History

City of Schertz
by
Oscar Kramer

The first settlers came to Schertz around 1843. Some of the families on the immediate land surrounding Schertz were the Boettigers, Schertzs*, Schneiders, Seilers, Maske, and Mergele. Boettigers, Mergeles, and Seilers being my forefathers. Members of the Schertz family still reside in the City.

Indians were not known to have attacked the people, but to pilfer and steal livestock. When we went to school at the present O'Henry site, we children found many Indian relics.

The first name of Schertz was "Cibolo Pit," then "Cut Off," and as perhaps, many of you know, the reason for this name was when the Cibolo Creek flooded, the settlement was cut off.

The first settlers planted wheat, oats, and corn, which did not need special equipment to harvest and process. In later years, cotton was planted, and proved to be very productive and a cash crop. In fact, so much so, that there were two cotton gins in Schertz at one time. In 1870 the first gin was built by the Schertz family. It was powered by mules and then in later years by steam. This gin was located where the post office is at the present time.

The second cotton gin built by Weyel and Kallies was between First and Second Streets. During the height of the ginning season, they operated day and night. In later years, there also was a corn sheller and lumber yard.

The first school during the eighteen nineties (1890) was across the Cibolo Creek where the Randolph Stables are now located. Many of our mothers and fathers went to school there. In fact, in my generation, our early years were also spent in that school. In 1917 a new two story brick school was built, and later torn down to make room for the O'Henry School. The land for the school was donated by Mr. Adolph Schertz . On our way to the old school across the creek, if we took a short cut, in the area of the Zimmerman's Pharmacy, we would pass a place where a line kiln had been at on time. It was founded in 1892 but soon abandoned.

In 1876, one of the largest boosts to Schertz came when the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad was built through the town. This gave the people a chance to travel to San Antonio by rail instead of wagon or buggy, besides goods being shipped in and out. I can remember my family leaving our horse and buggy at the livery stable, board the train to go to San Antonio to shop or visit kinfolks and return to Schertz by midnight. The first post office was established in 1882. At that time Schertz was still known as Cut Off. In 1899 it officially became Schertz, Texas. Sebastian Schertz owned and operated a general store when the railroad was constructed.

A big and very active shooting club was located on the site that is now the City Park. There was an annual shooting tournament held that was called "Koenig Schiesen" or King Shoot. This was a two day affair with people coming from San Antonio by train. The last night, a big dance was held to close the event for that year. A piece of live coal, blown from a switch engine, that was carrying gravel cars from or to the rock crusher, was supposed to have blown on the shingle roof of the dance hall, setting it on fire and completely destroying it. It was later rebuilt but eventually the club disbanded.