Palo Alto College

San Antonio, Texas

SMALL TOWN HISTORY: Geronimo, Texas

Jami Powell	Spring 2001
History 1302	Hines

Click on map to see larger view.

Heading down Highway 123 out of Sequin, towards San Marcus, a small town you could easily pass right through and not even know, is that of Geronimo, Texas. This small Texas town was established through Spanish land grants issued in Guadalupe County obtained by Antonio Esnaurizar and Marjila Cherino in September of 1831. These two people didn't actually settle the town of Geronimo, so who did? Jose Antonio Navarro bought two leagues, or 8000 acres, from Cherino, where he settled. Located on this land were the Tio Geronimo Springs feeding into the Geronimo Creek and the Navarro Rancho. German immigrants looking for fertile prairies ended up here.

Around 1845 the German immigrants landed in this town. Seeing the growing popularity for this town, Navarro and his brother, Lucianno, began to parcel out their land to the immigrants. The two brothers even donated land for the original school. The first and most prominent families to settle Geronimo were the Timmermanns, Wuppermann, Boenig, Weinert, Koebig, Koepp, Specht, and Heinemeier-Neumann.

So with Hispanics obtaining the land and Germans inhabitating it, how was the Indian name of Geronimo given to this town? Contrary to popular belief, the town was not named for the infamous Chief Geronimo. Jose Antonio Navarro was actually the one to give Geronimo its name. Navarro's land was centered around the Tio Geronimo Springs, which played an intregal part in the community. This is because, even during the driest of seasons, these springs have never gone dry. Navarro then took the initiative to name this little town Geronimo.

One of the most important aspects to the community is church. Emma Timmermann-Braunholz donated the land where Unabhangige Deutsche Protestantische Kirchen or Independent Protestant Church Congregation, later to be called Friedens Church, was to be built. Emma donated this particular piece of land because her father felt it would be a perfect place. The original church was built in 1905 and still stands in the same place today. A fierce storm knocked down the original steeple, but it was rebuilt and some other additions were made to the building. As a note to further embrace the old with the new, in 1980, they installed a pipe organ in the church. This was no ordinary pipe organ. The pipes and blowers were hand crafted in Germany, and the Mahogany wood in the relay board frame came from timber originally used in the stands of the Farmers' Union Gin of Geronimo.

Located directly across the street from the church is the Lone Oak Cemetary. In a majority of the small towns, cemetaries are separated among race, whites in the front, Hispanics soon after, and blacks somewhere else. The first inhabitants of Geronimo where all German. Therefore, you would think that the Germans would be in the front and those who later moved to Geronimo would be in the back. The only people buried in the Lone Oak Cemetary are the original German inhabitants and their descendents, no Hispanics, blacks, or even other whites. The other people in Geronimo that pass away are buried in a cemetary closer to the outside of town.

The other important aspect to the Geronimo community is school. The land for the school was donated by Jose Antonio Navarro. The original Navarro School was built in 1888 and was used for the teachings of only white children. In 1912 a new Navarro School was built, and the white children began studying there. The land for the new school was donated by L. H. Heinemeyer from the land he originally got from Navarro. When the whites changed schools, the minorities took over the original school. This new school educated children up to the tenth grade. If a student wished to complete high school, a transfer to Seguin or New Braunfels was necessary. In 1942, an 11th grade was added, and 12th grade was added in 1952. It wasn't until 1954 when all the children were allowed to attend Navarro School together. In 1955 additions were made to the school, of what is now the 300 and 400 wings of the high school. Until this date, no Navarro School had indoor plumbing and were heated by coal stoves. When poultry was on the school menu, for the first school, preparations of the meal occasionally included slaughtering live birds in the school yard.

In the first 70 years the Navarro School graduated a whopping 919 students. Today, the Navarro Schools are modern, air-conditioned, and contain all the technological advantages of any school district.

When you think of the U.S. Post Office in San Antonio, Austin, or any other major city, you may see a big beautiful building, staffed with hundreds of people, handling thousands of packages. However, the Post Office in Geronimo is a small, one-roomed building consisting of only one postmaster. The current post office was built in the mid 1950's when it was taken out of the Koebig Grocery Store.

These buildings haven't always been what they are today. This is true for many of the buildings in Geronimo. These are, however, the original structures. What is now the VFW Hall, was originally the Koebig Grocery Store and Post Office. It was built in 1917 and coverted in the mid 1950's. On the right, what is now the antique shop, used to be home to the W. Heinemeier General Store. The only grocery store in Geronimo now is the Sac & Pac at the one and only gas station.

The Geronimo community today continues strongly with its farmers and ranchers. However, they are now joined by lawyers, docters, engineers, merchants, mechanics, government workers, and so on. It is now a truly diversified community. Today, a resident from Geronimo can be in Austin or San Antonio in 30 minutes. When the town was settled 120 years ago, this journey would have taken an entire day. Now, in a days time, they can go visit their distant relatives in Germany. This a community where everyone truly knows your name. They all know each other and continuously help out whenever needed. They are a town rooted with tradition built around family and faith.

WEBSITES:

Geronimo, Texas from Texas Handbook

Lone Oak Cemetary

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The Timmermann Sisters. Bread Pudding & Wine Sauce: The Timmermann Sisters. Seguin, Texas: Tommy Brown Printing, 1996. This book provided me with excellent historcal background into all the aspects that made Geronimo what it is today.

The Timmermanns Seven. Seven Silver Spoons. Seguin, Texas: Tommy Brown Printing, December 1983. This was the first book written by the Timmermanns. It gave smaller, but still good accounts of the history of Geronimo.

Sandi Robinson, Personal Interview 11 March 2001

Carolyn Bading, Personal Interview 11 March 2001

Wanda and Meta Timmermann, Personal Interview 11 March 2001

The Handbook of Texas on Geronimo, Texas: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/GG/hlg13.html

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