Alamo Iron Works

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Alamo Iron Works — and I'll give it to you straight from the official record. Now, if you were going to build something that lasts, you might just start the way George Edward Holmgreen did — by crossing an ocean. Born in Prussia in 1822, Holmgreen made his way to this country with his wife Bertha, and that right there tells you something about the man.

He didn't stop moving until he found what he was looking for. Florida came first. Then, in the early 1870s, San Antonio.

And San Antonio, in those days, was a frontier town with needs. Big needs. Iron needs.

Brass needs. Wrought iron railings and castings and all the heavy, hot, hammered parts that hold a growing place together. Holmgreen saw that, and he soon became the owner of Schuhle and Nixon Alamo Iron Works.

Say that name a few times and you start to hear the weight of it. For years they worked out of the corner of Market and Presa Streets, right there on the San Antonio River. Muscles and steam engines powered the shops.

Horse-drawn wagons hauled the deliveries. The frontier didn't have a lot of patience for shortcuts, and neither did the ironworks. Then came 1884.

The company needed to move — to a new location that was, at the time, outside the city limits entirely. Now, between where they were and where they needed to be stood a problem that doesn't show up on any blueprint: mesquite brush. Dense, stubborn, thorny mesquite brush, thick enough that a trail had to be cleared just to move the machinery through it.

You want to talk about Texas determination — that's it right there. You don't wait for a road. You make one.

As south Texas grew — ranches spreading out, industries taking root — the Alamo Iron Works grew right along with it. If a ranch or an industry needed something, the company either found it or made it. Cast iron bridges.

Building components. The kind of work that doesn't just fill an order, it shapes a landscape. The years kept turning.

The materials changed — where cast iron once ruled, modern steels and alloys took their place. But something else stayed constant, something you don't find on a parts list. By 1979, the company's workforce had grown to more than five hundred people.

And among them — third and fourth generation employees. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the people who first cleared that mesquite trail, still showing up, still building. George Edward Holmgreen died in 1899.

He didn't live to see any of that. But he moved the machinery through the brush, and the rest followed.

What the marker says

George Edward Holmgreen (1822-1899) migrated from his native Prussia to this country with his wife Bertha. From Florida, he made his way in the early 1870s to San Antonio. Holmgreen soon became the owner of Schuhle and Nixon Alamo Iron Works. The company made iron and brass castings and forged wrought iron railings and other parts needed in the early days of this frontier town. In 1884 the company moved from the corner of Market and Presa Streets on the San Antonio River to this location which was outside the city. A trail had to be cleared through mesquite brush to move the machinery. In the early days, muscles and steam engines were used to power the shops. Delivery was made by horsedrawn wagons. As products and services were needed by south Texas ranches and industries, the Alamo Iron Works secured or manufactured them. Where cast iron bridges and building components were once made, modern steels and alloys go into manufacturing. The company's present work force of more than 500 is represented by third and fourth generation employees. (1979)