100 Years Ago in Texas: A Selection from the Photograph Collections

Like today, the presidential election was a prominent feature of the news in 1924.  There was also a Texas gubernatorial election.  Just four years after women were allowed to vote, the winner was former First Lady of Texas Miriam A. Ferguson. 

In 1924 San Antonio residents learned that William Randolph Hearst purchased The San Antonio Light newspaper.  There would be numerous changes at the paper, including hiring a full-time staff photographer.  Jack Specht filled the position.  The San Antonio Light photographs featured here are his work, including one of Labor Leader Samuel Gompers, perhaps the last taken of him. 

The Hearst Corporation donated these early staff photographs to the Institute of Texan Cultures in 1979.  They are now part of UTSA Special Collections.  Photographs published in the paper prior to the Hearst acquisition have never been located.

Governor-elect Miriam A. Ferguson with her daughters, Ouida Ferguson Nalle, left, and
Dorrace Ferguson, at the Gunter Hotel, San Antonio. 
Photographed December 3rd by Jack Specht. 
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0001-F)

Jimmy Querner, bicycle messenger, rides down Main Street with a telegram
informing Miriam A. Ferguson that she has been elected governor of Texas,
Temple, November 5th. (General Photograph Collection, 091-0293.
Courtesy of Minnie Campbell)

Azteca Baseball Team, Hondo, July 4th. (General Photograph Collection,
096-0826. Courtesy of Felice Dominguez)

Pioneer Flour Mills vending wagons with waffles and Tango, a soft drink
made by Lone Star Brewing Company during Prohibition.
Photographed by Harvey Patteson. (General Photograph Collection,
082-0650. Courtesy of Pioneer Flour Mills)

A small-town grocery store. Blake Pyron outside Pyron Brothers Store,
Somerset. (General Photograph Collection, 093-0216. Courtesy of
George Pyron, Sr.)

San Antonio Traction Company employees pause while unloading new
streetcars at the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad Station, San Antonio.
Photographed March 1st by Smith Studio.
(General Photograph Collection, 086-0149. Courtesy of John Kellogg Kight)

Fire Chief J. G. Sarran, second from left, beside a new Ahrens-Fox pumper
fire engine outside Fire Station No. 2 on South St. Mary’s Street, San Antonio.
(General Photograph Collection, 116-0034.
Courtesy of the San Antonio Fire Museum)

Author J. Frank Davis seated at his Freed-Eisemann Neutrodyne radio receiver
shortly after completing “Midnight,” a one-act novelty radio play, San Antonio.
Photographed in December by Jack Specht.
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0016-C)

Emma and Edith Chromcak with “earphones” hairstyles,
Louise, Wharton County, Texas. Photographed by Charles Petter.
(General Photograph Collection, 083-0369). Courtesy Jim Ripple)

Roberta Gregory, five-year-old local dancing star, poses outside The
San Antonio Light Building shortly before a benefit to raise money for a
trip to Hollywood, San Antonio. Photographed in November by Jack Specht.
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0013-B)

Sergeant C. E. Conrad, of the Tenth School Group at Kelly Field,
demonstrates a low-altitude automatic parachute that he invented,
San Antonio. Photographed in December by Jack Specht.
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0018-A)

Samuel Gompers, founder and president of the American Federation of Labor,
is removed from an International and Great Northern train after becoming ill
at a meeting in Mexico City. He died the following day at the St. Anthony Hotel,
San Antonio. Photographed December 12th by Jack Specht.
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0015-B)

Businessman Nat Washer at the time he announced that he would again
fund the annual Christmas dinner for the 375 newsboys who deliver the
local newspapers, San Antonio. Photographed in December by Jack Specht.
(The San Antonio Light Collection, L-0080-V)