The history of Falls City actually starts two years before its birth in the Karnes County seat town of Helena. The Christmas of 1884 was the saddest Helena has ever endured. The cross made by the women of the town was not celebrating the birth of Christ; rather, it marked the fresh grave of their beloved Sheriff Leary. Out of his death would spin a tale so fantastic that the good name of Butler would be forever scarred with the blood of sheriff and son.
William B. (Bill) Butler of Kenedy was the richest, most renowned, and probably the nicest gentleman in Karnes County. He owned over 100 sections of land in Karnes County and is believed to have driven over 100,000 head of cattle up to northern markets. He was well known for bringing both corn and cattle to the people of Karnes County while they were in hiding from shootouts, starving in the droughts, or taking shelter from the extreme cold.
His one downfall was his son, Emmett, who was known for getting into trouble with the law in Helena. William Butler knew there would be trouble if Emmett got into Helena while there was drinking going on. It was for this reason that he forbade Emmett from paying a visit to the county seat on Christmas Eve, 1884. Defiantly, the boy grabbed a bottle of whiskey and left in the direction of Panna Maria.
Halfway there, he stopped at the ranch of some good family friends, the McClanes. Seeing his drunken state, they tried to convince him to go home so that he could not cause any trouble. He rebuked them and went on his way.
When he got to Panna Maria, the people welcomed him and gave him more liquor as part of the celebration. Then, he made the choice that would mark that date in infamy; he left for Helena. When he got to Helena, Emmett went straight for the saloon. A passerby, seeing the young Butler's drunken state, went for the sheriff, a long-time friend of the Butler family. Since Emmett was so young, Sheriff Leary approached him unarmed. When the sheriff asked for his gun, Emmett Butler turned around and fatally shot him. Emmett then ran to his horse in am attempt to escape, but Deputy Risinger followed Emmitt and shot him from his horse before he could get out of town.
The truth ends there. Some say that William Butler vowed to kill the town that killed his boy, and to do so, he gave the San Antonio Aransas Pass Railroad all the land they needed to connect San Antonio to Corpus Christi under the condition that they miss Helena by at least five miles. Other people say Butler gave them the land to increase its value. What most records show is that he never gave the railroad the land, that the land was deeded to Mr. Miflin Kenedy of the San Antonio Aransas Pass Railroad by Marcian and Mary Pollok.
Along this stretch of track through northern Karnes County was born the town of Brackenridge. It was founded in 1886 and was named after George W. Brackenridge, a shareholder in the SAAP Railroad. The town is located about one mile from the Wilson County line and seven miles northwest of Karnes City. Brackenridge, having the largest train depot between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, began attracting settlers from miles around.
The birth of Brackenridge spelled doom for Colonel James Rumsey Skiles. Skiles was a very wealthy Kentucky-born man who gambled thousands of dollars that the railroad would cross the San Antonio River somewhat south of the confluence of the Medina and San Antonio rivers. Skiles had planned and plotted out his own town, Marcellena, with hopes that the railroad would be made nearby. When he found out that Brackenridge was made north of the river, he abandoned his town and went back to his Kentucky home. The Karnes County Clerk's office still has copies of both the first page and the second page of the deed to Marcellena.
In 1887, just before Skiles left, he established a postal service about one mile west of the Brackenridge depot that replaced the original mail system begun near Conquista crossing around 1860. In 1879, Brackenridge citizens formed the Catholic Daughters of America and the Holy Trinity School Club.
Then, in 1893, something happened that went down in history: The Great Brackenridge Train Robbery. On June 25, 1893, as a SAAP passenger train carrying $50,000 in an express safe left Brackenridge on its way to Kenedy, a bandit hiding on the engine's tender car shot twice, killing Frank Martin, the train's fireman. Engineer Mike Tierney leaped from the moving train to save his own life; it worked. The bandit braked the train, jumped off, and headed toward the San Antonio River.
Conductor Ed Stele, Mike Tierney, and passenger George Butler went after the bandit. As they went, a bullet flew just between Butler and Tierney's heads. All three fell to the ground. As Tierney looked up, the bandit fired several times and hid behind a small tree. His bullets missed, but Tierney jumped up and fired two shots, both of which hit the tree dead center. Suddenly fearful for his life, the bandit threw down his guns and surrendered. He identified himself as John D. May, but was soon found to be Joe B. Giles of Dallas. He was hanged in Karnes City, the new county seat, on May 25, 1894, on the exact spot where the cornerstone of the courthouse would be laid in exactly three months.
Shortly after the Great Brackenridge Train Robbery, still in 1893, the local mail carrier was replaced with the area's first Unites States Post Office. Since Breckenridge, a small town in northern Texas, was already a member of the United States Postal Service, Brackenridge had to change its name to avoid confusion. Brackenridge was built along the San Antonio River near four beautiful waterfalls, so the community suggested the name Falls City. It stuck, and was readily accepted on November 28, 1893.
On October 25, 1895, the Karnes Reformer printed a Special Edition Paper on the towns of Karnes County. In this edition, Falls City was credited with having one very well stocked and neat General Merchandise Store, two well patronized saloons, one very neatly stocked lumber yard, a hotel, two livery stables ready to meet transportation needs, one modern steam gin and mill, a school, and a post office.
From 1900 to 1915, Falls City was the fastest growing trading community in Karnes County. The first Holy Trinity Catholic Church was built in 1902, and the corner stone was blessed on February 11, 1902. On October 21, 1902, the church was dedicated by Bishop Forrest. Many people came to the Holy Trinity Parish, leaving Czestochowia, now Cestohowa, with only 75 families. However, this new parish consisted of only 70 families. The first pastor was named Reverend Stanislaus Przyborowski.
On October 28, 1902, Peter Kozelski and Julia Bronder became the parish's first married couple. The first person to be baptized was Louis B. Dziuk, the son of Louis W. Dziuk and Elizabeth Urbanczyk Dziuk. The first rectory was built in 1905, but since the priest currently lived in Cestahowa, the nuns occupied the rectory.
The Holy Trinity School was opened in 1905 and was run by the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Word. From 1909 until 1913, the school was run by the Franciscan Sisters, who then turned the children over to the convent that ran the Saint Stanislaus School. The Saint Stanislaus School was built five miles out of town for about $4,000. In the 1930's, the Sisters of the Incarnate Word of the Blessed Sacrament in Victoria came and assumed control of both schools.
Many more businesses popped up, including a sheet metal fabricating shop, a well-stocked coffin house, another hotel, a pool hall, and yet another saloon. The Falls City National Bank opened its doors in 1907. The Falls City Newspaper was started in 1908. There were also two fresh meat markets, but both were only open on the weekend. Also new was the two-story drugstore with the top story serving as a doctor's office. There were two cafes and two barber shops. Soon there were also two more general merchandise stores, a dry goods store, "Ready to Wear" clothing store, a new lumber yard, and a hardware store. Sometime between 1907 and 1915, telephone lines were put up by Western Union and Bell Telephone. In 1915, Alf. B. Schroeter started publishing the Falls City Facts.
The worst drought in Falls City's history was in 1917. The rainfall for the entire year was less than 10 inches. The next year was only a slightly better, but 1919 began with extremely good rains. The area's cotton crop was the best in the city's history. Just as the cotton was getting ready to be picked, an extremely powerful hurricane came and completely destroyed the crop.
The road through Falls City has changed quite a bit over the years, although it is not as interesting as the story behind the railroad. The road started out as a simple county road 30-feet-wide in 1897 that extended from Karnes City to the Wilson County line. In 1912, the section between Falls City and the Wilson County line was widened to 45 feet, and in 1920, to 60 feet. In 1929, the road was widened to 80 feet and given the name State Highway 16. The road was further widened to 100 feet in 1935 and 120 feet in 1939, when it became known as United States Highway 181. With the coming of the road, Gulf Products and Station opened the first gasoline store in Falls City.
Electricity was introduced into the area in 1925. Slowly but surely, electric appliances replaced what people had been using since the birth of Brackenridge. The Columbia Hall Association built a large dance hall with lights and fans run by electricity. The Columbia Hall was built in 1924 for the Knights of Columbus, but was replaced by the Falls City Community Hall in 1983. Sometime between 1925 and 1929, the first and only Chevrolet dealership came to Falls City.
In 1935, Fabian Kowalik played in the World Series in baseball.
In June, 1937, a strong thunderstorm built within a single afternoon and sent a deadly tornado upon the city, destroying the beautiful brick schoolhouse. A new school that fostered children through their sophomore year in high school was completed in 1938. A bus took junior- and senior-level students to Karnes City to finish their education.
In 1942, just before Reverend Leo Moczygemba left the parish, he started a fund for a new church and raised almost $2,500 in a very short time. However, later that same year, a hurricane had hit the coast and started traveling inward, passing through Falls City. As it headed toward the church, the strong winds lifted up the belfry portion of the church and moved it over several inches. After the eye passes over and the winds started blowing in the opposite direction, the belfry was lifted up again and put on the foundation in practically the exact same spot it was built. From that point in time the building was very unstable, causing the parishioners to seriously consider building a new church.
By June, 1949, all the plans were ready to start building the new church. On July 11, 1949, workers moved all the pews, the altar, and the organ to what was then called Falls City Hardware so the demolition of the old church could commence. Construction for the new church began on August 16, 1949. On April 16, 1950, the new church was dedicated by the Rt. Reverend Patrick J. Geehan. The new church had cost approximately $80,000, and could seat at least 460 people. A grotto was built between the church and the convent on March 30, 1955.
On September 2, 1962, a new rectory was built next to the church, and was dedicated by Bishop Stephen Leven of San Antonio. On September 28, 1946, the city got its first water system up and running. Then, in 1950, the state merged the Falls City School District with several other school districts in the vicinity, and the student body doubled in size. The first graduating senior class was the Class of 1950, with a whopping 13 students.
In the late 1950's, uranium was discovered eight miles southwest of Falls City. In 1961, Susquehanna-Western, the first uranium mining company, was founded. In 1962, the Conoco-Conquista Project, with better facilities than Susquehanna-Western, was created due west of town. By the mid-1970's, the town began to divide over the issue of these mines. The business men wanted to keep them, but the farmers did not because they claimed the mines were contaminating the land and water. This conflict continued until the 1990s. By 1993, all of the radioactive materials were either neutralized or shipped out of the area. In 1994, the mines were closed. The Susquehanna-Western mines were covered with about 40 feet of rock.
Falls City Independent School District now has a K-12 public school with approximately 336 students campuswide. In 1999, the Falls City High School undertook the unprecedented task of installing videoconferencing equipment in its classrooms so that the classes can 'hook up' with colleges nationwide. The school is currently offering dual-credit classes via this new technology for its junior and senior classes.
Created By:
Jason Dziuk & Stacey Kotara
