Bankersmith
| Bankersmith, Texas | |
|---|---|
| Nickname : Bikinis, Texas | |
 Bankersmith is located in Kendall County , Texas
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1913 by the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Texas |
| County : | Kendall County |
| Coordinates : | 30 ° 8 ′ N , 98 ° 49 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) |
| Residents : | 0 (as of 2011) |
| Height : | 537 m |
| FIPS : | 48-05564 |
| GNIS ID : | 1377972 |
Bankersmith is a ghost town in Kendall County in the US -amerikanischen State Texas on the Old San Antonio Road about halfway between Fredericksburg and Comfort near the border to the Gillespie County .
History and geography
Bankersmith was founded in 1913 as a train station for the nearby town of Grapetown along the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway . The town and the train station got their name "Bankersmith" or "Banker Smith" from Temple Doswell Smith , president of Fredericksburger Bank, which financed the railway line from Fredericksburg to Comfort. Later it was on the first paved road from San Antonio to Fredericksburg (Route 9).
By the 1920s, Bankersmith had peaked at around 50 residents. The Post Office , which was sometimes listed as belonging to Kendall County and sometimes as belonging to Gillespie County, was surrounded by a small business district that served the train station. In the 1930s, rail traffic on the line through Bankersmith was discontinued, and US Highway 87 further west became the preferred alternative between Fredericksburg and Comfort. By the 1940s, the city was largely deserted and the post office closed, although some residents stayed there until the 1960s.
The city was located in the hilly area of the Texas Hill Country near one of the few rail tunnels in Texas, the state's first rail tunnel. It took six months to build the 293 m long tunnel, which at the time cost $ 134,000 . It is now part of the Old Tunnel State Park and is home to thousands of bats .
Purchase and planned renaming
Doug Guller , the owner of the restaurant chain Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill , bought the ghost town in 2012 and announced that he would rename the deserted place to "Bikinis, Texas" after its " Breastaurants " . He said he wanted to turn the small place into a tourist attraction including a hall of fame for the bikini, i.e. H. for the two-piece swimsuit. There are no plans to open a Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill restaurant there, but he could imagine setting up a bar in an old bus.
The opening ceremony of Bikinis, Texas took place on July 13, 2013. Country musician Jerry Jeff Walker sang there and Carmen Electra was in attendance to open the Hall of Fame. There are also plans for a Miss Bikinis USA beauty pageant and possibly a reality show .
In 2015, Doug Guller changed the name back to Bankersmith to reassure the neighbors in Fredericksburg .
Web links
supporting documents
- ^ A b Bikinis, Texas: History in a Pecan Shell. Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill, July 17, 2012, accessed July 26, 2012 .
- ↑ Bankersmith, Texas ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved October 21, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e Richard Zelade: Lone Star Guide to the Texas Hill Country . In: Taylor Trade Publications (Ed.): Lone Star Travel Guides . tape 6 . Lanham, MD 2011, ISBN 1-58979-609-8 (English, google.com ).
- ↑ a b c d Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl: Bankersmith, Texas . In: The Handbook of Texas Online . Texas State Historical Association. 1999. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ↑ a b Alexis Shaw: "Breastaurant" Chain Owner Buys Texas Town, Renames it Bikinis . In: ABC News , July 19, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Jasmin Sun: Texas Breastaurant Town Bikinis to Open July 13 . In: Eater , June 12, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Entrepreneur Doug Guller Celebrates Grand Opening of Bikinis, Texas with Special Guest Carmen Electra: Kick-Off Weekend on July 13 Features Live Texas Music from Headliner Jerry Jeff Walker, Black's Barbecue, Bikini Contest and More. ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Reuters, June 12, 2013, accessed October 20, 2013.
- ↑ Aleksander Chan: 'Breastaurant' Bikinis Is Bringing Miss Bikinis USA To Bikinis, Texas . In: Austinist , May 13, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Vicky Garza: Bikinis may hit TV screens with reality show deal . In: Austin Business Journal , November 5, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ↑ Bye, bye, Bikinis, Texas. Hill Country town no longer exists . In: Austin American-Statesman . June 24, 2015. Accessed June 27, 2015.
