In 1844, Joshua D. Brown was living in Gonzales when he became interested in a new industry: the making of cypress shingles.  After trying to establish this industry in other parts of Texas where cypress trees were less plentiful, he led a party of ten men up the Guadalupe River in search of more timber.   In 1846 they selected a site near a large spring located near what is now the 900 block of Water Street in Kerrville . Here they remained and worked for a few months until the Apache presence in the area became troublesome and Brown and his men were driven from the area.

 In 1848 Brown and his followers returned. This time they remained, naming their settlement Brownsborough. A number of settlers followed, establishing sawmills and farms along the river and various streams.

On January 26, 1856, Kerr County was formed from Bexar Land District No. 2. At the request of Joshua Brown, the name of Brownsboro was changed to Kerrsville, for his friend and fellow veteran of the Texas Revolution, Major James Kerr. Kerrsville became the county seat and later the "s" was dropped and the town became "Kerrville."

KERRVILLE

From Joshua Brown's shingle camp (located at what is now the 900 block of Water Street) grew the county seat: Kerrville.

In 1857, A German master miller named Christian Dietert and millwright Bathasar Lich started a large grist and saw mill on a bluff next to the Guadalupe River. Because the mill's location was protected from floods had a permanent source of power (the river), it became the most etensive operation of its kind west of New Braunfels and San Antonio.

Related mercantile and freighting enterprises led to the foundation of the Charles Schreiner family empire of retail, wholesale, banking, ranching, marketing and brokering operations.

The Civil War split Kerrville, as it divided the rest of the Hill Country, and the division slowed the town's development.. With the start of Reconstruction, Kerrville began to prosper. Demand in San Antonio for fine building lumber, farm and ranch produce, and skilled craftsmen boosted the town's economy.

OLD MILL DAM, KERRVILLE

Kerrville's growth was further heightened at this time as Indian raids eventually ceased and windmills and barbed wire were introduced. The Real, Doebbler, Karger, Heinen, Schwethelm, Starkey, Reese, Lackey and Auld families established successful sheep, cattle and goat ranches in the area. Cattle drives punctuated the boom years of the late 1880s and 1890s.

In 1887 The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway reached Kerrville, and two years later, in 1889, the town incorporated with Captain Joseph A Tivy serving as the first mayor.

The Kerrville Water Works Company began to provide water for town dwellers in 1894. Telephone service was introduced in 1896 and the town began to pave streets in 1912.

Kerrville survived recessions and the Great Depression far better than many towns. Wealthy and diversified even in the 1920s and 1930s, the town rapidly surpassed many of its neighbors economically and became a regional transportation, banking and medical center for the western Hill Country and Edwards Plateau.

The town's reputedly healthful climate, its wildlife and scenery gave rise to tourism that at first included mainly middle class San Antonians and Austinites. After the 1940s the area attracted a new generation of postwar "living city but thinking and singing country" Texans.

From tubercular sanctuary to home of "Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers, Kerrville had grown by the 1950s to a tidy town with distinctive flair and personality. The price of growth amid prosperity was the loss of the "old order." Few of the old houses, hotels, stores and sanctuaries remain.

Kerrville has displayed steady growth to the present day. The town's economic base has diversified and broadened through business, agriculture, light manufacturing, health care, transportation services, education, the arts and tourism. By the mid-1990s the Wall Street Journal described Kerrville as one of the wealthiest small towns in America.

Meanwhile, special accomodations were being prepared at Camp Verde. A large khan, or caravansary, was built to house the camels. The struture was an accurate copy of North African Camel Corrals. A dozen Armenian camel drivers and their families were also brought from Afridca to handle the geasts.

The camels displayed tremendous feats of strength and endurance. They transported an equal amount of cargo in half the time needed by twice as many mules. The camels could carry loads up to 1200 pounds and travel great distances without stopping for water. Although some camels died during an extremely hot, dry summer, the herd actually increased to 100 by 1865.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, 53 camels were at Fort Camp Verde. On February 28, 1861 Fort Camp Verde passed into the hands of the Confederacy. In 1865 the fort, with 100 camels, was recaptured by the US Government.

United States soldiers could not get used to handling the strange animals, and dreaded lving downwind of the khan. The experiement also proved costly by standards of the time.

The War Department did not have the funds to continue the operation of this experiment as money was needed for the Reconstruction. On November 30, 1869 the fort was deactivated. A fire of March 1910 destroyed the buildings of Fort Camp Verde.

Though the camel episode highlights the history of Camp Verde, the post was the staging area for another equally unusual military action. In 1859 Civil War General Albert Sydney Johnston set out from Camp Verde on the controversial campaign against the Mormons in Utah.

Camp Verde's brief but colorful history is reviewed on Historical markers on the site., two miles west of the present town of Camp Verde. Only the officers' residence remains, though the layout of the camp can be appreciated. The chimney of the residence is dated 1857.

The old Camp Verde General Store, founded in 1857, is nestled in the foothills three miles from the famed Bandera Pass on the banks of Verde Creek. When Camp Fort Verde was deactivated, the store and post office continued to serve pioneer ranchers who settled the area.

The two story stone structure of Southern Colonial design that stands today was constructed six months after the turn of the century flood swept away the original building. The store and small post office are still in use and is a tourist draw with many items of the original general store still on display.