Photograph of workers on board the "John J. Welder" installing engines in the steamboat built at the shipyard in Victoria, Texas.

Photograph of five men on board a steamboat at the shipyard in Victoria, Texas. They are installing engines on the boat.

Photograph of an oil derrick under construction by Victoria Manufacturing Company.

Photograph of men and boats at the shipyard at Victoria, Texas.

Photograph of men installing engines in the steamboat J. J. Welder in the shipyard at Victoria, Texas.

Photograph of the boat, "John J. Welder" under construction at the shipyard, Victoria, Texas. Workers can be seen on the boat.

View of Washington Street in 1914 looking north. The red brick three stories building on the left was the first “skyscraper” for Beeville. It was the Grand Opera House, built by A.F. Rees and E.J. Kinkler at the corner of Washington and Bowie Streets in 1907, and opened in 1908. Many Broadway stage plays, musical comedies, and light operas were presented in the opera house. The building was destroyed by fire in 1919. The building to the left of the Grand Opera House was Beeville’s first bank, the First National Bank of Beeville, which opened in 1890, and moved to this location by 1894. This postcard shows the modes of transportation available in the early 1900’s, a buggy, automobile, wagon and horse. By 1908 automobiles were owned by several individuals in Beeville.