Wilson County Texas Archives Biographies.....Williams, Thomas J. 1863 - 
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Nan Starjak http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006329 November 11, 2008, 2:08 pm

Author: Frank W. Johnson

Capitalist, lumberman and owner of Sutherland
Springs, a noted Texas resort, Thomas J. Williams has for many
years been a prominent figure in the industrial and commercial life of
the Lone Star State, where his interests are many and extensive. He
is a native of Alabama, and was born in 1863, being brought to Texas
as a child of two years by his parents, who located in Hardin County,
in the great timber belt in the eastern part of the state. It is not the
province of this article to relate the numerous interesting incidents that
have gone to make up Mr. Williams’ career, but to briefly sketch those
industries which he has been identified with and to which he has given
the lasting benefits of his high abilities.
     Mr. Williams has been engaged in the lumber business ever since he
was nineteen years old, and during this time has owned and operated
lumber mills at various places in the great pine timber sections of East
Texas and Southwest Louisiana. His home for several years was in
Nacogdoches County, Texas, afterward at Houston, and in 1908 was
transferred to San Antonio, where his family stfll spend a part of their
time, dividing it between San Antonio and Sutherland Springs. Mr.
Williams, early in 1914, bought the townsite of Sutherland Springs, with
the hotel, park and all resort buildings and improvements, and on March 1st
of that year assumed control and management of this valuable property.
     The Town of Sutherland Springs is located in Wilson County, on the
Cibolo River, thirty miles east of San Antonio, on the Southern Pacific
Railroad. The townsite, including the surrounding parks and grounds,
consists of 1,000 acres of land, with a frontage of three miles on the
picturesque Cibolo River. On this property there are more than twenty
mineral springs. Hotel Sutherland is a splendid modern hotel of fifty-two
rooms, having its own water supply, sewerage systems and electric
light. In the fall of 1914 Mr. Williams completed and dedicated the
new Park Sanitarium, a modern 2-story building for the accommodation
of guests seeking health and recreation, and operated as an auxiliary
to the hotel. The sanitarium is located near the cement-constructed
bathing pool, and in close proximity to most of the mineral springs and
wells. In the early spring of 1915 Mr. Williams completed numerous
other improvements, such as new streets, sidewalks, culverts and beautification
of the park and townsite generally, and a spur railroad track,
on which passenger trains are hauled from the main track at the station
to the park grounds and buildings, a distance of something over a mile,
is a part of Mr. Williams’ holdings. The town has also a commercial
club, a bank, newspaper, stores, etc.
     The beneficial properties of the waters at Sutherland Springs were
known to the Indians for many years, but did not impress white men
favorably until 1848, when Gideon Lee, a prominent citizen of New York,
learned of their value and became the purchaser of the property upon
which they are located. It had been his ambition to erect a resort city
along the lines of the present place, but death claimed him before he
could carry out his plans, which, however, were accomplished in part by
the company which bought his interests, and completed by Mr. Williams
since he has been the owner. The springs are surrounded in every direction
by land of wonderful fertility, especially adapted to the growing
of truck and fruit of every character, where water can be had for irrigation
at almost any depth, from 18 to 200 feet. An automobile toll road,
between Sutherland Springs and San Antonio, as soon as completed,
will bring the two places within thirty-five or forty minutes of each
other, and the road connecting Floresville, Karnes City, Falls City and
Stockdale, with Sutherland Springs, has also been repaired and made to
accommodate automobile travel. The beautiful Cibolo (see-wil-low)
River, spring fed, clear and deep, winds its way along the entire length
of the property, and adds immeasurably to the attracticns of the resort.
Just above this point there has been erected a large dam, making a magnificent
lake of more than a mile in length, upon which have been placed
a beautiful floating pavilion and boats of every character, nothing having
been left undone which can add to the attractiveness of this beautiful,
body of water. Giant bearded oaks cover the well-kept velvet lawns surrounding
the Hotel Sutherland and the natural surroundings of the
property are of the most picturesque and attractive character. The
medicinal value of the springs has been proven in innumerable cases, the
waters comparing favorably with those of any of the springs, health
resorts or watering places of this or European countries.
     The history of Mr. Williams’ lumber interests is a story of continued
progress and success, He is president of the Texas Lumber Manufacturing
Company, which for several years maintained its main plant and
headquarters at Honey Island, in Hardin County. Liking the climate of
San Antonio and vicinity, Mr. Williams, in 1906, removed with his
family to San Antonio, as mentioned above, and engaged at that city in
the retail lumber business, under the name of T. J. Williams Lumber
Company, although he still retained his interests in the Texas Lumber
Manufacturing Company and elsewhere in East Texas. Later Mr. WiIliams
sold his holdings at San Antonio, md the lumber yard is owned
by the Mission Lumber Company. In 1914 the Texas Lumber Manufacturing
Company sold out its interests in Hardin County and under
the direction of Mr. Williams, who had continued as its president, established
at Houston a plant for mnnufacturing modern residences after a
plan originated, perfected and patented by Mr. Williams, after three
years of devising and experimenting. These ready-to-be-put-houses, it is
conceded by experts, will revolutionize the house-building industry.
They have single partitions and single wall, with 2-inch siding ; windows
that fit into uprights and require no sash, these uprights reaching from
foundation to roof; lined inside with asbestos and heavy cremote building
paper and canvas; the principles of construction being carried out being
such as to retard and lessen danger from fire and give protection from
both heat and cold. Another very attractive feature of the houses is
that they are absolutely vermin and rat proof. The unique method of
construction saves considerable space, also gives an interior natural
finish that can be adapted to the mission and any other style of interior
arrangement and decoration. The general style of architecture can be
arranged to suit the taste of the builder; any size residence from a
1-story to a 3-story house, with as many rooms as desired, can be built
under this plan. Those which have already been put up at Port Arthur,
Houston, San Antonio, Sutherland Springs, etc., have won the admiration of all
who have inspected them, for their beauty of appearance, both inside and out,
their comfort, convenience and simplicity, their general air of wholesomeness
and sanitary cleanliness. What will appeal most
strongly to the home builder is that these houses can be bought and
erected complete at a cost 25 per cent cheaper than under the old method
of building, and can be sold from 20 to 25 per cent more. The houses
are bought direct from the company, and with the plans and directions
furnished can be put up in a short time by any man handy with tools,
eliminating the expense and worry of contractors, mechanics, etc. The
plant at Houston is located at the corner of Harrisburg and Baker
streets, and commenced operation early in 1915, with a capacity of
turning out two houses a day.

Additional Comments:
source:
A History of Texas and Texans, by Frank W. Johnson, A Leader in the Texas
Revolution.  Edited and brought to date by Eugene C. Barker, Ph.D., with the
assistance of Ernest William Winkler, M.A.
The American Historical Society, Chicago and New York, 1916
Volume IV

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