Historic
Spring 2022
DOWNTOWN San Angelo
BUILDING DOWNTOWN • ONE BLOCK AT A TIME Published by Grace Media for Downtown San Angelo, Inc.
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Welcome to Historic Downtown San Angelo, where a mix of modern art and a Western heritage create a socially inclusive experience. Explore, play, dine, celebrate, shop, and relax with your family and friends. The words used to describe Historic Downtown San Angelo are as numerous and diverse as the people who live and visit here.
Del Velasquez Executive Director
Monica Ramos Assistant Director
Downtown San Angelo, Inc. 24 West Concho Avenue San Angelo, TX 76903 Phone: 325-655-2345 Fax: 325-655-1234 E-mail: director@dtsa.org
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Sanborn Insurance Maps: Windows To San Angelo’s Past Imagine walking San Angelo’s South Irving Street on a bright West Texas Saturday morning.
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n your left is Stephens Central Library, with its clean lines of modern brickwork and plate glass windows. After passing the library’s owl statue, you cross the entrance of a paved access alley and pause and consider the parking garage. Its base is ringed by chain link fence and its upper levels sits empty. The five-story Spur Building anchors the block at the corner of South Irving and West Twohig. Behind you the street is quiet, but you hear sounds of traffic around other parts of the downtown. Had you stood at that same spot in 1904 and looked around, however, none of what you see in the 21st century streetscape would be there. Instead of Stephens Central and its owl, you see a large one-story building. Part is a merchants’ shop,
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HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO
by Dr. Robert Briwa Assistant Professor of Geography Dr. Arnoldo De León Department of History Angelo State University rbriwa@angelo.edu
HAD YOU STOOD AT THAT SAME SPOT IN 1904 AND LOOKED AROUND, HOWEVER, NONE OF WHAT YOU SEE IN THE 21ST CENTURY STREETSCAPE WOULD BE THERE.
Photography: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection
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C
onstructed with stone and topped by shingle roofing. The remainder is a combined warehouse and grocer, with metal siding and a tin roof. To your right, the plot on which the Spur Building sits now has a wooden home, an empty storefront, and an abandoned stone church. And directly in front of you is the most striking change: Doran’s Feed and Camp Yard replaces the parking garage. Ringed by wooden stables, the yard is packed. Horses, people, and wagons cause commotion as they load and unload hay, feed, and other goods. What a difference 122 years can make! Yet no trace of this bustling activity is visible today. How, then, can you know what this San Angelo cultural landscape looked like in 1904? Historical geographers, historians, and historic preservationists are interested in answering questions like these. To understand how cultural landscapes change over time is like solving a puzzle, because it requires researchers to gather and interpret diverse, often incomplete historical sources. Archival collections—such as Angelo State University’s West Texas Collection housed in the new A.S.U. Mayer Museum, or Fort Concho’s Research Library and Archives—offer resources and skilled staff who can help researchers dive head first into reconstructing historical landscapes. Most archives contain a combination of secondary sources (often overviews enabling researchers to learn a community’s wider historical and geographical contexts) and primary sources, which include a full range of materials. Letters, journals, census records, historical photographs, and historical postcards are just a few types of primary source historical geographers and others can begin to understand how a community looked in the past. However, in North America, one specific type of primary source is particularly useful when visualizing what communities looked like: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, produced by The Sanborn Map Company.
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HAD YOU STOOD AT THAT SAME SPOT IN 1904 AND LOOKED AROUND,
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HOWEVER, NONE OF WHAT YOU SEE IN THE 21ST CENTURY STREETSCAPE WOULD BE THERE. DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO
1907
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riginally, Sanborn maps allowed insurers—often based in North America’s largest cities—to assess potential liability of properties without ever having to visit them directly. Since then as now, calculating fire risk for individual businesses often depends on businesses’ specific building locations and conditions, Sanborn Map Company cartographers faced two related challenges when making their maps. First, they had to produce large-scale maps, which are maps depicting small geographic areas (but in great detail). To get those details, however, Sanborn cartographers required many forms of spatial data. To acquire it, the Sanborn Map Company sent agents out into the field, visiting thousands of communities. They collected data about the locations of buildings and property lines, which served as the basis of all Sanborn maps. Yet they also noted buildings’ diverse uses (public, residential, industrial, or commercial), their floorplans, their construction materials, and the locations of windows and doors. In many cases, they even identified whether buildings had electric, oil, or gas-powered lighting and heating!
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nce gathered, Sanborn cartographers depicted all these diverse data visually through standardized uses of colors. On any Sanborn map, yellow buildings are constructed of wood, red of brick, grey are metal-sided, and blue are built with stone. In the American West and Southwest, brown buildings are also common, indicating adobe construction. Standardized symbols added terrific detail, too. If a building is drawn with the letter “D” in its interior, it is a residence. If there is an “X” drawn across a building’s floorplan, it is a stable, likely stuffed with hay and other flammables. Though the Sanborn Company was not the first to produce North American fire insurance maps, it was the most prolific and dominated the industry by 1920. Between 1867 and 1977, the company produced maps for over 12,000 communities, including San Angelo.
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hat can geographers learn from San Angelo’s Sanborn maps? By considering the 1904 index map available digitally within the Library of Congress collections, we learn San Angelo’s turn-of-the-century population was approximately 7,500 people. We also learn about the size of the city fire department (“46 volunteers, 2 horses, and one paid driver”) and prevailing winds (south and east)— helpful information when remembering the maps were, first and foremost, a tool to assess fire risks. Yet when we turn to specific maps, we can begin to interpret them and see a living, vibrant community. In the downtown, businesses lining Chadbourne include grocers, hay and feed stores, warehouses, and harness shops. To geographers interested in historical patterns of trade and industry, this pattern suggests a town oriented towards its ranching industries. Yet empty lots also suggest room to grow, with investments to be made in businesses and space for new residences, especially to the west. Only more important structures, such as the courthouse, are built with stone, and even fewer with brick. Most residences (clustered in neat blocks north and east of downtown, as well as surrounding Old Fort Concho) are small, one-story wooden frame structures. Some still live in adobe buildings, reflecting the region’s aridity and San Angelo’s proximity to southwestern cultural impulses. Observations like these answer some historical and geographical questions, but importantly—and enticingly—they often raise more. With a keen eye and questioning mind, Sanborn Fire Insurance maps offer windows to the community’s historical landscapes.
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“Yet when we turn to specific maps, we can begin to interpret them and see a living, vibrant community.” ESTATE SALES CUSTOM EMBROIDERY COLLECTIBLES • ANTIQUES AND MORE 42 E. CONCHO AVE.
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PRESERVATION VISIONARY: BARBARA HESSE
By Staff Writer Photos by DTSA, Inc and US Army
There are those who volunteer and there are those who contribute like Barbara Hesse.
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esse has given much to the historic perseverance and cultural growth of San Angelo. Most notable, the work she’s put into what we see today as the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark. Her volunteerism and commitment since the 1960s evolved to her service as a board member in 1973. Fort Concho is host to the Regional United States Cavalry Association Competition where participants Photography Courtesy Jim Bean 2 6 HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SAN ANGELO
compete in various categories. The winner is named to the participant with the highest overall score and is awarded the Hesse Championship Cup, named in honor of Hesse for her tenure and contribution as a long-time board member and preservationist.
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esse has also played a role in preserving history in other parts of San Angelo, many in the downtown Area. As a member of Historic San Angelo and previous Director
of San Angelo Old Town Conservatory, she and the two organizations worked closely in preserving a part of downtown known as “Old Town.” The Old Town Historic District, making up one city block, was established in 1994 and is where endangered historic buildings were relocated to prevent them from destruction. The 1800 -1900s buildings were revitalized and used by various businesses and organizations providing the community with an opportunity to learn the historic culture of San Angelo through its architecture.
2nd Annual Regional U.S. Cavalry Association Competition at Fort Concho. Photo: U.S. Army
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H
esse and other preservationists sought support from the Texas Historical Commission through the Visionaries of Preservation Program and were granted a preservation action plan in 2008. The Texas Historical Commission recognized the Preservationists of San Angelo as visionaries and inspiring to future communities interested in their preservation efforts. The Texas Historical Commission summarizes the program as:
The Texas Historical Commission’s (THC)
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here were specific goals outlined in the plan and actions to be carried out by specific individuals, with Hesse taking lead on many as a preservation task force member. Here are some of the goals and actions she was responsible for: Goal: Educate the public regarding the role of preservation in community development.
Action: Develop a preservation information packet tailored to different audiences.
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Visionaries in Preservation (VIP) program empowers Texas communities to shape the future of their historic preservation efforts through visioning and planning, and provides training and assistance tailored to achieve local preservation goals. Preserving a community’s heritage doesn’t just save a part of the past. Historic preservation is a vital part of a promising future. It creates new jobs, provides quality affordable housing, increases economic development and revitalizes downtown business districts.
Goal: Identify and enhance San Angelo’s “Sense of Place” and history to establish a strong local identity.
Action: Identify and promote places that establish unique historical aspects of the city. Action: Develop a series of local newspaper articles on local history, buildings and preservation efforts. Goal: Conduct a feasibility study for the development of historic private property
Action: Locate previous studies regarding Texas Theater and provide to owners.
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• River promotion and river corridor development • Fast track preservation projects • Improve downtown gateways • Green rehabilitation tech. and sustainable rehab. • Incentives for river development Public Policy: • Create preservation incentives and waive fees • Develop incentives for high rise building • Incentivize downtown reinvestment • Develop skate park • Develop incentives for rehabilitation of multi-story • Downtown job creation buildings • Pedestrian friendly community • Incentivize adaptive re-use • Downtown residential base • Need to consider entire community as tax base for funding • Adaptive reuse of buildings • Improve targeted streets • Integrate services that promote historic preservation here were also Public Policies that were clearly carried out when comparing what the downtown area looked like in 2009 to the revitalized environment of today:
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he plan contained an extensive project that took the contributions of many as well as the precision of execution in each task. Hesse, a visionary and leader, understood what needed to transpire for the cultivation of downtown San Angelo’s future through the preservation plan. Today, all who walk the historic streets have the opportunity to experience the ambiance of what is downtown San Angelo.
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nly a few months after the Visionaries in Preservation Program’s execution was initiated, Hesse was one of eight women recognized at the Girl Scouts annual Women of Distinction Luncheon for her commitment to preserving the Historic culture of San Angelo. Hesse has long committed to the magnificent preservation of San Angelo and the legacy she’s building will be one that any San Angeloan or visitor will benefit from for many years to come.
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San Angelo residents and visitors from surrounding communities and beyond explore, play, dine, celebrate, shop, and relax in the heart of the community that is Historic Downtown San Angelo. For advertising opportunities in the Historic Downtown Magazine email DTSAMagazine@Gmail.com
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