Category: History Pages

By Nancy Ehlinger Saathoff
On an eastern hillside off Hester Street stand the unassuming ruins of a once thriving school for a small population of black children in Devine. This building, and previous buildings on this land, served as a place for education, social events, and worship for black families, for over 50 years.
Back in the earliest days of Devine, according to census records, there was not a large population of black families here, but they had their own school and teachers earlier than 1890! Records from those days called it the “colored” school and it was most likely wooden framed.
At this time two Devine school buildings were in close proximity to each other on the hill, as the east side of the railroad tracks were built up first as the main downtown area. So, the schools were in the main part of town, near the earliest built homes.
It appears that this land was home to a church before a school was located there: in 1906, “the colored people, headed by Joe LeBruce, one of our most substantial colored citizens, have moved an old Baptist church and put it up on north side Briscoe addition. They have a large sign painted, One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism.” The building may have been used for Methodist, as well as Baptist church services at times, according to old city maps. On the 1913 map of Devine this was the location of the Colored Baptist Church. The colored school was actually located on the northeast corner of Upson and Galbreath streets, closer to the two-story red brick Devine School on the corner of College & Upson Streets, which was built in 1905. In 1930 a red brick school was specially built for the “colored” children of Devine. It was made of hollow brick tile on a concrete floor and iron roof to be more fire proof. A fire thought to be started in the dry wood pile by the stove, burned the school in 1931. The building was insured and was quickly rebuilt. The school had its own PTA, held parties and carnival for Halloween & other holidays. In January 1939, the school burned again and in June of that year a new hollow tile building was built by the National Youth Administration (NYA) which was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. Local carpenter, Alfred Brieden was assigned by the school board to oversee the project. (According to what I can find, this appears to be the building that is in ruins today on Hester Street. If I find any other information, I will add it to this story at a later time. – NS)
This old red tile one-room school building might look like something that is about ready to fall down; but actually it has been “falling down” for over 60 years, and still stands today! It’s crumbling walls have withstood the test of time, but its legacy and story still lives on in its ruins, and in our town’s history as a special place for a special group of Devine citizens.
Joe Lebruce was a well-respected Devine citizen and was instrumental in providing a place for education and worship for the black families, and their children, in Devine. His wife, Mary, was a teacher at the school until 1941, when her health declined. She attended a black community college in San Antonio for her teaching certification. (Limited information on Joe Lebruce said that his father was a former slave, but further researching is needed to discover more about his life and how he came to live in Devine.)
*Much of the information for this article was found in the master’s thesis written by Zulema Klingman in 1952. She was the superintendent’s wife and used DISD school board minutes, as well as old Devine News articles for her research. Other information used was from the archive of articles by Don Lawrence, written from oral interviews in the 1980s.
Next Meeting of the DEVINE HISTORICAL COMMITTEE: Thursday, MARCH 30, 2023 – Room #9 – Devine VFW – 211 W. College St. Two sessions: 10am-12noon – Open Topic, 1:00-3:00pm – Old Devine in pictures & stories. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND – Bring your curiosity, stories, pictures, or just come to hear about old Devine!

DEVINE HISTORICAL COMMITTEE presents early 1900s pictures of west downtown Devine

When researching the history of Devine online, we tend to come across more & more random pictures, much to our delight; but they also raise more questions and mysteries! What is this picture of and when was it taken? Sometimes you think you know what it is, but sometimes things are not as obvious at first as you might think. But if you look close enough, there are usually many clues to help you. And that is what we did at last week’s meeting of the Devine Historical Committee!
Take these two pictures, for example: These are two separate pictures that were found online at two different sites, about two years apart, and were two different colors. Once the pictures were side-by-side & the same color, it became clear that these pictures are of the same area and the same street, but what CLUES would we find to determine the exact location, date, and other facts – and where do we look?
Clues: 1. Both pictures were posted online as being early 1900s downtown Devine, so that was the first clue! 2. Old city maps helped determine that the drug store building was on the corner of what is now College St. & Commercial where Bon Café is today! 3. Old maps also showed the wooden schoolhouse in the top of the picture that was moved to that site in 1890. It was later replaced with a two-story red brick school in 1905. (That is where the VFW is located now) 4. Across the street from the schoolhouse was the St. Joseph’s Catholic wooden church which was built in 1897 & the two-story Catholic school was built in 1900. So, that dates the picture to 1900 or after. 5. And finally a January 1905 article in the San Antonio Express online archives described a huge fire in Devine that put all this information together. The fire was extensive and destroyed several businesses on the main street west of the railroad tracks, including the drug store and Howell Bros, so we know this picture was pre-Jan. 1905.
This sound pretty simple, but it took many hours of research, lots of luck, & 4-5 of us at a Devine Historical Committee meeting to figure this out! But it was a lot of fun! This is a small sampling of what our historical group does, and you are welcome to join us at any of our meetings, join our Facebook group, or call us if you have any questions, or have stories or pictures to share. This committee is for anyone interested in learning about the history of Devine.

• For more information, contact Nancy Ehlinger Saathoff at gnsaathoff@aol.com or 210-289-6205. If you call & do not get an answer, please text for a call back. The next meeting will be around mid-October, so check The Devine News & our FB page for the date & location.

Solving a mystery & finding history can be a simple as looking at an ad in the back of a 1949 Devine Corral yearbook! The TEXAS MARKET was a popular store in downtown Devine in the 1930s-1950s, along with Loggins & Lilly, and Schott’s Red & White, – all on the same street! In fact, the building it was in is still standing and being remodeled on the historical downtown College Street!
Steve told about his great uncle, Arturo Gutierrez, at the Texas Market store as well as other members of his mother’s side of the family who were local grocers. The well-known Gutierrez families were instrumental in serving the Devine community for years in their grocery stores – Gutierrez-Chapa Grocery (where Viva Zapata is now) owned by his granddad Pedro “Pete” Gutierrez & Aunt Hortencia Gutierrez Chapa; The Texas Market; the original Independent Grocery owned by Clemente Gutierrez where Steve worked as a stocker; followed by the second, larger Independent Grocery owned by Roberto Gutierrez. Both Independent Grocery stores can still be seen on FM 3176 near Hester Ave. When shopping in Devine you could always depend on a friendly face and a fair price when shopping in their stores! More stories & information about these grocery stores and others in Devine will be included in later articles in The Devine News.

We found a copy of this City Budget from the year 1939-1940 in our old files, and thought you’d enjoy!  Compare it to more recent financial trends in 2016.

A lot changes in 60 years….Administrative expenses, for example, went from $300 in 1940 to over $319,000 in 2016.

Here is the 1939-1940 City of Devine Budget

 

Here is a summary of some of the City’s expenses over the past 5 years, from one of their Financial Trends reports:

Take a trip back in time to the days of Loggins & Lily and Schott’s Model Market in downtown Devine. Here is a collection of humorous advertisements published in The Devine News in the 1947 and some from 1978.