The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 397
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Second Battle for the Alamo
By 1907 controversy roiled around the Hugo-Schmeltzer
building as "destroy" and "preserve" demands divided Texans
into two hostile camps. The Houston Chronicle supplied its
own brand of confusion by solemnly stating that the Hugo-
Schmeltzer building "is indisputably a part of the walls of the
mission San Antonio de Valero, but . . . [probably] not a part
of the historic, blood-stained church. . . ." The Chronicle in-
veighed against a "museum of relics," which "will require .. .
thousands of dollars," and complained it would be foolish to
refuse a practical offer only "to save a mere part of the walls
of the mission, the stable of it. . . ."9
Again meeting in Houston, February 14, the executive com-
mittee received a written proposal from the Vanderventer Hotel
Company, St. Louis, "to remove the buildings now occupied as
a place of business by the Hugo, Schmeltzer Company . . . to
plot the ground, and make a park around the Alamo Chapel,
and to keep the same in order for a long term of years, and fur-
ther offered to pay the salary of a Custodian for the Alamo Chapel
for a term of five years.""9
The DRT board decided that the company must reimburse
Miss Driscoll for taxes ($1,495.99) paid on the Hugo-Schmeltzer
property, pay $9oo annually for fifteen years to, meet the ex-
penses of a custodian, pay the DRT $io,ooo for property main-
tenance, and replace, at a cost of not less than $2oo, the chapel
flooring and door. The company was also required to remove
the Hugo-Schmeltzer building, "but shall carefully preserve all
of said original walls, and shall plant and train vines thereon
... .1." A committee was named to go to Austin and "lay the
matter before Governor [Thomas M.] Campbell for his appro-
val ... .""
Three days later a Houston Post review of the executive com-
mittee session stated that "nothing conclusive was agreed upon"
with the hotel interests but that negotiations "are underway."
The newspaper printed a sketch of the Alamo area showing
9"Houston Chronicle, January 21, 19o7.
"DRT Report, 1907, pp. 23-24.
6"Ibid., 27.
97Ibid397
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/421/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.