San Marcos Telephone Company - San Marcos, TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

From the NRHP application, we discover that:
In 1928, the San Marcos Telephone Company constructed the Spanish-Colonial Revival, two-story building at 138 West San Antonio Street. The freestanding, flat-roofed office building of stuccoed brick is accented by peaked pilasters at its front corners, and a red, barrel-tile, pent roof that stretches about six feet beyond the front facade.

The San Marcos Telephone Company opened for business in March 1899, with 61 subscribers. The founder was R.T. Durrett. Sam R. Kone was the first businessman to have phone service between his home and work place. When Southwestern Telephone and Telegraph opened a competing exchange in 1903, Durrett sold his company to Franc C. Smith. Both companies operated until 1919 when the local firm absorbed Southwesten's (Southwestern Bell since 1910) subscribers.

Emphasizing the company's local connections was a common advertising theme. The 1910 directory asked customers to "Consider where your money goes. Will it be spent in San Marcos, so that you may see it again, or will it go to the Northern capitalists?" The advertisement must have worked, because by 1928 the telephone business was so active that a new building was necessary to replace the temporary quarters. A two-story Spanish Colonial design was chosen under the leadership of then president, Walter Donalson. The company remained in the building until November 5, 1955.

The current building occupant appears to be the law office of Tom E. Garner, who specializes in DWI defence. Parking is available on the sstreet.

Street address: 138 W. San Antonio Street San Marcos, TX USA 78666 County / Borough / Parish: Hays County Year listed: 1983 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1925-1949 Historic function: Business Current function: Business Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/09/2017 WalksfarTX visited it