SAN ANTONIO — A fire damaged another East Side home on Saturday night, the seventh fire reported in the past several weeks.
Owners say the building on the corner of Pine and Indiana St. was the first successful African American club in San Antonio.
The fire is leaving some residents on edge while the building’s owner is determined to preserve their building’s history.
“A lot of your decisions for San Antonio were made at this place,” Marilyn Pierce, the homeowner said.
According to the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum, Tyler’s Place was once the location of “Tyler’s Confectionary and Lunch Stand” in the 1930’s. SAAACAM and UTSA’s Center for Cultural Sustainability list the property as a Black heritage site.
The family lived in the home and ran the two-story club right next door.
“Your people like Bill Doggett, Scotty [Moore], Louis Armstrong came after they had performed at the Ritz Theater which was a block away [at the time],” Pierce said.
12 years ago, the club at 903 South Pine Street stopped operating, says Pierce.
“To see my family’s legacy being torched, it just breaks your heart,” Pierce said, saying a friend informed her of the fire on Saturday night.
It’s one of at least seven fires reported across the east side since March 15.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fires, some of which they have called suspicious.
‘Some have been on corners, some have been new construction, this building has been here for a while. So I don’t know where the dots are going to be connected,” battalion chief John Castillo said.
The fires have occurred in the Denver Heights and Dignowity Hill neighborhoods. Liz Franklin, a longtime resident of Dignowity Hill urges others to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.
“So I think we all have to be aware of our surroundings, I think we need to take our guidance from subject matter experts,” Franklin said.
Pierce says she won’t let the fire stop her from getting the building back to its former glory.
“Let it be something worthwhile, and since it was the first black business of this nature, let’s not destroy any hope, let’s rebuild,” Pierce said.
The Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association is hosting a meeting on Monday at 6:00 pm at the Ella Austin Community Center. Leaders from the City of San Antonio including the city manager, San Antonio Fire Department, and others will be in attendance.