Guthrie Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Guthrie Building in Kerr County. Now settle in, because this story stretches all the way back across the Atlantic Ocean — and it starts, as the best Texas stories do, with somebody arriving from somewhere far away with ink on their hands. Robert Guthrie was born in Scotland, where his family had been running the same newspaper for generations.

That's not a typo — generations. So when his father John crossed the water and started printing a paper in Kerrville in 1882, he wasn't exactly improvising. John also published papers in Bandera and Boerne, keeping the family trade alive in the Texas Hill Country.

Then in May of 1884, Robert himself stepped up and established the Kerrville Eye as the successor to his father's paper. The newspaper business, apparently, ran in the blood just like the limestone ran through these hills. Now Robert Guthrie was not a man content to just print the news.

In May of 1887, he bought a piece of property right here in Kerrville and set about building something permanent. He hired contractor W.B. Davies to do the work, and by fall of that same year, Davies had finished the job — a solid two-story stone building, completed for the sum of two thousand six hundred dollars.

The walls went up fifteen inches thick, limestone pulled from a quarry just east of town. Ashlar stones laid in irregular courses, belt courses running along the facade, smooth dressed window lintels and sills, quoins at the corners, and a two-story full-length gallery porch dressed up with a decorative cornice and dentils. They called it Italianate style, and it looked the part.

Robert ran his newspaper office on the ground floor and kept the second floor working too — as the Guthrie Hotel. The man was building himself a small empire, one stone at a time. But empires have a way of changing hands.

In November of 1888, Robert Guthrie sold the building and his newspaper business to a man named Ed Smallwood, who promptly changed the name of the paper. Smallwood turned out to be no mere ink-stained bystander himself — he was elected one of Kerrville's first aldermen in 1889, and he ran the paper all the way until August of 1899. That's more than a decade of keeping the presses rolling in Robert Guthrie's old stone building.

Then Jesse Grinstead bought the business and gave it yet another new name: the Mountain Sun. And Grinstead? He was Kerrville's mayor from 1902 to 1904, and later he was elected to the state legislature.

He kept publishing the newspaper right here at this location until 1907. So in the span of about twenty years, this single building had housed a Scottish immigrant's newspaper dynasty, a hotel, and the operations of two future civic leaders. The building wasn't finished with surprises, though.

Come 1910, Kerrville's City Hall moved into the second floor and stayed there until 1937. Meanwhile, down on the first floor, Cleveland and Gertrude Wheelus set up the Wheelus Photographic Company in 1921. In 1926, the Wheeluses built a projecting addition with two glass display windows right out front.

That addition lasted until the 1980s, when the building was restored to its original appearance. The Wheelus Photographic Company itself ran all the way until 1960. This building has been in continuous use since 1887.

That's the marker's own words, and they land with some weight when you're standing in front of fifteen-inch limestone walls that were already old when the twentieth century began. Robert Guthrie came from a family that knew how to build something meant to last — and whatever else changed around it, his building kept standing.

What the marker says

In continuous use since 1887, this building is one of the oldest in Kerr County. It is named for newspaper publisher Robert Guthrie, who was born in Scotland where generations of his family ran the same newspaper. Robert established the Kerrville Eye in May 1884 as the successor to the News that his father John began printing in 1882. John also published papers in Bandera and Boerne. In May 1887, Robert Guthrie bought this property for a new office for his newspaper and other commercial interests. Contractor W.B. Davies finished the stone building by the fall for the sum of $2,600. The Guthrie Hotel operated on the second floor. In November 1888, Guthrie sold his building and newspaper business to Ed Smallwood, who changed the name of the Kerrville Paper. Smallwood was elected on of Kerrville's first aldermen in 1889, and he ran the Paper until August 1899, when Jesse Grinstead bought the business and changed the name to the Mountain Sun. Grinstead was Kerrville's mayor from 1902 to 1904 and was later elected to the state legislature. He continued publishing the newspaper at this location until 1907. Later tenants included Kerrville's City Hall on the second floor (1910-1937), and the Wheelus Photographic Company on the first floor (1921-1960). Cleveland and Gertrude Wheelus built a projecting addition with two glass display windows in 1926, but it was removed in the 1980s when the building was restored to its original appearance. The Guthrie Building is a two-story Italianate style commercial structure. Walls are 15-inch thick limestone from a quarry just east of Kerrville. Ashlar stones are laid in irregular courses, and prominent architectural features include belt courses, smooth dressed window lintels and sills, quoins, and a two-story full-length gallery porch with decorative cornice and dentils. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2007