Bandera County Texas Archives Photo place.....The Barrel House - Pipe Creek, Texas 1936 - 37 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Diane Richards cdr1@ev1.net October 19, 2004, 1:56 pm Source: Richards Family Collection Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/bandera/photos/gph20thebarre.jpg Image file size: 25.2 Kb Original Barrel House Store, 2 miles east of Pipe Creek, Texas Please note that the date on the picture is about 10 years off. Additional Comments: The original Barrel House was built by Conley Henry "George" Richards, Sr. in 1936 about 2 miles east of Pipe Creek, Texas with the help of his sons and area carpenters. It was a general store, Texaco filling station and ice house made from lumber cut and shaped in Bandera. The original barrel-shaped structure burned about 1945, was rebuilt with cinder blocks (with an arched roof) and has evolved into a complex of business which retain its name. The 10 acre tract was purchased in 1935 from Felix McDougall when Conley and his wife, Woodie, retired from the family circus and shows. The family with the 12 children lived on the property where cabins were constructed and rented out to travelers and hunters when not in use by the older children. It is said that Conley had a dream about a store shaped like a barrel which was his inspiration. Conley was the son of Henry Birdo Richards and Mattie Lee Brewster. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/txfiles/ File size: 1.7 Kb