Timmermann springfed swimming pool on Geronimo creek

My interest in the history of the Geronimo creek recently led me to what remains of the Timmermann Swimming Pool. Built out of concrete around 1917. The water was piped from a nearby spring.  The pool was for men only except for one day a week when it was open for women only. It seems that children were not allowed in the pool. It seems that the pool was open off and on for 12 years.  Closed by William Timmermann in 1929. The reason is a little vague. Some say that it was due to a typoid epidemic(this was before the standard use of chlorine for sanitation and people worried that disease could be spread by swimming in the same pool).  Another reason that is worth mentioning is that Mr Timmermann closed the pool because he didn't like some of the activities that evolved around the  use of the pool. I wasn't able to discover exactly what activities ..

                                            This is what the Timmermann pool looked like in 1919.

This is what the Timmermann pool look like today

Spring that fed the pool

 

 

Piping that connected the pool to the spring

wooden cistern

For some time now, I have been interested in old wooden cisterns. I have in mind, to purchase an old cistern and restore it to it's original purpose. I plan to use it to hold rainwater from the roof of my  workshop for use in the garden and yard.  When I was a kid, there was no rural community water system in this area, so if you didn't have a water well at your house then you had gutters and a cistern that collected rainwater from your rooftop.  We had such a cistern at our home near Barbarosa in the late 1950s.  I can remember thinking about all the crud that was flowing into the cistern from the roof during rains and dad saying "Don't worry, we drink the water off the bottom and all the other stuff floats on the top."

The photo below is an old cistern that I am hoping to purchase and restore.  The offer is "in" and I am waiting to hear.  This deal may not come to fruition so if you know of anyone selling an old cistern, please let me know.

Historical home gets a new life

 Built in 1861(historical marker tells the story), the Johann Stautzenberger home in the Dietz community near Clear Springs, Texas  had been long abandoned and for most people the house was surely seen as beyond repair.  But not in the eyes of friends, Sherman and Joy Schlichting, who decided that this is a piece of history that needs to be preserved and have set out on a journey to bring it back to life. When you see this house up close, you can't help but say to yourself .. "I wish these walls could talk." 

The historial marker tells the story of the Dietz community and the house

The roof had to be removed before the house could be moved to a new location

Where the exterior boards have fallen away you can see the mud brick insulation that was used during this time period in the German communities in this area.

Look inside and you can see the cedar support beams in the interior wall

Mud Bricks were literally mud poured into a brick shaped mold and left to dry then used as wall insulation. These mud bricks used by the early German settlers of our area contained no binding material like straw...

Geronimo Creek Indian artifacts

These objects were collected along the bank of the Geronimo creek at town of Geronimo.  The round object at the bottom is about 4 inches in diameter and is believed to be a nutcracker. These objects are from a small private collection. Photographed December, 2010.