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Skidmore Float in Beeville Parade in 1916

Photograph of the Skidmore float in the 1916 parade in Beeville. The Bee County Fair Association was organized in 1890. One of the features of the Fair was the spectacular parade with decorated floats pulled by both horses and automobiles, and bands furnishing music for the pageant. The first fair grounds were located about two miles west of the city on what is now known as Viggo Road. Farmers and ranchers exhibited agricultural products and livestock, and the women displayed articles of clothing which they had made by hand. After a few years, the annual fair succumbed because of lack of interest only to be revived in 1912, on a much larger scale. The exhibits building was then located about three blocks west of Poesta Creek on the left side of Corpus Christi Street. The big social event was the crowning of the Queen of the Fair, held in the Grand Opera House. During World War I the fair was dormant because so many of the young men were in the armed forces. At the end of the war it was revived and continued until 1933.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Jones Chapel Methodist Church Historical Marker

Jones Chapel Methodist met in an old school house until they built a sanctuary in 1889, on land donated by Captain A. C. Jones to three former slaves, who served as trustees of the new church. Charter members included Classie Douglas, Ann Felix, Felix Garner, Lawson Glenn, Serena Hodge, Ellen Jones, Ben Lott, Leanna Lott, Mose Lott, J. J. McCloud, Carrie McCampbell, P.M. McCarty, Kimmie Nancy, Elvira Newton, Rebecca Simms, Wesley Simms, I.E. Starnes, George Steward, Katy Ware, Sam Ware, Harriet Williams and Mary Williams. Many of the early members were former slaves. In 1926, the present frame church was built on the original site, where the congregation fervently serves the African American community of Beeville. It is locate at 115 North Leverman Street.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Saint Rose Cemetery

Photograph of Saint Rose Cemetery, an historical African-American cemetery in Beeville. St. Rose Cemetery located at 1302 East Hefferman St, lies on a 2.5-acre tract. In 1901, Nancy Williams, a former slave, was the first person buried in the new cemetery. Mose Lott and Allen Canada, builders of the first school for African Americans in Beeville, are also buried here. Since this picture was taken, the Lott-Canada Alumni Association erected brick pillars with brass plaques at both entrances to replace the wrought iron sign which had been donated by the Juneteenth Committee. The dirt road has also been replaced with a paved road by the county. In 2008 a dedication ceremony was held after Saint Rose was desigated a Texas Historical Cemetery.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Lott-Canada School

The original school for Black Americans was founded in 1876 in the Stephen Canada store seven miles above Beeville. In 1886, when the Methodist Church was moved to make room for the railroad depot, lumber from what is known as the “old Methodist Church” was given to build the second school for the Black American children. Mose Lott and Allen Canada were the carpenters who built the school at 107 Burke Street. The school operated at this location until it burned around 1929. Built in 1931, this third school was named “Lott-Canada” in honor of the builders of the former school. The Lott-Canada School was partially funded by the Rosenwald Foundation and the building was named for the CEO of Sears at the time. In the fall of 1955, students were transferred to BISD, where integration was peacefully concluded. In 1960, the school was closed; however, it continued to serve the community as the Special Education Building for the school district until it was leased to Coastal Bend Community College in 2008. Today is it used by the college for Customized and Continuing Education, Adult Basic Education/GED, and English as a Second Language classes. Of the 450 Rosenwald schools built …
Date: 1938
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Professor William E. Maddera

Photograph of Professor William E. Madderra, a Latin and Greek scholar, and a master mathematician. Professor W.E. Madderra, one of the most brilliant and intellectual teachers, started his teaching career in Beeville in 1898, In 1999, Mr. Madderra moved to Nacogdoches to serve as superintendent, however he returned after a year when his uncle, Superintendent T.G. Arnold, became ill. In 1900 the board named him superintendent, a position he held until his death in 1936.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

The Wood Ranch

Photograph of Glen Clare on horseback working cattle on the Wood Ranch Southeats of Beeville. Across the bottom of the picture are the words "The Wood Ranch, with Glen Clare, southeast of Beeville."
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

McClanahan House

Photograph of the two story McClanahan house located on 206 East Corpus Christi Street. The McClanahan House is the oldest business structure in Beeville. The building, the second store built in Beeville by George W. McClanahan, was erected around 1867 on the east side of the courthouse square, near Poesta Creek. The house served as general store, lodging house, and post office. It was built in the pioneer western style, with southern porches. McClanahan was Beeville’s first merchant; he was among the first to buy auctioned lots in the newly formed town of Beeville in 1859. McClanahan also served as schoolteacher, postmaster, county clerk, innkeeper, and Sunday school superintendent. After McClanahan’s death, L.F. Roberts purchased and operated the store for many years. In 1962, the building was purchased by the Historical Society for $600, and moved to its present site. The building is still the “home” of the society, and meetings are held there periodically.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

The Campo Santo

Located off the Refugio Highway 202, the Campo Santo burial ground is not accessible to the public. The old cemetery is located on the head right of 1829 settler Jeremiah Toole of New York. Toole’s isolated oak-log home stood on the San Patricio-La Bahia Road. His family was in constant danger of attacks from Indians and invading armies.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

The Westside School for Mexican Americans Historical Marker

Photograph of the historical marker dedicated to the West Side School for Mexican Americans. The West Side School for Mexican Americans, also known as Jackson School, was built in the early 1900’s. A two-room frame building served students until 1932, when it was replaced with a brick schoolhouse that stands today. In the 1940’s, the American GI Forum and League of United Latin American Citizens fought against inequality in schools. Their cases in Texas courts and the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education ended the legal segregation of schoolchildren. However, by 1938, high school students from the West Side School had already been integrated with A.C. Jones High School. Integration of all Mexican American students was peacefully completed by the mid 1950’s. Long after this second school’s ipso facto case of segregation was remedied in the 1970’s, the building continues as the Adult Education Center and as a reminder of the teachers and students who worked to improve the lives of the Mexican-American population.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Praeger Building 1906

Photograph of the Praeger Building located on the corner of Washington and W.Corpus Christi Street. San Antonio businessman, Albert Praeger (1864-1930) moved to Beeville in the 1890’s to open a hardware store and tin shop. In 1906, Praeger built this Romanesque Revival structure on the northwest corner of the courthouse square to house his hardware business. In 1925, Central Power and Light began providing the city with water. With a reliable source of water, Mr. Albert Praeger made plans to turn the second story of the Praeger hardware store into apartments; they would be the first downtown apartments in Beeville. W.C. Stephenson was the architect for the apartments. In 2002, the new state-of-the-art Joe Barnhart Bee County Library was opened in the newly restored Praeger Building.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

The Evergreen Cemetery

Photograph of four different photographs from the Evergreen Cemetery. The Evergreen Cemetery is on Block one of the original town site map of Beeville. It is the town’s oldest cemetery and is bounded by Polk, Bowie, Filmore, and Hefferman Streets. First owned by G.W. McClanahan, the land was bought in 1862 by the county for “public burying ground”. In 1872, H.W. Wilson donated the northeast strip, land was added on the northwest, and the court gave consent for a fence. The cemetery was restored in 1970. Thanks to the efforts of the Evergreen Cemetery Association’s efforts in 1998, the cemetery is lighted at night and blanketed with wildflowers in the spring.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

N. A. S. Chase Field

On June 1, 1943, Chase Field was commissioned as a Naval Air Auxiliary Station to train naval aviators during World War II. The base was named for Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Brown Chase, who went down in the Pacific on a training flight in 1925. After the war, Chase Field was closed until 1953, when it was reopened during the Korean War to help with the over-crowding at NAS Corpus Christi. In July 1968, Chase Field was elevated in status to a full naval air station. With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of armed forces was greatly reduced and on July 1, 1991, Chase Field was put on the list for closure. VT-26 was decommissioned May 22, 1992, with VT-24 and VT-25 de-commissioned on September 18, 1992. Finally, on February 1, 1993, Chase Field was officially disestablished, bringing an end to fifty years of service in naval training.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Commercial National Bank

Photograph of the Commercial National Bank in Beeville Texas. Beeville’s second oldest bank, Commercial National Bank was organized on January 11, 1893. It was during this meeting that officers and directors were elected and the capital stock was set at $50,000, or 500 shares at $100 each. The bank opened for business on May 15, 1893. Dr. L.B. Creath, a retired doctor who had moved to Beeville from the Austin area some years before; and D.C. Stone were listed as the Commercial’s organizers. Dr. Creath served as the bank’s first president and Stone served as its cashier. Following the organizational meeting, the bank’s first building was erected on the northwest corner of the courthouse square, at the intersection of Washington and West Corpus Christi Streets. The original building was razed when a new one was erected in 1965, but when it was built it was considered to be “one of the most substantial and modern bank buildings in the county.” The trimmings were made of Pecos red sandstone and Burnet granite and the interior had furniture of antique oak and brass mountings and openings. The vaults were made by the Hall & Marvin Safe and Lock Co., and being encased …
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Beeville Main Street 1914

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.
Date: September 29, 1914
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Postcard
System: The Portal to Texas History

First National Bank of Beeville

Postcard showing Washington Street in Beeville Texas. The ornate building on the left, at the intersection of Bowie and Washington, was the First National Bank of Beeville's location from 1894 to 1960. The First National Bank of Beeville was organized on December 30, 1889, and opened on the courthouse square in 1890. Prior to the opening of First National Bank, people left their money either in sacks under loose floor boards behind the counter of Captain A.C. Jones’ store on the east side of the Public Square, or in kegs under that same counter. The increase in population and trade volume brought on by the arrival of SA&AP, and the Gulf, Western & Pacific Railroads in the late 1880’s made the establishment of a bank necessary. Note the electrical lines along Washington Street. Electrical lights went on in Beeville on November 30, 1896.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Postcard
System: The Portal to Texas History

Rialto Theater Drawing

Drawing of the Rialto Theater. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Rialto Theater

Photograph of the "Front of Rialto Theater, Beeville" as stated at the bottom of the photograph. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio. The first radio station in Beeville was located in the threatre's second story. KFRB took to the airways in December, 1924. Local and neighboring town's talent entertained listeners as far away as Oklahoma City. Months later, interest died, and the station ended its broadcasting.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Inside of Rialto Theater

Photograph of the interior of the Rialto Theater. The Rialto Theater was built in 1922, as the flagship for the 22-theater chain owned by H.W. Hall and family. After a fire in 1935 destroyed the interior, the theater was remodeled in an Art Moderne style by the original architect, W.C. Stephenson and the theatre architect John Eberson, famous for the Majestic Theater in San Antonio. John Eberson (1875-1964) was a Romanian born American architect best known for movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre fashion. Eberson attained national and even international acclaim for his atmospheric theatres, many of them executed in exotic revival styles, including Italian Renaissance, Morrish Revival, and others. He specialized in depicting outdoor settings with no formal walls, and made the whole auditorium a gigantic stage set that enveloped the whole audience. He became renown in 1923, when he designed the Holblitzelle’s Majestic Theatre in Houston, the world’s first “atmospheric theatre”.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Beeville Main Street 1909

A 1909 postcard of Washington Street facing north in downtown Beeville. On the left of the card a corner of the Grand Opera House is visible. The First National Bank of Beeville can also be seen at the corner of Bowie and Washington on the same side of the street as the Grand Opera House. Washington Street is not paved in this picture. It will be 1921 before Beeville paved her principal streets.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Postcard
System: The Portal to Texas History

Beeville Fourth Grade Picture 1910

Picture of Irene Elledge's fourth grade class in Beeville in 1910. The names of the students can be found at the bottom of the picture.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Photograph of Captain A. C. Jones

Photograph of a portrait of A. C. Jones. A veteran of the last battle of the Civil War, Captain Allen Carter Jones was born in Nacogdoches County in 1830 to early Texas settlers. He served as sheriff in Goliad County from 1858-1860. Jones joined the Confederacy Army as a private when the Civil War began. Within eighteen months, his leadership abilities resulted in his promotion to Captain. In 1874, the Captain settled in Beeville where he became a merchant, banker, land owner, philanthropist, and cattleman. Captain Jones contributed a large share of the funds necessary to bring the railroad to Bee County in 1886. He also served as Beeville’s first mayor, county treasurer, the general manager of the Beeville Oil Mill, and he was a promoter of public schools in the area. He is acknowledged by all as the “Father of Beeville”. Captain A.C. Jones died in 1904.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Densil Ellis

Photograph of Densil Ellis as an infant.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Barnard E Bee and wife, Anne

Barnard Elliot Bee attorney, soldier, and statesman, was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1787. He was the son of Thomas B.Bee who was a member of the Continental Congress, and was Justice of the U.S. Circuit Court of South Carolina under President George Washington. In 1836 Barnard E. Bee and his family moved to Texas and settled near Houston. He served as Secretary of State under David G. Burnet’s ad interim government, and escorted Santa Anna to Washington DC after the Battle of San Jacinto. During the Republic of Texas he served as Secretary of State under Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar. He also served as the Republic’s minister to Mexico and the United States. In 1846 he returned to South Carolina where he died in 1854. He was the father to Confederate Generals Hamilton P. Bee and Barnard E. Bee, Jr. Bee County was named for him in 1857 at the request of his son Hamilton, who served in the Texas Legislative from 1849 t0 1859. A THC marker is located in front of the Bee County Courthouse in his honor.
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History

Thompson Building 1892

Photograph of the Thompson Building located on 108 West Corpus Christi Street across from the courthouse. The Thompson Building built in 1892 in the Victorian style, was the first brick building in Beeville. The building was built by grocer, J.C. Thompson (1836-1905) of brick from the Calavaros kiln near Elmendorf. Upstairs in 1892 was the law office of Lon C. Hill, who later founded Harlingen. The “Beeville Light Guard” was later housed on the second floor. Acquired in 1910 by Eureka Telephone Company, the building was Beeville’s communications headquarters from 1912 to 1920 for Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company, and then for Southwestern Bell until 1957. In 1957 it was restored for the law offices of John N. Barnhart. Facing the courthouse, the proud old building displays a historical marker, and at the top of the facade, the date “1892”
Date: unknown
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Photograph
System: The Portal to Texas History