DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put down in marker form — so let's do it justice. Now, most buildings just sit there. They hold their secrets behind a respectable face and let the years roll by.
But this reinforced concrete structure on the north side of San Antonio — two stories, a basement, red and brown brick going back and forth in tone like it can't quite make up its mind — this one has been living multiple lives since before most folks even had a car in the driveway. The story was announced as early as 1919. The Southwestern Telephone Company had plans.
Big plans. They were going to put a telephone exchange right in the middle of a residential neighborhood — serving Alta Vista, Beacon Hill, Laurel Heights — and they were going to call it the Woodlawn Exchange. Now, somewhere between the announcement and the doing, the deed changed hands.
In 1920, the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company transferred everything over to the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. New name on the paperwork. Same building going up.
And at midnight — not noon, not a civilized Tuesday morning, but midnight — on July 14, 1923, the Woodlawn Exchange went operational. Thirty-five operators standing by, ready to connect whoever called. Think about that.
Thirty-five people showed up for the midnight shift on opening night, in a neighborhood where the whole selling point was that you could walk to work, because most families were just then buying their first automobiles. The building had battery rooms, a cable vault, locker rooms, an operators' cafeteria, and out on the adjacent grounds — and I want you to hear this clearly — a grass tennis court. A telephone exchange with a tennis court.
San Antonio was not playing around in 1923. But thirteen years later, in 1936, Southwestern Bell sold the building. And here is where the story takes a turn nobody saw coming.
Edgar G. Tobin was a San Antonio native who had trained as a combat pilot in World War I. When the war was done, most pilots hung up their goggles and went looking for other work.
Tobin looked down at the earth from altitude and thought — there's money in that view. He transferred his combat skills into creating some of the first aerial photographs for commercial purposes. Oil leases.
Land maps. Property ownership maps. He called it Tobin Aerial Surveys, and he ran the planes out of Stinson Field right there in San Antonio.
And the old telephone exchange? That became the headquarters. The same building that once hummed with switchboard operators now coordinated the aerial mapping of large portions of the United States.
By World War II, Tobin Aerial Surveys was doing that work on a scale that mattered to the war effort — mapping from above, the way Tobin had learned to see the world as a combat pilot a generation before. In 1955, the building changed hands again. The United Cerebral Palsy Association purchased it, installed a hydraulic piston elevator, and set about advocating for those afflicted with cerebral palsy and their families.
They held it until 1963, when they sold it off and it was converted — at last — to residential use. Full circle, in a way, back to the neighborhood it was always meant to serve. The building is still standing.
Simplified Colonial Revival style, stone cornice and entrance details, double-hung and transom windows. It doesn't look like much, maybe, if you drive past it without knowing. But that Colonial Revival face has looked out over telephone operators and combat-trained aerial photographers and advocates for families in need, all under the same red and brown brick roof.
The Texas Historical Commission made it a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2022. Which means the marker is now the newest thing on that block — and the building has seen everything else coming and going since 1923.
What the marker says
Announced as early as 1919, the Woodlawn Exchange of the Southwestern Telephone Company became operational at midnight on July 14, 1923. Serving growing residential areas of the city’s north side, including the Alta Vista, Beacon Hill and Laurel Heights neighborhoods, its location within a mostly residential area made walking to work easy for employees in an era when most families were just purchasing their first automobiles. The facility was initially planned by the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Co., which in 1920 transferred the deed to the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. The building’s design included battery rooms and a cable vault, locker rooms, an operators’ cafeteria and a grass tennis court on the adjacent grounds. Thirty-five operators were standing by to connect customers on the opening night. In 1936, the building was sold to Tobin Aerial Surveys. After training as a combat pilot in World War I, San Antonio native Edgar G. Tobin transferred his skills to creating some of the first aerial photographs for commercial purposes, including oil leases, land maps and property ownership maps. The company grew, operating a fleet of planes from Stinson Field in San Antonio. From their headquarters here, the company coordinated aerial mapping of large portions of the United States during World War II. In 1955, the building was sold to the United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCP). At this time, a hydraulic piston elevator was installed. UCP advocated for those afflicted with cerebral palsy and their families. UCP sold the building in 1963, and it was converted to residential use. The reinforced concrete building with multitoned red and brown brick has two stories and a basement. Its simplified Colonial Revival Style design includes stone cornice and entrance details, and double-hung and transom windows. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2022