History of the Bright Shawl Tea Room (San Antonio Express News - July 27, 2008)
by Paula Allen
I was at the Bright Shawl tearoom recently, giving a talk to the Ladies of the Thistle (Scottish-ancestry lineage organization), when one of them asked me who the two women are in the portraits hanging there. One member said she thought that one of the portraits was also hanging at Saint Mary's Hall. Have you any idea who they might be? I know the building is a historical marker building (it used to be a doctor's home and office in the 1800s) and was bought by the Junior League.
Wilma Heberling
You are right that the Junior League of San Antonio Inc. (JLSA) owns the Bright Shawl. Much expanded since its opening in October 1925, the facility is used as the Junior League's headquarters and meeting space but is better known as a luncheon spot and venue for banquets, wedding receptions and other festivities. Rental of the facilities helps support the charitable projects of this organization of women volunteers.
Establishing this facility was the JLSA's first fundraising project, says a history of the Bright Shawl on the group's Web site, www.jlsa.org. In its first location in a former house - now a First Presbyterian Church parking lot - the tearoom could accommodate only 100 diners. A benefit held in connection with the 1929 opening of the Majestic Theater helped the Junior League move its operation into more spacious quarters. Designed by renowned architect Alfred Giles, the limestone house at 819 Augusta St. - a recorded Texas landmark since 1973 - had been large enough for Dr. and Mrs. C.E.R. King and their nine children.
"Dreams of many years are fulfilled at last," says a story about the opening of the "new Bright Shawl" in the San Antonio Light, Oct. 13, 1929. The Kings' former residence had been transformed through the League's extensive remodeling into "a most attractive home for the organization," with a large tearoom, sun room, library, reception room and a "big lawn and terraces where luncheon and dinner may be served."
In keeping with the League's mission of hands-on service, the move was a do-it-yourself affair. Members helped move the Bright Shawl by "donning smocks and spending the mornings, sometimes the afternoons, hanging draperies, unpacking china and glassware, directing the workmen, choosing materials and calling people about (paid) membership (in the Bright Shawl)," says the San Antonio Express, Oct. 13, 1929. (Through the late 1980s, Junior League members acted as waitresses and hostesses, while a small paid staff ran day-to-day operations of the tearoom; since 1991, JLSA has contracted with management companies.)
The tearoom's unusual name came from a book and movie that were well-known at the time. By popular author Joseph Hergesheimer, "The Bright Shawl" was a novel about the Cuban revolution of 1850; the following year, a film adaptation starred matinee idol Richard Barthelmess. There was a real "bright shawl" displayed in the eponymous meeting place, donated by Farris Linen, a shop that shared the original location.
Through the years, the Bright Shawl has been host to debutante parties, fashion shows and innumerable meetings and luncheons. It's a testament to the original members drive to promote their facility, since when the JLSA was founded in 1924, "Many people thought it was a baseball league," said Mrs. Robert R. West Jr., in a 40th-anniversary story in the Express, Feb. 2, 1964. That anniversary celebration honored past presidents, including the subject of the portrait in question.
Current JLSA President Laura Talley forwarded information about both pictures. The portrait that hangs in the facility's board room depicts Margaret Batts Tobin, arts patron and philanthropist, who was a co-founder in 1939 of the San Antonio Symphony, president of the McNay Art Institute and member of the board of directors of the New York 's Metropolitan Opera.
The picture that hangs in the living room of the Junior League headquarters is the one you were asked about. Its subject is Mrs. John M. Bennett Sr., one of the JLSA's 11 founding members, an early president and longtime sustaining member who was instrumental in setting up the JLSA-sponsored Children's Free Clinic. Bennett "had learned of league activities on a trip to the east," says the Express, July 11, 1955, "and returned to San Antonio to establish one of the pioneer Junior Leagues of the West."
The JLSA founder also was important to the development of Saint Mary's Hall.
"The photo hanging in our main office is of Jamie Armstrong Bennett," says Jennifer Milikien, the independent school's director of marketing and public relations. "She and her family have a longtime relationship with Saint Mary's Hall."
Bennett's daughter Josephine graduated from the school in 1930, and many other family members have attended since then. A biography of Jamie Bennett provided by Saint Mary's Hall says she "played a major role in the sale of bonds to finance the purchase of property and construction of a new school building" during the late 1920s. She joined the school's board of trustees in 1926 and served for almost 38 years, including 30 as vice president.
Since Bennett's death, April 22, 1963, Saint Mary's Hall named an endowed fund for teachers' salaries as well as a campus courtyard in her honor. Another endowment provides for the Jamie Armstrong Bennett award to faculty or staff "who have made a signal contribution to the life of the school."
Family matters: For tips on tracing roots, try the Beginning Genealogy class to be held from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday in the Texana/Genealogy Room on the sixth floor of the San Antonio Central Library, 600 Soledad Plaza. Taught by Texana staff, the course covers strategies on getting started, basic forms to use and types of records to consult to research family history. The program is free to the public; to register or for questions, contact the Texana department at genealogydesk@sanantonio.gov or call 207-2500 and ask for Texana.
Send questions to Paula Allen in care of S.A. Life, San Antonio Express-News, P.O. Box 2171, San Antonio, TX 78297-2171, or e-mail historycolumn@yahoo.com.
