1870s-1880s THE “4 Cs” – CATTLE, CORN, COTTON, COAL or BEXAR COMMUNITY ARRIVES
In the late-1870s coal, rather lignite or “brown coal,” was discovered in the Lytle area. That Lytle area is still, today, known as Coal Mine. One of the Irish farmers considered if there was coal in Lytle, perhaps there was coal on his property north of “Somerset.” He explored and, yes, there was coal. This advertisement for Pat Kinney’s coal appeared on page 2 of the San Antonio Daily Express of December 2, 1881, and was advertised regularly in newspapers for the next 40 years.
Here’s a better one:
The advertisement above, From 13 January 1882 San Antonio Evening Light, page 2, indicates you can buy it by the ton or by the barrel. Just leave your order with Morrie Friedman, at Clavin’s Drugstore, or George R. Stumberg’s store on South Flores Street.
12 November 1883, San Antonio Light, page 3, (above) indicates Pat is hiring others to handle the large quantities of his coal sold in the city of San Antonio to heat homes and fuel industrial power plants. Alamo Iron Works was one such industry that used Kinney Coal until they turned to a petroleum-based power by the mid 1930s.
And a final newspaper item, in the “Personals” column, indicates the impact of Patrick Kinney’s Coal mine.
Coal from this Kenney mine was hauled by wagon to San Antonio for a few years. When the International and Great Northern Rail Road (known to all as the I&GN or “Eye-n Gee En) was completed by 1883, horse and mule drawn wagon loads of Kinney coal headed to the train at Lytle for the trip to San Antonio.
The new town that grew up around the coal mine became known as Bexar Community, or just Bexar (Pronounced BeX-ar by many Anglos and Bejar by those who had lived here for a while.). It was also known as La Colorada, it is said, for the Kenney store and post office (located at the southeast corner of FM2790 and Kenney Road -south) that was said to be painted that good old “barn red” paint. Around this mine grew a sizeable community of some three general stores, churches , a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, school, even a doctor’s home/office. Nearby could be found farm homes and housing for some 50 coal miners and their families.
These miners originally came from Mexico’s Piedras Negras area to the mining community of Coal Mine near Lytle. That community at Lytle? – It’s still there. (Now, what do you suppose the mines at Piedras Negras produced that made their workers in such demand in this part of Texas?)
Patrick Kinney/Kenney was the property owner, but John Belto and family were the mine engineers and managers.
–A thank you to a Belto descendant (AF call sign “Snake.”) who shared some of his family history with this author.
Money, that Pat Kinney made from his coal mines, was used for building a school on the Kinney/Kenney property, where the town was growing. He also donating land to the Catholic Archdiocese, where, in 1883, the Catholic Church of San Patricio de Bexar (St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at Bexar) was dedicated. This growing Catholic community of Anglo and Tejano, ranchers, Irish farmers, and Mexican coal miners, now had their own community church. The older church of Santissima Trinidad (Holy Trinity Catholic Church) at Garza’s Crossing of the Medina River, where they had been worshipping, would become a fondly remembered old church which in 1919s was swept away forever in a great Medina River flood.
Years ago I discovered the wonderful 1978 copy of Patchwork, a book of Lytle, Texas’ history. In wandering through the old photos, maps, and comments I arrived at page 88 showing the church at Lytle’s Coal Mine town, the church of the Immaculate Conception. Before reading the captions for the photos, I said (out loud) “There’s pictures of St. Patrick’s Church! My dad’s Aunt and Uncle Rob McCoy took me to worship several times when I visited their family for a weekend back in the early 1950s. I learned years later that St. Patrick Catholic church was in bad shape and torn down “in the early 1950s.” Parishioners now were to attend St Mary’s Catholic Church in Somerset.
In reading the captions I was disheartened to read they were not photos of St. Pat’s at all.
St Pat’s was built on the north side of what became the St. Patrick’s Cemetery. the church was decommissioned and torn down by the mid 1950s. Newer graves now lie where the old church and car parking, in front of the church, used to be. (The background would be today’s Bexar Road with property on the other side of the fence (can you see the fence post?) today being St. Mary’s Cemetery.
While we are on churches at Bexar, in the Ernest Russell Lopez collection, there was also a photo of Medina Baptist Church at Bexar. (see image below)
MAPS of BEXAR by those who lived and worked there
Aniceto’s son, Pablo Cortez, was instrumental in researching and writing about La Mina Colorada, (The “red” coal mine”) helping preserve this precious history.
According to this mine veteran, La Colorada mining community overlapped Bexar Community which was located along what is now FM2890, Benton City Road and Kenney Road.
NORTH is at the left side of the map, EAST is a the top.
This is a map that appeared in the Devine News. My great aunt Alice McCoy Scott ( 1892-1987) was interviewed for the information, but was not the map drawer. Please ignore the curved road “To Somerset,” as it should be straighter. This map is on a North (at top) South (at bottom) organization.
The Kenney’s in the community are her uncles and cousins. She was focusing on “Bexar” Community where her family worshipped, shopped, and attended school.
There were 3 general stores at Bexar: Will Kenney’s next to his residence; Tom Kenney’s store at the corner of FM2790 and James Road (now Kenney Road) and Conally’s Store and Post Office on FM2790 and across the road from his home that was next door to the doctor’s residence.
The Churches are the Baptist Church next to Bexar Cemetery and Bluebonnet Cemetery, the Methodist Church next to St. Patrick’s Cemetery and the Catholic St. Patrick’s Church at that corner.
The School was next to the Methodist Church and across the road from the Cotton Gin. A Blacksmith Shop and a community water well was a the “point” corner.
This 2nd Sommersett/Somerset community, which began its growth with the Kinney Coal Mine, lasted until the 1920s as another, newer economic opportunity presented itself 1 1/2 miles to the east. One of the last businesses/organizations to leave was the Methodist Church which in 1923, literally rolled its building eastward, down FM2790 to its new home on 7th Street at Caruthers.
St. Patrick’s Church would stay until the mid 1950s, but it’s bell was already calling parishioners to the newer St. Mary’s church, which was dedicated in 1934. That storied St. Patrick’s Church bell can still be seen in front of St. Mary’s church, Somerset.
Next: Part 3: The Third Sommersett/Somerset
