San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-15
A FAIR NOW.
Mr.. JOS. B0ELHAUWE OUTLINES A
FEASIBLE PLAN.
Wants Mass Meeting of Citizens Who
Shall Elect Officers And All
Pull Together.

each Of the presidents of the various
railway companies having interests
in San Antonio, regarding the feasibil-
ity of a fair in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, March 10, 1897.
Dear Sir:-Your company being in
terested to a great extent in this sec
ton and having considerable taxes to
pay, the prosperity of this city and
county is most certainly Of much in
terest to YOU. a.' asis:'!
When we held our first fair here,
President U. Lott, of the Arkansas
Pass was the promoter of said fair in
the amount of 100000. Since that
time no fair has been held, the grounds
and buildings lying idle. The prop
erty owners Of said grounds have Of
fered same at very low price. At
tempts have been made time and again
to hold fairs, but no harmony prevail
ed among our citizens and the projects
were abandoned.
For the interest of all concerned,
would most respectfully suggest that
your company subscribe to the stock
of new association. You have your
representatives here who could look
after your interests, and an invest
ment of this kind managed by the
proper man would certainly be of
great benefit to the entire city, as well
as your company.
If the presidents of the railroads in
to this point would subscribe, say ST.
10000 each, on condition that the old
fair grounds be bought and that the
fair be held on same, with a compe-
tent man as president of said fair,
and governed by twelve good drec-
tors, there is no reason why same
should not be carried through success
fully to the interest of both the rail
roads and our city. The fair grounds
are the finest that could be found any
where and would preclude the posi-
bility of loss of the money invested.
At the time the last fair was held
here a railroad was built from the
Arkansas Pass depot into the heart of
the city, and was operated by said
Aransas Pass road during the fair.
In case of not being able to get char
ter for such accommodation, there is
ample facility for transportation by
street railway. 1t would be useless
for me to explain to you how much the
city and railroads would be benefited
by holding a good fair.
Kindly advise me in what way you
will assist in starting this fair project,
and greatly oblige, Yours truly,
JOSEPH BOELHAUWE.
He has received replies from all of
them and the reply of Mr.. B. f. YOa
kun, vice president and general man
ager of the Frisco line, is given below:
st. Louis, No., May 0, 1897.
Joseph Boelhauwe, Esq, box SGT, San
Antonio, Texas:
Dear Sir:-I am in receipt of yours
of the Sth and have fully noted con-
tents. The fair grounds is the prop
erty of some of the citizens of San An
tonic, including Messrs. Hugo &
Schneider, Elmendorf, Schryver and
Kampmann, and any arrangement
made by these gentlemen will be sat
isfactory to me, whether on rental
basis, sale or otherwise. If the Fair
association is properly organized l
will subscribe what can towards ma
king it success.
Wishing you every success, l remain,
|, Very truly yours.
B. f. Yoakum.
A Light representative called on Mr..
Boelhouwe and asked him what were
the prospects of a fair this fall. He
replied:
well sir, as soon as the drill was
over l saw in your paper that the
drill association would start the pro-
ject but have not seen anything of
it lately. The trouble is always that
only a few of our enterprising people
have to foot the bills That has been
the case in San Antonio as far back
as 1874. You remember in 1876
when the military post was to be re-
moved from San Antonio because this
city had no railroads and the govern
ment expenses for transportation
overland were so large that it wanted
to move to a point on a railroad? The
nearest railway point was Kingsbury
and the owner Col. Pierce was una
bic TO reach San Antonio? The state
law allowed at the time the county
to issue bonds but the directors
against it said that Pierce was bank
rupt and they would not vote the
bonds. Then at once II of our citi-
zens went bond for the guarantee to