YMCA

17 February 1912: 1. 715 Tremont (23rd): Abraham Buchwald (1869-1929) was a Jewish tailor and his wife Yetta Pearl sold groceries in this location; 2. 721 Tremont (23rd): Residing here in 1911 was Charles D. Morrison (1859- 1915), president and treasurer of Morrison & Fourmy Directory Company, publisher of city directories across the region / 723 Tremont (23rd): William C. Poindexter (1868-1929), whose father was born in Monterrrey, Mexico, lived here in 1911 with his wife Myrtle and worked as a railroad timekeeper; 3. 705 Tremont (23rd): The YMCA in Galveston was the first in Texas, financed by a bequest from Henry Rosenberg (1824-1893), one of Galveston’s leading philanthropist, 4 floors, finished in 1903, dedicated on Henry Rosenberg’s birthday in 1904. The Reverend Judson B. Palmer (1851-1937) was the general secretary. Mentioned in Isaac’s Storm, the acclaimed story of the 1900 storm, he lost his wife and son as well as 10 others who sheltered at his home as it collapsed around them. The YMCA gymnasium and natatorium were on the first floor, as well as a few merchants: 1) 701 Tremont (23rd) – the salon of hairdresser Mrs Emalissa Larcumb Andrus, widow of Loren Augustus of Chenango County, NY – the decorative arts store of Frances L Witting (1874-1961); 2) 707 Tremont (23rd) – the florist shop of Martha Ogorsolka (widow of John Hansen) who immigrated alone in 1891 from Germany at the age of 16; 3) 711 Tremont (23rd) – the office of civil engineer Chauncy C. Shaw, who lived at 1811 Tremont (23rd); 4. 2307 Winnie (Avenue G): the furnished rooms of Miss Kate Brown and of Maggie Smith Widolff (1878-1959) in 1908. Maggie (widow of Henry) later opened the Savoy Hotel at 2016 Market where she died; 5. 2313 Winnie (Avenue G): This section of the block was low income housing mostly for African-American citizens in 1913: Rebecca Woods (c); 2315 Winnie (Avenue G): Lucy A. Collins (c), a dressmaker; 6. 2317-2319 Winnie (Avenue G): Texas Garage selling Pullman and Overland automobiles, Goodyear tires, accessories, making repairs, and storing cars, owners Sam Boyd (1873-1961) and Manly Carson Abrahams (1889-1955).

23 March 2019: The YMCA building was demolished in 1954. 1. 2310 Sealy (Avenue I): Rosenberg Library, 2 floors, 1903; 2. 720 Tremont (23rd): Trinity Episcopal Beginning School, a drop-off program for young children; 3. 707 Tremont (23rd): (Suite F) South Side Pharmacy; 4. 707 Tremont (23rd): Wall of Remembrance, a Memorial for the AIDS Coalition of Coastal Texas), 2006; 5. 707 Tremont (23rd): Access Care of Coastal Texas (ACCT), Services for people with AIDS; 6. 2315 - 2317 Winnie (Avenue G): Rental apartments.

Postmarked: 17 February 1912; Galveston, Texas
Stamp: 1c Green Ben Franklin #374 Flag Cancel

To: Miss Lillian Herr
10 Maple Ave
Port Jervis NY

Message: Received your cards and I was very glad to hear from you Ans soon from your Pbs
Miss Amy Pressler
1411 Winnie

Amy Pressler was 24 years old when she sent this postcard to Lillian, who was just a year younger. They likely never met, nor ever would. They were apparently members of a postcard exchange club, and had evidently exchanged several before this one. Amy was the daughter of Annie Hagelman and Nicholas J. Pressler, a tailor in Galveston until he died some time after 1890. In 1912 she was living with her Aunt Lena Hagelman and sisters Ethel, Beulah and Irene at 1411 Winnie (Avenue G). Her mother had died in 1902, so as a young woman, she remained somewhat reliant on family, but was increasingly independent and had earned wages at Clarke & Courts, a printing house, working as a “folder,”perhaps gathering signatures (small stacks of printing paper) to be folded for book production. Her sister Beulah worked as a subscription clerk for the Galveston News, Ethel worked as a milliner for Mistrot Brothers, and Irene worked for Fellman Dry Goods Company.

Lillian was the daughter of William Herr and Anna Grauerholtz, longtime citizens of Port Jervis, NY. This was a district often called Tri-States because New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania came together there. From their home at 10 Maple Street it was half a mile to New Jersey and a third of a mile to Pennsylvania across the river bottoms of the Neversink and Delaware rivers which converged nearby. Her parents ran Tri-States Hotel out of their home on the southern margIn of town, with the assistance of Lillian and her younger sister Amy catering to three or four lodgers at a time. The progenitor of the Herr family, William’s father Joseph, was born in Baden Germany and came to America in 1853 with his bride, Elizabeth Madeline Huegle. They soon settled in Port Jervis, farming for a few years before he found better employment with the New York and Erie Railroad completed in 1851 from the Hudson River and Lake Erie.

Amy Pressler stayed in the family home and worked various jobs until she suffered a stroke and passed away at John Sealy Women’s Hospital in 1926 at the age of only 38. She was buried in Galveston’s Old City Cemetery, never married or had children. Her sister Beulah (1890-1974) married Travis Talmadge Riddle (1890-1949), the latter serving as the informant on Amy’s death certificate. Beulah must have married Travis in about 1915 as their son Elroy was born about February 1, 1916. She may have met Travis soon after he left the US Army 35th Company of the Coast Artillery in Fort Totten, NY, perhaps discharged at Fort Crockett, Galveston, which was garrisoned with coast artillery soldiers in 1911. Ethel Pressler and Irene Pressler have not been traced past the 1913 Galveston City Directory when they lived at 1411 Winnie.

Lillian Herr lived with her parents until her father died in 1921, and after a few years living with her widowed mother in Port Jervis, was placed as an inmate in Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital, a huge asylum which held as many as 5000 patients. Lillian died in 1960 and was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Jervis near her father William (1859-1921), mother Anna (1864-1942), and sister Amy Mae Black (1896-1990); Amy’s husband Colin Simpson Black (1983-1942) was buried in Milford Cemetery in Pike County, PA a few miles down the Delaware River.