The purchase of Wimberley-Winters House and WIC

This story is part of a multi-piece feature on the Wimberley -Winters house and the process of creating the new Wimberley Valley Museum.

The Wimberley Institute of Cultures has been protecting, educating, and preserving our ‘little bit of heaven.’ In doing so, the beauty and quaintness of the valley will be around for future generations, making people aware of its history. The cornerstone of the organization is the Winters-Wimberley House.

But changes are coming to it – big changes – as they have begun to renovate the historic house, located at the entrance to the Community Center.

Built in around 1857, time has a way of taking its toll, but the time to preserve it is now. “This museum will be different from your usual museum, where you go and look at artifacts and period pieces. This is going to be a picture and story museum,” Grady Burnette, president of WIC, said.

“It will have displays and text of the origin of the miller-operated mill. Because the mill sat on the creek, it was the hub of commerce. That’s how Wimberley got started.” The Grand Opening of the new museum is coming soon, but it took a while to save it for future generations.

Early in the 1950s, Wimberley was very rural at the time, with just a few buildings, and the population was tiny. Eight Wimberley women got together and remarked, “It’s too crowded. We need some place to play cards.” That idea germinated into a real-life plan, only it happened about a quarter century later.

In the late 70’s there were about 500 people in town. People started to move in from the bigger cities when they retired with others building weekend homes, looking forward to when they retired to the area.

Soon others would be coming and locals had the foresight to look around and see that soon Wimberley would become a city with strip centers, convenience and fast food stores lining Ranch Road 12 and the historic buildings razed for more land for businesses. At the time the only nonresidential buildings in town besides the Square were the First Baptist Church of Wimberley, and three gas stations. Community members foresaw the creeping of civilization taking place and decided to form the Wimberley Senior Citizens Activity, Inc. (SCA). The purpose of the group was to “enhance the quality of life for Wimberley citizens,” according to their website.

At first, in 1986, they raised money to buy the old Church hall for a senior citizens’ center and built the Senior Citizens Thrift Store. In 1991, 1.85 acres became available, and that is where the present Visitor’s Center and Chamber of Commerce stands today.

In 1997, the 1850’s Winters-Wimberley House and 5.05 acres became available. “But what will happen to that land if we didn’t buy it?” M.F. Johnson remembered. Everyone wanted to get involved to purchase the land and preserve the old stone house. “You can’t control it if you don’t own it,” she said.

There were a few delays, but soon money would be raised to purchase the land. “At First the Dirt” was the campaign slogan around town,” M.F. said. She remembers climbing the ladder at the land to paint increases on the campaign’s thermometer of donations and was excited when the thermometer raised the amount higher.

Like the Pie Social of today, raffles were held with prizes like a vintage car and other donations. And a funny thing happened. New Wimberleyites from the big city joined in wanting to be a part of the effort to save the Wimberley-Winters House and took up the cause.

Wimberley’s oldest stone house would be purchased for the town from the Keith family, along with 5 acres of land. The entire valley helped in raising the money. Texas Parks and Wildlife provided a matching grant. A loan was also arranged, and $120,000 was raised quickly.

The SCA raised a lot of donations with other contributors such as the first donor the Meadows Center at Texas State, with the Art League, Civic Club, Lions, Hays County, the Mc-Coy Foundation and other groups, foundations and businesses contributing to the cause.

But individual citizens of Wimberley raised a huge part, with everyone wanting to be involved in saving the town’s history.

“People would join us. They saw the need and they joined us,” M.F. said. The undeveloped tract of land had to be cleared, and there would be events like a watermelon party for the land clearing volunteers. Engineers and other professionals that moved from the big city also offered their professional services for free, which were gladly welcomed.

“You know, we’ll do it ourselves. If it takes longer, so be it…that’s the way Wimberley has always been,” M.F. said. Then after the land purchase the SCA in 1999 decided to undertake their largest project, the construction of the present Community Center.

Meanwhile the dream of eight women for more room to play cards, back in the 1950’s became the Community Center. It is used not only by the SCA and the whole town for events too many to mention. The building of the Community Center would play a big part in the preservation of Wimberley’s historic buildings as the houses remained on that property.

In 2002 the W-W House was entered in the National Register and received National Parks Service Certification as well as Texas Historical Certification.

Then in 2011, the SCA deeded the W-W House and the Wimberley-Hughes House with land to the Wimberley Institute of Cultures for a nominal amount each year, with a revert proviso, meaning that if WIC doesn’t achieve their purpose, to “promote cultural traditions through Preservation, Education and Events” and use the facilities for a museum, the property would revert back to the SCA.

WIC took their duties seriously as it has been dutifully protecting the W-W House with “Preservation, Education and Events.” The fourth grade tours, Pie Social, scholarships and of course, the preservation of the two historical buildings have met their objectives for the preservation of the town’s history. The Wimberley Institute of Cultures has kept that agreement and is in the process of updating the museum, adding technology and restoring the growing needs of the house to preserve the history of the buildings and the valley.

The Grand Opening of the Winters-Wimberley Museum will be December 8, the last Market Day of the year. The little museum holds a lot of history, and future plans will unveil more interesting pieces that show this “little bit of heaven.” For membership or more information on the WIC see their website at wimwic.org.