50th Anniversary Issue of Vistas

We Observe 50 Years

Letter from the MVHA President

By Lynn Boyd III

Dear Monte Vista Residents,

Welcome to the Spring 2024 Issue of Vistas! This issue will be dedicated to recapping our 50th Anniversary year and all the people, events, and celebrations that made it so special.

Celebrating 50 years of Monte Vista Historical Association was so important to the legacy of the organization and the conviction of the people that came together to form it 50 years ago. The mission statement that our founders set forth in the beginning still resonates today as a reason to preserve our neighborhood for the future: “To encourage the preservation of the distinctive heritage of the Monte Vista area; to keep the physical identity of the late nineteenth-early twentieth century district intact; and to educate the public, especially the youth, with knowledge of our inherited neighborhood values which contribute to a wholesome urban environment.”

I was so impressed with the participation of the residents of our neighborhood in making our 50th year a success. Former leaders, board members, and neighbors stepped up to lend their talents to make this year and the events celebrating it one to remember. As President of this organization I would like to extend my personal thanks to all of you who carried

the torch with special notes going out to Ann Van Pelt, Jill Torbert, Trudy Kinnison, Melody Hull, Toni Van Buren, Katharine Martin and Lydia McAfee.

I hope you all enjoy this issue of Vistas and I look forward to a great 2024 for Monte Vista Historical Association! With Gratitude, Lynn Boyd III, President Monte Vista Historic Association, 2024

We’re all volunteer historians now

By Katharine Martin

Last winter, President Lynn Boyd and Jill Torbert, MVHA’s 1998 president, packed materials in the Landa Library Annex into boxes for storage while Lynn transformed the Annex from a traditional office into a community room.

Then, over the summer, Trinity intern Helen Perry and I unpacked those boxes. We sorted, labeled, and cataloged minutes from Board of Directors meetings, statements and letters, scrapbooks, handbooks and promotional items for events, committee notes, and so much more. Jill tackled yellowing press clippings, and Rachel Pedraza came to the Annex to inventory past issues of the

newsletter/Vistas.

We created an archive. As we worked, we appreciated the efforts of the many memory-keepers before us.

At the Association’s very first meeting in 1973, sisters Emily Thuss and Molly Branton assumed leadership of the Mechanics Committee, which was charged with communications and with “collecting information about the area, such as clippings, information from people about their own houses or other people’s houses.”

A Trinity University history professor, Don Everett chaired the Association’s Historic Documentation Committee formed in 1975. In 1988, North San Antonio Times published Everett’s research into the area’s past as

a 64-page newspaper supplement. Ten years later, historian and preservation consultant Maria Watson Pfeiffer and architect Sue Ann Pemberton used Everett’s research and other resources to write a successful application for listing on the National Register. Everett’s newspaper supplement was published as a hardcover book. (For more about Everett, see page19 in this issue; for more about the National Register listing, see page 12.)

What is now Vistas, this full-color newsletter, has had other names and different looks over the years. For this commemorative issue, past issues of newsletters/Vistas provided essential information and images. Similarly, Board meeting minutes frequently

Photo by David Smith.

clarified the who, what, why of an event or project.

A website team around 2005 tried to create a digital catalog of all the houses in the district. They uploaded facts from Don Everett’s research to the website along with many house photos. Later, Ryan Reed MVHA’s 2019 & 2020 president, retrieved and saved those digital images so they were not lost when the Association transitioned to a new website host.

The Association purchased recording equipment to loan for collecting oral histories, and CDs or transcripts for over 15 interviews from 2005-2007 are available today for review at the Central Library. Then, in 2011, Gerry Frost started the Oral Histories Initiative. Two different interns assisted with transcriptions, and a report shows committee members completed over 20 interviews. Members of the 50th

Anniversary Committee recorded additional interviews in 2023.

Writing for the Fall 2008 Vistas, then-president Rick Noll observed, “Monte Vista is a historic neighborhood to be sure, but it is not a museum or the final resting place of a bygone era. Ours is a vibrant, living and active community.” When she became MVHA’s first office administrator, Tertia Emerson, who had been MVHA president in 1987, organized this active community’s records chronologically and created files by address and by subject. The archive we have now is built on Tertia’s earlier work.

The Everett book concludes with the Association’s beginning in 1973 and its historic designation by City Council in 1975. In the years since, the Association has had many “historians”: committee chairs making reports to the

Where and how to preserve material has been a challenge no matter the decade or the prevailing technology. Info courtesy of the Donald Everett Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Coates Library, Trinity University.

Board, elected recording secretaries faithfully submitting Board meeting minutes, event organizers creating scrapbooks or files, and both the editors of and contributors to the newsletter/ Vistas.

Shady Landa Library beckons us

By Trudy Kinnison

Monte Vista neighborhood’s own public library branch located in a pastoral five acre setting in the midst of a residential neighborhood is more than a beautiful historic estate. The wind whispers through the branches of the mature trees and beckons us. Landa personifies the warmth and welcoming nature of the whole neighborhood of Monte Vista. Landa grows and changes and improves with age, and our neighborhood does the same.

Landa is our community home, available to all. We come to learn, to play on the top notch playground, to have neighborhood meetings, to picnic, to celebrate, to nurture the landscape, to appreciate the art pieces and to listen for the whispers of breezes through the same tree branches that the Landas loved almost 100 years ago.

When Harry Landa offered the home and gardens he had shared with his late wife to the City of San Antonio in 1946, he explained his purpose was to establish a memorial to his wife “in a field of public service in which she so largely devoted her life.” Landa named that memorial The Hannah Landa Memorial Library and Children’s Playground.

An alliance of neighborhood parents inaugurated a playground in 1998. In 2004, leaders of the Monte Vista Historical Association established The Landa Gardens

Conservancy, a non-profit organization to create and sustain the Landa Gardens that we enjoy today.

The extraordinary library staff members at Landa Branch, led by Kiyanna Stephens, maintain their respected collection in the midst of the beautiful architectural features of the Landa home. The staff supports and participates in the mission of their branch as members of our neighborhood family and help us bear witness to Landa’s unique place in our neighborhood.

Photo by David Smith.

We Begin

Denman Homes

Judge Leroy and Susanna Carpenter Denman were among the first San Antonians to build homes on the rocky heights north of downtown and east of San Pedro Springs in the late 1800s. The two-story Denman House with broad verandas and spacious grounds stood at the corner of Main Avenue and West French Place for nearly 100 years. The Denmans’ grandson, also Leroy Denman, reared children in the house and sold it in the early 1970s. By then, two of Grandson Leroy’s daughters, Molly Denman Branton and Emily Denham Thuss, had started their own families in what was the original Monte Vista subdivision about a mile north of their childhood home. Demolition of the Denman House to make way for the French Place Apartments prompted the sisters to organize with their neighbors. The rest, as they say, is history: The history of the Monte Vista Historical Association.

Growing up in Monte Vista: From Childhood to Association President

By Dru Van Steenberg

I have lovely memories from my early childhood during the years I lived in the neighborhood that is now the Monte Vista Historic District. Before moving to East Lynwood Avenue in 1971, we lived in Castle Hills. I carpooled weekdays to St. Anthony Catholic School on West Huisache with two other families, the Escamillas and the Mortons. We came down San Pedro to Hildebrand and then took Howard down to St. Anthony’s. It’s amazing that when we moved, the Mortons moved across the street and the Escamillas moved right beside us.

Many large families lived on our street in the 1970s. We had both of the Toudouze families, the Mortons, the Escamillas, the Bolners (with their Juen cousins right across the alley), the Lozanos, and the Alanis Family—all in our three

blocks of Lynwood and all with four to eight children each! Nearby, we had the Notzons, Payers, Cantys, Guerras, Mendiolas and Landholts. We had pool parties at our houses in the summer, and the Centenos had the most incredible fireworks show on West Kings Highway for the neighborhood to enjoy on New Year’s Eve!

We block walked with our parents to obtain signatures supporting historic district designation, and we all celebrated together in 1975 when City Council approved the designation.

After St. Anthony’s, I attended Texas Military Institute and then went to UT Austin. Then, I came back to the Monte Vista area and never left. I lived at The Mayfair on McCullough and was renting a home on Shook when I met Timothy Cone.

We were looking for a home in the neighborhood and, guess what, we found one four doors down from the house in which I grew up. Reynolds Andricks had owned the house for many years. He founded the Fiesta Flambeau Parade and the Miss Fiesta Organization. When

I was a child, the Fiesta entourage would come to visit Mr. Andricks at his home each year. Even better, our house was built by Abe Kaufman in 1926. He owned Kaufman’s Store in downtown San Antonio; his nephew Warren currently lives on Lynwood.

When we bought our home 23 years ago, I became involved in MVHA right away, serving on several committees and on the Board of Directors before becoming president in 2006. I was proud to follow in both my mother’s and father’s paths and was honored to serve with wonderful neighbors who became dear friends.

What has always been amazing to me is that the neighborhood hasn’t changed its physical appearance in over 50 years, thanks to the many dedicated neighbors who cared so much about the historic and cultural fabric of Monte Vista. And while some of the families living in these homes have changed over the years, the reason we choose to live here remains unchanged… preserving and celebrating a multicultural district with great neighbors who have become close friends. I’m loving living in Monte Vista!

Age 13, 8th grade

Posters highlight history, research

Inspired by the informative banners displayed during Landa Library’s celebration of 75 years of service, MVHA’s 50th Anniversary Committee developed a series of posters to complement events held throughout the year. Some topics covered included the founding of Monte Vista, history of O’Neil Ford, Monte Vista’s Entry Gates, Landa Library, history of Fiesta on Main, 50 years of Preservation & the collection of Monte Vista’s Fiesta Medals.

The medals poster features Monte Vista’s 2023 Fiesta medal with the special 50th Anniversary logo designed by Stephanie Ricciardi.

All the posters were designed by Lydia McAfee. View all the posters at www.montevista-sa.org.

LAWTON FAMILY OF RESTAURANTS

We have loved sharing our journey together, from The Quarterhouse, to Myrtle’s, Mama’s Café, The Backyard, Cappy’s, La Fonda on Main, EZ’s, Cappyccino’s, and now Jingu House at the Japanese Tea Gardens. 50 CHEERS TO YEARS!

Thank you for 50 glorious years supporting our Lawton Family of Restaurants! We look forward to seeing you soon, and often.

With love for this city in our hearts,

We Grow

January 1973

“Despite its aesthetic attributes and convenient location, this area failed in the 1960s to draw young residents. Lured by other school districts, most of them settled elsewhere,” society columnist Bonnie Sue Jacobs, herself a child of East Lullwood, says of the Monte Vista area in a January 1973 issue of the San Antonio Express. Jacobs, then, named almost 20 “young marrieds”—including two Denman sisters and their respective husbands—who had recently chosen to make Monte Vista sidewalks “once again the parking place of tricycles.”

August 1973

July 1973

April 1973

Molly Branton is living on Gramercy Place with husband Jim and their first daughter. Emily Thuss is on Elsmere with husband Charles and their first son. Molly recently recalled how she learned her childhood home was being demolished: “I came home from the hospital after having Victoria, our second child. We drove by the house. You know how Main goes around? I could see my bedroom through the wall where they were knocking the house down. It made an impression.”

French Place Apartment Homes shown here now stands where “Main goes around” in Molly’s account of the demolition of her childhood home at 109 W French Pl.

Demolition of the Denman House prompts Emily and Charles Thuss to invite approximately 20 neighbors to their home to talk about neighborhood preservation. Within a month, a flyer signed by over 50 residents and announcing a “gathering to discuss the formation of an association for historic preservation” was delivered by hand throughout the area bounded by San Pedro, Hildebrand, Stadium Drive, and McCullough from Huisache to Ashby.

1974

At the 2023 I Love Monte Vista Party, Al Notzon, MVHA president in 1983, spoke of the organizational meeting 50 years ago: “It was a good crowd. Quite a few people came out. We didn’t know, at that stage, whether we’d get designation as a historic district or how we could preserve the neighborhood stock.” Minutes of the first meeting recorded by Ann Stonecipher indicate John Kuntz conducted the meeting and dues were set at $5 per household.

February 1974

1975

November 1973

Mark White, Texas Secretary of State, issues a Certificate of Incorporation for Monte Vista Historical Association. Initial directors for the MVHA were Jim and Molly Branton, Don and Mary Lou Everett, John and Elaine Juen, Charles and Emily Thuss, and Gus and Virginia Van Steenberg.

With Virginia Van Steenberg elected president and Don Everett elected vice president, MVHA had more than 10 committees operating. “There were many people who had a background where they could contribute something really significant to what we were trying to do because if we were going to preserve it, we needed that,” Virginia explained at the 2023 I Love Monte Vista Party.

1974 & 1975

Organizers turn their attention to obtaining historic district designation from City Council. Volunteers went door to door collecting signatures of support from residents.

July 17, 1975

City Council adopts Ordinance 45504, designating as historic the property bounded by San Pedro on the west, Hildebrand on the north, Ashby on the south, and McCullough, Huisache, Stadium Drive and Shook “generally representing the eastern boundary.” In 1985, City Council added the 200, 300, and 400 blocks on the east side of Huisache to the District. MVHA President Virgina Van Steenberg is pictured in North San Antonio Times speaking to San Antonio’s Planning Commission in May 1975.

July 7, 1988

City Council adds Monte Vista’s 29-page Neighborhood Plan to the city’s Master Plan. With Emily Thuss’s leadership, a team of 15 MVHA members, including Tertia Emerson, worked with city planning staff. Emily was MVHA president, followed by Tertia, during the twoyear planning process. Eventually, Tertia’s knowledge of city operations would be invaluable when she served as the Association’s first office administrator in the 2010s.

1999

Don Everett’s North San Antonio Times supplement is printed as a hardcover book, San Antonio’s Monte Vista/Architecture and Society in a Gilded Age. MVHA’s 2022 president, Toni Van Buren, facilitated reprinting Everett’s book as a paperback as part of the 50th Anniversary observation. It can be purchased at www. montevista-sa.org

1995

Monte Vista acquires an office and meeting space at the Landa Library Annex. In the Spring 1995 Vistas, then-president Bryan Wright thanked Paul Kinnison and Associates for overseeing the renovations and observed the Association would benefit from the project for years to come.

December 1998

2004

The Landa Gardens Conservancy forms as a nonprofit organization to enhance and maintain the grounds around Landa Branch

Monte Vista Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. After many years of discussion, the Board of Directors decided to pursue the listing. In 1988, The North San Antonio Times published a 64-page supplement by Don Everett examining the development and society in the area that would become the Monte Vista Historic District. In 1998, architect Sue Ann Pemberton and urban historian Maria Watson Pfeiffer referred to Everett’s work when making the case that the buildings in the district’s 100 blocks were worthy of preservation because they embodied community development patterns of the late19th and early-20th centuries.

Library. Vistas 2008 editor Rosanne White wrote of the evolution from a playground alliance, through MVHA stewardship guided by Jill Torbert and Ann Van Pelt, to the Conservancy: “In 2004, the Landa project, now fully fledged, flew from beneath the wings of MVHA to become an individual entity.”

2023

The City honors MVHA’s 50th Anniversary with an official proclamation.

We Entertain

GROW, VISIT, ENTERTAIN

Landa Boo!

The 2023 Landa Boo at Landa Library treated over 400 attendees to a bubble dance party, petting zoo, magician, costume parade, and refreshments on October 21. This was the first year for holding the Halloween festival on a Saturday morning, according to organizer Melody Hull, who declared this Boo the most successful to date.

Melody, 2018 MVHA president, explained the Boo began in 2016 as a collaboration between MVHA, the San Antonio Public Library, library support groups, and the Landa Gardens Conservancy: “Each of the Landa stakeholders plays a major role in the creation and success of the event. Every year, Monte Vista has provided refreshments to all the party people in attendance.”

Halloween spirit is deep in the bones of Monte Vista. In the Association’s earliest years, the Social Committee welcomed neighborhood children to annual parties in the Carriage House at Christ Episcopal Church.

An Express-News reporter, in 2010, wondered how Monte Vista became the trick-or-treat destination that it is for so many. The reporter told of one family that had been scaring children and distributing candy (4500 pieces in 2010) since 1986 and quoted a 19-year resident as saying, “It’s a really great neighborhood, so it’s popular among parents. Families come over by the busloads.”

Third Thursday Socials

By Judy Warren

Third Thursdays are a solid Monte Vista tradition. In 1998, some MVHA members wondered how to foster more engagement among area residents. La Fonda on Main hosted a “meet your neighbor” event. One neighbor hosted a coffee, and another hosted a wine and snack party. Paul Kinnison, 1978 MVHA president, wondered if a regular “social” would help bring members together.

Would members open their homes? Would others bring food and wine to share? 1998 President Jill Torbert announced in Vistas that the Third Thursday social would become a monthly event. Diane Abdo and Rick Noll hosted a July pool party and provided hot dogs. Members brought side dishes. “As it happened, it was a roaring success and initiated a tradition for MVHA that still connects neighbors today!” Jill said recently.

Jose Rodriguez and Ron Soele, long-time Third Thursday organizers, produced a manual that assigned specific tasks to volunteers, such as door greeter and clean-up crew. Then, as now, attendees were asked to bring “ready to serve” food and a bottle of wine.

Julie Bryan remembers her first Third Thursday: “There was the starter bottle of plonk wine and a cheese & cracker tray - the only food available.” Julie and Tim Henson organized Third Thursdays monthly from 2000 to 2006. For a summer gathering on Lullwood, according to Julie, an ice-filled canoe served as the wine cooler.

Mickey Amacker explained why he likes hosting: “The host just needs to open their house and enjoy meeting MVHA members who share their love of MV!”

Recent MV Third Thursday

coordinators include Diane Fuqua, Teresa Nunns, Kim Cauthorn and Kathy Kennedy and me. Angela Gallegos and Sally Bullock started as co-coordinators in February 2024.

Thanks to our 2023 Hosts!

March - Mickey Amacker

April - Bushnell Rooftop

May - Landa Gardens

September - Bill & Laura

Leighner

November - Mike & Suzie Bacon

December - Hindes Fine Art

Photo by Kiyanna Stephens from the 2023 Landa Boo.

Volunteers Tom & Gayle Seerdan and Judy Warren at April 2023 Third Thursday.

Photos by David Smith.

Trinity University President Vanessa Beasley with husband Trey and TU Vice President Mike Bacon with wife Suzie hosting Third Thursday in O’Neil Ford-designed home on Oakmont Court in November.

Julie Bryan with Oscar Camacho and Bill Davis, who were frequent hosts of Fiesta Third Thursday at their shop, On Main Off Main.

I Love Monte Vista Party

By Diane Fuqua

The Annual I Love Monte Vista Party has become a cherished and much-anticipated gathering of the MVHA. It takes place on the Sunday closest to Valentine’s Day, February 14, and replaces Third Thursday for the month of February. The focus of the event is to increase membership in the Association by recruiting new members and encouraging all present members to renew. Those attending bring a bottle of bubbly and a sweet treat in honor of Valentine’s Day.

The 2023 I Love Monte Vista party at the W. Kings Highway home of Henry R Muñoz, III, served as the kick-off for a year of events celebrating the Association’s 50th Anniversary. Over 200 guests attended; the Association raised $5,000. Henry shared memories with folks assembled in his backyard and said it was a joy to have everyone at his home.

As part of an effort to collect the oral histories of long-time Association members, President Lynn Boyd interviewed Virginia and Gus Van Steenberg, who were founders of MVHA along with others, and charter members Al and Angela Notzon. Al served as MVHA president in 1983. “One thing is to say that you’ve established a neighborhood and saved it and the other is to say you’ve created an organization of friends who have remained friends for 50 years,” Virginia said.

Based on documents on file in the Monte Vista office, it appears that the first I Love Monte Vista was held in 1977 at the home of Dr. Charles and Emily Denman Thuss, who were also MVHA founders. The event was then held annually in February.

There were a few exceptions however when I Love Monte Vista was not held. One of these exceptions was in 1984

when the Association was involved in the legal struggle over Alamo Stadium and the Gunslingers football team using the space. That year the money earmarked for I Love MV was used for legal fees.

Covid also interrupted the I Love MV celebration in 2021. The party was conducted over Zoom and included pre-recorded statements from members answering “Why do YOU Love Monte Vista?”

In 1986, the annual February event became a celebration of successful efforts by MVHA to close Lullwood at San Pedro, preventing through traffic from Taco Cabana into the neighborhood. As as a celebration of the success of closing Lullwood and “cope with a slim budget,” Lullwood residents provided the refreshments and were recognized with special name tags.

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

The Annual Monte Vista Easter Egg Hunt returned as an in person event in 2023 with trinket-and candy-filled plastic eggs and hunting grounds sectioned off for different age groups. Following Covid-19 precautions, volunteers had delivered Easter bundles by request in 2020 and 2021. A hunt organized by MVHA’s Social Committee in the late 1970s at a neighborhood home lapsed in the 1980s. Hop ahead to 1998 when Elisa Edwards proposed a hunt on the Landa grounds. For several years following, families registered in advance for the free event. By 2012, Nellie Shannon was chairing an event open to all and supported by MVHA, as well as individual and corporate sponsors. The tradition will continue this year on Saturday, March 30, 10 - 11 a.m. The event is open to Monte Vista residents and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Invitation from 2014 Egg Hunt.

Photo from the 1987 event.

Invitation for the first party in 1977.

EXPLORE

We Celebrate

4th of July Parade pre-dates MVHA

By Tom Seerden

A handful of years before the Monte Vista Historical Association incorporated in 1973, Janice and Michael Payer and family moved back to San Antonio from Kansas City where their previous neighborhood had a Red, White and Blue Parade for toddlers. This inspired the couple to organize a 4th of July Parade for the children in their Hollywood Avenue neighborhood. In the beginning, the parade was truly a family affair with Janice’s father making the original parade banner out of contact paper and her mother making tablecloths out of patriotic bunting.

In the late 1960s, patriotism was at an all-time low. The unpopular Vietnam War had the country divided. The Monte Vista parade, said to be the first 4th of July parade in our city, included the banner, US flags, an Uncle Sam, and many bicycles. Other neighborhoods followed Monte Vista’s example and started their own parades.

During the first years of the parade, the route began on Howard Street between Hollywood and Lynwood, turned west on Kings Highway to Belknap Place, up to Gramercy, and back to Howard, ending in the front yards of the Payers and Dorothea and Paul Busch for refreshments under the pecan trees. Neighborhood moms made cupcakes adorned with American flags, and a popular red Jell-Craft punch was served. Janice and Michael Payer organized the Parade for over a decade before handing off duties to nearby neighbors. Eventually, once MVHA was going strong, the picnic moved to Landa Library grounds and the parade route now concludes there.

Tom Seerden and Toni Van Buren organized the 50th Anniversary 4th of July celebration. MVHA Founders Gus & Virginia Van Steenberg, Molly Branton and Parade Founder Janice Payer were leaders of the parade.

Tom Seerden chauffeurs Janice Payer, parade founder, leading the 2023 4th of July Parade. Photo by David Smith.

L to R: Molly Branton, Janice Payer, Virgina Van Steenberg, Gus Van Steenberg. Photo by David Smith.

The Holmes & Reed boys lead the parade.

Photo by David Smith.

Photo from a Parade in the 1960s.

We Support

Having fun and raising money

Social Events

By Ann Van Pelt

Over the years Monte Vista Historical Association fundraising events have had many fun and innovative themes. All of the events were to raise money for the organization and community projects. Here we are highlighting just three of the many, many fundraisers. In the process of planning and executing these events magic happens!

Committees meet over months and lasting friendships are formed. The evening comes and the community gathers, neighbors meet and talk, and memories are made.

Monte Vista Historical Association is dedicated to the preservation of the integrity of our historic district. It has and will continue to take all of us having a great time raising funds and forming friendships to solidify this mission and to build our community.

Home Tours

By Katharine Martin

MVHA’s Social Committee organized a public tour of four area houses for a Sunday afternoon in September 1977. Tickets were $1.50 in advance and $2 day of; Avery’s (an early Cappy Lawton establishment on Main) would provide refreshments at a house on the tour.

According to the Express-News, organizers printed 1000 tickets for the second tour in 1978 and nearly 2000 people showed up despite rain. The Association netted nearly $2000, and house tours would be a major annual fundraiser through 1983. After that, tours would happen every other year until halted by COVID-19 in Fall 2021. By the 2000s, the Association was holding gala events to raise funds in years without tours. In October 2022, MVHA combined an evening gala sponsored by the Lawton Family of Restaurants at Jingu House in the Japanese Tea Garden with a home garden tour on Lynnwood & Elsmere.

Below are some traditions and innovations for Monte Vista’s house tours.

House Sketches: Architects and artists provided sketches of the houses being toured as a gift to the homeowner and for other purposes. More recently, UTSA architecture students have provided renderings.

Transportation and Parking: A British-style double decker bus and a street trolley are among the types of shuttle services offered in various years, depending on the location of the tour sites.

Ticket Sales & Prices: By the early 1990s, tickets reached $10. Anglea Notzon, who was co-chair of the 1993 tour with Jill MacDougal, recalled, at the 2023 I Love Monte Vista Party, that she asked elected city leaders to take ten tickets each and “to participate as friendly neighbors” by “selling them or buying them.” Advance tickets were $12 in 2001, $20 in 2011, and $30 in 2017.

Held October 21, 2000, at the exquisite home of Ruth and John Agather. Jose Rodriguez was the Count.

The 50th Anniversary Jubilee was a huge success. Thank you all. Photo by Mark McClendon.

Held September 18, 1998, it was the very first party held on the top of The Bushnell.

PRESERVATION

We Learn Walking tours

By Monique Ochoa

During 2023, in March, May and September, the Association offered members the opportunity to explore the tapestry of Monte Vista’s history by taking walking tours with three different seasoned professional guides.

Bruce Martin met the March group at the majestic Landa Library and fascinated the walkers, first, with The Bushnell Apartments. Covering a kaleidoscope of styles and sizes and rooflines through a dozen blocks north, the group turned south on Belknap and headed east back to Landa.

In May, walkers were enticed to explore the Avenue of the Cattle Barons with Jane Martin, our effervescent guide and long time professor of architecture at San Antonio College. Walkers enjoyed the palatial estates once owned by influential San Antonio citizens. Jane compared the styles, building materials, and vocabulary of architectural details that help us define these grand homes.

The September tour began with coffee and conversation in the garden at the home of guide and UTSA Professor Rick Lewis and wife Jane. His walk traced the evolution of three blocks of Gramercy Place. He considered home style, construction decade, and architectural details when discussing how craftsmanship is exemplified.

The Association expresses our gratitude to our three remarkable guides imparting a wealth of information and enhancing our walkers’ appreciation for the neighborhood streetscapes.

National Registry list

Historian Maria Watson Pfeiffer and architect Sue Ann Pemberton, FAIA, joined Monte Vista residents at Christ Episcopal Church Saturday morning, Jan. 20, 2024, for the final event organized by the 50th Anniversary Committee. Pfeiffer and Pemberton recalled how they put together Monte Vista’s successful nomination for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. They described many hours of driving through the streets of Monte Vista when they photographed and assigned an architectural description to each structure in order to meet submission requirements.

Assembling over 200 pages of narrative descriptions, inventories, photos, maps, and other graphics in the late 1990s, Pfeiffer and Pemberton were working before digital files were available for research and when cameras used film. Structures in the district were designated as contributing or non-contributing to the story of San Antonio’s residential expansion in the late-19th and early-20th centuries in San Antonio.

Residents of Monte Vista can put two types of historic plaques on their homes. (LEFT): The National Register of Historic Places does not issue plaques as a result of listing; rather they leave it up to the individual owners if they are interested in having one. They can be purchased at trophy/plaque store. (RIGHT): The City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation offers plaques for $95. Email OHP@sanantonio.gov to request an application.

May Walking Tour with Jane Martin.

Photo by David Smith.

Maria Watson Pfeiffer & Sue Ann Pemberton presenting at the Jan 20th event.

One of the photographs of Monte Vista houses submitted to the National Registry.

O’Neil Ford presentation at Trinity

By Trudy Kinnison

Trinity University offered Monte Vista use of space in the newest campus building, Dicke Hall, for an afternoon reception and lecture. The auditorium filled with area residents and friends in June 2023 to hear Kathryn O’Rourke, PhD, an architectural historian and professor in Trinity’s Department of Art and Art History, speak on the life and work of architect O’Neil Ford.

We enjoyed a reception with music from classical guitarist Jacob Hudson and the opportunity to view a tabletop display of photos featuring the Ford Family and their Willow Way home. We had time to meet Ford’s children, Wandita Ford Turner, Linda Howard, and John Ford, and to enjoy a sparkling drink and cheese.

O’Rourke kept her large audience intrigued with stories of Ford’s effect on the growth of the Trinity campus. In the

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102 W. ELSMERE PLACE

1950s, when he was chosen to develop a campus, Ford found a rocky hill overlooking an abandoned rock quarry. His vision for the site brought him to design buildings in his vernacular style for which he became internationally known.

Ford’s work showed his love of the land, love of Texas, and respect for local materials, specifically brick. He used design elements that would showcase local wood craftsmen, handmade ceramic light fixtures made locally by artists, wrought iron elements and fiber art pieces. The native landscape of succulents, cacti and native blossoms that he found were incorporated into the landscape plan. Ford buildings and campus design gave Trinity University a style of its own.

Monte Vista appreciates the participation of the Ford Family.

Two of Ford’s children, Wandita Ford Turner & Linda Howard with presenter Dr. Kathryn O’Rourke. Photos by David Smith.

We Preserve

REJOICE & SUPPORT

50 Years of Perseverance

By Jill Torbert

In August 1973, Molly Branton, in announcing the upcoming Monte Vista Historical Association’s organization meeting in the North San Antonio Times, proclaimed, “The purpose of the association [is] to preserve the distinctive character of our neighborhood and keep it from being eaten away.” Fifty years later, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, the MVHA gathered a panel of neighbors who have volunteered as the Association’s presidents, board members, and committee chairs to discuss what has been required to preserve Monte Vista.

Focusing on the pressures that pose the greatest threat to the neighborhood, that is, institutional expansion, pressure to increase housing density, and commercial creep, the panel selected a few examples to illustrate the 50 years of perseverance exhibited by the Association and its vigilant leaders.

In the mid-1980s, the neighborhood was significantly changed because of the expansion of two large institutions, Trinity Baptist Church and Trinity University. In 1986, the Church demolished homes along the 300 block of East Mulberry to build the parking lot that exists there today. The neighborhood valiantly fought to prevent their demolition, but the city’s demolition ordinance was too weak to prevent the destruction. Only a few months after the last home was torn down by the Church, it was announced that Trinity University also sought to remove houses along Mulberry and Acona avenues for soccer fields. This was accomplished, too, and Acona Avenue no longer exists.

Years later, in 2011, another controversy arose between MVHA and the University. Trinity University

began using houses on Oakmont for classrooms, offices and a laboratory. This necessitated physical modifications to comply with the ADA and fire codes which in turn altered the exterior and interior of the houses. Fearful that this action by the University would result in extensive changes that were not compatible with the residential nature of their neighbors and would lead to further institutional creep west of the campus, Monte Vista entered into a mediated settlement agreement.

The terms of the 2012 agreement include restricting for 22-1/2 years the number of houses that can be used as offices, limiting exterior and interior modifications, and restricting ownership by the University of properties west of Shook.

The Oakmont houses Trinity adapted for institutional use in 2011 have all been restored to residences. They are occupied by University administrators and their families.

In addition to the large institutions that are located within or adjacent to Monte Vista, there are numerous smaller churches and schools that have flourished in the area. With their success comes the need for expansion and repurposing of existing buildings which often results in increased

traffic, parking pressures and loss of residential homes. Over the years, small professional businesses have also moved into the neighborhood, bringing with them the same problems that are associated with the expanding schools and churches.

A recent phenomenon is the use of residences for short-term rentals, defined by city ordinance as a property that rents for a period of less than 30 consecutive days. They are inherently unneighborly when the owners do not occupy any part of the property, leaving nearby homeowners burdened with monitoring a stream of strangers. While the city does require a permit to own a short-term rental, the cost for a three-year permit is $100 and many are operated without the requisite permit.

The tools the Association can use to push back against these pressures are limited to zoning restrictions, preservation ordinances and historic design guidelines.

Fortunately, after the homes on East Mulberry were destroyed, the City of San Antonio strengthened the regulations and ordinances that protect the historic character of neighborhoods.

Additionally, Monte Vista leaders proactively obtained large area rezoning which changed zoning

Artwork by MVHA Resident Claudia Langford created for event invitation.

50 years of Preservation

designations that were incompatible with current use and had the potential of radically changing some of the intact residential streets.

What has it taken to keep the wrecking balls from tearing down more homes, to hold creep in abeyance and to convince developers and city officials that higher density is not compatible with an established, historical neighborhood? For 50 years this neighborhood has had the good fortune to have vigilant homeowners fighting for the neighborhood’s protection, not only for the homes but for the character of the place. For 50 years, this neighborhood has had the good fortune to have people who have been willing to fight for its protection, fighting to protect not only the homes but also the character of the place. In other words, fighting to keep it a neighborhood! It has taken passionate people willing to attend countless meetings, build coalitions, strategize, do the dirty work, walk blocks, hand out flyers and talk with neighbors, then work with elected officials and city staff, or even negotiate with institutions. It has taken perseverance!

Our work is not done, however. We must remain vigilant and be involved in the Monte Vista Historical Association by paying annual dues, volunteering and being active on committees.

Your opinions need to be heard, too. When requested, please let the Historic Design and Review Commissioners or our City Council representative know your opinion about requested changes to our neighborhood.

Let’s work together to preserve this place we call home so that we can proudly look back decades from now and celebrate both perseverance and preservation.

Slides created by Jill Torbert for November 5th event.

We Appreciate 50-Year Businesses

Schnabel’s

Schnabel’s was Monte Vista’s hardware store but so much more. It was the store where homeowners found friendly faces and good advice for solving any household repair dilemmas. The store was a loyal advertiser and consistently supported MV events and publications during our first 50 years.

As owners of Schnabel’s from the late 1990s into the 2010s, Tom Karam and Jerry Craft were great friends to Monte Vista. Tom’s love for entertaining included offering a cool beverage and a snack between the aisles of spray paint and screwdrivers and the aisle of iron skillets and BBQ aprons.

When ownership passed to Michael Catcott, he followed perfectly Tom’s traditions of support for Monte Vista and entertaining. Michael began with a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Schnabel’s and a Third Thursday party in the parking lot. All of Monte Vista was invited and the store’s 2017 Fiesta medal was introduced.

Schnabel’s recently closed in February 2024 after Catcott’s retirement.

Laurel Heights Pharmacy

L.D. Gilmore moved Laurel Heights Pharmacy into the freshly remodeled building at Main and Mistletoe in 1923. Opening day on June 9 was special. Gilmore’s advertisement declared, “Bring the kiddies on opening day to get a free ‘Frozen Joy’—a large heaping chocolate-covered cone full of ice cream, one of the exceptional offerings at the new Soda Fountain.”

Decades later, when Harry Brusenhan bought the location and was later joined by his son, the Brusenhans continued a tradition of excellence. They offered pharmacy services, delivery, and an exceptional lunch counter.

In 1959, Harry Brusenhan’s enchiladas got a mention in the San Antonio Light’s “Around the Plaza” social column: “Enchiladas are the best.”

Both the counter and booths were popular with neighborhood moms and school children for decades. Laura Bertetti Baucum, current Monte Vista member, has fond memories of her early years at St. Mary’s Hall, which was then at the corner of Main and French. The pharmacy was within walking distance of the school, and Laura was allowed to walk there after school to meet her Mom. They would enjoy an ice cream cone or a fountain drink before they walked home.

The lunch counter was removed as its popularity waned, but the pharmacy continued. Avita purchased the pharmacy last year, and a photograph of the Brusenhans hangs in the Avita space today.

Laurel Heights Pharmacy advertised in the 1988 North San Antonio Times supplement about the Monte Vista area.

Owner Tom Karam (left) celebrates Schnabel’s 60th anniversary with friends.

Previous Third Thursday hosted at Schnabel’s.

Poster in Avita Pharmacy honoring Laurel Heights history.

Schnabel’s 2017 Fiesta Medal.

La Fonda On Main

Cappy Lawton is a local restaurateur, entrepreneur, longtime advertiser in Vistas and full-time friend of Monte Vista. He and wife Suzy purchased La Fonda in 1997 when the home-turnedrestaurant had been operating for over 60 years. Today, the Lawton Family of Restaurants includes five eateries in different parts of the city. La Fonda at 2415 N. Main is our Queen, and the Lawtons have graciously hosted many Monte Vista events there.

In the early days of La Fonda’s history, the restaurant’s enticing scents captivated the school girls across the street at St. Mary’s Hall, then located at French and Main. Paula Bondurant, MVHA president in 2016, remembers that senior girls were allowed to go off campus for lunch at La Fonda on Friday as a senior privilege: “It was a big deal for the girls at the time and of course their favorite server was Alicia.”

Celebrating

Alicia Guadiana: Monte Vista’s Favorite Hostess. When Alicia died in 2017, the Express-News reported that Cappy Lawton commissioned artist Lionel Sosa to paint Alicia’s portrait and that the party room in the back of the restaurant was named Casa Alicia in her honor. The portrait hangs at La Fonda on Main today.

Artist Rendering of La Fonda.

Recognizing those who built us

When Lisa and Wade Caldwell hosted a spring garden party in May 2023 to honor past presidents andfounders of the Association, a large “50” arrangement of gold balloons greeted guests in the Caldwells’ front garden on West Kings Highway.

Founding families represented at the May celebration were Gus (1982 president) and Virginia(first president, 1973-1975) Van Steenberg; Molly Denman Branton; Charles Thuss, eldest son of the late Emily Denman Thuss (1985-1986 president); and John Kuntz (1979 president). Past presidents and spouses, along with the founding families, and several major supporters of the Association enjoyed anniversary cake and a champagne toast.

Wade (2011 president) read the roster of past presidents. Those deceased were honored by the tolling of a bell. Those present received a certificate of appreciation for their service Tertia Emerson (1987 president) received special recognition for her 10 years of service as Monte Vista’s first office administrator.

By Toni Van Buren MVHA first meeting minutes were recently discovered, taken on August 29, 1973.

At this organizing meeting the group decided to charge “$5 per year per residence to help defray any costs to the organization and keep everyone informed.” Residents that joined by November 1, 1973, would be listed as “charter members.” The 253 Charter Memberships representing 408 individuals continue to be listed in the bi-annual MVHA Directory.

At the end of these minutes, we read what seems to be the origins of the Directory: “Mrs. Marjorie Walthall asked …that she would like to claim to be the oldest living member in Monte Vista, 98, and …it would be her pleasure to get out the first handbook.”

The Articles of Incorporation were approved and sent to the Secretary of State, and an October meeting was set up to elect officers of the organization. The eight founders that signed the Articles of Incorporation were: Elaine and John Juen, Frances and John Kuntz, Jim and Molly Branton, Virginia and Gus Van Steenberg, Mary and Don Everett, and Emily and Charles Thuss.

L to R: Gus Van Steenberg, Charles Thuss, John Kuntz, Molly Branton, Virginia Van Steenberg. Photo by David Smith.

We honor the legacy of Dr. Donald E. Everett

By Trudy Kinnison

Don Everett, PhD, his wife Mary Lou, and their two children were our neighbors in Monte Vista during his long career as a Professor of History at Trinity University. They were involved in our historic neighborhood.

As an interested and involved neighbor, he brought his curiosity, his passion for historic preservation and love of newspaper research. During his career at Trinity he served as chair of the history department for many years. He continued his newspaper research, his writing, and was recognized with many professional awards. He observed that citizens had moved here and developed Monte Vista because San Antonio was the most prosperous city in Texas at the time and this neighborhood was a showplace of diversity with blocks of impressive mansions as well as sturdy well-constructed small homes.

The development of his neighborhood, Monte Vista, attracted Dr. Everett’s curiosity. He began assembling local newspaper articles containing news of businesses moving here, families following the ranching and oil business, articles about wealth in families and their social activities, local politics, new schools, along with photos of new homes for sale and other items of public interest. His research culminated in “Monte Vista: The Gilded Aged of an Historic District, 1890-1930,” a

64-page supplement to The North San Antonio Times, including 14 chapters with notes and an index. Published on Jan. 28, 1988, the supplement to Fisher Publications’ suburban newspaper was well received by Monte Vista and the city.

While studying our neighborhood’s diversity of architecture, the families of cattle barons, oilmen and families of modest means, showing the growth of the neighborhood businesses and schools, Everett showed how pasture land became a thriving residential neighborhood. He showed a period of eclecticism in architecture, creativity of designers, and craftsmanship in construction. Dr. Everett’s research was born as a hardcover book with photography and a forward by W. Eugene George, AIA, well known architectural historian, in 1999.

Dr. Everett’s thorough knowledge of the growth and development of the neighborhood made him a valuable Monte Vista member. By the 1970s, when some demolition was noted in the housing stock of Monte Vista, he was among the first to point out the historic loss to his neighbors. Dr. Everett was the great encourager and a driver behind the fledgling Association’s pursuit of historic district designation. He encouraged block walking, gathering names on petitions, and going to the City of San Antonio for protection of our outstanding neighborhood. Anyone who has perused

San Antonio’s Monte Vista, Architecture and Society in the Gilded Age knows the feeling of excitement to discover research on one’s own home, finding the original owner’s name and occupation, the dates of construction of the structure, a family name of an early owner, neighbors on the block on a certain date, or a sale price.

Since its publication in 1999, Dr. Everett’s book has become the most valuable reference for every Monte Vista homeowner. Soft cover books can be purchased at www.montevistasa.org.

CALENDAR

Architectural Review Committee

In person meeting on the 1st Monday of the month at 6pm. Contact Ryan Reed to put an item on the agenda. Contact 210-7378212 or mail@montevista-sa.org

MVHA Board Meetings

In person and Zoom Meeting 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6pm. Contact Lynn Boyd, President, to put an item on the agenda. Contact 210737-8212 or mail@montevista-sa.org

Upcoming Events

Easter Egg Hunt

March 30 @ 10am

Landa Gardens

April Third Thursday

April 18 @ 6:30pm 123 W Hollywood Ave

May Third Thursday

May 16 @ 6:30pm

Landa Gardens

CONTACT US

Monte Vista Historical Association

P.O. Box 12386

San Antonio, TX 78212

210-737-8212

Visit us at our website montevistasa.org

E-mail mail@montevista-sa.org

City of San Antonio Customer Service

(7 am to 11 pm, 7 days a week)

Dial 311

Renew Memberships or Donate through our website www.montevistasa.org

For Advertising Info: mail@montevista-sa.org

Vistas is the quarterly newsletter of the Monte Vista Historical Association designed by Lydia McAfee.

MVHA 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE

We hope you enjoy seeing a summary of our year-long efforts in this issue of Vistas from the 50th Anniversary Committee.

Trudy Kinnison, Melody Hull, co-chairs

Lynn Boyd III, President, Lydia McAfee, MVHA Administrator, Diane Fuqua, Lisa Caldwell, Robert Brown, Jane Lewis, Amanda Holmes, Katharine Martin, Monique Ochoa, Rachel Pedraza, Kiyanna Stephens, Ryan S. Reed, David Smith, Tom Seerden, Gayle Seerden, Jill Torbert, Toni Van Buren, Ann Van Pelt, Dru Van Steenberg, Judy Warren

MOST LOYAL ADVERTISER

Remove your sign. Here’s to another 50 years!

Ann Van Pelt first advertised her real estate services in 2001 Directory and Handbook. “Monte Vista is my home, too,” said the ad. Though the newsletter had previously included advertising, issues in the early aughts did not. Then, in 2007, Vistas got a new look that included full-color printing and advertising space. One of the first advertisers in the re-designed Vistas, Ann has never stopped offering her services and promoting the neighborhood in the newsletter.

Ann was MVHA president in 2001, in addition to serving several terms as a board member. She has organized multiple fundraisers for the Association and was instrumental in the formation of the Landa Gardens Conservancy. Most recently, Ann chaired the committee for the 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee.