I'll Meet You at the Merry-Go-'Round
by John Edward Vogt
When I was young back in the 1930's and early 1940's, the plaza was a real meeting place. When a couple of "toughs" had a battle to settle, it was common to hear them say, "Meet you at the merry-go-‘round after school".
The merry-go-‘round was located a little to the south of center of the plaza between San Antonio Street and Blanco Road. It was set back from the sidewalk along Main Street by maybe 25 or 30 feet. Behind it by maybe 50 feet and more centered between San Antonio and Blanco was the beautiful water fountain built from native "honeycomb" rock. There were no pecan trees lining the plaza, only a few scattered hackberry trees. The area was always called "the plaza" or just "plaza", never "town plaza" and definitely not "town square".
The plaza goes back to the laying out of Boerne. It was part of the "commons", an area for the people of the town but actually belonging to Kendall County since Boerne was a town in name only. The ownership was in the name of Kendall County. Several decades later, the citizens of Boerne asked the Commissioners' Court of Kendall County to take down the fences around the plaza. This request was granted but what purpose it served I do not know. In the early 1900's, when Boerne incorporated, the city acquired parts of the commons which included the plaza. However, the area where the courthouse present is, and several other small lots, remained in the ownership of Kendall County.
In earlier times there was a cypress water tank at the west end of the plaza where water could be run into a smaller tank for live stock to drink. People in the area could also draw water here, since not everyone had a water well, and there was no city water. The tanks were removed some time in the 1920's.
Another part of the plaza was the multitude of cut-ants and their holes. It is extremely hard to eradicate these ants as they have large underground chambers. There were three service stations directly across Main Street, and they would pour their old oil into the ant holes hoping to get rid of the invaders. This went on for a number of years until someone decided to set the oil on fire in hopes this would end the ant problem. Some kerosene or gasoline was poured in the holes and set afire. Some came up completely on the other side of the Cibolo Creek. No one could believe how expansive the underground ant den was. By the way, it didn't kill the ants.
Besides being used as the local battleground, whether for "toughs" or ant wars, the plaza was also the place for playing games such as football, baseball and dodge ball. There were times, though, that none of this was permitted. The Kendall Inn was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hickman. Mr. Hickman was the Mayor of Boerne at that time, and Boerne was a popular vacation spot for many people from Shreveport, Beaumont, Houston and other east Texas towns. They would spend part of the summer in Boerne's spas and resorts, a favorite being the Kendall Inn. If we kids would be playing during the early part of the afternoon, Mayor Hickman would send the City Marshall to make us leave because we were disturbing his guests while they were trying to rest.
Ah ... small town politics.
