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San Antonio in the late 1800s was a city quickly changing from a frontier town to a metropolis, soon to become the largest city in Texas, a claim it held for three decades. Mary Francis Drake (1848-1915) arrived in San Antonio in 1890 with her two youngest children and began purchasing property, including this lot along the San Antonio River, an area known as Milam Bend near the Crystal Ice & Manufacturing Company. The neighborhood at the time consisted of one- and two-story residences and a few undeveloped lots. Mary Drake built a two-story house with queen anne-style architectural features, completed in 1895. The home’s architect is unknown but historic photographs show an asymmetrical façade with a cross-gabled roof and prominent turret, spindled balustrades along the front porch and patterned masonry chimneys. The Drake family sold the property in 1901 to William Alexander and Louisa Fitch, who only lived here a short time. Bastrop native Van Alvin Petty, Sr. (1860-1929) and his wife, Mary Cordelia (Dabney) Petty (1861-1943), purchased this house in November 1901. As president of Olive-Sternenberg Lumber Company, Petty operated a thriving business while also investing in San Antonio’s real estate market since the 1890s. In 1910 and 1911, Petty undertook a major renovation of the house, designed by noted architect Atlee B. Ayres and under the management of general contractor Otto Lindau. Neoclassical architectural style was applied to the home, bringing symmetry to all sides and adding a new gallery on the second floor, an extension to the rear, and two-story corinthian columns. In 1947, the house was sold to Sam Houston post 76 of the veterans of foreign wars. |
