Old Roaster Switch at the H and H Coffee Factory
Another hint is still inside the 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. factory on the east side of San Antonio. The door is weathered and rusted, but the “OLD ROAS...
factory
A ‘G — M — A’ Surveyor’s Marker in Delaware Street, in Front of the Factory’s Entry Gate
A small detail at the property’s street edge — easy to walk past, useful to record. Looking straight down at the asphalt-and-aggregate pavement of Delaware S...
Wilhelmina “Minnie” Menger Hoffmann — International Women’s Day
At the end of 1910, Wilhelmina Hoffmann gave birth to her first son, William Hoffmann, Jr. He died within a month, January 1911. Less than a year later, her ...
“Marzo 5 – 1952 / Marzo 25 – 1953 / Marzo 18 – 1954” — Three Pencil Dates on the Upstairs East Wall
On the east interior wall of the second-floor expansion room above the office at the 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. factory — a room whose finishes have bee...
“Agosto 8 – 56” — A Fourth Pencil Date, on a Pan-Formed Concrete Ceiling Joist
Two minutes after photographing the ‘Marzo’ pencil dates on the east wall of the second-floor expansion room above the office on 1 February 2023, I looked up...
“Febrero 11 – 53” — A Pencil Date on the Seam Between the Expansion and the Original Plant
This frame is two things at once: another pencilled date in the upstairs expansion room above the office, and a frame that documents a construction seam in t...
H and H Coffee Factory South Face at Sunset, 14 March 2021
A tight oblique view of the 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. factory’s south face at 8:16 PM on 14 March 2021 — right at sunset for San Antonio that date, pho...
Thunderbirds “America Strong” Flyover from the H and H Factory Roof, 13 May 2020
Looking north from the roof of the 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. factory on the afternoon of 13 May 2020, the rust-brown tops of the plant’s coffee-silo he...
Hopper Car at the H and H Coffee Factory Siding
The rail siding that runs along the west side of the 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. factory is still worked. On an overcast April afternoon in 2019 this wea...
H and H Coffee Factory — South End and West Flank from the Rail Siding at Dusk, February 2019
The 1932 Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. plant sits with its long axis running roughly north–south, parallel to the rail line that still serves the property. The ...
1934 Hoffmann-Hayman Employees at the “Fragrant…” Billboard
A sepia press photograph of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. office, salesforce, and plant employees — roughly thirty people in three rows — arranged in front ...
Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. Illustrated Letterheads
A sheet of Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. letterhead, one of two in the lot. The masthead runs a dark banner with “Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co.” in white serif cap...
Union Foundry Co. — Embossed Cast-Iron Pipe
A short vertical section of white-painted cast iron with UNION FOUNDRY CO. embossed in sans-serif caps, reading down the pipe. The surface is pitted under th...
Alamo National Bank Statement Fragments — Found in the Wall
Torn scraps of a Alamo National Bank “statement of condition” dated April 20, 1953, laid out on OSB. The Resources column still reads clearly: Cash … $20,564...
Keeping Inventory in the 1940s — Wall Notes
Handwritten figures and labels on a pale, rough plaster or stone wall: a column of numbers, the word PULVORISA in block capitals (likely “pulverized” grind),...
Three Rivers Glass Show, April 28-29 2017
Notes from the 2017 Three Rivers Glass Co. show, which marked the 80th anniversary of the factory’s closing. The show draws Crystalvac collectors and Three R...
Factory Construction by G. W. Mitchell
The Great Depression hit George’s business like everyone else’s. After almost decade of growth, housing and construction slowed. Scrounging for repair and...
A very special factory tour — Menger family
We were able to give a very special visitor a tour of the factory—someone who had not been there since she was a child. She is the granddaughter of Rudolph M...
Interwar sales report books from the office ceiling
While pulling network cable above the ground-floor office, we found three staple-bound books of sales report forms tucked between boards and the 1932 stucco ...
Wait! Spices?
On the second floor, a stave of wood is screwed to the ceiling, blocking one of the old roof-vent cutouts. It is printed Domestic Paprika; from the shape, it...
Chase & Sanborn coffee factory interior
A wide black-and-white interior of a 1930s- or 40s-style coffee-packing room: a long, serpentine floor conveyor, single file of small glass jar bodies and li...