Stratford Hotel

21 June 1932: 1. The Stratford Hotel with entrance at 414 Fannin occupies most of the field of view, and abutting the hotel to the right, 2. the Paul Building (Republic Building). This image is perhaps more of an artist’s rendering than a photograph. The northwest corner of Prairie and Fannin seems to be represented, but the hotel did not come to the corner, occupying the center of the block only. On the actual corner sat the Hotel Field at 1013-15 Prairie, here out of view. Street-level businesses under Field Hotel were H. M. Dudley & sons’ restaurant (1015 Prairie), Max Sheinberg tailor (1015½ Prairie), Charles Norris restaurant (1017 Prairie), and Hester Traylor shoe store (1019-1021 Prairie). The Scanlan Building at 401-405 Main is directly behind the Stratford Hotel, though here out of view, and the Foley Brothers department store was also on the block at 1009-1011 Prairie, with additional entrances on Main and Preston.

21 November 2019: 1. The tallest skyscraper at left is Aris at Market Square, an apartment building with retail and private parking on lower levels, 32 floors, built in 2017, 1209 Preston); 2. At center is the Scanlan Building, 12 floors,1909, 401-405 Main; 3. Nearly obscured by trees is the Harris County Administration Building at center right, 10 floors, built in 1978, 1001 Preston; 4. Oldest of all is the Paul Building (Republic Building), 8 floors, built in 1907, 1018-22 Preston.

Postmarked 21 June 1932; Houston, Texas2
Stamp: 2c Carmine George Washington #554
To: Mr. G. L. Prothro Jr.
304 Givens Ave.
San Antonio, Texas.
Message: 6-21-32
Dear Lester:
I passed everything so I’m in the Navy now. On the reverse side is a picture of the hotel I'm staying at. that “rattler” we came in on was worse than the freight. I’ll be in S. A. from 2:50 – 3:10 P. M. tomorrow and then it’ll be a long time before I see the old place again. It is raining and thundering here. Tell “Bepo” hello for me also Mr. and Mrs. Pipes and Mr. Lane. Your friend “Suey” Tom (S. P. – T. P.)

Lester Prothro was just 23 days past his 21st birthday when he received this postcard from a new recruit for the US Navy. Born in Dallas, TX, Lester was the son of Gardrad Prothro, Sr. and Martha Elizabeth Jones and the younger brother of Catherine Prothro, 8 years his senior. He was a 1931 graduate of Brackenridge High School in San Antonio, and it seems most likely that the author of the postcard, T. P – S. P. (perhaps “Suey” by his classmates), was most likely a schoolmate and friend, probably a close neighbor.

Fulfilling all these criteria was Thomas John Powell, living 2 blocks away (at 315 Halstead in 1929) and a classmate at Brackenridge High School, together appearing in the school yearbook of 1929, La Retama. Subsequent data would reveal Thomas to be a Navy careerist, following a separate trajectory from Lester Prothro after this communication. It seems quite likely that Thomas was the author of the postcard, but no document from him has been discovered to provide a handwriting comparison, and the ID must remain to a certain extent unsupported.

Tom Powell, five months shy of his 19th birthday when the postcard was sent, was born 26 November 1913 in Dousman, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, where his parents, David L. and Clara B. Powell operated a general store. Thomas was the eldest child, followed by siblings Arden D. (born 1916), Adeline (1920). His father David Powell was an immigrant from Wales, coming to the United States in 1866 as a three-year-old with his father, Thomas Powell, a miner from Nant Brane, Breconshire, Wales. They came on the S. S. Kangaroo, traveling as a family: Thomas Powell (36 years old), Margaret (41), Mary (7), Margaret (6), Helena (5), David himself (3), Julia (2) and Eliza (1). The family settled into life in Wisconsin, where Thomas became a farmer; his wife Margaret died in 1872. Their son David L. Powell married in 1895 to Ida and opened a general store in Ottawa, Waukesha County, WS. Ida died in 1904, and David continued to operate the store as he boarded with his sister Elizabeth Waite. In 1912 David Powell married Clara Belle McDonald, who had previously been married in Morgan County, OH to Chester W.Gregg by whom she had Viola (1898), Lillian (1899) and Bonnie (1903). Most of the Powell family remained in Wisconsin, but David and Clara emigrated from Wisconsin to San Antonio about 1924.

After enlisting in the Navy, Tom Powell completed his training and married Evelyn Hortense McClimans in 1936. Born in 1917 in Kern County, CA, Evelyn was the daughter of Augustus McClimans and Muriel Lawton, and sister to Wesley (1914) and John A. (1919). Settling into the peripatetic life of a sailor, Tom and Evelyn lived in Long Beach, LA County, CA (1938), Washington D. C. (1938), Brooklyn, NY (1940), San Diego, CA (1950). They had children Thomas D. (1938), Sharon Gayle (1941) and Genevieve H. (1946). He served in World War II and in Korea.

Like Tom Powell, Lester Prothro was of Welsh ancestry, but much further back in the history of America. The original immigrant, John E. Protheroe was born in 1680 in Pembroke, Wales, and died in Newcastle, Delaware in 1720. The Welsh language is notoriously full of consonants, and names were typical – Prothro ancestors were Prytherch and Prydderch. Before coming to Texas the family lived in Mt. Lebanon, Bienville Parish, Louisiana and South Carolina earlier yet. Lester’s full name was Gardrad Lestarjette Prothro, a tongue-twisting name that calls for some explanation. His great-grandmother was Lavinia Lestarjette (1829-1904) who married William Butler Prothro (1826-1898). Their son, Henry married Ella Caroline Kerr, whose mother was Louisa Gardrad Mitchell (1818-1870), most likely taking her middle name from a family ancestor.

Lester was born in Dallas, TX on 28 May 1911 while his father worked as a traveling salesman. The family had come from Cleburne, Johnson County, TX after 1910, Lester was the third child in the family, with older sisters Elizabeth (born 1908) and Katherine (1910). They didn't live in Dallas long, last appearing on the Dallas city directory of 1913, after which they moved to San Antonio, Bexar County, TX about 1916 when Lester was about 5 years old. Living with them in 1920 was his grandmother, Ella Caroline Kerr Prothro, a long-time widow of Henry Butler Prothro. She may have spent a lot of time with her son as his family grew, but apparently moved to Brownwood, Brown County, TX about this time as she is ambiguously listed in Brownwood as well in 1920, and it is there that she spent her last years.

Ella is first found on the public record in Shackleford County, TX living alone as a married boarder, no children listed. She had had two children die as infants and toddlers: William B. Prothro (21 January 1877 Wills Point, Van Zandt County, TX – 6 Mar 1878 Cleburne, Johnson County, TX) and Pearl Prothro (2 Feb 1878 Cleburne, TX – 3 November 1879 Belknap Young County, TX). On 16 July 1882 in Belton, Bell County, TX Ella gave birth to Gardrad Lestarjette Prothro, Lester’s father, and she had one more child, Eva Dainty Prothro (28 December 1886 San Antonio, Bexar County, TX – 15 May 1899 Hillsboro, Hill County, TX). Ella's husband, Henry Butler Prothro was elusive in the record public records, it is not known when he died and family histories of the various Prothro descendants are ambiguous or contradictory. Ella is settled into the life of a teacher in Hillsboro in 1900 when she appears with her surviving son, 17 year old “Godred” Prothro, listing herself as mother of 1 child, 1 still living. She is censused in Hillsboro in 1910, and in Brownwood, Brown County, TX in 1920, and listed in the Brownwood City Directory of 1919, 1925, and 1931. She died at the age of 77 on 9 December 1931 and is buried in the Hillsboro City Cemetery. Her influence on her single surviving adult child would have been great, and her branch of the family would have owed a lot to her frugal life as a teacher.

Lester Prothro, as well as his friend Tom Powell, grew up in San Antonio, and came of age there in the interwar years. Tom Powell joined the Navy in 1932, as the postcard reveals, while Lester seems to have stayed out of the military until the advent of World War II. When he enlisted he was living in Worcester County, MA where he enlists on December 21, 1942. By then he had a year of college, and had worked in the manufacture of textiles. He was 5’ 9” and weighed 140 lbs, a man typical of the times. His father remained in San Antonio, living at the same address to which the 1932 postcard was directed. Gardrad Lestarjette Prothro, Sr. died in 1963 after a fall at home followed by a cerebrospinal vascular accident. His widow Bessie died in 1965 of a heart attack, both are buried in Roselawn Memorial Park in San Antonio. After war service, Lester returned to Worchester County, MA where married Edith Grace Hill in 1943, daughter of Hartwell Hill and Grace Harrington; they had no children. Gardrad Lestarjette Prothro, Jr died 12 May 1993. Edith died 16 December 1993 and was buried in Quabbin Park Cemetery near her parents in Ware, Hampshire County, MA.

Tom Powell’s father David stayed in San Antonio as his son traveled the world, and died there May 20, 1943 of heart problems. Like the senior Prothro, he is buried in Roselawn Memorial Park in San Antonio. His widow Clara died in 1966 in Denver, Adams County, CO where their son Arden Powell lived. Thomas John Powell died 3 June 2006 in Fayette County, TX nearly 20 years after his wife Evelyn on 12 February 1987. Both are buried in Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, OR.

The author mentions “Bepo” and Mr. and Mrs. Pipes, as well as Mr. Lane. Bepo is a nickname for Guiseppe, but no classmate by either name can be found in the school annual or in the census of 1930. The Pipes are probably neighbors Robert W. and Ernestine Pipes a few blocks from the boys. The identity of Mr. Lane cannot be established as a neighbor or member of the Brackenridge Hish School community.