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Althea School
Thompson F. Fowler and his family were among the earliest permanent settlers of this area. A rural community which built up around the family-owned cotton gin became known as Fowler's Gin. A community school, established about 1894, was consolidated with the nearby Alligator School in 1897 to form Fowler Common County Line School District No. 111. In 1900, the community was granted a United States Post Office under the name Althea. Although the post office closed four years later, the school was re-named Althea School in 1908. A new schoolhouse built in 1910 was destroyed by fire in 1916. Althea was consolidated with other area schools in 1917 to form the New Hope School District. Althea withdrew from the consolidation in 1926, however, and remained an independent school until its final closing in 1942. The Althea School building was sold in 1945, and the school was officially annexed to the Bartlett School System in 1948. Although sporadic in its periods of operation, Althea School provided educational opportunities to generations of rural schoolchildren. (1991)
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Altgelt-Isbell House
This structure has been recorded by the
Historic American Building Survey
by the United States Department of the Interior for its archive at the Library of Congress
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Site of Alta Vista Hotel
Colonel Elihu Harrison Ropes (1845-1898) came to Corpus Christi in 1888 with grand ideas for the town's development and promotion. With financial backing from eastern investors, he sought to make Corpus Christi a deepwater port, to build a railroad between the port and the lower Rio Grande Valley, and to develop a large suburb three miles south of what was then the city limit. Within about five years, his eastern investors withdrew their support, and Ropes left Corpus Christi having attained few of his goals.
The Alta Vista Hotel, once located on the adjacent property, was a part of Ropes' plan for development of his suburb, known as the Cliffs. He acquired the land in 1888 and hired young San Antonio architect James Riely Gordon to design the hotel. The Alta Vista was a three story frame building with 106 guest rooms. The hotel was completed about 1893 but did not open for business because of Ropes' departure from the city.
The Alta Vista was operated briefly as a hotel during the early 1900's under the direction of J.J. Copley and the Alta Vista Hotel Co. Later abandoned, the hotel burned on June 9, 1927. Although the landmark is gone, its history is a reminder of the dreams that early promoters such as E.H. Ropes had for the city. (1985)
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Alta Vista Apartments
Constructed in 1931 for the Gaskill-Hodgson Company, this Mediterranean Style structure is the oldest apartment building in Port Isabel. A survivor of numerous coastal storms and hurricanes, the complex originally consisted of three each one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and efficiency apartments. Prominent features of the two-story stucco building include its asymmetrical massing, arched-entry porches, covered balconies, and red tile roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988
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Alsatians of Texas
In 1842, Empresario Henry Castro brought his first colonists to Texas to settle land west of the Medina River. Most of the immigrants were from the Rhine River area of Europe. Many claimed the province of Alsace, on the border of France and Germany, as their homeland. The Alsatian colonists brought with them their combined French and German heritage, which has left a distinctive mark on this area of the state.
In 1844, Castro laid out a townsite, which the settlers chose to name Castroville. It became the center of Alsatian culture in Texas. The houses, European in style, are primarily single-story dwellings of cut limestone, mortared with adobe, and white-washed. Over the years, farming has been the major occupation of people in the area, as it was in Alsace.
The Alsatian immigrants and their descendants have made a distinct impression on area politics, holiday customs, cuisine, and religion. Winemaking, using grapes grown along the Medina River, is another early tradition that has continued over the years.
The history of Alsatians in Texas is a reflection of ethnic and cultural diversity in the state's rich heritage. (1985)
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Alleyton, C.S.A.
Born as War clouds gathered. Alleyton was a key point on the supply line of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. It was both beginning and end of the cotton road leading to the Confederacy's back door on the Rio Grande River.
By 1860 the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad extended from Harrisburg, near Houston to Alleyton. As a railhead Alleyton became the site of an important cotton station and Quartermaster Depot during the War.
Cotton came here from north and east Texas. From Louisiana, and from Arkansas on the Rails of the B.B.B. & C. and via wagon roads. From Alleyton the South's most precious trading commodity was carried to a point on the Colorado River across from Columbus. A point on the Colorado River across from Columbus. It was then ferried across for the start of a long, tortuous journey to the Rio Grande. The bales of cotton were hauled on big-bedded wagons and high-wheeled Mexican carts, pulled by mules, horses or oxen.
The Cotton Road led to Goliad, San Patricio, the King Ranch and finally to Brownsville. Shreds of white fluff on bush and cactus marked the trail of the wagon trains. From Brownsville the cotton was taken across the river to Matamoros, Mexico and subsequently placed on board ships bound for Europe. As the only major gap in the Federal naval blockade of the Confederacy, neutral Matamoros was the place of exchange for outgoing cotton and imported munitions, clothing and medicine.
When Federal forces took Vicksburg in 1863 the Mississippi River was sealed off and the Confederacy divided. The Texas-Mexico trade routes became the South's major military supply lines in the trans-Mississippi west.
Alleyton was a main destination of the wagon trains returning from the Rio Grande. Rifles, swords, shirts, pants, alum, arrowroot and other items needed by soldier and civilian in the harried Confederacy were unloaded here for new destinations.
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mwm said:
Believe it or not, we're now over half way there.
mwm said:
Believe it or not, we're now over half way there.
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Alleyton
Oldest permanent settlement and once largest town in Colorado County. Established by the pioneer Alley family (Willliam, John, Rawson, Thomas and Abraham), all members of Austin's original 300 settlers. Terminus of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad, 1860-1867.
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Federal Building (United States Courthouse)
After the Sherman Division of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas was established in 1902, plans were made to construct this building to serve the court and the postal service. U. S. Treasury Department Supervising Architect John Knox Taylor designed this Spanish Colonial revival-beaux arts style building. Located in the commercial center in close proximity to the rail station, the structure was completed in early 1907 at a cost of $140,000. With its terra cotta roof tiles, faux balconies with wrought iron grillwork, lamp brackets at both entrances, and two eagles overlooking the main entry, it was an imposing edifice and a significant addition to Sherman's downtown environment.
In addition to the federal court, the building has housed local offices of other federal agencies, including the Selective Service Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, General Services Administration, and the Departments of Agriculture, Labor and Defense. From 1907 to 1963, the U. S. Postal Service occupied the entire first floor. The original design of the building has remained essentially unchanged except for the first floor, which was remodeled when the post office moved in 1963. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1997
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