gia, it is visually inspiring. I’m learning to do
stairs and the St. Francis Hotel upstairs.
research.”
In those days they would push the seats back
He said the timing is right. The building was
in the theatre and have public dances in that
completed in 1917 and opened in 1918. It still is
space, so the building was a popular gathering
a very visible landmark at the southeast corner of
place for the community.
Oak (Highway 90) and Persimmon.
That space also became the Vaudeville theater.
“I hope to restore it to the original form, with
The Bohlmans and baby Mary Ellen Bohlman
retail downstairs and a hotel upstairs,” he said.
moved to Sanderson in 1909, where he took a
“The old soda fountain could be a coffee shop
position as an engineer on the Southern Pacific
with coffee in the mornings and drinks in the
Lines. His run was from Sanderson to Valentine
evenings. And we could have a beer garden out-
piloting a 2-8-2 “Mikado” steam engine.
side.
Just three years after opening their new build-
“We will pay homage to the Vaudeville theater
ing, William Bohlman was killed when the boil-
er on his engine exploded near
Paisano Pass.
Fireman Charles F. Robinson was
later located dazed and injured some
distance away.
Later, it appeared Bohlman may
have been shot and Robinson hit over
the head. Head brakeman Earl
Stirman was tried for the alleged
crime but it ended in a hung jury.
Mary Bohlman, after losing her
husband and two children, remained
in Sanderson until 1941, when she
moved to be closer to a surviving
Mary Burns Bohlman stood at the soda fountain in the then-new St. Francis
child.
Hotel in Sanderson early in the 20th C entury. She and her husband W illiam
She died of injures from an auto
Francis Bohlman built the two-story brick building after their confectionary
nearby burned down. Photo courtesy of Terrell C ounty Museum
accident in 1958.
County Judge Santiago Flores said
on the first floor,” he said. “I visualize something
values in the county are “going in a southern
like a jazz bar.” He pictures a round bar with the
direction” and any development could be helpful
stage behind. A large ballroom was used for a
to the community. He said he was “thankful that
variety of affairs including vaudeville, dances and
he made that investment.”
parties.
Flores said there are some other hopeful signs
The hotel will be moderately priced to make it
on the horizon for Sanderson, a town that has
attractive to tourists passing through. Inside, the
seen dwindling resources over the last 20 years,
rooms will maintain the brick appearance of the
since the Union Pacific Railroad moved its crew-
building’s façade.
change station to Alpine.
“The next step is to get a vision team to make
He said Coe Pratt has bought the Princess
it happen,” he said. “I’m working on my MBA
Theater, two blocks east of the St. Francis. Signs
now so this is a big project going back to the
in front of the long-vacant building indicated
roots.”
restoration was in progress.
He created the Blacksmith Investment Group
And Robert Gregory bought the Sanderson
to seek funding for the project. The original
Motel nearby. Flores said both buyers also bought
Spanish name Herrera meant blacksmith.
“a few” homes in town.
“Hopefully, we can get a team together and
“There’s hopefully some people coming in and
find $500 [thousand] to a million,” he said.
wanting to do good things for the community,”
The plan is to bring down the interior struc-
he said.
ture and replace it with a steel framework, he
Dale Carruthers, manager of the Sanderson
said. “In the hospitality industry, there is always
Bank and a county commissioner, said she was
risk but we want to keep risk to a minimum.
“very supportive” of Herrera’s plans. “I’ll be very
Right now, the floor upstairs buckles up in the
interested in seeing what he can come up with.”
middle, indicating possibly serious structural
Herrera had been in Australia studying sleep
problems.
disorders, then moved to Qatar but said that did-
The theme for the hotel project is based on a
n’t work out. A native of Nicaragua, he has visit-
statement in the media of the day when the St.
ed 46 countries.
Francis was first built in 1917. That statement
He moved to Alpine to found the Trans Pecos
said “the key to Sanderson’s future is through its
Ultra Run, a seven-day, 163-mile run at Big Bend
past.”
Ranch State Park every October.
It said the “amusements” with the theater and
“It’s more than a race,” he said. “They learn to
sleep in the field and deal with the wilderness.”
confectionary were “essential for civilized life.”
Herrera said the St. Francis project is “nostal-
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