2011-6 Remembrances Special EditionCity of Schertz — Remembrances -Special Edition Article 2011-6
Provided by: Schertz Historical Preservation Committee *
(Article research material taken from thesis titled: "An Economic Analysis of Highway Construction: A
Study of the Location, Financing, and Building of the Post Road from Austin to San Antonio", written by
Henry M. Pavehouse, approved 1930.)
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At about the turn of the 20th century, as cities such as San Antonio, New Braunfels, San
Marcos, Kyle and Austin took shape and the revolutionary new device for travel called
the automobile caught the attention of Texans, the issue of building roads that would
accommodate the use of automobiles began to be considered. One concerned government
agency was the U.S. Postal Service. Its concern was focused on discovering an economic
way to provide automobile postal delivery service to each of the towns and cities along
the route of what had been the Austin to San Antonio trail road, a rugged and
undependable dirt pathway impassable in many spots when heavy rains struck the
territory. Joining the Postal Service in search for better transportation routing from city
to city was the U. S. Agriculture Department which wanted to improve merchandise
transport for lo - cal. farmers throughout the territory. The two agencies joined forces in
appealing to the U.S. Congress for funds to build a road that would allow postal services
to be provided to all towns along the route and at the same time improve commerce along
the roadway.
The term "Post Road" was originally used in connection with post offices. It signified a
road upon which the post or communication might be carried. This was particularly true
in the days of the post rider and the stage coach. Later it was extended to apply to all
roads over which any postal matter was carried. The Texas Post Road was a project
supported by two federal agencies, the Postal Service and the Department of Agriculture.
The road's routing had to satisfy both agencies needs, i.e. postal service for towns that
has a post office and rural farming transportation needs for rural farm operations.
Three views of the Post Road, Schertz, Texas looking westward. Middle photo shows
one of several culverts (#135) that are dated 1915 when the original road was constricted.
By 1905, San Antonio had already placed gravel on its portion of the roadway from
center of town to the county line. This was done with the aide • a bond issue that had
been passed in 1903, which was one • the first such bond issuances in the State •
.
At its completion, the road was a fine specimen and a historic landmark in that it was the
first "Post Road" constructed in Texas and was the first cooperative effort by two
separate federal agencies that supplied federal funding. As construction began the road
was hyped by its engineers as an outstanding feat of road building among the best in the
country. The topping for the road was composed of rolled gravel. However, within the
year of its completion the road had deteriorated to the point that gravel had washed away,
holes had appeared and parts of the road were impassable in the rainy season. The heavy
through traffic on the road played havoc on it at those places where it ran through towns.
The towns were notoriously bad about repairing their portions of the road. The road was
no better than its weakest link and thus it became not much better than most of the
country roads.
By 1918, the road was in such condition that the newly created Texas State Highway
Department decided that it should be rebuilt. The state and the counties agreed to meet
the federal government with the cost at a fifty-fifty split. Soon after the road's repair,
commissioner's courts in several of the counties passed ordinances that forbad narrow
wheeled vehicles from using the road since those wheels did the most serious damage to
the road.
Although there was overall agreement as to the general direction the road should traverse,
the specific routing within each county was left to each county to determine. There was
no concerted effort to engage in joint county or state discussions regarding routing
options. Further complicating the routing issue was the inability to get all property
owners to cooperate in providing right of way access through private properties. Thus
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Today, the road is under study for a widening project by the Texas Department of
Transportation along a stretch from FM 2252 (Schertz, Texas) in the west to Krueger
Canyon Road (Solms, Texas) in the east. The historical assessment portion of the study,
besides identifying several historic structures in the Comal settlement area as being likely
candidates for National Registry of Historic Places (NRHP) listing, also discovered five
roadside culverts along Highway 482 as it passes through Comal that contain 1915 dates
inscribed in the concrete suggesting that these are original culverts placed there when the
original Postal Road was constructed.
Culvert No. 145 at Hwy 482, Schertz, Texas just west of the intersection of Hubertus
Rd. & Hwy 482 (looking westward and showing north side of the culvert), Date stamp
appears along the top of the concrete culvert under the guard railing, north side of road.
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