BEXAR COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
SPEECH BY: Robert Hugman
DATE: April 19, 1975
PLACE : San Antonio Historical Association Meeting
ROBERT HUGMAN: Members and friends of the San Antonio
Histori cal Association, it is a real pleasure for me to
be here. I thought I never would be invited. Down
through the years there's been a lot of di s cus s ion, people
say thi s , that, and the other, about the river, but I'm
going to t ell it to you just as it was. One of the
funniest things that I remember: Mr. Phelps, who is
with the Fig Tree downtown, had one of his wai t ers to ...
(this is a tourist's town) ... and they as ked many questions,
and they wish to know, and they should be told the truth,
and they asked who was Robert Hugman and the wait er said :
"Oh, he was an old Indian Chief. " (laughter) Tha t' s
just a minor thing , but i t has a bearing on the very story.
The piece of paper that I have here in my hand, I wish
to justify. Roughl y , this is the original brochure that
l produced that was presented by me to t he Chamber of
Commerce in 1929, and this map goes with this presentation.
Then these other drawings from here on, are sketches from
I
working drawings . In other words, this i s 29 and this jumps
to 138 , when I was employed to do the working drawings and
HUGMAN 2
prepare the drawings for the WPA to carry on and do the
work. And speaking of the WPA, we have here the very excellent
superintendent of that job. I want to present him now,
Mr. Bob Turk. Will you rise please, Bob? (applause ) So,
I've told Bob, now if I tell any story that isn't just
exactly true, you see, he can raise his hand and he can stop
me anytime. So anyway , it's going to be a pleasure just
t o sit down here and talk with you about the river.
But I would like for you to turn your minds to 1929, when
the episode of the flood of 'Zl ... we had 19 feet of water
in that hotel lobby ... so the putting in of Olmos Dam was
the first step of the flood control. The next was t he
taking , the meandering of .. (should I move down here closer
to you, or do you think it's alright. I'm wandering. Let
me sit down and it will be closer to this) .... to take the
meanderings out of the San Antonio River from Olmos Basin
through the central city . And, the city then hired a firm
by the name of Hoy and Frees, Flood Control Engineer s , to draw
up the plans fo r this, and when the first plans came out ...
leave it up to the good ladies . . . they said : "It looks like
an open sewer, we don't like it." So, that was a prob l em .
And, I think, that's about the time I began to take a part
and be interested. And to partially co rrect the open sewer
look, I proposed that this big concrete channel . .. that, instead
of just having the water in the bottom, about that deep, and
trash everywhere, that we confine the river to a channel
within the big channel and have grass and a few plantings
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there, which the women bought. But, that whole program
never did go through. The channel cutoff was built.
But, anyway, I want you to think of those things: the
channel, the fact that the f lood control engineers wanted
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to fi ll up the big bend and do away with it. You see, the
auditorium was built on a meandering of the San Antonio River.
That area was filled up and they built the auditorium. So,
there were three other meanderings above the auditorium,
and then this precious big bend, that we now call the Paseo
del Rio . So, I want to ask my daughter to read the presentation
that was given to the Chamber of Commerce in 1929. If
you will come up here, Ann. This is my daughter .. . that's
alright.
ANN: I didn't wear my glasses. I just . . . but I wanted to
bring Daddy's picture. Now this picture was, this is
about 27 years ago ... so he was 20 years younger than this
when he made this talk that I'm going to read tonight, to
a society just like yours . .. trying to get them interested.
He was 27 years old, with really no record of anything behind
him, and here he comes with this:
"The Shops of Aragon and Romula" by R. H.H.
Hugman, dated 1929.
HUGMAN: Oh, may I stop you for just a moment?
ANN: Yes , go right ahead.
HUGMAN: In order to £actualize it ... I want ... this is a
stage setting ... this is something romantic with the old
Spanish atmosphere and so on, and the shops of Aragon and
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Romula were musical names to me, you know . So that you
can visualize where Aragon and Romula were, I'd like
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to point out that this is Houston Street, and I wanted the
project eventually, why not, to extend at least from
Houston Street around and down to Villita Street. So,
let's look straight through here. This is the main flood
channel, and you couldn't build down to the water level
there. But, the story is in the block there. Center and
the old Book Building would be cut a little straight
through there and that was Aragon. Then you'd cross over
and you'd jog down to the water level around the big
bend, as you see , and that is Romula . So, I wanted so that
you'd get that in your mind. Thank you.
ANN: The past few years have seen a great awakening in
San Antonio. Our population has doubled in ten years. So
phenomenal has been the change from a sleepy southern
town to a coming metropolis, that the rhythmic sounds of
s teel hammers and the buzzing of new facto r ies echo through­out
our great nation, and it listens, pauses and wonders.
Although we applaud this great commercial development, we
mus t not forget that San Antonio has been called the
"Winter Playground of America." Its historic tradition
and natural beauty must be sacredly preserved if we would
build on firm and on sound foundations . In all of our
great America, few cities have so rich a potential or are so
laden with i nterest. Our blood- stained Alamo, the lovely
old cathedrals, the magnificent missions with their
incomparable beauty. Each lends its own poignant charm to
HUG MAN 5
our city. But its most unique asset lies still unappreciated
and undeveloped: our beautiful, winding river. Sitting
at my studio window, watching the slanting rays of the
late afternoon sun cast long shadows on the cyprus-lined
banks of the river, in my meditation, there came to me a
vision . At first , a vague, uncertain dream, but now it
has crystal ized into something real, some thing tangible,
and wonderful . We read of a narrow, winding s treet i n
Spain, barred to vehicular traffic, having exclusive
little shops, cafes, clubs, businesses, prosperous, ye t
alluring with their shadowed doorways and quiet charm.
And we long to go there. To see and to enjoy such a
street in the very heart of our growing city would do so
much to enhance this interest, and nothing to impair its
progress. So let me present to you the Shops of Aragon
and Romula. Wedged behind the pretentious business houses
on Houston, Soledad, Commerce and St. Mary's, why not a
quaint, old cobblestone street rambling lazily along the
river . A street with old world appeal. Small shops, a
studio apartment where the artist or musician could both
live and work, a small but very exclusive bachelor apart­ment,
a cafe, cabaret and dance club--all would do thriving
business in such an atmosphere. On this little street of
my imagination the shops would be built of old stone and
of brick, a very simple architecture, creating maximum
charm at the minimum expense. They would be on the west
side of the river between Houston Street and the new channel
HUG MAN 6
at Commerce, and would be called the Shops of Aragon . Then ,
near the entrance would be a little court called the Court
of Ro ses: a typical Spanish patio gay with flowers and
fresh with running water. At the other end of the street
would be a Plazita, directly in front of a quaint cafe
and used by it for outdoor table service . Upon leaving
Aragon with its shadowed charm, we come to a stone foot
bridge crossing the channel in one graceful span, leading
us to Romula, which, by pleasing contrast is a little
street of sparkling sunshine. Interesting flagstone
walkways follow the meandering river around the horseshoe
bend to the Plaza Hotel, offering unlimited opportunities
for development in beautiful and interesting surroundings.
At the far end of Romula, between Presa and St. Mary's
Streets, where the banks are unusually wide, the river
could be divided into two smaller streams to wind through
a sunken garden, comparable in beauty to the famous
gardens of Alcazar, or of the Alhambra. Gaily colored
boats, fas hioned after the gondolas of Venice, only with
Spanish design, carry pleasure seekers over the picturesque
route from Travis Street to the Plaza. Follow me now,
in imagination, down the river. It is a balmy ni ght , fanned
by gentle breezes, fragrant with honeysuckle and sweet
olive; old fashioned lamps cast fantastic shadows on the
crystal surface of the water, and str ains of soft music fill
the night air. Who, if any, could resist such a unique and
inviting atmosphere of romance and entertainment .
HUGMAN
In summary: In the foregoing presentation of the
Shops of Aragon and Romula, the appeal has been largely
asthetic. But, unless there is a practical side, the
entire scheme would be quickly relegated to the annals
7
of other impractical imaginings and as promptly forgotten.
The river is sometimes looked upon with disfavor as taking
too much room in its vagabondish winding through the
valuable downtown area. This, I believe, is wrong. The
river is one of nature's greatest gifts to San Antonio,
and it should be appreciated and developed as such. Our
city is the mecca for thousands of tourists every year,
not only because of its wonderful climate, but because
of its history, the spirit of the past lives he re, and sets
San Antonio apart. This river project would add beauty
to our thriving business center. It would provide a
pleasant short cut from Hous ton Street to the rapidly
developing part of Commerce Street, and it would in no way
interfere with flood prevention maintenance. Think what a
wealth of advertising material this city would have in
such shops as those of Aragon and of Romula, lending
themselves as they would to the most colorful and inviting
descriptions. The advantages to the property owners are,
of course, obvious . This plan will give them at least
two fronts and, in some cases, as many as five, while the
lure of the unusual would draw throngs of people into their
their shops and businesses. But it is not the property
owners alone who would stand to profit. This i s a civic
improvement, that means an even greater San Antonio, and
HUGMAN
must rebound to the ultimate good of all of its citizens.
In conclusion, if you find yourself in accord with this
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idea and if you believe it feasible and worthy of execution ,
then I will appreciate having your autograph on the
s ignature page. Among the signatures that you will find
here listed are those of Mayor Chambers and his
commissioners: Albert Steves, Sr. , R. W. Morrison, Mrs.
Rena Maverick Green, J.K. Baretta, Reagan Houston, W.W.
McAllister, Mrs. Lane Taylor, and, later on, those of
Mayor Quinn and his commissioners and Gutzon Borglum.
The following entry is entitled "Fraternity" and it was
addressed to the property owners along the river:
I have presented to you the Shops of Aragon and Romula,
endorsed by the bearer, the city commissioners, flood
prevention engineers, and many other prominent citizens
who have the welfare of San Antonio at heart. I realize,
of course, that in the final analysis, the s uccess or
the failure of this proj ect depends upon your reception
of it. The idea is completely original aad I have spent
a great deal of time and, may I add, a great deal of love ,
in preparing i t. I know that I am giving you a plan that
will mean much to you from a monetary standpoint if it is
handled correctly. Like a s t age setting, designed and
directed by one mind to produce the proper unity of thought
and of feeli ng , so must this plan be treated as a whole
and not as separate unites . The shops, lighting effects,
atmosphere, advertising; ever ything must be designed so as
HUGMAN 9
to create that desired atmosphere. To do thi s , it will
be neces s ary that we unite our interests. Will you, then,
work with me to this end? The signatures that follow are
among those that you will find listed: Smith Brothers
Properties Company, the Estate of E.B . Chandler, Ben W.
Hammond and John B. Hurt.
HUGMAN: Thank you, Ann. (applause) Now, as you are
back in the twenties , and you are the Chamber of Commerce,
you are the mayor and commisioners, and members of all,
all women's clubs, who so graciously supported me and
adopted the plan. That is the extent of it in '29, in
the late 20's . Although it was a plan that was so realistic
and practical that the flood control engineers adopted it.
And, of course, the businessmen thought it was a real good
thing to fill up the big bend, make it another street,
and provide the drainage and so on. But it just happened
that Mamma said no. You see, the ladies were all the wives
of these influential people and they adopted this plan.
Then the Depression,and many architects and engineers worked
on public work projects: r emodeling U.S.O. buildings, designing
parks and other WPA projects, restoration and making drawings
and r ecordings , r ecord drawings of old his toric buildings.
And I was associated with the WPA. In my work I redesigned
Woodlawn Lake, Elmendorf Lake, Concepcion Park, helped
on New Braunfels Park in the bathing area at New Braunfels,
many things. A' nd then , Jack White entered the picture.
One day I got a call from Jack Ryan, an old Canary
HUGMAN
Islander that worked for Jake Rubiola in the Parks
Department. And, he said that the Directors of the Plaza
Hotel had sent Jack White to the city to see what could
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be done to clean up the dirty, stinking, little river next
to their building. So, John Ryan called me and said that
he had told Jack White about this plan, and how wonderful
it would be if it could be carried out. So, Jack White
got in touch with me and, of course, remember that the
WPA was headed by good San Antonians like H.P. Drought,
Ed Arneson, a number of architects and engineers, Bob
Colglazier, and, of course, it was ... it could be turned
into a marvelous work, make-work project. It was strung
out, it could work thousands of men, and we had so many
rock masons and artisans here that could do a good job. ----­And
so Jack White and H.P. Drought, Arneson ... we all began
to talk about it. Could this be done as a WPA project?
So, it looked like it was very promising. So Jack White
was the promoter in this matter. And then there were others,
many from the Chamber of Commerce that helped and so on.
So, the first idea was, well, the first thing that we did,
we
1
the architects and engineers with the WPA ... I drew
sketches of each block, we made estimates, cost estimates,
as to how much the project should cost, and now, we can't
even imagine ... the project was to cost $380,000.00, and the
city was asked to put up $75,000.00 as a sponsor's contri­bution.
Now, whether they couldn't or whether they wouldn't,
they didn't (laughter). And, so then, we had to do some
more promoting, you see.
HUGMAN
So, Jack White went to the businessmen downtown,
and asked them to put up some money, and he raised about
$30,000.00, but that wasn't enough ... couldn't get any
more ... city wouldn't make up the balance, and so that
dropped. So, the final scheme was that they would have
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a bonded district downtown, half a block on each side of
the river, through the area that we wished to improve.
Well, that was a good idea. But, as the young man from
the Chamber of Commerce went around to visit all of these
people, these owners, they found out there was only
five who actually lived in the district. Three of them,
an old bachelor and two old maids, who lived over
the Blackstone Garage on St. Mary's Street , were opposed
to it. Well, so now then, what do you do? So, Jack
White, the excellent promoter, and friends, worked out a
scheme to where if you lived on the river, lived in that
area, and owned a watch or anything like that , you could
vote in this election (laughter). So, that's what
happened. They were supposed to have, oh, I don't know,
say a hundred eligible people. I think it was about a
little over sevent y actually voted, and there were two
opposing votes. One of the old maids must have been
sick and stayed home (laughter). But, anyway, that's the
way ... that's the real way that the city of San Antonio
got the $75,000.00 to put up with the WPA to have the
sponsor's contribution for this project.
So, now, in this promotion, the young man from the
HUGMAN 12
Chamber of Commerce ran up against a character, and I'll
have to tell you about him: Mr. Book, Dwight D. Book, who
owned the old red building on the southwest corner of the
river at Houston Street, just catty-corner across from the
Texas Theatre. He was a very learned man, a lonesome man,
his wife had died and . .. but he cussed like a sailor and
he was clever . So, when these boys came around , of
course, he wasn't going to put up any money for this thing.
He was going to oppose it if he could , and he said: "Now,
if you gentlemen put one cubic foot of masonry in that
rlver , sacred channel of the river, twelve by twelve by
twelve, I'll sue you." So, they went back and reported to
Jack White and they couldn't find any friends of old man
Book. So, finally, Jack called me and said: "Bob, I
understand you know Mr. Book. " I said: "I do" because
I had talked to him about it, and he said: "If you ever see
more than two people walking down that river, I'll eat your
hat in front of the Alamo." So, I went ... so then White
asked that I go see Mr. Book. I did. I went over one
afternoon . And he drank a lot. All liquor is the same,
you know . Alcohol is alcohol whether it ' s wine, beer, so
on, and he took a liking to me. We were kind of sympatico.
I'm kind of an imbiber too. And he made his money from
electrical turbines . Instead of occupying a whole house,
they diminished them so that ... so they could be more practical
and he lit up the first street, and so on, in St. Louis,
I think it was . Anyway, he was a wealthy man. And, so, I
HUG MAN
went over this afternoon, and I sort of scolded him for
being so rough with the boy, and he got out his wine
and no matter who drank ... all it was .. . it was ... he just
rinsed them off in cold water, so they had a kind of
brownish color, you know, as they went down (laughter).
So, anyway, I had some wine, and when we started outJ
13
I says: "I'm going to buy you a drink this time. You're always
buying them. You know it's beer you buy." So, I
went out for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, just before we got
t o St . Mary's Street, and I think he knew what I was
after . Anyway , we went around the corner to the Roosevelt
bar, and we stood there and, of course, he could drink
me under the table any old time. So we ate a couple of
eggs , and drank ale, and beer, and so on, and I tried
to approach this river subject to him. And, he kept
putting me off. And then finally, I said: "Well, I've
got to go, Colonel." He called me Colonel. And he said:
"Go," he says, "there's no place to go but through the
ceiling. " So, anyway , I bore down on him and I told him
what I wanted . I said: "Now, then there's no sense in
just being an old hard head and denying this project, and
so on." "Well," he said, "I '11 t ell you what I' 11 do. If
you say this project is alright, I now make you the official
architect of the Book Building, and it's alright." Of
course, he knew that he wasn't going to do any architecture
work, and so did I. But, anyway, my wife then was working
downtown and I had to walk fast back to the office, and I
HUG MAN
went home and that was that. But, anyway, that's the
first time I was ever drunk, but that's one incident
(laughter) to show how the promotion went, and some of
the things that happened.
14
So, anyway, the bond issue carried and the sponsor 's
part of the contribution was put up. So, then, in 1936,
no '38, now remember, Mr. Ed Arneson was the District
Representative of the WPA. And, we decided to go ahead
with what wa s my project. So the city made a contract
with ~ for the design and architectural work, and with
Ed Arneson, we agreed, and he would do the engineering.
But, unfor tunately, he had no more than signed this
contract that he took ill, and , of course, as you well
know, died. So he did not serve as the engineer. We had
W.H. Lilly close out his office practice and W.H. Lilly
was the engineer on the project.
So the project got s tarted and was doing beautifully
under the supervision of Bob Turk, and the assistance of
so very many, and it was the outstanding project of
WPA in the United States. One of .. because .. well, one
reason l think ... Bob and I would talk over the project.
We'd go down the river and say: now this is going to be
this, and that's going to be that, you know, and this is
the way this is going to be, and we hoped to do it this
way. Those men would all stop and they'd listen. And, they
got a picture of what they were doing, and they were
interes ted, and it was a real good spirit, I thought.
Then, there's one other point , now. After Jack
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White, we got the promotion and got the job going .
He then was Chairman of the River Board, and on the
Board was McAllister, W.W. McAllister, and Claude B.
Burkett, Father Leavy, Issac Bledsoe, Datus Proper, and
a number ... there was ten or twelve, and Jack White
was the Chairman. So, the work progressed and one other
interesting point was that Jack White said that ... told
the workmen that : "Now anything that you find of any
historic value is to be brought to me . " And, I think,
they found one or two cannonball s, an old doll, a brass
bell, and a few things like that which was given to Mr .
White. But, the boys uncovered a family of fresh water
lobsters and Mr. White wanted those , too. But he just
didn't get but a couple of them, 'cause the rest of the
crew and the other men had the fresh water lobsters.
15
Then as the project was going along, and the theatre
began to take shape , and after Ed Arneson had died, H.P.
Drought suggested that the river theatre be named after
Ed Arneson. That is the way the Arneson River Theatre got
its name. And, then entered Maury Maverick, Sr . on the scene.
I imagine that most of you knew Maury Maverick
rather well. He wished to take charge as completely as
possible, and he tried to get me to employ a relative of
his as a landscape architect, to which I did not a gree or
disagree. I said: "Well, the planting and that part will
come later and we ' ll talk about it later." But, anyhow,
there began to be criticism . All the articles are there ...
HUGMAN
that there was too much walk work, the bridges were
like Japanese bridges, and so on. But, that is the only
change that was requested and the Fiesta Association
requested that the bridges be as high as possible, so
we could have a river parade in the evening, you know.
16
So, I was criticized for that ... I wouldn't employ
this person, and so I rocked along, and then I was fired.
Well, before we get to that, the timekeeper and the
bookkeepers of t he WPA, who had their office in the Cos
House there, backing up to the theatre, said there were
discrepancies in the delivery of materials. And, so, I
got photostatic copies of those and took them to Claude
B. Burkett, who was on the River Board, and because I was
fighting for the river. Now, La Villita was a youth
corps project and Maury Maverick did a great deal with that .
And, so , Burkett said: "Well, we'll call a meeting and
see if we can ge t this corrected." But the next thing I
knew, I was dismissed ... saying that I refused to hire a
landscape architect, and that I woul d not supply suff icient
blueprints. And I couldn't believe it, really. I thought,
well, the women, the men of this town knew it was my
brainchild, you know ... he wouldn't get by wi th that. But he
did. So, that was as far as I went . That was in about 1942 .
So the project went on, and they were .. . we l ost a lot
of things. There was one project ... you 'll f ind the working
drawings here of, well, ... between St. Mary ' s Street and
Navarro, by Crockett Street, there's a walkway there with
an old pipe railing running along the river. That was to
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be Memory Lane. Now remember, Ethel Harris, in those
days, had a tile making project under the WPA, and she
made those beautiful tiles by the old Cyprus Tree, and
the Mill Crossing, and others. So this was to be a
wonderful project for her, and it was a series of arches
all the way through depicting the history of Texas: the
Indians, the Monks, and on up to the present time. But
we had to spend money elsewhere, and we lost that. We
17
lost a lot of old iron lanterns and things like that. That
was the unfortunate part. But, the project was carried
on, and today you'll see it now, but the drawings, as
you may visualize here, showed this is the structure,
the control structure at the north end of the big bend.
That was to keep the flood waters from the river from
flowing into the big bend. And the other one which you
see here, is the outlet down by the Plaza Hotel to let
the water out. There have been changes made now, but
that was essentially the engineering part that made it
possible to have this, and this dream has come true.
This I call the Foods of All Nations, and it was to
be between Crockett Street and Commerce Street, and you
know what a delightful place that is. (Small part that
can't be understood). These two pictures are of the
theatre, and I wanted to make a note of that. But this
is the picture ... my office, the first office on the river.
That was right there by Commerce Street. And these two
pictures are of the theatre, and it's one of the points
that I'd like to call your attention . .. because it's still . . .
HUG MAN 18
you ladies may see to it that it's done. Mrs. Harris made
tile roof for this building, but after the project was
completed in the fort i es, the city didn't take care of it .
It was off limits to the military, and all the tile
off this building was thrown in the river. It has a little
composition b6ard room for it now, which is terrible,
in my opinion. Also , I had contacted a gentleman of the
Mexican consul, and I thought, when the project was through,
that it would be a goodwill gesture for the Mexican
government to give these bells to fill these arches in
the theatre, and we could use them. I called it a
broadcasting theatre and I had hoped that we would broadcast
from there, but we could have the bells electrically operated.
But, anyway, that was never mat erialized. So, I j ust
wanted to call your attention to that. But, these drawings
show down to the inch as Mr. Turk will s how you,
or tell you , about the theatre, and the arches and every
part of it.
This . .. I don't know whether this is . .. but, it 's crooked
not to tell you this. But nevertheless, you have to realize
how things happen, why they are, and did what. And I
had promised to tell you exactly as it is, 'cause I was in
the middle of it. Now, this was a boat that I designed,
and it was in the contract with the WPA. And it was to be
a fla t bar ge type boat with powerful pumps, engines in it,
because we didn't have money to put in sprinkler systems and
we naturally pumped the water out of the river and watered
the landscaping. This boat, someway or other, was converted
HUGMAN
to a speedboat by Jack White, and there it is ... and
there is a little nozzle, technically it was a watering
boat , but it turned into a speedboat with a nozzle about
that long (laughter). So, you can see there are a few
things that would upset a body (laughter).
Now, there's one or two other things I'd like to
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talk to you about. After I was working for the government
and was retired after I was seventy, some ladies wanted
to name some bridges on the river. People like to put
their name on things. So, it was supposed to be the
Maverick Bridge, the White Bridge, the Emily Edwards
Bridge and the Hugman Bridge. So, I got a letter from
some organization, asking me to think well of this, you
know . So , I wrote to the Paseo del Rio Association, and
I said how romantic it would be to have the Hugman Bridge
on the San Antonio river. They got the point, and they
did not name the bridges.
There was another incident where, because someone
had planted trees and so on, they wanted names on sidewalks .
Ladi es and gentlemen, this is a stage here. This is some­thing
that ' s beautiful and romantic. We don't want
American names on everything . It's a dream world we're
trying to create. And the architecture is most important
and the atmosphere . .. I could tell you a lot of things I
object to, but you see the picture, and you heard the
original presentation. And by the way, this original
presentation was made verbal ly to Mrs . Lane Taylor, a
beautiful and gracious woman. And, I went out there one
HUG MAN
afternoon and talked to her. We sat on the front porch,
and she was just enthralled with the whole thing. So,
she said: "Do you think we can do it? Do you think we
20
can do it?" Anyway, Lane came home, and she said: "Lane,
your dinner will be a little late this evening. We're
talking about the river . " So then, later on, then I told
her that I would make this presentation and she introduced
me at the Chamber of Commerce at that time.
So that, I think pretty well .. unless someone can
remember something that I have forgotten ... that's pretty
well the story. If there are any questions or anything .. .
(Two questions that can't be understood).
END OF SPEECH
Personal History
Oct. 25, 1976
Robert Harvey Harold Hugman was born at 507 Wcstf.ll Avee, San
Antonio, Texas 0 Fcbn1e.ry 8, 1902. He attended l oce.l schools and
Tb.c University of Te:::a.s, then uent to Neu Orleans where he uorked
as a drBftsman until late 1927~
He returno(A to San Antoniop liith his family , lrhere :r..c acain
uorked ss ?. draftsman and served as Project Planner and Desiener
f or t ii.e 11 . ~; • .; . and \·I . I'.A.~ then nent int.c busineso for h i mself
aG an .flrehiteet (A.I.A.) in th~ early 1930's. He 1-1as corJmission-ed
by the city as architect for his own r iver project on Dec .. 15,
1938.
NOTE: It l-:as a t this time t hat tt.x .. Ed Arneson was commissioned
as the ~•1gineer for the River project., Hr. Arneson found t 1l?.t he
~
had t erminal cancer shortly after signing his contract and did
not have the opport unity to drarT a line for the -pro~ect. Nr ..
\·l . n. Lilly, an engineer, took over r1r. Arneson 1 s enr;lneerii'lJ
office to complete the contracts; thuG ~ . Lilly became t he river
prcject engineer.
I
FOR THE RECORD
In order for historians to understand t he per1oC.s of time 11 the
per-tinent ev~nts and my involvement in the central city river
developm~nt they need to understand a fe1·r facts. Also that in
t he late 1920 • s there w-:::re four points o.f ·ilie-.·T ~ :111. of "'".-;hich i'i·:=re
published L"l'l the local nerrspapa~""S at the ti'Jle.
San Antonio's big flo0d. cama in 1921 an1i there ~..;a3 nlne feet of
"\·ra t9r in p;o.rts of the c.:e:ntral city. This caused the city adminis­tration
to . ..1p1cy Jl.ihe firm of H::1ul~:::.r and Pr.eese, i'lciJtl Cl'lnt-rol
eng:i.nee.!.'S P t.o analyze t he local .flood prcblere.
The fi"J.'St p.)int of view· "\-Ills tmt of the fl')od control ene;inee1·s!)
which "Has to build Olmos Dam and to build a compare.tively straight
concr·ete channel through the central city by remov1:::1g e.ll thz,
meandering of the natural river, about :five 11 as I recall.
The second poir..t of viev-r "t·ras that of the central city business
men t-rho trant{;:d total flood control plus a fefT who sa'"r how they
might acquire financial cain by t he develo:rment.
The third point of v1.&ir rras that of the city ad.nin1.fltra. t:ton "trho
tried to l.alance (lUt ::.11 problems1 on a reztr1cted buc!get 11 plus
trying to see Hho best to ser,re ..
Tb~ ll.!:!.tih pc,1nt Gf vlev T:ra-z tba.t of e.esthet1cs as e::rpressed by
lc·ca l prominent women and me. i'lhen the YTOmen visualized the flood
engineers plans for the concrete channel~ they called it an
"open sewert•.
The Olmos Dam "\vas built" but l'rhen the flood control e·ngineers
concepts of a comparatively straight concrete flood channel through
the central city and up-r1 ver areas "f·Tere publicized,. the beauty
and nature l0vers rose up in opposition. This is when I first
.2
entered the controversy~ in 1928. I proposed that the flood
channel be curved slightly? that grass and minor plantings be
used in the bottom of the channel confining the normal .flou of
·water to a small stream and that it be made possible by roughing
the 'YTB.lls for vines to cling to the side walls. I.J.any ~ especially
the women, approved my idea.
The cost of the flood control engineers total project lias beyond
the city administration's .financial budget., The city fathers
decided to poor-boy this project by having a straightened~ bu~
earth flood channel from Brackenridge Park dolin to the central
city; however, there still remained the problem of the central city
Big Bend area of the river and the great need to construct the cut­off
channel - a vital llnk in controlling central city flooding.
While the problem of rrhat to do about the Big Bend p ortion of the
river, norr known as Pas eo del Rio 0 and the vi tal flood need for
the cut-off channel, I came out lTith -vrhat I termed the Shops of
Aragon and Romula. The San Antonio Light publicized this June 30,
1929. My proposals were fndorsed wholeheartedly by the prominent
women of San Antonio and the business men -rrent along ..
The city administration endorsed my proposals by a letter to me
from !-lajor c. Me Chambers on l4ay 29, 1929. By then0 the city fathers
could see the 11ay the public tide of opinion was flowing and could
also see how the city could save money by endorsing my proposals.
Through my proposals to construct flood control structures at both
the upper and lower ends of the Big Bend section of the river? to
protect the water level shops within the Big Bend area, it became
feasible to builtd the channel cut-off.
_q
From -~,h.c o.bove, you ce.n. visualize and check net-rspaper accounts of
the river development in the late 1920's and my early involvement
prior to and at the time o£ my proposals for the Big Bend portion
of the river.,
A few months prior to the publication in the San Antonio Light,
~my 29, \ 929, I proposed the water level shop development plan
entitled.Shops of Aragon and Romula, complete 't'Tith flood control
structurese I carried my first presentation around to get the
signatures of mor.~ of San Antonio ' s prominent citizens. r~ stly
t he hus~~..ness mer: ':ho uere not certain of the value of m:y plan and
I received about s i:J-:ty sigp.at\lres at that time. Some of them ~re~
as follOi-JS ~ :ti.LB.jor C. I.J ., Oharnbers, Se vl. Freese, Alber·c Stcvec 0 :;:>:r .
R. ,.,. l-1o:rr 1.son~ Walter P e- Napier, R~a gan Houston, ~·1 . VI r Hc..t\llister,
c. !1. ~. \·n,catly~ and later l·'l.ayor c. K. Quinn~ Gut~on Borc;lum and
many others shoTt1y thereafter for a total of 106 signatur es ..
All tha-t toolc n- lace 1n +.h~ '20' s n. aved the t·ray f or rrhat traz t.c tFJkf1 ~
plc.ce sft.E>r tho year 1935. To put my river parti cipation work tn
porspectiVP-r notB tr2t I played a minor r ole r elativP. tc the f lood
channel as proposed by Hal"Tley and Freese; then a major role in
t he d evel opmen t of vTh.a. t is now Pas eo del Rio e
If historians are concerned about my role in the central clty
river delrt;lopment bet \feen thcyyears 1936 and 1940, wh~l~ the t.h~n
!-layer l·t.fl.ury Na'treriol-;: 9 Sr .. fired mer I vdll explain c. I rras fired.
because I ~·ied to bring to light the misappropriat ion of river
project mf' t 0rials being tr~ms f erred t o the Le. Vi l lita Pro j ectt~ a
Yout h Cor9s - I•la.vericlc project. It ' rs.s at this time that I be-c:
ame so disillusioned t-rith the 17pol1tics 11 in San Antonio tha t
I did no more ci ric 1-rork until 1976. In 194011 I \·Tas so naive
that I believed those civic leaders t-rho had supported my ideas
and i nvolvements on the river, u ould not allan Haverick to fire
If
me 0 but I v~s 1r.rong~
'~ ')$- ~}
In 1976, the city administration was about to build a parking
garage directly on the baruc of the river. I could not hGlp but
object to that. So, all I could do was appear beforG the Council
and beg them to not build the garage on the river. r~ny others
were alGo pleading this cause and the Council finally agreed
with us.
In 1975 the San Antonio Historic Association invited mP. to be the
speaker at one of their meetings and I accepted. I thought the
Associa.tion was organized to a ocument past happenint;s) but instead
they record l-rhat people say about past happenings$ so that interest­ed
parties may have guide lines for research. The San Antonio
Newspapers have documented all ha~~nings of the river d~velopment
accurately except the maneuver1ngs of Maury !.Javerick, Sr. in his
bid for control over the river project and the detrimental effect
on the project. This was 0 no doubtl) my fault because I vms advised
not to give all the information to the press, at the time.
The following talk to the San Antonio Historic Assn6 provides
some enlightenment to those present and, I hope, a few laughs.
,:;;-
Speech to s. A. Historical Assn. 1975
Members and friends of the San Antonio Historical Association:
It is a real pleasure for me to be here. I thought you ' d never
ask.. Behind 1r.e here a r e sketches and dra'\rings - from her~ to
the right, are original sketches of river fea·C.nres and my brochure
prepared in 1929~ approved by l~yor c. M. Chambers and signed by
many p~m3.n~.nt people of our city. From here to my left are
some pictures and a roll of hundreds of working dra;rings I pre­pared
f or the construction of the total central city development.
If you have not viel·Ted them, close-up, please feel free to do so.
Down through the years there's been a lot of discussion, people
say this or that about the river, but I'm going to tell it to you
just as it was .
One of the funniest things, uh~ l earned recently: rms t old me by
rtr ., Frank Phelps, ovmer of the Fig Tree Restaurant on the river.
Uh~t he said one of his l·Taiters was asked, " 1-fho rras Arneson?" The
waiter sa id~ "Oh, he 1vas an old Indian Chief". (laughter) That
merely shows hov-r people uill say anything e5.ther from ignorance
or for a purpose.
I-1ay I call your attention to t his large dra1-ring 1·rhich goes with
this brochure. You see, in 1929~ I conceived the l-rater l evel shop
development plan vrhich I then called The Shops of Aragon and Ranula
and 't-Thich is no-vr lrnown as J?aseo del Rio. Please note that Aragon
l>Tas never built ... 1 t 1<ms to have been on private property betl"Teen
l'lest Houston Ste and Commerce St. on the vest side o:f the river.
Romula '\·ms the Big Bend s ection o:f the river no-vr having the 1·mter
level shops . So, when my daughter reads the brochure you uill be
I
able to separate Aragon from Romula. Also, Ladies and Gentlemen,
you should realize that these drawings were prepared i n 1929 and
these prepared from 1938 to 1940~ These '38 to 140 plans are
the v-rorking d:rav-Tings -rrhich the ~i . :P .. A. used to build by,.
Speaking of "che ~f. P.,A. ~ we have rri th us ton1gl: t) the very excellan t
Project Superintendant!) Y.tr. Robert Turko Please stand Robert.
(Applause) I told Mr. Turk, prtor to this meeting t hat if I did
not stick to the facts~J to correct me ..
So, any~·ra.y ~> it ' s coing to be a pleacure just to sit do1·rn here and
talk ·'Hith you about the river; I \>iish to feel closer to you anyway.
I uould like for you to turn .rour minds back to 1921 vrhen tho flood
came ~ there uas nine feet of vrater in t he Gunter Hotel Lobby and
all the 11ood paving blccks sr,·rclled up like igloos in the streetsa
and vrc.shed 2.r.-re.y and there was c"U.ch destruction.,
After the flood,plans were prepared to eliminat e central city
fl ooding. The first step was the building of Olmos Dame The
second step was to construct a straight ened flood channel from
B:rackenridge :Park, south through the central city and thue::: elimi-nate
the old meanderi ngs i n the river. Some of you probably
remember the auditorium lvas bull t on ground reclaimed from one of
these river meanderings.
Now, Ladies and Gentlemen; comes the interesting part of my story
for this is when I entered the controversy between the flood control
engineers!) the business men ~ the city administ ration and t he
prominant women of our city. Rememme r~ there wer·~ no obj ectionfl
raised until the flood correction program reached the cet~ tra l city
areas. At this point 11 uhen ·the pi ct.u:ces carne ou·t in the papers s
the ladies said the concrete channel through the city looked lilce
'7
an open sevrer and ue don't like it. I 'believe this tcolc place
111 1928 vThen the opposing f2.ctions took their Gtands . I uill cut
th1.c :part of my ~tory sho1·t by simply saying that I made some
proposals about aesthetics to improve the looks of the flood
ch.J.nnel.
Then came the r eal flood control problem and c1isputo about the
Big Bend and the Channel Cut-Off. The ene;ineers \ore!·e I·ight in
that the ch~.nnel cut~·off $) from just north of \·Test Commerce St ~ and
and N.ueva 11 had to be built on a bottle neck vrould be C:i."eated 1n
the passage of flood ltater. The Big Bend of the river had to be
eliminated 0 according to the engineers. The business men and the
engineers insisted this be done. The 1·10men said~> "No, do not take
away the little river." The city fathers l·Tere caught in the middle
while trying so hard to save money.
You probably wonder uhy0 even todayl) there is no ~oncrete channel
for the river above Fourth Sto? Well, the city fathers Poor -
bayed th1s part of the proJect by· ~li.Plinatine; the meRtlderinrss in
the river, but only built a straightened earth channel~ Now~ le~s
focus our attention on vTha t we novr know to be Pas eo del Rio and
the channel cut-off as it is today.
In 19290 I proposed the Big Benci of our river be preserved and
l.W.de into a water level shop development; ·!;hat this be accomplish­ed
by placing a flood cont:L·ol s·t;ruccure at the upper and lo1-rer
ends of the Big Bend area to protect the shop development and
alJ.o"T the channel cut .. •off to be bull t.; for the flood program.
The 1·romen of many Clubs and Societies approved my plan '\tholehearted­ly.
The business men did~nt oppose my :plan after they understood
it because the cut-off channel could be buil te This '\-ras l so
d
true for the flood control engineers. The city administration
adopted my plan mainly because it saved them money and it satis­fied
the opposing factors~
No 1.: ~: Ladies anJ. Gentleme:n0 I am going to ask my daughter to read
the present~ tir:m I made to thP. Cham be l~ of Cor!lm0rr.e , t!1e City Fathers
and to many others present that day 1n 1929. Please imagine you
are bac?;;: in tim.:: +o 1929 and that my :proposals arf! bein8 hea-rd
for the first t1mee
May I present Mrs1> \·1. C~ Robinson or Annec (Applause)
Anne~ I didn't ur~ar my glasses, but I did bring Dad's picture to
show you.. I am so proud of hu19 he ~ra& only 27 years old in 1929.
He had no record of accomplishment behind him at that time - all
he had v-ras vislono (Applause)
THE SHOrS OF ARAGON AND ROi•1ULA BY R. H ~ H. HUGi~~'J.AN , dated 1929.
"The past fei·T years have s een a great awakening in San Antonio .
Our population has doubled in tP.n yea~s~ So phenomenal has been
the change ..l.com a sleepy southern to-vm ·co a ooming metropolis,
that the rhyth1a.ic sound~ of steel haiDlllers and the buzzing of ne'\'1
factories echo throur,hout our great nation!) and it listens 11 pauses
and wonders. Although "t·Te applaud this great commercial development$)
we must not forget that San Antonio has been called the "vlinter
Playground of America"o It's historic tradition and natural bea'd:y
must be sacredly preserved if we would build on firm and sound
foundations~ In all of our great America, few cities have so rich
a potential or are so laden with interest. Our blood stained Alamo,
the lovely old cathedralsD the magnificent missions with their in­comparable
beautyo Each lends its OlTn poignant charm to our city.
tJ
But its most unique asset lies still unappreciated and undeveloped,
our beautiful ~ winding river. Sitting at my studio uindorr9 ~ratch­ing
the slanting rays of the late afternoon sun cast long shadows
on the cyprus-lined banlcs of the river. In my meditation, there
came to me a vision. At firstp a vague, uncertain dream, but now
it has crystalized into something real, something tangible and
wonderful. i'le read of a narro\·r, winding street in Spain, barred
to vehicular traffic, having exclusive little shops, cafes 9 clubs,
businesses 9 prosperous~ yet alluring rTi t h their shadorred doorways
and quiet charm. And l·re long to go there~~> t o see and to enjoy such
a street in the very heart of our grot-ring city v-rould do so much to
enhance this interest, and nothing to impair its progress. So let
me present to you the Shops of Aragon and Romula. Wedged in behLnd
the pretentious business houses on Houston, Soledad, Commerce and
st. ~~ry 's why not a quaint, old cobblestonestreet rambling lazily
along the river. A street lvith old \'Torld appeal. Small shops 9 a
studio apart ment rrhere the artist or musician could both 11 ve and
work, a small but very exclusive bachelor apartment~ a cafep cabaret
and dance club, all rrould do thriving business in such an atmosphere.
On this little street of my imagination, the shops would be built
of old stone and o~ brick, a very simple arthitecture 9 creating
maximum charm at the minimum expense . They would be on the west side
of the .river betl-reen Houston Street and the new channel at Commerce,
and would be called the Shops of Aragon. Then near the entrance
would be a little court called the Court of Roses. A typical
~panish patio gay 1v1th flmiers and fresh with running water. At
the other end of the street "t·rould be a Plaz1 ta,. directly in fromt
of a quaint cafe and used by it for outdoor table service. Upon
leaving Aragon vri th its shado\·red charm, '\·Te come to a stone foot
//J
bridge crossing the channel in one graceful :span, leading us to
Romulap which~ by pleasing contrast is a little street of sparkling
sunshine. Interesting flagstone wall~rays follow the meandering
river around the horseshoe bend to the Plaza Hotel, offering un­limited
opportunities for development in beautiful and interesting
surroundings. At the far end of Romula, bet1-reen Presa and St.
Mary's Streets, 't·There the banks are unusually 1·Tide, the river could
be divided into t-vro smaller streams to l'Tind through a sunken garden,
comparable in beauty to the famoua gardens of Alca~ar~ or of the
Alhambr~. Gaily colored boats~ fashioned after the gondolas of
Venice !I only 1-ri th Spanish design0 carry pleasure seekers over the
picturesque route from Travis Street to the Plaza. Follow me now7
in imagination~ do1vn the river. It is a balmy night~ fanned by
gentle breezes~ fragrant with honeysuckle and sweet olive; old
fashioned lamps cast fantastic shadow·s on the crystal surface of
the water, and strains of soft music fill the night air. Uho 7 if
anyp could resist such a unique and inviting a t mosphere of romanee
and entertainmentG
In summary~ In the foregoing presentation of the Shops of Aragon
and Romula~ the appeal has been largely asthetic. But& unless
there is a practical side the entire scheme would be quickly rele­gated
to the annals of other impractical imaginings and as promptly
forgotten.. The river is sometimes looked upon 1-ri th disfavor as
taking too much room in its vagabondish winding through the value­able
dovmtorm area. Thls, I believe is wrong. The river is one
of nature ' s greatest gifts to San Antonio, and it should be
appreciated and developed as such. Our city is the mecca f or
thousands of tourists each year 7 not only because of its wonderful
climate, but because o:f its- history. The spirit of the past lives
/J
here) and sets San Antonio apart. This river proj ect would add
beauty to our thriving business center. It would provide a pleasant
short cut from Houston Street to the rapidly developing part of
Commerce Street, and it would in no way interfere with flood pre­vention
maintenance. Thirut what a wealth of advertising material
this city would have in such shops as those of Aragon and of Romula~
lending themselves as they would to the most colorful and inviting
descriptions. The advantages to the property o1·mers are of course
obvious. This plan \"Till give them at least tl'ro fronts and in some
cases as many as five. \"lhile the lure of the unusual would drav-r
throngs of people into their shops and businesses. But it is not
the property o'mers alone 1·rho stand to profit. This is a civic im-provementp
that means an even greater San Antonio t and must rebo .. un1
to the ultimate good of all of its citizens. In conclusionp if
you find yourself in accord with this idea and if you believe it
feasible and worthy of execution, then I will appreciate having
your autograph on the signature page." Amon@. the signatures that
you will find here listed are those of Mayor c. M. Chambers and his
commissioners, Albert Steve~ Sr., R. w. Morrison, ~~s. Lane Tayl6r, J
Mrs. Rena 'Maverick Green, J. K. Baretta0 Regan Houston,. Ttl . \i . He -
Allister, and.later on those of }ayor c. K. Quinn and his com-missioners,
also Gutzom Borglum.
The follovTing portion is entitled ''Fraternity" and it 1-m.s addressed
to the property o~mers along the river;
"I have presented to you the Shops of Aragon and Romulap endorsed
by the bearerp the city commissioners , flood prevention engineers,
and many other promi nent citizens who have the welfare of San Antonio
at heart~ I realize, of course, that in the final analysis the
success or failure of this project depends upon your reception of
it. The idea is completely original and I have spent a great deal
i~ .
Of time and may I add, a great deal of love 1 i n preparing it. I
know that I am giving you a plan that will mean much to you from
a monetary standpoint lf it ie:: handl ed correctly. Lilce a stage
setting, designed and directed by one mind to produce the proper
unity of thought and of feeling, so must this plan be treated as
a whole and not as sepaeate units. The shops, lighting effects ,
atmosphere, advertising~ everything m1,;1.s-c be designed so as to areate
that desired atmosphere. To do this 9 it will be necessar y that v e
unite our interest s~ \iill you then, 't-Tork idth me to thi s end? 11
The signatures that follmT are among those that you uill find l is t ...
ed. Smith Brot hers Properties Company, The est a te of E. B. Chandler,
Ben rT. Hammond and John D. Hurt.
R. H~ : Thank you Anne (Applause)
R. H.~ Now 9 as you are still back in the t vrenties , and you are the
Chamber of Comme rce~ you are the mayor and commissioners~ uh, and
Ci,.'(o_c :o v.<; I_'}
members of all the Homen ' s Clubs 't'Iho so g'ratiotisly supported me
and adopted the pla11. That \-Tas the extent of it in ' 29 - in the
l a te 12 0 ' s,. Alt.hough lt rms a plan that 1-ras so realistic and
pract:tcal" thc.t the flood control engineers adopted itc. nut, of
course, the business men thought it was a real good thing t o fill
up the biG bend~ make it anot her str eet, and provide the drainage
and so on. But ~ it just happened that l~mma s aid no, you seep the
ladies "'·Tere all the wi ves of these influential people a nd ·they
adopted t h i s plano Then, the depr ession and many·architects and
cnt;ineers worlced on public rtork projects, remodeling u.s.o. build­ingR
,. desie;n1ng parks and other \·TPA project s I) restoration and rna. king
draulngs and recordingsil' r~cord dr ai·Tinc;s of historic buildine;s a:a.d
I "1-Tas as so c i a ted itTi th the ~·JPA .. In my v-10rl;: 11 I rede sie;ned 'lloodla.vm
Lak es- Elmendorf take, C oncep~ion Park, helped on Nei·1 Braunfels Park
/ .~
in the bathine; area at Ne't·T Braunfels, ... many things. And then,
Jack mli te en·tered -the :piCJGu.re .. One day I got o. call from John
l(t'cfrtc~ an old Canary Islander, that worked for Jake Rubiola 1n the
Pe.rk Departmente And, he said that the Directors of the Plaza
Hotel had sent Jack Uhite to the city to sec uhat could be done
to clean up the dirty, stinking little river next to their building.
r So~ John ni~I7-1ecalled me and said that he had told Jack \fuite abau:.t
this plan 11 and ho1-r uonderful it "tTOuld be if it could be carried on.
So, Jack Hhite got in touch uith me and of course,. remember that
the WPA liaS headed by good San Antonians like H. P. Droueht9 Ed
Arneson, a number of architects and engineers, Bob Colglazier, and
of course, the plan could be turned into a marvelous malce-vrork pro­ject.
It t-res strung out 11 it could 1-rork thousands of men, and t-re
had so many rock masons and artisans here that could do a good
job. And so, Jack tihite and H. P. Drought, Arneson, \Xe all began
to talk about it - could this be done as a \1PA Project? So, 1 t
looked very promising. so, Jack White ~ the promoter ln -~ls
mattero And then there were others, many from the Chamber of Com-
, mel"Ce that helped and so on.. So, the fi:rst idea was , vrell, the
first thing that rre did!) '\'Je ... the architects and engineers l·rith the
r:lPA , I dret>1 slcetchcs of each block, "tTe made estimates. cost estimates,
as to ho1-r mv.ch the project should cost, and no1-1, ue can • t even
:tmagine ~ the project lms to cost .;~ 38o,ooo.oo, and the clty lias
asked to pu"t up .j75,000.00 as a sponsor's contribution. Now·,
"t-rhether they couldn ' t or 't-rhether they vrouldn 1 t, they didn 1 t (laughter).
And: so then 1-re had to do some mere promoting, you see . So, Jack
vlhi te ~rent to the businessmen do"t·mto'\'rn, and asked them to put up
some money, and he raised about $30,000.00, but that ':rasn1t enough,
couldn ' t get any more , city rrouldn 1 t make up the balance u and so
~h~~ Ar.-9;P~.. ~ .. ·the :flmftl .s:ob"eme -:;wa-s i'6~ ·reh~y wotiJJI. iha-v-e ·a
J , i
a "tondGd district do1mto1m, half a l1locl:: on oa.nh side of tho :cl ver,
t hrough the area that ue uishf)d to improv-e., '!ell J that 1.-1a5 a t;ood
1dea., But, as the younc rean from the Chamber of 00mrr•:)rce U•ant lil.round
to visit all these people, the ormers of the :p1"'0perty, they found
out there uer') only five uho actually 11veu ln the dlstrict~ Three
of them~ an old bachelor and tuo old maids, lived over the :Black­stone
Garac;e on St. l·:Ury's Street -rrere opposed to it;, ~J ell, so
no"r then~ i;That do you do? So, Jack White, the excGllent. promoter~~
and friendsf 't-tcrked out a scheme to uhere if you lived on the river0
lived in tha.t arca 11 and owned a 1-rs.tch: 01' any-'chine; like that, you
could vote in this election. (laughter). So, that's uhat happened ,
'they uere supposed to have, oh, I don't lcno~·T, say a hundred eligible
people, I thinlc it vrn.c about a little over seventy actu:1lly voted,
and there uere tuo opposine; votes, one of the old maidc must. have
been sicl:: and stayed home .• (laughter) But e.nyrrayt tha.t as the 1-ray <~
that 1 s the reel 1,-my that the city of San Antonio got t.he ~n5,000 . 00
to put up ui th the rlP.A to have the sponsor' G ca n~liri but ion for this
project. So, novJ, in the promotion<~ the youn'1 li!an from the Chamber
of Commerce ran up ago.inst a character.. And, I 111 l::a.ve to tell you
about him, tx. Book,. D1-righ·~ D. Dook '\iho O'tmed the old red bullding
on the southwest corner of the river at Houston Streetr just catty­corner
across from the Teza.s Theater.. He uas a very learned man~'
a lonesome man, his 1·rife had died, and , but he cussed lilce a sailor
and he vres clever. So , when these boys came around, u~ e of course,
he wasn't c;oing to put up any money for this thing ~ he was going
to oppose 1 t if he could, and he said "No1-r if you, gentelmen0 put
one cubic foot of masonry in that sacred riv~r channel of the river,
t\-Tel ve by nrel ve by t1·rel ve, I 111 sue yot:. 11 So they 't·Tel1t ba.ck and
reported to Ja.ck \'lhi te and they couldn't find o.ny friends of old
man Book~~ co finn.lly Jack called me o.nd said, "Bob, I underste.nd
j.-t:;'
yon knO\·r Er. Book'' , I said 0
1'I do", because I had tal1ced to him
about it~ and he said " i f you ever see more than t1-m people walk­in~
dolm that l'iver~ I 111 eat your hat 11 in front of the A l amo" ~
So, then White asked that I go see Mr. Book. I did, I went over
one afternoon and, he drank a lot of wine, and you know alcohol
is alcohol, whether i t' s wine,beer a nd so on but he had taken a
l iking to me and 'tie \·Tere sympatico e He had nade his money from
inventing t he electrica l turbin engine . They ~ere diminished in
size so they would be practical and he lit up the first street
i n St. Louis , I thtnk it was . Anywayp he was a uealthy man.,
and~' ~s, so 11 I rrent over that afternoonp and I sort of scol ded
hlm for being so rough with the Chamber of Commerce boy, und he
got out his wine and u!1, no matter 1.V:ho drank vii th him he just
rinsed the gl asses in cold vrater? so they had a kind of brownish
color, you know't (laughter ) So, anyw-ay, vie had some v1ine , and
then s t arted out ; I said, "I'm going to buy you a drinl~ this
time instead of your buying" . So, vie uent out for Pabst Blue
Ri bbon beer, just before w·e got to St .. •'Jar y 1s Street, and I
t hink he kner-r uha t I ;;as after. Anyway, v-;e 1·rent a round t he corner
to thG H.ocsevelt .car , and we stood t here a nd he, of course, could
ate
drink me under the table any old time . Sop we/ some hardboiled
e ggs ~ dra nk ale and beer and so on~ and I tried to approach this
river sub ject. He kept putting me: off, and then finally I said!)
11 'ilell, I ' ve got to go, Colonel tr, he called me Colonel all the
t ime . He said r "Go, t here 's no place to go but throue;h the ceil-ine;"
~ So ~ anyuay , I bore dovm on hi111 a nd told him rlhat I uanted ,
I said 11 "Nowp the:ce ' s no sense in jus t being an old hard head,
and denying this project 11 and so on." "'>'/ell, '' he said '' I 'll tell
you what I 1ll do , If you say this pro ject is alright" I !!.2}! make
I/~
you the official architect. of the Book Building and it ' s alright."
Of course!) he knei-r that he uasn • t going to do any architectural
work~ and so did I., But. snyt·;ray, uh~ my lTife then vran i·rorlcing
downtown and I had to walk very fast baclc to the office, and I nent
home and that "t"1SS that. But,. anJi'TaY~ that's the first and last
time I "t·ras P.ver drunk, but that's one incident.. (lauc;hter) To
shorT horl the promotion went, and some of the things that happened.
Sop uh, the bond issue carried and the sponsor's part of the con­tribution
was put up~ Sor then, in 1936 ~ no '38~ uh, now re~ember,
Mr. Ed Arneson 1·ras the District Representative of the WP.A and 1·re
had decided to go ahead with what ~my project~ So the city
made a contract 1-11 th me for the design and architectural l'rork, and
with Ed A~eson for the engineering~ But, unfortunately~ Ed had
no more than signed the contract 1·rhen he b-3came ill a!l.d 0 ~ls you
vrell 1cn01-T, died of cancer. So, he did !!9.1 serve as the engl.neer.
~. H. Lilly closed out his office practice and vms the engineer on
the project c So, the work got started and vms doinz beautifully
under the supervision of Bob Turk 1 the Construction Snperintendent 11
and the assistance of so very many, and uh, 1 t i~S t he outstanding
project for the NPA in the United States - one reason I think -
Bob and I 1·muld talk over the project as we'd eo do"frn the river)
and say, 11no1-1 this is going to be this 1·ray, and that ' s going to be
that \·Tayll you kno"t-11> and we hope to do it this 1-ray." Those men
would stop and listen and that way got the picture of what they
were doing, and they were interested - it was a real good spirit~
I thought.
Thene there ' s one other point,. .t!o1·r~ uh, after Jac:-c \fuite" got
the promotion and the job going~ he then vras Chairman of 8. River
Doard 0 and on the board 1·ras HcAllister, \f. 1'1., Hc.Allister, Claude
/7
v. Birkhead, Father Leavy, uh, Issac Bleds oe, Datus Proper, and
a number of others, there 1-1ere ten or t v1el ve and Jack \·/hi te was
t he chairman. So, t he work progressed and uh~ one other interest­ingpoin-
r. rTas that Jaclc l'Thite, uh said tha t 1 told the uorkmen that,
unorr anything that you find of any historic value is to be brought
to me, 11 and I think they found one or t1-10 cannonballs, an old doll,
a brass bell, and a few things like tha t were given to lf~. vlhite.
~' the fellm-Ts uncovered a family of fresh uater lobsters and
!·1r. I'Thi te vmnted those too, but someho"'iT, he didn't get but a couple
of them~~' 'cause the rest of the fellovTS had the fresh ·water lobsters.
Uh, then, a~ the project was going a long7 and t he theater be~ to
to take shape and after Ed Arneson had died, H. P. Drought suggested
that the river theater be named after Ed Arneson. That i s the un.y
the Arneson River Theater got its name.
Then entered Naury I~verick, Sr. on the scene. I i magine most of
you knevr !-1aury !Jfaverick rather vrell. He 11 uh, 1·ri shed to take char ge
as completely as possiblep and he tried to get me to employ a
rela tive of his as a landscape architect to which I did not agree
or disae;ree. I said, "vTell, t he planting and t hat part 1-1ill come
later and 1·re 111 talk a bout it later." But, anyhow, there began
to be criticism, all the newspaper articles are there, that there
1-1as too much rocla;ork 0 the bridges 1-1ere like Japanese bridges,
and so on. But the only change 11as the Fiesta Associations re­quest
t hat the bridges be as high as possible so they could have
a river para~~ in the evening~ you know. So, I was criticized
for that and not employing this relative of Mavericks . so, I
rocked along and suddenly I rms fired. Well , before we get to
that 9 uh, the timekeeper and t he boolckeepers of the 11PA 0 ,,rho had
t heir o ffice ~. i n the 0 uh, Coss House therep backing up to the
;q
theater, said there vrere discrepancies in the delivery of materielsp
and that deliveries were being· made to La Vill1tae And 0 sos I got
photostatic copies of those delivery slips and took them to Claude
V. Birkhead 1-rho was on the River Board. Now, La Villi ta lias a
Youth Corp Project and ?·1aury Maverick did a great deal 1fith that.
so, Birkhead said, "rlell, rTe 111 send Jack White a v-rire and force
a meeting and see if we can get this corrected." But the next thing
I knew~ I was dismissed; their excuse being that I refused to hire
a landscape architect and that I would not supply sufficient blue­prints.
I couldn't believe it, really, I thought, well, the women
and men of this to1m lcnev-r it v-ras my brainchild • you knot-v, surely
they 1-rouldn't let ~lhite get by vrith that. But, they did and he
did.
Sol7 that i·ras as far as I went - that 1-ras in about 1942. So the
project went on, and uh, they were - we lost a lot of things. There
was one project~ you'll find the working drawings here, between
St. r-!' B.ry's Street and Navarro, by Crockett Street, there's a v-ralk­way
there with an old pipe railing running along the river, that
l·ras to be 1'-lemory Lane. No\'1 0 remember Ethel Harris, in those days,
had a tile making project un. er the WPA and she made those beauti­ful
tiles 9 by the old Cyprus Tree, and the :r-1111 Crossing, and others.
So, this was to be a wonderful project for her and it was a series
of arches all the vray through, depicting the history of Texas,
the Indians, the Honlcs, and on ·up to the present time. But, uh v-re
had to s pend money elsevrhere and that 1-ras thwarted. \'le lost that,
we lost a lot of old iron lanterns and things like that, and uh
that i-Tas the unfortunate part. But, the project 1-ra.s carried on and
today you see it. This drai·Ting shorTS the structure, the control
structure at the north end of the big bend. That was to keep the
/Cl
flood waters from the river from flouing into the big bend, and the
other one vThich you see here is the outlet dorm by the Plaza Hotel
to let tha 1-1ater out.. There've been changes made not-T~ but that
was essentially the engineering part that made it possible to have
this dream come true. This, I call the Foods of All Nations, and
it ~re.s to have been between Crockett Street and Commerce street,
and you kno't·T vTha t a delightful place that is novr. These tvro pictures
are of the theater, and I 1-mnted to make a note of that. But this
is the picture of my officcn the first office on the river. That
vras right by Commerce Street., These t\ro pictures are of the theater,
and it ' s one of the points that I'd like to call to your attention
because it still needs a tile roof - you ladies see that it is
done.. ~~sc Harris made the first tile roof for this building~ but
after the project was completed in the forties. t he city didn't
to.ke care of 1 t and all the tile vrere broken and thrm·m into the
river~ The area became off limits to the military. The theater
building has an ugly composition roof on it not-r. Also, I had
contfJ.cted a Gentleman of the Mexican Consulate and I thought,
vrhen the project 11as finished f that 1 t uould be a good·t"lill gesture
for the f·lexican Government to give the bells to fill these arches
in the theater~ and we could use them.. I called it a broadcasting
t heater and I had hoped that we vrould broadcast from there, but vre
could still have the bells electrically operated. An:rrray, that
has never materialized. These drawings show, dolfll to the inch,
as Nr .. Turk 1·rill shcvr you and tell you about the theater and the
a rches and every part of it.
You have to realize hol-T things came about, so Here is the picture
of a boat that I designed and it was in the contract with the 1-l:PA .
It v1as to be a flat barge type boat vTi th powerful pumps on it to
;2,t)
pump the uater ou't of the river and >ratar ·the landscapine; .. 'ile
didn' t have the money to put in sprinkler syst ems along the banks,
This boat:) by hooJt or crook ll ·t-ras converted into a speedboat by
J aclc White and there it is 1·11 th a tiny nozzle in front - thus
t echnically, it was a watering boa·G. So, you see there were a
f e1·r thine;s that 1-rould upset a body. (l aughter)
Now, t here ' s one or two things I'd like to tsl k t o you a bout.
After I reti red from government uork , because I rm.s seventy , uh}
s ome l adies decided t hey want ed t o name some of the br idges on
t he river*' People like ·to put their names on things, you knm'f ~
So!) i t was proposed t o be the Have rick Bridge, the \·Th1 te Bridge,
t he Emily Edwards Bride;e, and the Hugman Bridge. So 0 I re~e ived
a lett er from some organizati on asking me to support t his idea .
So , I l'Trote to the Pas eo del Rio As so cia t 1on, a.nd o ~id ~ 11Ho1·r
romant ic it 1'1oul d sound to have e. nugman bri dge11
., They e;ot the
:point and the bridges uere not namedo Some others got t he i de a
of putting names on s i dewalks h on.oring people 1·rho had donated a
tree or a plante Ladies and Gentlemen~ this is a stage setting,
This i s some thine; that ' s beautiful and romc>.ntic. \'fe don • t "rant
American names on e"'Terything~ i t 1 s a dream vmrld v-Te • re trying to
create. The a r chitecture and t he a t mospher e are most i mportant -
but you 1vo heard the original presentation:~ ·which by the uay 1-ras
f irst made 1l verbally, to l'~rs .. Lane Tayl or, a beautiful and gracious
\-roman. I lrent to her house one:: a fternoon t o just talk over my
ldeas '\'Ji th her, 1-le sat on the front por oo, and she vras just en­t
h ralled ui th the vrhole thing. So t she said, 11Do you tb ink we can
do tt 'l Do you really think 1ie can do it? 11 Anyt;ay, Lane came home
and she said, 11Lane your dinner will be a l ittle late t ·onie;ht P vTe
are tal king about a plan for the river. " So, then later on I t o1d
;t/
her tha t I uould make this presentation and ~ introcuded me at
the Chamber of Comml3rce • So that, I think pretty ~-rell l} unless
someone can remember something that I have forgotten., pre t.ty \·Tell
is ·the story.
.. ·, .. ~ -:~ .;: .. ..... ~ ..
THE FOLLO~TING :?J:; J·1Af..KS J,_R.J-:; All EXPAHSIOH OF THE PART OF HY SPEECii
FOLL01fiNG THE READIHG OF "THE SHOPS OF ARAGON AND ROMULA"
Althoue;h my plan ·Has s o practica l that the flood control engineers
~ eadi l y approved it 7 the city fathers also saw how they coul d save
money and the business men savr ho1-r they -rrould be relieved from
central city flooding. It vres the women that played the major role
in opposing the abandonment of the Bie; Bend 11 nOi·T ltno't'm as Pas eo
del Rio and 1-rho pushed my proposal s . You see , those prominent
1-romen l'rere the ~1ives of all those prominant men and i·Iamma saM .ag, ..
The channel cut-off vras built, but nothing --lse was done on the
central city river. You will recall that in the earl y ' 30 ' s t he
great depression hit Texas uhich brought goverillllent umake~ .. \'rork"
projects into being . !~ny local architects and engineers could not
make a living in their o-vm professions, so they too "t·rorlced on I:la.ke­Hork
projects ~ i . eq remodeline; buildings for U.SeO e use:~ r eplan-ing
and re1-rorlcing public parks and. maki ng measured drm·rings of old
buildings~ I "t-Torked on U os.o. buildings and on parlcs under the
P.~.A and UPA"
Mr. H. P. Drought -vras Regional Director of t he rlPA and hr . Ed
Arneson was District Director. I worked under ¥~. Arneson as the
Planner··Desie;n.er. l! t this point in time 11 Lr .. Jack \ihi t.e entered
the scene. One day I got a call from a hr o John Richter (an old
Canar ~r I : .. .. -.dder ) 11ho l'Torl<:ed for Commissioner Jake Rubiola at
Cit y H2.ll o John told me that J . • ···ite, :-lanae;er of the Plaza Hotel
"'~
had been sent to the cityp by hls board of directors 9 to see if
so~ething could be done about the dirty r1ver adjacent to their
hotel • .John Richter told !1r. i'lhite about my plan for the Big Be-.nd
area of the river and 14r. White came to see me ..
No\v , Jaclc was n ,-,-,·omoter type and interested in tourist trade, s o
1.-Yhen he read my 1)rochure of the Shops of Aragon and Romula, he
c~u:ht the vision and be.)l l1 to promote the river project'" First
came a discussion as to wh~ ther the \"TPA was interested in the
project. l•Ir. H.,. P. Drought. said yes, I•lr. Arneson agreed, so I
made sketches from uhich estimates of cost could be made . ~"ie , in
the WPA off ice , determined that the project from the south end of
the charu1el cut-off to fourth street at the north end ·would cost
about 8380, 000000 plus a sponsor's contribution of )75,000,00 .
Tbe ·.vPA officials got the national administration ' s 0.:\o since
more public work was needed in this area . The c ity vms asked for
the sponsors contribution, but whether they couldn ' t or wouldn ' t,
thzy didn' t.
Jack i'lhite, 11lth the Chamber of Commerce and bt.'.sin~ss men tried to
raise the ~75 ~000.00 but could only raise about ~30 "000 .00 \vhlch
was put into e .. cro1-1 until all the money as raised., Thls f ailed
and the money had to be returned. .Another pl an \-taS proposed; tba t
of creating a bonded distri~t c.te block on each side of the river
to be improved. Nowp Ladies and Gent l emen~ one beDded district
problem uas that the voters had to o-vm property and a l s o live i n
the district .
i·,hen the district -.;·ras po ll ed ~ it 1ras found thD t only f1 ve p1·operty
owners lived in the district and that three of them 0 an old bachelor
and t 1-ro old maids -r:rere opposed lo the plan. Thls is ul,en Jack came
throuc;h ~ the papers stated that the bond election carried by a
vote of 74 to 2. r ·learned t hat Hr~ White got the people living in
~ t<
his hotel to vote, and technically they could, if they O'\-vned a
watch and registered. This means that two of the people actually
livine within the district voted NO and at least 71 people living
i n Jack' s hotel voted YES. I guess one of the old maids ·was sick
that day. But, that is the clever way the city administration got
the $75,000.00 for the sponsor's contribution so t he WPA could
proceed with the river project.
The next step rms to employ an architect and an engineer to prepare
working dra1-T1ngs for my project . I was employed as the archi teet
and Mr . Arneson as the engineer. I had opened my orm office by then
and Mr. Arneson had held on to his office all the time while with
the i·lPA.
As architect, I had to prepare the sketches and plans for all features
of the project before the engineer could add the structural and
engineering data. During the months in which I -vms preparing my
dra-vrings, Hr. Arneson uent to .r.J.ayo Brothers Clinic, I believe, and
found that he had terminal cancer. This rms a shock to me and
everyone. Ed was a prince of a guy. r~r. w. H. Lilly took over
}~. Arneson ' s office contracts and thus became the engin6~flfor the
river project. Poor Ed did not get to draw a line on the river
project.
The ground breaking ceremonies for the project took place about
March 1939 and all went beautifully until v~ury Maverick, Sr. be­came
Mayor and aspired to take over the river project in early
1940. He askai me to hire a relative of his as Landscape Archi­tect
at ~25.00 per day and this -vms to come out of my commission11
which vas originally ~6 ,ooo.oo. I neither a greed or disagreed -
we just did not need one at that time. The criticisms began,
saying there was too much roclnmrk, the bridges -rrere too high,
the VTPA should pay the city for the ground the theater s eating
q .//
area uas on because it rros part of La Villi ta. Then, the \1PA
bookkeepers indicated to me that material belonging to the river
project 1.vas being delivered to the La Villita project. Photostatic
tJ/1 tT d e.-
copies of rTPA records vrere/by me and I delivered them to Judge
Claude V. Birlchead ,_ rtho 1.-vas then on the r1 ver committee. The
next thing I knew11 I l-ms fired. !·Iy attorney gave me the proverbial
advice, uYou can't fight City Hallu so. I did no more. As I re­callll
I received about 4,ooo.oo for all of my rmrk.
1-u-. Turk, the river project building superintendant, 1.1as to have
stopped me if I said anything 1v.rong, but you notice he hasn ' t
stopped me yet.
The WPA held to my plans as much as they could, but the river pro­ject
lost some of its features due to added pressures by Hayer
Maverick and his associates; for example, 1-iemory Lane planned
!ttVd
along Crockett Street/the the river rras lost ..
Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I promised to tell it as it ~res, so I
1-rill tell you thiS. There l'TaS not sufficient money in the program
or really no need to put i~ a sprinkler system for the riverbank
plantings, but rather I designed a boat which was to carry trouba­dors
at night and in the daytime to pump water from the river on
to the banks. Here is my sketch of this boat and 1-rhich rras in­cluded
in the \·TPA rrorking plans. Notr, friends look at !.hi§. picture.
It sho't·rs an ordinary motor boat 1·ri th a tiny nozzle on the front
and J ack ;fuite, Tom 11ic .i':amara and the boats builder o. u. t,'lilson
riding in it. Technically speaking , the boat in the contract had
to have a 1.-mtering device on it 11 but loolc i.-That it turned out to
be. The article accompanying this picture says, "City Navy launches
unit and will be put into patrol service in dovmtuvrn San Antonio
and vrill ua ter the flm·rers along the river, etc, etc." Jack
:j..c;-
lfui te uanted to be Captain of theR1 ver Navy, so he arranged for
this boat and rode it around the river for a time. He bought a
blue coat and a vrhi te naval cap and looked very official.
My friends~ I feel small in telling this story, but it shows some
of the thine;s that 't-rent on at the time and over "tvhlch the WPA had
no control a nd which hurt this beautiful project both monitarily
esthetically - we are the looserse
-r,'tfvl
I could tallc to you for hours, but no doubt you are getting; hovrever
I wish to mention a couple of other things. We shoul d remember
that many people helped with the river project during the promotion
period, who have never been mentioned. A fe't'f of those w·ere the
Chamber of Commerce memb ers~ some of whom vrere on the river com­mite
e. Also, dear Ethel Harris, r1ho in the 30' s had a tile makLng
project under the ~'!PA and who made t he beautiful tile pl aques
placed along the river and a l so the roofing tile on the river theater0
regretably destroyed by vandals in the so ' s for lack of supervis ion
over the project.
So many helped and I wish I could name them all.
E~""D
~/