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On 2/11/2023 at 7:54 PM, Patricio Swayze said:

Anyone know the history of this building?  The most I could find is it was a studio for an artist.  Wondering if there is more to the story than that.  It is on the east side near La Morenita.

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Spoiler
 

 

 
 

Mittman Street building continues to fascinate

 
Paula AllenHistory
Updated: Nov. 1, 2013 11:42 a.m.
   

This building on Mittman Street was conceived as a studio for the teaching of Native American arts and crafts. This building on Mittman Street was conceived as a studio for the teaching of Native American arts and crafts.Courtesy Homer L. Waring

What can you tell us about the property at 1413 S. Mittman St., on the southeast side, just off Porter Street? The building is made of dark, reddish-brown stone with a statue of an Indian on the top. I grew up in the area, and we were always fascinated with the building. It is beautiful, a real treasure, and I hope it can be saved for a long time to come.

 

Connie Fuller (Homer L. Waring, Diana Cande and others)

Although I wrote about this building in an earlier version of this column, it's a place that readers continue to ask about. It's also one of the most unusual stories I've encountered during nearly 22 years of writing about local history.

Since that earlier column, the Internet happened, and I've been able to find more information about the original family associated with the eye-catching structure.

It was built in 1934 as the garage or “AH” (auto house) of a house built in 1920, according to Bexar Appraisal District records. The double doors point to this usage, but the owner, Florence Elfreda Routledge, envisioned something different, as the exterior decorations attest.

The plaque with the name, “Rodham Carroll Routledge,” refers to her son, born in 1912 and given the maiden names of his paternal grandmother and mother respectively. His father was Edwin Routledge, born in 1865 in Carlisle, England, who immigrated as a teenager to San Antonio, where he became publisher and editor of the Commercial Recorder newspaper and maintained side businesses in real estate and money-lending for property purchases.

Rodham Routledge was the second of two children; his sister Florence Routledge Miskimin was 14 years older, grown and married at the time of their father's death in 1925. He left an estate valued at $50,000 — worth more than $500,000 in today's dollars — to their mother, who sold the Recorder to her daughter and son-in-law, who operated it until well into the 1950s.

As Rod Routledge, as he was known, grew up with his mother in the white, pillared house around the corner, he was an honor student at Peacock Military Academy and went on to graduate from both St. Mary's University and its law school.

At St. Mary's, he majored in journalism, served in ROTC, played saxophone, joined a fraternity, won medals in Citizens Military Training at Camp Bullis and excelled in moot court.

Meanwhile, the weird building was being assembled. Mrs. Routledge “commissioned an Indian from Mexico to build the structure,” says her son's Nov. 7, 1983, obituary in the San Antonio Express. “The building would house an art studio dedicated to the teaching of Indian arts and crafts where she intended her son to teach.”

 

The studio was constructed from rubble bought in truckloads. It might have been even more elaborate if her son had showed any interest in it. Instead, after his 1938 graduation from law school, he prepared for a career anywhere but there.

A fledgling attorney with an appointive job in the local post office, he studied at the Foreign Service School in Washington, D.C., intending to enter the diplomatic corps. With war brewing, Routledge instead joined the Army and was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., where he became a staff officer in a Parachute Battalion that was the first of its kind, according to the San Antonio Express, March 30, 1941. The story announced his marriage to Gladys Winn, a graduate of Incarnate Word College and sister of Murray Winn, later developer of the city of Windcrest.

Transferring from the infantry to the Judge Advocate General's office, Routledge was promoted to major and admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. A relative who preferred not to be named when quoted in my July 30, 1995, column, says Routledge took part in the Nuremberg trials and retired to start a business rehabbing and selling residential properties.

Thwarted, his mother planned another artistic venture, gutting the ground floor of her house “down to the dirt,” as their relative said. A special floor for a dance school was never installed, and she lived above that empty space until her death in 1969.

 

Email Paula Allen at historycolumn@yahoo.com. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/sahistorycolumn

 

 

Found an old article. Express news hasn’t figured out how to disable 12ft ladder yet thankfully.

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Anchor Bar- wings
Wrapitude is fun outdoors place
A new Italian Place opened on FM78. I haven’t tried yet.
Harmon’s BBq is average


Universal City area:
Youz Guys - Philly cheesesteaks.
Four Kings - their Banh Mi sandwich is one of my favorites in the city. Great soup of the day usually. And amazing bakery.
375 Social - I like a lot.

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1 hour ago, Ghost of LL said:

The boy has a soccer tournament this weekend in Schertz of all places.  So is there any good place in Schertz to get some grub?

Garcia's-Tex Mex

Thai Chef-very small, very good

Kindling-nicer farm to table type place in Cibolo. If you're getting dinner without kids this is the one

1 hour ago, Mac8111 said:


A new Italian Place opened on FM78. I haven’t tried yet.



 

Noli's Vite. Original is in New Braunfels. Good italian although I havent tried the new location.

 

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2 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

The boy has a soccer tournament this weekend in Schertz of all places.  So is there any good place in Schertz to get some grub?

Also, forgot to mention Willie's. It's close by, off I35. If you're not familiar with it, it's similar to Hook Line and Sinker food wise, but bigger and also a bar/drinking spot. Kids generally like it.

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18 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:
The boy has a soccer tournament this weekend in Schertz of all places.  So is there any good place in Schertz to get some grub?

COPA

@Ghost of LL

I'm going to save you some time and aggravation.  Pro tip from someone who has been out there a zillion times.  When you leave Schertz soccer complex.   DO NOT go south down to 1518..  Go north to Schertz Pwky.  The traffic on 1518 at 35 can really back up if you get a bunch of games ending at the same time.   If you do end up on 1518 there is a Valero there with a pretty good selection of singles.  Just saying

Mac nailed most of it. Just remember. Nothing in San Antonio is really far from anywhere. Esp on a Saturday. Even Madrid's is only 30 mins away

Edited by midtown
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33 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I hate sausage and usually don’t like brisket at all but damn. Is that cheese in the sausage? I may need to go investigate.

Me: I love sausage and brisket pretty much all of the time but damn, is that cheese in the sausage? Pass. 

I'll do jalapeno, though. 

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I’ve been to Mr Juicy a couple times to have that fried chicken sandwich. It is pretty damn good. Extremely large and has a Korean glaze on it. Not sure how you would eat it in the car.

Last week was first time I’ve had the burger. Text book execution. Was fucking great. Fries were tasty as well.

Not a huge menu but definitely worth the stop if you are in the Hildebrand area.

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1 hour ago, Hate said:

I was right in front of the Pig Stand for the parade the day that idiot fired off a bunch of shots.  We left there about 30 minutes before the shooting started and heard about it later that night on the news.  It was a pretty crazy day.

Ira Atteberry

Edited by Cajun
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2 hours ago, UncleBuck said:

What are some good+ places in Helotes/Bandera-ish? We'll be in that area for a day or so next month. 

I always hit up El Chaparral in Helotes. It's been forever since I was in Bandera though.  The OST, maybe? It was never that great to begin with, but always seemed like the move while in Bantucky. Pretty good for breakfast, IIRC.

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1 hour ago, Mullet Free said:

 

I've seen this story on the news more recently.

We were staying at Gibbs back in January and went there since it's basically across the street. The DJ was annoying, but was a good place to dive in. 

Thing is, from every map I've seen of the Alamo grounds, it would appear that Moses Roses would have been just on the other side of the wall (I went ahead and circled it in red). 

 

 

ab080f50e81c9656051e042c50451d31 (1).jpg

Edited by UncleBuck
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On 2/27/2023 at 3:59 PM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

I always hit up El Chaparral in Helotes. It's been forever since I was in Bandera though.  The OST, maybe? It was never that great to begin with, but always seemed like the move while in Bantucky. Pretty good for breakfast, IIRC.

 

be mindful of long waits, during peak hours 

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For those familiar with the Palacio Del Rio area of DTSA, I’d like to know if someone can help us locate a particular place.

My wife’s GGFx2 (or 3) ran a saloon in the area in the 1870s through the 1890s. This old ad says it was on Market St (doesn’t say East or West). 

B49-EF620-E90-D-4274-961-A-22-B311-A355-

This article (bottom of page) on his death, says the saloon was on Alamo St.

6-B84-ED3-F-144-A-4530-A452-86-FC1526-D9

Satellite maps don’t provide any clues. My wife found this photo on a genealogy site claiming this is the current establishment at the location (looks like a restaurant).

5-B9-CCD6-D-CBCD-4185-A3-F9-3-D7621155-C
 

My wife wants to go there next time we are in SA, but finding it could be a nightmare without research.

In the name of Gustav Bergmann, please help us.

7-A99057-A-882-D-45-E3-8657-D11-FCC14685

Edited by ImissWallyPryor
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On 2/22/2023 at 8:14 PM, HenryJames said:

 

198-A6444-9-FDF-490-C-A3-CE-46278878-A06
 

Pig Stand was never the greatest, but my friends and I ate there more times than I could count, especially breakfast. That was the late 70s, back when the Superior Pontiac Indian* down the street had his dick hanging out. I haven’t eaten there since the 80s, but dammit I might’ve gone back someday.

Pig Stand invented car hops and onion rings as well (as the concept of a common architectural design from restaurant to restaurant).

* Note: The angle was better driving up Broadway when Superior Pontiac was close to downtown.

9373422-A-58-E8-4552-830-E-C1-F2-B93-F83

Edited by ImissWallyPryor
I’d pay good money for that Pig Stand sign.
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7 hours ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

For those familiar with the Palacio Del Rio area of DTSA, I’d like to know if someone can help us locate a particular place.

My wife’s GGFx2 (or 3) ran a saloon in the area in the 1870s through the 1890s. This old ad says it was on Market St (doesn’t say East or West). 

B49-EF620-E90-D-4274-961-A-22-B311-A355-

This article (bottom of page) on his death, says the saloon was on Alamo St.

6-B84-ED3-F-144-A-4530-A452-86-FC1526-D9

Satellite maps don’t provide any clues. My wife found this photo on a genealogy site claiming this is the current establishment at the location (looks like a restaurant).

5-B9-CCD6-D-CBCD-4185-A3-F9-3-D7621155-C
 

My wife wants to go there next time we are in SA, but that will be a nightmare without research.

In the name of Gustav Bergmann, please help us.

7-A99057-A-882-D-45-E3-8657-D11-FCC14685

 

Try contacting Paula Allen at the Express News with this story.  She writes a history column where people write in with questions like yours, then she does some research to shed light on the topic.  I think yours could be an interesting story. 

 

https://www.expressnews.com/author/paula-allen/

 

historycolumn@yahoo.com| Twitter: @sahistorycolumn| Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn

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9373422-A-58-E8-4552-830-E-C1-F2-B93-F83

 

 

We would drive by this guy on the way to church.  We'd always count the arrow sticking in him.

 

Years later, one of the older guys I worked with said that he and his buddies in high school would drive around that block, and one of the guys would lie down in the truck bed with the bow and arrow, and they'd take turns shooting at the chief.

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On 3/3/2023 at 8:05 AM, miguelito said:

9373422-A-58-E8-4552-830-E-C1-F2-B93-F83

 

 

We would drive by this guy on the way to church.  We'd always count the arrow sticking in him.

 

Years later, one of the older guys I worked with said that he and his buddies in high school would drive around that block, and one of the guys would lie down in the truck bed with the bow and arrow, and they'd take turns shooting at the chief.

I met a guy around 1980 (through a mutual friend, so I don’t recall his name) who claimed to be one of the archers. He was a Marshall HS grad. Superior had recently moved to NW Loop 410. Perhaps they are one and same. 

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https://www.expressnews.com/food/restaurants/article/mike-sutter-10-best-worst-dishes-february-17815493.php

 

Quote

It’s OK to call chef Andrew Weissman legendary in San Antonio. He’s earned it with restaurants as diverse as Le Rêve, Il Sogno, Moshe’s Golden Falafel, The Sandbar and Minnie’s Tavern. It’s also OK to say he makes the best burger in San Antonio at Mr. Juicy, an unapologetic fast-food operation carved out of a former Jack in the Box in Monte Vista.

But the restless chef couldn’t leave it alone. It wasn’t enough to sell the city’s best burgers starting at $4. He kicked off 2023 with chicken-fried steak. Not a sandwich, a full entree using 8 ounces of Certified Angus Beef sirloin, fried crunchy with gravy and a side of handcut fries. Not just any gravy, but au poivre sauce made with shallots, peppercorn, cream and bacon. For $11. An Andrew Weissman entree. For $11.

 

...

 

Chicken-fried steak from Mr. Juicy: There’s no blanket of industrial-grade cream gravy, because there’s nothing to hide. It’s the real thing, this golden cascade of batter and steak tender enough to handle with plastic cutlery, with au poivre that unfolds in layers of pepper, cream and tangy earthiness. The downside of an Andrew Weissman chicken-fried steak at fast-food prices? The demand pushed his staff to the breaking point, and Weissman had to shut down the restaurant for a few days to regroup before ramping back up. How long will this CFS phenomenon last? Cagey as ever, Weissman left it at, “For as long as it makes sense.” 3315 San Pedro Ave., 210-994-9838, Instagram: @mrjuicyburger 

 

More on that CFS at Mr. Juicy. 

 

I was there last week to finally try a burger, which was fantastic.  But the couple next to me both got the CFS and said it was awesome.  It was a huge piece, on a big bed of fries, so neither of them finished.   But I'm getting that next time I go.

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