2012-7 Remembrances Special Edition1
City of Schertz Remembrance Special Edition 2012-7 Presented by: Schertz Historical Preservation Committee
Schertz Business Honors Historic Family Roots
The Silver Tree Nursing and Rehabilitation facility at 930 FM 3009, Schertz, Texas is home to many of the city and region’s long time residents. Besides offering caring medical and
rehabilitation services to its residents, the facility has adopted a caring attitude towards the city
and region it serves. They’ve done so by inscribing the rooms, hallways, chapel, dining room and garden/gazebo areas with the names of historically important families and/or places within our community.
As visitors enter Silver Tree and residents pass along its corridors they see hallways named
Cibolo, Selma, Randolph and Universal City. All these hallways are the access routes to rooms where residents reside, just as the towns their names represent serve as access routes to homes and neighborhoods where their respective citizens reside.
As a medical facility, it would be expected that any honoring of the City’s history would include its medical history. That medical history here in Schertz began with the employ of a country
doctor whose medical practice involved office to home medical calls employing horse and buggy
transport. In 1917, a nurse by the name of Cora Karbach established the town’s first hospital at 801 Main Street. Dr. D. C. Corhman, was one of the first doctors to practice medicine at the hospital. Both Nurse Karbach and Dr. Corhman are honored at Silver Tree. Dr. Corhman has his name attached to the nursing home’s front lobby and Nurse Karbach’s name is attached to the
physical rehabilitation and wellness center area. Cora Karbach’s picture and a brief resume
appear on the wall leading into the wellness center room.
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Mr. and Mrs. (Lula Mae) Walter Schertz have their names attached to the facility’s central
courtyard area. Walter is one of the living descendants of the Schertz family after whom the City
is named. Walter’s great-grandfather was Sebastian Schertz, one of the original settlers and first arrivals to the Schertz area.
The Schneider Living Room is named in honor of William Schneider, another of the original settlers of the City of Schertz and who made the donation of land for the first Methodist Church
established on First Street. The church still stands in the place it was originally built in 1904. The Wuest Chapel and Theater is named after August Wuest who was an early resident of the City and a charter member of the First Methodist Church.
The Seiler Parlor is named after the Johann Jacob Seiler
family, another of the early Schertz settler families. The Seilers were farmers in the Schertz-
Cibolo area. The Dietz Private Dinning Room is named after Bertha Dietz who, according to County records, was the first recorded land owner of the site that Silver Tree is built on.
Two former Schertz Postmasters, John Bremer and Emil Gerlich have rooms in the facility named after them. Bremer was Schertz’s first Postmaster, appointed May 23, 1884 and served until May 14, 1886. Gerlich served the longest term of an Schertz Postmaster, from October 29, 1914 until November 22, 1938 (23 years). Gerlich was a Schertz merchant who with his partner
Schulz ran a local mercantile store on South First Street that still stands and is today the
Grapevine Fellowship Church. The Woodward Dining Room is named after Archie Woodward, the City’s first fire chief.
The walls of Silver Tree are lined with historic tributes to our city’s early pioneer families. The
honor afforded these families is well deserved and reflects the facility’s commitment to keeping the community’s history front and center. The family tributes are a reminder to all that view them that although gone from our midst, these pioneer families contributions to the community are not forgotten.
We salute Silver Tree management for its commitment to preserving, in its own way, the memory of our City’s historic past.