preservation
Conservation & Preservation
Support the SHCHS to Respect, Correct, and Protect our history! Preservation easements are conservation easements that protect properties that have historic, architectural, or archaeological significance and, in addition, can be used to preserve important natural land values that comprise the setting of historic buildings. SHCHS is dedicated and committed to conservation and preservation efforts for the following land and structures located within Guadalupe County, Texas.
Preservation
SWEET HOME VOCATIONAL & AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL
Sweet Home Vocational and Agricultural (SHVA) High School operated from 1924-1962 and was one of the county's six Rosenwald Schools, financed in part by a donation from the Rosenwald Fund, which provided matching funds to African American communities to build public schools. The schoolhouse included a library, four primary classrooms, a kitchen; and several separate dormitory buildings. Accredited as a public high school in 1935, Sweet Home, the SHVA focused on training students for industrial and agricultural jobs following a strategy for empowering black communities made popular by Booker T. Washington's famous Tuskegee Institute. Today, the building serves as a community center.
Sweet Home Baptist Church
The Sweet Home Baptist Church was established in 1864 originally under the shade of a live oak tree, and later in a log cabin church near the Sweet Home Cemetery. When the first church was destroyed by vandals, German immigrant Ben E. Stein gave the community five acres of land on which to build a church and school. Stein was the youngest of a German nobleman, built and operated the first cotton Gin at Clear Springs, owned a grain mill, dealt in grain, feed, fertilizers, and farm equipment, as well as a store. Stein was known to support the community with loans, credit, and knowledge and techniques relative to farming which encouraged economic stability. Reverend S.E. Steward served was the church’s last pastor before reorganizing at the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in San Antonio. The church is located at 3340 Sweet Home Road, Seguin, Texas, 78155.
Wilcox farm & Ranch
Black cattle drivers drove cattle from Kansas to areas including Atlanta, the Dakotas, and Canada, as well as New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Oregon. The black-owned and run Wilcox farm and ranch was established before 1869 when George Wilcox was granted and purchased a significant portion of land on which to farm and raise cattle. By 1904, the community had a one-teacher school for seventy students. There were scattered houses and a church in the area and a population of thirty was reported for Jakes Colony in 1990, and sixty in 2000.
Jake's Colony Church & Cemetery.
The Jake's Colony Church may have originally been established in late 1866 when Civil War veteran William Baton Ball re-enlisted when Congress authorized several regiments of black soldiers for Western frontier duty to defend settlers who were moving onto the Great Plains. Ball served for three years in the 38th and 24th U.S. Infantry Regiments and quickly rose to the rank of Company Quartermaster Sergeant as a Buffalo Soldier. Ball decided to move to Texas, accompanied by his friend, Leonard Ilsley, an abolitionist, and Methodist circuit rider from Maine who founded the first Anglo Baptist Church in 1858 and later established several black churches in the area. The church is located at 1787 Jakes Colony Road, Seguin, Texas, 78155.
Guadalupe college farm property assets
In 1914 the college was moved to a 206-acre Guadalupe River farm property. Brackenridge, who always favored expansion of the vocational program, contributed funds for construction of two modern brick buildings using student manpower and materials taken from the Seguin campus. On February 9, 1936, the $100,000 main building and girls’ dormitory was destroyed by fire. A boiler room, kitchen, dining room were on the first floor of the main building. The second floor had the president’s office, registrar’s office, library, and classrooms. And the third and fourth floors were the girl’s dormitory.
hiram wilson and co. property assets
Hiram Wilson established his pottery business while starting a school and church and bought acres of land in the area, setting aside ten acres for the purpose of building Capote Baptist Church where he served as minister. The church property was additionally used as a schoolhouse until 1897, when a separate building was built to educate the many children enrolled at the Capote church. Common household wares that once sold for less than a dollar, today can bring up to $30,000 and more from collectors and connoisseurs. The State of Texas recognizes Hiram & James Wilson as the first African American entrepreneurs in Texas, established in 1857.