Begin at Central Park, on East Nolte St. south of the Courthouse

The stone marker C.S.A., Confederate States of America marker, erected by the state, is a reminder that Guadalupe County joined the Confederate forces during the Civil War and had a staging (gathering and training) area located between Jefferson Avenue and Court St. west of Guadalupe St.

An iron fence with turnstiles circled the third courthouse. This prevented the roaming animals such as cattle and hogs from damaging the courthouse property. The fence was removed and used to fence the Zuehl cemetery. This part of the fence was returned in 1996.

Under the government stake at the tree is a well-mutilated survey marker stating the altitude at this location is exactly 528 feet above sea level.

Turn right and walk to the corner of South Austin St. and East Court St.
Guadalupe County's Bulletin Board is in a case at this corner. From this board a person will find the activities of the county, including properties for sale through default, such as non-payment of taxes.

Cross Austin St. and Court St. Proceed north, stopping at Gonzales St.
On the southwest corner of Gonzales St. and Austin St. was the Grande Central Hotel that boasted a dining room, a music room, and a barbershop. Seguin's Wonderland Theater was located on Austin St. just south of the barbershop. The Wonderland Theater began showing moving pictures in the Kempenstein Opera House located upstairs at the southwest corner of Gonzales St. and North River St.

The Tri-County Land Surveying, Inc business, 114 North Austin St. has old tools and instruments of surveying. Their Christmas display is one of Seguin's finest.

Walk west on Gonzales St.
At 111 West Gonzales St. is the Leon Studio. Leon and Nelda Kubala always had pictures of "Old Seguin" and/or it's people in their window. Their library of pictures will be preserved locally.

Turn right at the corner, cross West Gonzales St.
Look west at the (old) Post Office Seguin has had many Post Office locations. This building was built in 1934 while Franklin Roosevelt was President, J.W. Morganthau Secy. Treasurer, and James Farley was Postmaster General. The building qualifies for a historical marker. In the year 2000, the building became the law office of A. Rober Raetzsch and Wm. L. Knobles.

There are some rather large old oak trees west of the (old) post office. This is a part of a group of trees known as the Ranger Oaks. Under Rangers Jack Hays and James Callahan, a group of renegades and Indians were captured, brought to town, and forced to dig a trench in the area of the Ranger Oaks. The captives were then lined up and shot so their bodies fell into the trench, thus saving some trouble of the burial.

The I.S.D. Joe F. Saegert Middle School, named for an early school superintendent, is located at the west end of Gonzales St. The four acre block was the original site of the Guadalupe Female Academy built in 1851. The Jesuit Fathers bought the building and property and in 1884 sold the properties to the Guadalupe Baptist District Association. Their first session of school was in 1887. George W. Brackenridge of San Antonio was a large benefactor of Guadalupe College. He gained control of these properties which his heirs sold to the I.S.D. in 1927. The I.S.D. opened the Seguin High School in this building in 1929.

Proceed north on North Camp. Cross Mountain St. and look west.
The large oak in the back yard in the first block on the left is called the Charter Oak. Under its branches 33 shareholders met and agreed to form a town site, Walnut Springs, which later became Seguin.

Turn right.
As late as 1914, a blacksmith shop was located at the northeast corner of North Camp St. and West Mountain St.

The next bulding east housed the Fire Department on the ground floor. Walk down the alley at the side of the building to see the recently bricked doorways at the rear of the first floor. This was the stable area where the two horses for the fire departments combination wagon were kept at ready." The fire department also maintained a hand-drawn horse-and-ladder truck. In 1914, the fire department had one paid driver. The building was later used for youth services before the State Bank & Trust rebuilt it.

Proceed east to Austin and Mountain Streets.
The Aumont Hotel, named for its location at the corner of Austin and Moutain Streets was built in 1916 on the site of an old livery stable. The Chicago White Sox team stayed at the Aumont for spring training at Seguin in 1922 and 1923. This was the period of time the White Sox were often called the Black Sox because of their scandal. Just north of the livery stable was the town's undertaker.

Turn right and walk south.
On the east side of Austin St. was located a barber, a tailor, an agricultural implement store that also sold harnesses and buggies, a grocery store, a clothing store, and a dry goods store.

At Gonzales St. turn left.
One of Seguin's largest fires occured in the Blumburg store on the north side of the street.

The Oak has been in the same family since before the requirement for individual sales tax receipts. For this reason the Oak still uses a cash box for their sales.

Proceed to the corner of North River and East Gonzales Streets.
This has always been an interesting corner. The Dietz Opera House was located upstairs on the northwest corner. The Opera House was well known in 1883 for its plays and performances. There was a theatrical group in town as early as 1858, but there is no record of the location of their performances. Keller's bakery, a prominent gathering place, was on the corner of East Gonzales and North River Streets.

Across at the northeast corner is the Municipal Building. Read the Historical Marker for Juan N. Seguin and go inside for a look at the ship's bell from the W.W.II Liberty Ship, "S.S. JUAN SEGUIN."

On the southwest corner, in 1894, upstairs, was located Kempenstein's Opera House. Kempenstein's was used for elite parties, graduation exercises and as a movie house. The lower floor has housed two grocery stores, a meat market, a pool hall and a barbershop. Mr. Harold Baenzinger, a Seguin legend and past owner of the proerty, donated this building to the Seguin Heritage Society where a museum has been established.

Cross to the southwest corner of Gonzales and River Streets.
Go south to the iron rings on bars mounted in the concrete at the edge of the sidewalk, near the gutter. These rings were used to tie horses and mules back in the horse and buggy days.

At the corner of East Court and River Streets, look south.
"The Seguin Mercury," the town's first newspaper, was located in the first block on South River St.

Cross Court Street, walk west to Seguin's "White Way" lamp.
This is the only original memorial lamppost remaining of the 24 installed in 1922 around Courthouse square and Central Park square honoring the 24 Guadalupe County soldiers that made supreme sacrifice during World War I.

The next marker honors World War I and World War II dead from Guadalupe County. The marker was sponsored and dedicated by the American Legion.

The next marker is to honor the "Old Spanish Trail." The Old Spanish Trail was a 1915 Chamber of Commerce project of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana to bring Northern automobile traffic to the South. Seguin's Chamber of Commerce was started in 1915, but went broke a year later. It was restarted in 1920. The Chamber of Commerce aided in bringing the Old Spanish Trail through Seguin. The Old Spanish Trail markers were placed on what is now Court Street in 1921. The zero stone for San Diego was set in 1923. The third zero marker, for San Antonio, was set on Military Plaza, and dedicated in 1924. Seguin set the fourth marker on the groundsof the Guadalupe County Courthouse Square in 1946. Dedication was scheduled for August 7, but a four-inch rain postponed the dedication until September 5, 1946.

The flag poles are in remembrance of Oscar Henze, Seguin District One councilman for many years.

On the corner is the World's Largest Pecan dedicated to the pecan industry of Guadalupe County. The pecan was molded and built by Seguin's Monroe Engbrock. Guess it's weight? A written message is inside the concrete and plaster pecan. A lady at Starcke Furniture knows the contents of the message.

Walk west crossing Austin Street.
At the southwest corner of Austin and Court Streets is the Tips Building, built in 1890 by Ferdinand Klein with Sonka Brick, a locally made cast stone. The north end of the building housed the business of Tips and Caldwell, while the south end of the building housed the saloon of Ferdinand Klein. Located upstairs was one of the town's five opera houses. One article states the first movie in Seguin was shown in Klein's Opera House. Many area school graduation exercises have been held in Klein's. In 1914, a bowling alley operated on the second floor. The location has been home to a supper room, a clubroom, dance hall, Sons of Hermann meeting room, and the meeting place of the American Legion.

The Women's Temperance Union hall was once located on the north side of Court St. in the second building from Austin St.

Walk west to the corner of Camp and West Court streets.
At the northeast corner, above the Vogue Shoe Store, was Baker's Hall. This was the location of another one of Seguin's Opera Houses. Through the years, Baker's Hall was a meeting place for several organizations and lodges. The Hall was probably best known for its pool parlor.

Look to the southwest corner of Camp and Austin streets.
Guadalupe County was organized at this location in 1846 in the home of Paris Smith, one of Seguin's founders.

Walk to the iron rings at the sidewalk on the east side of the street. More rings from the horse and buggy days. Imagine the squabbles of the drivers to get a location in the shade of the large tree for their horses and mules. The tree near the curb behind Vivroux's strore is the Coffin Oak as a slab of wood in the shape of an old timewood coffin with six sides often hung from this tree advertising the availability of burial coffins at Vivroux's. Upstairs in the rear of the Vivroux Building, (at the northeast corner of Camp and West Donegan Streets) harnesses and buggies were sold. The large, for that time, hand-operated elevator is on West Donegan St.

Cross to the southwest corner of West Donegan and South Camp Streets.
The building was a Baptist Church at one time . The original portion of the building (on the corner) is made of Park's concrete.

Proceed south
Eduard Nolte, a merchant, lived in a house, now gone, located on the property where the white house is located 115 West Market (now West Nolte). Eduard married the widow Hipp and had three sons, Edgar, Eugene, and Walter. Eduard gave the three sons large, prominent houses; Edgar, the house at 115 West Nolte; Walter, the house, now remodeled, at 605 South Austin; and Eugene, at 102 East Live Oak. The house at 115 West Nolte is now the property of the Starcke Furniture Company. See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

Walk south to the St. James Catholic Church on the right
The present church was built in 1914 and remodeled in 1952 at which time a new steeple, 109 feet to the top fo the cross was added. The Rectory next door was built in 1901. Across the road is a large, two story white building. This is the St. James Catholic School. It is constructed of Dr. Park's concrete formula, and a marker states it has been used continually as a school since 1850.

At Convent St., walk right between the school and large house on the left
down the concrete steps to Walnut Branch. Far over on the right, actually on Washington St., is the rear of the Behrendt home. The rear portion of this house is constructed of Park's concrete.

On the left, the Greek Revival style Holmes-Scull house was built in 1901 for J.T. Holmes who sold the waterworks to the city in 1898 for the sum of $51,000. The house has twelve-foot ceilings. To keep the kitchen heat from the house, there is a ten-inchair space separating the kitchen from the house.

Walnut Branch, from Klein St. to Court St. was a showplace park built by the Works Progress Adminstration and the city in the 1930's. The WPA workers traveled daily from their barracks south of the Guadalupe River to prepare the park for Seguin. Many WPA & CCC workers, familiar with barracks life, were the first to enter W.W.II.

Walk east to South Austin St.
At 605 South Austin St. is a one-story house (1905). It was originally a three-story Walter Nolte house that has been remodeled. Walter Nolte married a Ms. Dibrell. The Dibrell family was a benefactor of Elizabeth Ney, the sculptor from Austin (her house was named Formosa) and earlier from Hempstead, Texas, and from Germany before that.
See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

Go north one block and turn right.
The house at 102 East Live Oak is the Eugene Nolte House (1895). Note the eagle at the top of the turret. The original onle was blown away in a storm. The children from the Catholic school took up a collection and replaced the eagle. The home had coal-fired steam heat and an ammonia freezer. The casement windows allow full flow of air through the home. Eugene Nolte, his wife Claudia, a son, and two more Noltes are buried in the Nolte Mausoleum in Riverside Cemetery.
See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

Los Nogales Museum is one block east.
Los Nogales (spanish for nuts) Museum is located at 415 South River St. The building is constructed of sun-baked bricks, or adobes, such as those made by the Mexican Indians. The adobes were no doubt made from dirt dug to form the cellar. The building, constructed in 1849 for Justus Gombert, has a fetch-and-wattle inner wall separating the kitchen from the cellar stairway. It was an early pioneer home built on lot 8 block 12, Seguin town lots. After the Civil War, the area and this property were used as a campground for members of the Freedmen's Bureau. The Seguin Conservation Society purchased the little building, now known as Los Nogales, February 14, 1952, and established it as a museum displaying local artifacts. H.A.B.S. as the Ben McCulloch home, 1936, Registered Texas Historical Landmark, National Register 1970.
See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

North of Los Nogales Museum is the Doll House"built in 1910 by a local cabinetmaker, Louis Dietz. See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

Go east on Live Oak St.
The Campbell-Hoermann Log Cabin is at 207 East Live Oak St. John Campbell may have built the first room of this cabin before 1850 about eight miles southwest of town. He returned to Ireland and brought 23 relatives back to Texas. The 24 lived in one room until the second room was added. The cabin was moved to this location in 1979 by the Seguin Conservation Society. The dogtrot construction was common in early houses. A "dogtrot" is an area between two rooms, open to the weather on each end for cooling breezes, and often used by dogs and children for loafing and running. The dogtrot was also a place to hang clothes and store household items and work tools. The Hoermann family donated the cabin to the Conservation Society.Registered Texas Landmark, 1982. See Historic Homes - The Charm of Seguin.

Behind the cabin is a building constructed in 1849 at the northwest corner of South Austin St. and West Nolte St. It served as the Methodist Church, the first building constructed as a church in Seguin. Eduard Nolte purchased it for use as a store in 1868, and since he had a safe, the Nolte Bank (Victoria National Bank, Norwest Bank, Wells Fargo Bank) was born in this building.

Harriet and Dick Phillips donated the calaboose, located behind the log cabin to the Conservation Society January 31, 1986 in memory of her parents, Arthur and Una Schmidt. It was used to haul prisoners to work on couty roads and to the fields to perform work duties such as picking cotton. It was located on the county convict farm, a part of the county poor farm, which was southeast of Highway 123 Bypass and Highway 90. The Paupers Cemetery is located on this property. A least 30 sticks (grave markers) have been reported seen at the cemetery.

A wagon used for many years to haul cotton to market from a farm southeast of Seguin, and stalk cutter used for over 100 years on a ranch near Pettus are located behind the cabin.

The remains of a tree are also behind the log cabin. These are part of the Hanging Tree that stood on the corner of East Market St. (now East Nolte St.) and South Bastrop St. (now South River St.). Miss Susan Calvert was the daughter of Jeremiah S. Calvert, owner of the Magnolia Hotel. She was the girlfriend of Ranger Jack Hays who admonished her not to venture where Indians might capture or murder her. But Susan accepted an invitation from another young man to pick flowers a few miles from town, where Indians tried to capture them. Their fast horses allowed them to escape and return to Seguin. Who should be waiting for them but Jack Hays, supposedly in San Antonio at work as Captain of a Texas Ranger group . "Hays was not a little displeased," as expressed in the book JACK HAYS, as he proceeded to capture and hang the man who went riding with Miss Susan. In an article in the Seguin Enterprise, October 2, 1936 by Willie May Weinert, A.J. Sowell stated, "The least said about this, the better"

Turn left on Crocket St.
On the right is the two story Greg home.

On the left in the second block is the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church built in 1876 (1884), and covered with white Austin stone in 1954. Note the lightning rods and the large bells in the bell tower. The stained glass is of the Tiffany type. The interior suspension supports are called straddles. The woodwork was carved by Stephen White of Seguin, the same man who designed and carved the woodwork for the State Capitol. The church addition was completed in 1987.

On the right in the next block is the Magnolia Hotel (1842). Two concrete rooms were built with Dr. John E. Park's invention. Dr. Park, a chemist, developed a construction process using gravel (likely dug from the building area to form a cellar) and lime, poured a foot at a time between boards that held the mass in place until it solidified. Under the north side of the original hotel is a cellar about 50 feet by 20 feet and about 20 feet deep. Max Moellering states the original two rooms were constructedby James Campbell with logs intended for a blockhouse on the public square, but were not needed as the danger of Indian attacks were reduced. The logs were bought from the town's original association. James Campbell sold the property to Joseph F. Johnson of Kentucky, who used the building as a hotel. Johnson sold the hotel, after making some additions, to Michael Erskine and Jeremiah Calvert in 1846. Calvert later bought out Erskine who had purchased El Capote ranch east of town in 1841.

The stone step at the corner of South Crocket St. and East Donegan (formerly Center) St. was used to slave boys and girls to light a lamp at night and to ring a bell to announce important events, such as the arrival of a stagecoach.

Mr. Lockmar found a bronze bell in the San Antonio River near the Alamo in 1845. Another account states Mr. Twohig found the bell in 1852. Mr. Twohig presented the bell to his father-in-law, J. S. Calvert, proprietor of the Magnolia Hotel in Seguin.The bell remained at the hotel until 1900 when his daughter, Mrs. C.K. Johnson gave it to her young son, T.L. Johnson, took it to California. The bell was located by Mrs. Joseph Dibrell of Seguin who arranged for the sale of the bell to the Alamo Daughtersof the Republic of Texas for $300. In 1918 it was announced that the bell would ring again in the Alamo. The bell is now in the Alamo Chapel.

Captain Jack Hays of the Texas Rangers married Miss Susan Calvert at the Magnolia Hotel April 29, 1847. Hays was stationed in San Antonio and on the trip there after the ceremony numerous friends, including fourteen carriages of ladies, met them at the Salado River crossing with lunch spread for a gala party. Later Hays and a partner went into the mercantile business in Buena Vista, on the Rio Grande River. Hays moved to California during the gold rush of 1849 where he was elected the first sheriff of San Francisco. Susan was on the 1850 Census as the daughter of Jeremiah H. Calvert, who was listed as a tavern owner (Magnolia Hotel). Susan followed her husband to California later that year. Hays was a surveyer, as many of the Rangers were and he helped many squatters obtain title to land in what is now Oakland, California. During this process he became owner of 800 acres of land that is now the property of The University of California, Berkley. Jack Hays was born in Tennessee January 28, 1817, and he died at age 66 in Piedmont, California. Susan died May 18, 1913 in Oakland. Jack and Susan are now buried in Oakland.

The Magnolia Hotel was an important stop for stagecoach lines. Stage line routes from Houston to Austin operated as early as 1845. However, it was 1847 before a stage route passed through Seguin, New Braunfels, and on to San Antonio. The route passed through New Braunfels, a detour, to pick up additional passengers. In 1849, a stage lines route advertisement for a trip between Lavaca and San Antonio stated the stage left each terminus on Fridays. During the Civil War, a stagecoach trip to San Antonio required 10hours. The stage traveled through Seguin, Gonzales, Cuero, and Victoria, and passengers had to stay overnight at each stop. The stage routes were active here generally from 1847 to about 1881. The railroad expansion brought the demise of the stage lines.

The Federated Women's Clubhouse, now located on the corner of East Ireland St.
and North River St. was originally built across from the Magnolia Hotel. It has been moved five times since the original construction.

Turn left and walk one block to South River Street and Central Park.

This concludes this tour.