This afternoon we headed out to the place where Main Street crosses over Banita Creek to recreate this photograph of the Watson Hotel. All we had was a rough location to begin with, and since the hotel no longer exists, we used other features found in the photo to help us locate the spot where the image was taken. The two easiest features to identify were the Nacogdoches Grocery building and the bridge that crosses Banita Creek.
When we first arrived at the location we immediately assumed that the photo was taken of Main Street because the description on the back of the photo read "West Main." We tried for a while to figure out exactly where we were supposed to be, but nothing seemed to be falling into place. Time to regroup.
We eventually came to a group consensus that the photo was actually taken not of Main Street, but from Main Street. Once that was finally cleared up we still had a problem... We were missing a bridge!
Luckily, we have a research team who spends hours a day pouring over maps and photographs without rest. There is a large collection on Sanborn maps from as far back as 1885 at our disposal, and after some intensive investigation, we learned two things.
The map on the left is from 1906; the one on the right is from 1912.
Firstly, we discovered that our mysterious bridge was actually a small footbridge built across Banita Creek sometime after 1906, most likely for grocery shoppers and hotel guests to get downtown without having to get all soggy.
Second, we were actually able to date the photograph to between 1906 and 1912. The hotel still existed in 1906, but no longer stands in the 1912 map. The bridge wasn't yet built in 1906, but was finished sometime before 1912, as was the awning on the grocery. Because the photo was taken when all three structures stood at the same time, we know when it was shot. Well, at least the 6 year span anyway. Interestingly enough, the 4 in. pipe from the 1912 map is still there to this day, albeit in several pieces.
