A Visit to San Angelo, TX

Thursday – Friday, September 29 & 30, 2016

We arrived in San Angelo and are staying at a really nice state park with large pecan trees to shade our RV.  Nice and quiet as it is away from the main highway and there are only four other RV’s in the park. 

San Angelo is about 200 miles south of Lubbock and still in the West Texas area.  Population is almost 100,000 so it is not a small town.  It is the home of Fort Concho and Goodfellow Air Force Base.  The town was founded in 1867 when the United State built Fort Concho, one of many forts built to protect the frontier.  Settler Bartholomew J. DeWitt founded the village outside the fort at the junction of the North and South Concho Rivesr.  The town was named after DeWitt’s wife, Carolina Angela.  The name was changed to San Angelo in 1883 at the insistence of the U.S. Postal Service.  The town was a trade center for farmers and settlers and the lawless cow town was filled with bars, brothels and gambling casinos. The Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1888 and the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway in 1909.

A visit to the Visitor Center provides us with lots of literature and suggestions from the attendant on various things to see.  We drive around the old part of the city getting our bearings for our next day venture to various attractions.  Outside and long the river is the beautiful statue.

On Friday we drive in to San Angelo and begin our visit on Concho Street where we hope to visit Miss Hattie’s Bordello and Museum but tour times do not jive with our plans.  (Miss Hattie moved to San Angelo in the late 1800’s married to a Mr. Hatton who apparently had a real taste for alcohol which did not set well with Miss Hattie who proceed to divorce him.  She got the upstairs and he the downstairs with Miss Hattie opening a bordello in her half in 1902).  Wonder how long Mr. Hatton lived downstairs or if he frequented the upstairs?  Guess we will never know.

Across the street is Eggemeyers General Store which has an interesting shop filled with all manner of merchandise including candles, toys, cards, things Texas, kitchen utensils, jams and jellys, beers and wines and homemade root beer.  I could have spent hours in the store but we move on across the street to an interesting antique store and on up the street taking in some of the old buildings dating to the mid to late 1800’s. 

We also plan to take in the Railway Museum but as in many towns, the Museum is only open on Saturday’s.  The museum houses memorabilia and artifacts including a permanent model train  layout depicting San Angelo in 1928. 

Moving down the road, we stop at Fort Concho where seventeen buildings on the fort grounds have been restored and five have been reconstructed.  A short video gives us an overview of the fort and its early as well as present living history demonstrations.  Buildings are for the most part made of native limestone so common in construction here in Texas.  The original property included at least 40 buildings and 1600 acres.  The fort opened in 1867 and closed in June 1888, its role in the settlement of Texas frontier over.  Buildings open to us are the Enlisted Men’s Barracks, Living History Stables, Mess Hall and Kitchen, Headquarters, the Hospital, School/Chapel and Officers Quarters.  Each building gives us information about the room and is nicely furnished to depict what it had been used for. 

Enlisted Men's Quarters

Mess Hall and Kitchen

Headquarters

Court Martial Room

Hospital

School/Chapel

One of the Officers Quarters homes includes a Museum of Telephony.  What a collection of old phones and phone equipment. 

We get a good workout walking the Fort grounds and our tummies are saying it is time for something to eat.  I find a restaurant called Twisted Root Burger Co. with an old truck on the roof.  Below are pictures from outside and inside.  On the menu is The Verde Burger which includes Hatch Green Chili, Pepper Jack Cheese, and Guacamole.  Really yummy and a taste from home.    Our table top is shot gun shells under glass.  We found out this restaurant had been seen on  Food Network ‘s Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.

One unique thing we kept seeing around town were the painted sheep statues which were painted by local artists.  The sheep represent the history of San Angelo and the wood industry.

We finish the day taking a few pictures of some of the murals around town 

and walking on the curving Celebration Bridge across the Concho River 

where we find this mermaid statue and pavers purchased by local citizens bearing a message.  The Mermaid is a bronze sculpture which depicts a fresh water mermaid with outstretched hands holding up a mussel containing a Concho Pearl.  These unique pearls are found only in the local rivers and lakes in this area.  

A beautiful park covered in pecan trees and picnic tables and benches line one side of the river here with the Museum of Fine Art and an outdoor amphitheater on the other. 

A wonderful sunny and warm day in this interesting old city. 

Signing off until the next venture.