items, including letters, maps, brochures, booklets, travelogs, bulletins, conference papers, financial documents and accounts, meeting minutes, news clippings, manuscripts, yearbooks, and others. Documents cover the tenure of the organization from its first headquarters in Mobile, Alabama to its decade-long stay at the Gunter Hotel, in San Antonio, Texas. Documents reference both internal (organizational and fraudulent) and external (promotional, socio-cultural) relations that reflect the successes and failures of this promotional effort to orchestrate, administrate, and build one of the first transcontinental highways in U.S. history. Started locally, administered by association, and then countered by state and federal standards and bureaucracy, the OST Association held its own before dissolving in the depression. Dr. Ingraham showed that the thinking and planning set forth by the OST Association anticipated our current highway system displaying that the build-out of infrastructure has always lagged the demand for it. His sprinkling of quotes from archival letters of OST Executive Director Ayres, engineer Locke and other board members show the joys and frustrations during the decade of creating this grand highway. Charlotte Kahl Co-Chair OST100 (210) with Marianna Jones

2 Research Sources about People OST Board, Beautification Committee, Association Members and Founders s Travelogs and lists of Founders St. Mary;s University Louis J. Blume Library 1920s OST Membership Books and other archives Old Spanish Trail Board of Directors documents and letters. (in development stage but continually adding more materials) San Antonio Public Library Genealogy/Texana Dept San Antonio Public Library Texana Room Obituary Files Bexar County History and Genealogy Project Genealogy.com - Gen Forum San Antonio City Directories from 1800s to present available in public libraries listing residences and places of business Handbook of Texas Online - Articles about individuals, businesses, volunteer and civic organizations, etc. Heritage Quest Online for census records of 1900, 1910, 1920 & 1930Family & occupation information or /citycem1.txt For information about burial places Social Security Death Index LDS/Family History website: resource for 1880 census, plus other records Rootsweb General Search page: Texas archives by county: Great resource for birth & death records by county Also good resource for cemetery records that have been posted on-line by county Individual surname search availability. Identify state or county and then search by surname Texas GenWeb project

3 A history of Texas and Texans by Frank W. Johnson (1916) American Historical Society, Chicago ; New York biographical accounts of men of Texas The new encyclopedia of Texas, compiled and edited by Ellis A. Davis and Edwin A. Davis and Edwin H. Grobe, (n.d.) Texas development bureau Dallas, Texas biographical accounts of men of Texas Saving San Antonio: The Precarious Preservation of a Heritage By Lewis Fisher (1996). Texas Tech Press, Lubbock, Texas. information on ladies that became members of the San Antonio Conservation Society San Antonio s Monte Vista: Architecture and Society in a Gilded Age By Donald E. Everett (1999). Maverick Publishing Company, San Antonio. information about those who lived in Monte Vista and their homes Law and Liberty: A History of the Legal Profession in San Antonio by Jan Brendon (1996). Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas. information about those who were lawyers Place Names of San Antonio: plus Bexar and Surrounding Counties. By David P. Green (2002). Maverick Publishing Company, San Antonio. information about those for whom streets are named for historic buildings in Bexar County Palo Alto College Small town history projects San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society Texas Historical Commission Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Our Lady of the Lake Library Special Collections Texas Tejano.com Zion Lutheran Church Archives San Antonio, TX Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin Catholic Archives of Texas Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative of highly creditable sites sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. (in the development stage but continually adding more sites) Many plaster building enhancements along the OST - Majestic Theater and building on Houston St. at Bowie were created in Hannibal Pianta's 300 Fredericksburg Road studio.

4 Resource List for Researching Properties Note: Many sites have links to additional resource websites. All sites listed are available at no charge, although some require initial registration. Bexar County Appraisal District: Tips: Do not put in the word, road, loop, street, etc. For example, instead of typing in Fredericksburg Road, type in simply Fredericksburg. Then page through until you find the street number that is needed. Sometimes it is problematic to put in actual street number! This site also has Maps of the area that can be used to identify boundaries as well as adjacent property owners. City of San Antonio, GIS Map Click on: Development Services/ Zoning website Then type in the actual address and Zoom in. Or Click on CoSA Main Map Then zoom to preferred location. OST can be activated by opening General Folder and clicking on OST to have red line appear in Bexar County Bexar County Records Texas General Land Office National Register of Historic Places for historic buildings in Bexar County San Antonio!s Planning Department Historic Preservation section is surveying the 36-mile square of original city limits. Preliminary survey results along the Old Spanish Trail are included in the following sites

5 Atlas site of THC - provides detailed information on Texas sites with historical designations San Antonio Conservation Society Library site has links to many additional resources Institute of Texan Cultures Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Historical photos of buildings with supplemental information San Antonio City Parks! history City of San Antonio! Designated Landmarks Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin Texas Bird!s-Eye View Maps! digital format provided by Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Our Lady of the Lake Library Special Collections Palo Alto College! Small town history projects State Library/Texas Share Databases The Login and Password code must be obtained from the San Antonio Public Library, Texana/Genealogy Dept. There is no charge to access this resource. Search by last name; use variable spellings Search by 1 st name only, when last name isnt coming up Social Security Death Index LDS/Family History website: resource for 1880 census, plus other records Rootsweb:Texas archives by county: Great resource for birth & death records by county. Also good resource for cemetery records that have been posted on-line by county. Individual surname search availability

6 General Search page: Identify state or county and then search by surname Texas GenWeb project Texas Online Handbook San Antonio Public Library Genealogy/Texana Dept Texas Historical Commission Bexar County History and Genealogy Project Genealogy.com - Gen Forum San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society Texas Tejano.com San Antonio Fire Department History Catholic Archives of Texas Zion Lutheran Church Archives San Antonio, TX Resources Online for General Highway Information Information of the Old Spanish Trail. Murpheys have driven the whole length of OST numerous times Building the Foundation by Richard F. Weingroff History of building the early automobile roads A historical resource of the US numbered highway system. Information on all the!named! highways

7 The National Old Trails Road. Part 1: The Quest for a National Road History of Women in the Automotive World Brief history of the US highway system Resource List for Maps with Old Spanish Trail Routes TRAVELOG, GALLERY and LINKS sections have maps s OST TRAVELOG section has maps of both the whole route and inset blocks for cities of San Antonio, El Paso, Houston and New Orleans. GALLERY section has 1926 AAA map City of San Antonio, GIS Map Click on: Development Services/ Zoning website Then type in the actual address and Zoom in. Or Click on CoSA Main Map Then zoom to preferred location. OST can be activated by opening General Folder and clicking on OST to have red line appear in Bexar County Texas General Land Office The biggest resource for maps, other than GIS, is the General Land Office. One can!t actually read the maps on-line, but you can see what they look like, they can be enlarged a bit and you can see what is available for purchase. State Library/Texas Share Databases The Login and Password code must be obtained from the

8 San Antonio Public Library, Texana/Genealogy Dept. There is no charge to access this resource. The Texas Digital Sanborn maps - early property maps by block of each property within a city used by firefighters to effectively access property. San Antonio Conservation Society, Institute of Texan Cultures Library, and Trinity University also have Sanborn maps in the original big volumes. Early San Antonio and Bexar County maps are stored for viewing in the Room of the San Antonio Central Library, The San Antonio Conservation Society Library, San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society Library, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library and University Libraries. Texas Bird!s-Eye View Maps! digital format provided by Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas Alling Blueprint Co map c is available in the Texana Room of the San Antonio Central Public Library has a 1950s map of Bexar County in the photo section under San Antonio area freeways OST in Tucson Official Log Book for Texas 1914 D. E. Colp Auxiliary Publishing San Antonio. Tx Available in Texana Collection Central Public Library Links to Old Spanish Trail related sites

9 As posted Archives of the Old Spanish Trail Association in Special Collections of the Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary's University. Materials of 1920s Old Spanish Trail Association Board of Directors Primary OST website John and Kris Murphey are gathering more OST information with a forum on the American Road Magazine website Steve Varner, also known as PARSA, has some wonderful information about Imperial and San Diego Counties, California OST on this site OST100 in Wikipedia and - The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Source of guidelines for historic road identification, preservation, and management How to preserve the beautiful old canopied roads, especially along the OST Model for protecting water sources through legislation and oversight. Conservation Plan for the Sonoran Desert. A useful list of Park Funding Sources can be found, provided by Land Design Partners, on Page 43 of the Universal City, Texas 2006 Parks Master Application%20and%20Eligibility%20Determination%20Forms.pdf Inner City TIRZ 11 map attachment #2. City of San Antonio investment opportunities along the inner-city OST route.

10 San Antonios Planning Department Historic Preservation section is surveying the 36-mile square that was the original city limits. Preliminary survey results of areas along the Old Spanish Trail are included in the following sites Many plaster building enhancements along the OST - Majestic Theater and building on Houston St. at Bowie were created in Hannibal Pianta's 300 Fredericksburg Road studio on the OST. has lists that can be checked for OST routes in areas where the highway number is known. has a 1950s map of Bexar County in the photo section under San Antonio area freeways photos of the Interstates 10 and 35 areas of the OST - Spanish Trail Festival, last weekend of April & first weekend of May each year. Resource Lists courtesy of