Beitel Lumberyard

The railroad that ended at Kerrville was the San Antonio and Aransas Pass, chartered on August 28, 1884, with Uriah Lott as its chief promoter and Mifflin Kenedy as contractor. Between 1885 and 1887 it built 222 miles of track from San Antonio to Corpus Christi and to Kerrville. It went into receivership in 1890, and the Southern Pacific acquired it in 1892. A state suit in 1903 forced the SP to sell its stock, but the SP regained control in 1925, and in 1934 the line merged into the Texas and New Orleans Railroad.

What the plaque says

Beitel Lumberyard When the SA&AP Railroad made Kerrville the last stop on their line, Frank J. Beitel, owner of several lumberyards in San Antonio, bought land in Kerrville in 1889 to open a lumberyard. With Kerr County's variety of trees and community growth, the lumberyard flourished. In the early 20th century, the lumberyard consisted of a warehouse, office, a retail building and large lumber shed. The original train depot burned in 1913. Beitel sold a portion of his land along the line for a new depot and received a spur of tracks onto his property to load and offload goods which greatly increased efficiency and his business. For over a century, the lumberyard played a critical role in the growth and development of Kerrville. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Schreiner Mansion — 0.3 mi
  The 1879 downtown home of Charles Schreiner, the Alsatian-born merchant, banker and rancher whose store and mohair trade built Kerrville.
• Treue der Union Monument — 15 mi
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.
• Old Tunnel State Park — 19 mi
  A railroad tunnel abandoned in 1942 that now shelters up to three million Mexican free-tailed bats, who fly out each evening from May through October.
• Fort Martin Scott — 22 mi
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.

More markers nearby

• Kerrville Daily Times — steps away
• Zion Lutheran Church — steps away
• Early Settlers of Kerr County — steps away
• Kerr County — steps away