This morning we went down to the King Williams Historic District.
It was amazing. Blocks of houses built in the 1870's in perfect condition that apparently single family home that are mostly being lived in. There was also a few that had been converted into museums.
At one end was the Pioneer Mill that has operated since the 1870's
Where they still back bread for the restaurant that is in the old house where the original owes lived.
The river walk that runs through the historic district too.
These houses that were just amazing, one after another.
With an occasional more modern house thrown in for good measure.
Some new apartments mixed into the area.
After walking several blocks and finding only a couple of old homes in really bad shape. I discovered why. This house became a museum. We were able to tour the inside but I could take any pictures unfortunately. This house was build in 1876 and like the other houses in this historic district it was in bad need of repair. Some of the houses were being used as boarding house but most were empty and the city was considering distorting them by the early 60's. The houses were saved by San Antonio Conservation Society who convinced Walter Mathis to purchase and restore this house. Which he did in 1966. Plus he was so excited about it that he bought 14 other houses in the neighborhood and convinced other like minded (and wealthy people) to purchase and restore them. And that was the start. After those 15 houses got restored, others started restoring houses until nearly every house in the neighborhood was restored. Mathis died in 2005 and left the 4 houses he had left to the San Antonio Conservation Society. Mathis was quite a collector of antiques and the house was filled with antiques. Below are pictures of the outside of the house.
We had a picnic lunch by the river.
Then we went to look at this other house that was restored by Edward Steves. We could take pictures on the inside of this house.
This was a truly amazing area of San Antonio.
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