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Texas History Highlights: Kitirik, Howard Nursery, San Antonio Dams, and El Milagro Ranch
Today’s historical buffet includes memories of Kitirik, Howard Nursery, Old Town Spring's digital archives, San Antonio's secret dams, and the salvation of a 200-year-old ranch in Zapata County.
Published July 27, 2025 at 11:01pm by Michael Barnes

Today’s historical buffet — sampled from the free and paid sites published by Hearst Texas newspapers — include:
- Memories of Kitirik, a kiddie TV star in Houston during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
- A peek at Howard Nursery, which provided the Austin area with plant life for 94 years.
- Options to view historical material about Old Town Spring digitally.
- Discovering the secret historical dams that help keep San Antonio safe.
- Celebrating the salvation of a 200-year-old ranch near Laredo.
Do you remember Kitirik, a star of Houston TV from 1954 to 1971?
For 17 years from 1954 to 1971, tens of thousands — perhaps hundreds of thousands — of Houston children sat glued to their TV sets beguiled by a winsome woman attired in a cat costume: a black leotard, bejeweled collar, mesh hose, mink tail and high heels.
For one hour every weekday afternoon, Wanda Louise “Bunny” Perkins — known to fans as “ Kitirik” — threw softball questions to young guests on their birthdays, interviewed visiting Hollywood royalty, goofed around with a disguised clown named “Nod,” chatted with a top-hatted puppeteer named “Skipper,” and introduced vintage cartoons.
The formula rarely varied.
“My show stayed about the same,” said Perkins, 93, by phone from her home in Las Cruces, N.M. in July. “The kids all expected what they were going to see and what I was going to do. We didn’t make a lot of big changes during those 17 years.” READ MORE AT THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Helpful horticultural advice: Howard Nursery shaped city for 94 years
For 94 years, the Howard family provided Austin residents with trees, shrubs, flowers and other vegetation for their gardens and farms at their eponymous nurseries, one on Shady Lane in East Austin, and the other on East Koenig Lane north of Hyde Park. A third Howard establishment could be found for a time on Springdale Road near Givins Park.
The owners served iced tea and offered helpful horticultural advice
All the Howard Nursery businesses had vanished by early 2006, but overgrown remnants of some nursery gardens remain.
“From the Archives” reader Rick Cloud harks back, especially, to the Howard Nursery founded by Eugene Howard in 1912 on fertile alluvial soil on Shady Lane north of East Seventh Street.
“It extended all the way to old Airport Boulevard,” Cloud writes, “but all the acreage has been broken up over the years, much of sold to TxDOT for the interchange at the Montopolis Bridge. The house burned down years ago. The gardens ‘exist’ — overgrown and now fenced off— and you can still see the twin fountain ponds.” READ MORE AT THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Spring Historical Museum photos, documents now available on searchable database
The museum in Old Town Spring partnered with the History Taskforce, a history research organization in Montgomery County, to use high tech software to digitize the collection and make the photos and documents available in a searchable database on the museum's website.
“With so many unique and interesting photos and documents in our archives, it was a dream come true to be able to get them all digitized and on our website. Now history buffs from Spring and around the world can access them in a searchable database at the click of a button,” said James Sharp, vice president of the museum’s board of directors.
The three-month project was completed May 6 and includes about 7,000 records. The collection will also be available soon on the genealogy database Family Search. READ MORE AT THE COURIER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Secret San Antonio dams: 28 barriers for the city's flood protection
For millennia, humans have been settling where water naturally flows, gaining access to the life-sustaining liquid before modern distribution and drilling technology developed. The same can be said for San Antonio. But while water is, of course, needed to sustain populations, its unpredictability and tendency to flood can also claim lives. Thus, a series of sometimes overlooked and unknown dams were erected around the Alamo City, most built roughly 45 to 70 years ago.
A quick search online for dams in San Antonio will provide lots of history on a couple of very well-known dams: the Olmos Dam and the Espada Dam. But the San Antonio River Authority actually oversees 28 water retention dams through Bexar County. Most of them are on the far Northeast and Eastside of San Antonio, attempting to keep the Calaveras Creek, Salado Creek and Martinez Creek tributaries at bay during rain events. READ MORE AT MYSA.COM
El Milagro saved: Eighth-generation rancher saves 200-year-old Zapata County ranch from highway expansion
The walls of El Milagro Ranch’s historic house in Zapata County hold memories spanning eight generations of the Ramirez family. Built by Rene Ramirez’s great-grandfather, the 85-year-old structure is more than a residence — it’s a repository of nearly 200 years of family history, with 165 years documented on that land.
From old pistols and maps of the area to portraits capturing the stern yet proud expressions of Ramirez’s ancestors, every detail tells a story of resilience and hard work. The ranch house sits on a 1,600-acre property in Lopeno, Texas, just over an hour’s drive from Laredo.
The Texas Department of Transportation announced plans last year to expand U.S. Highway 83, running a divided four-lane road through El Milagro. That expansion would have left the historic house — along with its carefully restored grounds and countless memories — demolished.
“This county has already gone through so much with the lake, so to ask somebody to give up their property — in our case it would be the fifth time — I just thought it was unreasonable,” Ramirez said. “I was pretty stressed about it. It’s 165 years where El Milagro is today, so there is a strong connection. Having 165 years of history on your shoulders is hard to carry.” READ MORE AT LAREDO MORNING TIMES