Cat Spring: Agricultural Society Hall

Several people standing in front of a twelve sided building with a conical roof and cupola on top
Long barbecue pit with meat smoking, attended by men seated in lawn chairs. Covered pavilion in background

Barbecue pit at June Fest celebration.

1884 photo of a group of men standing in front of a house with a very large American flag. Labeled as members of the Cat Spring Agricultural Society

Members of Cat Spring Agricultural Society, 1884 (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Interior of twelve sided building showing exposed roof framework and string lights across the beams. Large group of people in lines around buffet tables

Inside the hall during the June Fest celebration.

Two storey building with one side showing two floors of rooms and the other side showing two storey windows indicating a large open hall inside

Turnverein Halle in Cat Spring, date unknown (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Two men standing in front of a small wood frame building with sign on door saying Ernst Wilke General Store, about 1910

Ernst Wilke General Store, Cat Spring, ca. 1910. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Students and teachers standing in front of a wood frame building surrounded by trees, dated to late 1890s

Teachers and students in front of the first school in Cat Spring, ca. 1880-90. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Young man standing next to two yoked oxen

Cat Spring farmer Max Sens with a team of oxen, 1912 (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Group of men with various instruments and sign saying Nagel’s Home Band

Nagel’s Home Band, Cat Spring, date unknown. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Cat Spring was a farming community from its earliest days. An 1850 census found that 27 of the 38 German families living around Cat Spring were farming, mostly to feed themselves. But while Anglo settlers tended to farm independently, the farmers in and around Cat Spring did what Germans do: they came together and formed a society. The Cat Spring Agricultural Society held its first meeting in 1856.

In 1903, the society would move into its gleaming, new, 12-sided turnverein pavilion – locals call it Cat Spring Hall – which would serve residents well as a venue for dances, festivals, and community events well into the 21st century.

The vintage wooden hall is the site of a large annual antiques fair each September and its annual June Fest.

Agricultural Society Hall

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