316 South Pecos Street would have been the address at the southwest corner of South Pecos Street and West Elm Street. These current address number did not come into effect until the late 1920s. After the Lynn home was removed to make way for the hospital addition, this location became part of 310 South Pecos Street. .....................................................
The 1898 map is the earliest map of this part of Coleman. It was remodeled, possibly rebuilt between 1904 and 1909 and was torn down prior to the building of the Overall Memorial Hospital in 1923.
Between 1916 and 1923 the dwelling was torn down and a vacant lot is shown on the 1923 map. The Overall Memorial Hospital was opened in November 1923, and the address became 314 South Pecos Street. Later, the address was changed to 310 South Pecos Street, which is remains in 2023. ............................................................................................
 The Lynn Home, 1910 - it faced east (Following is an article I wrote for the Coleman Chronicle and Democrat-Voice, Looking Backward, by Ralph Terry September 23, 2022.) (The original article was edited slightly for time element.) "The picture of the home shown above was taken about 1910. I received it a few years ago (about 2010) from Richard Klapper, a descendant of the Klapper and Varner families of early day Coleman. He identified this house as the Lynn house. It was his understanding that the house stood where the Overall Memorial Hospital was built in 1923. "Richard identified the two people on the left in the picture as Victor and Elizabeth Schirmacher, but no others are identified. The Schirmachers were married in 1907 and Victor died in 1915, so the picture should date between those dates. The early Klappers arrived in Coleman in 1890 and Ernest William Klapper married his wife there in 1891. The Klappers, his sister, Elizabeth Klapper Schirmacher, their children and a grandson are buried at the Coleman Cemetery. "When the census was taken in 1900, Fannie Schirmacher, age 35, was probably living at the location shown in the picture. I have found her maiden name as Erwin, Durham and Ling. She was divorced from Theodore Schirmacher before 1900. Her two sons, Herman Max and Cecil Victor, 13 and 11 years old, were living with her. Also living with her was her sister, Minnie Ewing, age 27, also divorced. In addition, Victor Schirmacher, age 30, her brother-in-law, was living with her. By 1910, Fannie and her two sons were living in San Antonio. I wonder if this could be Victor in the picture, with his sister-in-law, Fannie and her sister. But who are the couple with the two children? "In researching this picture and family, I wound a crooked path. James P. and Sarah Lynn did own the lot and house, acquiring it in 1885. I am fairly sure the house was built before this time, but was added to several times before it was removed in the early 1920s. "In 1894, Frances “Fannie” Schirmacher purchased the house and lot from James P. Lynn., but records show she resold it in 1898 to Jennie Barrett. James P. Lynn died in 1905. He apparently left an estate with legal problems, as there were settlements, after which Fannie Schirmacher and others are again in the picture. The house wound up with E. H. Erwin, who was possibly a relation of Fannie. The house was later sold to J. W. Wells, then to D. D. Knight, who sold the lot to Martha Tyler Overall for $4000 in April 1923. "By
the time the lot was sold to Mrs. Overall, the
house had been removed and only a vacate lot
left. In April 1923, Mrs. Overall announced
she would build and equip a twenty-bed hospital in
Coleman. The hospital was to be modern in
every respect. There was to be a four-bed
charity ward for women and a four bed charity ward
for men, and a maternity ward for obstetric
cases. The building was of old English and
Colonial design, a two story brick building of
semi-fireproof construction. The building
had a frontage of 85 feet on Pecos Street and 40
feet on Elm Street. A basement for steam
heat was provided as an emergency heating plant in
case a time should come that natural gas might not
be available. "There apparently was a close relationship among these family. They were living in the same area in 1900 and were of German heritage. Richard’s great-grandparents on the Varner side arrived in Coleman between 1900 and 1910 but probably before 1905. They and their descendants are buried in Coleman also. William Thomas Varner was a saddle maker and leather worker and had a large horse (made out of wood or plaster) which he used to show his saddles. Richard remembers as a boy that the horse sat in Henry Varner’s barber shop in Coleman. Henry was the son of William Thomas Varner. This was a different horse than the one belonging to W. P. Rascoe and later to J. H. and Bennett Nance that is now at the Heritage Hall Coleman Museum. I am not sure if Varner had a saddle shop in Coleman, but only that his son had it in his barber shop later. "The old Overall Hospital building is now gone, making way for parking at the new Coleman County Medical Center. Changes happen every day … many seem to be going on the Coleman these days. What will be the shape of things to come? I hope someone will record the history of our town and county, which now is the future." |
