SHARING THE PAST
In 1908 a fire started in Boerne’s center. Given the city’s meager fire-fighting resources and the vulnerable nature of the wooden buildings, the fire threatened to sweep through and destroy the entire main street business center. The following is an account of that fire.
In the early morning of Aug. 17, 1908, a fire broke out in a one-story frame building along Main Street owned by William Vanderstatton. According to various newspaper reports, the fire began in the rear of the saloon of J.H. Reeves and quickly spread next door to another wooden building owned by William Kuhfuss, where Max Bessler had his pool hall.
The Kuhfuss building was a major building in Boerne and had served as the courthouse while the first stone courthouse was under construction.
The Boerne Volunteer Fire Department, established in 1903, tried to put out the fire but it only had one small fire engine. After the pumper emptied its tank, there was not enough hose to reach the Cibolo Creek to refill it. It was necessary to carry water from the creek in a sprinkling cart. A sprinkling cart was a wooden wagon pulled by a couple of horses that had a tank holding about a hundred gallons of water. It was used primarily to keep the dust down on the unpaved streets.
Obviously, it was not very effective. Fearing the destruction of the whole business section, someone called Chief Wright of the San Antonio Fire Department for aid. Chief Wright got a steamer, two teams, a wagon and a quantity of extra hose, and was ready to send them by a special train along the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroad line, when word arrived that the fire was contained.
The fire had quickly engulfed A.G. Gilliat’s twostory stone building next to the William Kuhfuss building, and while the building was gutted, the stone wall stopped the fire from continuing.
The bottom floor was occupied by Gerhard Heye & Brothers’ vehicle and harness store, while upstairs served as a lodge room by various social groups, including the Knights of Honor, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Masons.
While most of the stock on the first floor was saved, Masonic Lodge No. 89, established less than three years earlier, lost everything, including their charter, minutes, jewels and paraphernalia.
The fire was a major destructive event, destroying parts of the commercial district of South Main. The total loss of the buildings was estimated at $12,000, with about half that much covered by insurance. The loss for the harness store was only $600, and that was covered by insurance.
The other owners and renters were not so fortunate. Vanderstatton’s building was valued at $5,000 and was insured for only $1,200. Reeves lost $4,000 in saloon stock and had insured it for only $1,600. Local citizens were able to save the bar’s ornate solid-cherry wooden bar, which is now a centerpiece of the Richter Tavern in Boerne.
Max Bessler’s pool room was valued at $1,200 and was insured for $800. Finally, Gilliat’s building sustained about $6,000 in damages.
The destruction prompted the rapid modernization of the town’s business district and buildings of stone and brick. Immediately following the fire, Gilliat and Elmer Watts rebuilt a twostory modern brick structure on the site of the old William Kuhfuss building. It remains a historical landmark today.
“Sharing the Past” is a series organized by the Kendall County Historical Commission www.facebook. com/KendallCountyHistoricalCommission.
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