Nathan Kallison
Nathan Kallison of San Antonio
Values Codes I – H – E – L – P
Nathan Kallison was born in 1873 in Ladyzhinka, Russia.
His parents were Moshko and Dina Kallison.
Along the way . . .
Nathan Kallison journeyed to America in 1890.
He and his brother, Jacob, traveled separately, but were reunited in New York.
Together, they went to Chicago, where their older cousin, Joseph, lived.
There, Nathan Kallison found work as a harness maker.
He attended the Jewish Training School in order to learn English and American history.
In 1893, he opened his own harness shop.
In 1894, the Kallison brothers brought their mother, Dina, to Chicago.
In 1896, the Kallison family was naturalized as American citizens.
San Antonio, Texas
During the late 1890s, Nathan Kallison considered moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Arizona.
Eventually, in 1899, he moved his family to San Antonio, Texas, where he opened a harness shop at 124 S. Flores Street. The shop became a successful leather business.
In 1908, Nathan extended the business to include ranching supplies and general merchandise. It became the leading farm and ranch store in south Texas.
In 1910, Nathan Kallison purchased land in San Antonio for $3.76 an acre, officially becoming a rancher.
Kallison’s Ranch Entrance
Kallison taught himself about the science and practice of agriculture.
He experimented with agricultural techniques and varieties of wheat, such as Abyssinian Duran, which could withstand extreme temperatures.
The sign at the entrance to his ranch read: “Established in 1910 for development of better farming and ranching.”
The Kallisons were agricultural innovators. For instance, theirs was the first ranch in Texas to grow flax.
In 1914, the Kallison family moved to a three-story Victorian house at 701 San Pedro Avenue.
BBQ at the Kallison Ranch
During the 1920s, Nathan renamed his store Kallison’s Department Store.
Following a devastating flood in 1921, he quickly rebuilt his store, along with an addition that incorporated much of the west side of the 100 block of Flores.
The elegantly designed structure was known as Kallison’s Block.
Family
Nathan Kallison married Anna Letwin (b. 1877) in 1895.
Together they had four children: Morris (1896-1966), Pauline (1881-1953), Bertha “Tibe” (1902-1982), and Perry (1903-1999).
Perry Kallison assisted his father in the agricultural side of the family’s business interests. He married Frances Rosenthal, whom he met through his sister, Tibe.
Morris Kallison left school after ninth grade to work in the family store, though he eventually took classes at Alamo City Business College. After World War II, he turned his focus to real estate, buying up commercial properties in downtown San Antonio.
Morris Kallison was a bar mitzvah at Temple Beth El in 1909. Pauline, Tibe, and Perry were confirmed at the temple.
Nick Kotz, Tibe’s son, is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post and the Des Moines Register.
Nathan Kallison died in 1944 in San Antonio, Texas.
Anna Kallison died in 1959.
They are buried at the Temple Beth El Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.
Legacy
Although Kallison’s Department Store closed in 1967, the building at 124 S. Flores remains, including the statue of a cowboy holding a saddle.
In 2002, the Government Canyon State National Area expanded to include 1,161 acres of the Kallison Ranch, due to the ranch’s location above the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer.
Sources
- Hollace Ava Weiner, “Frances Rosenthal Kallison 1908-2004: Texas Cowgirl with a Jewish Conscience,” Western States Jewish History 48/1.
- Nick Kotz, The Harness Maker’s Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas (Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press, 2013).
Samantha Silver is Curator for this Nathan Kallison exhibit.
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Jews in the News
A Congregation for Waco, Texas — 1879
Waco, Texas. The Jewish community of this place are about organizing a congregation, preparatory to building a synagogue and Sunday school. This movement had long been spoken of, but until the B’nai B’rith lodge had taken action in the matter, nothing definite was decided upon. The action of the lodge in so zealously furthering the formation of a congregation, is deserving of much praise.
— Jewish Messenger, New York, March 14, 1879 [reprinted in WSJH 22/4]
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