Maggie Montgomery at Bankersmith TX before it became Bikinis
July 25, 2012–Is it an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny coverup or a double-D big deal? Or maybe it’s just B.S.
The national news media have picked up the story about a town in Texas that is causing quite a stir around here.
According to the versions I have been reading, Doug Guller, CEO and owner of Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill, purchased the Kendall County ghost town of Bankersmith, Texas, located on Highway 87 south of Fredericksburg, and plans to change its name to Bikinis, Texas.
This struck close to home, because for a short while Bankersmith was my home.
Back in the early 1980s, I came to the Hill Country as a drummer for the Bill Smallwood Band. I had met the Smallwoods a few years earlier in Colorado, traveling with Bill, his wife, Sandie, and their son, Will. In 1980, they wanted a Texas base of operations, so they bought a piece of property in Texas with the serendipitous bonus of having the same initials as The BS Band. That property was Banker Smith, and I lived there.
So I noticed where news accounts didn’t get it right:
1) Bankersmith is a town:
The “town” was actually one building and a shed, perched on 1.6 acres on the Old San Antonio Highway.
2) Bankersmith is a ghost town:
It was pretty much abandoned from the 1950s to 1970s. But since then, Bankersmith has been home to some surprisingly corporeal ghosts. The Smallwoods set up house in 1980, using it as a home/rehearsal studio/piano repair business. When they all moved into Fredericksburg about 15 years ago, Maggie Montgomery, aka Magnolia Thunderblossom, became denizen of Bankersmith, proclaiming it Montiac World Headquarters in honor of her son, the great and powerful musician Monte Montgomery.
3) Bankersmith is located along Highway 87 a few miles south of Fredricksburg:
The town is on Old San Antonio Road, a good 10 miles off of Hwy 87. In fact, you can’t really get there from there.
4) The town is in Kendall County:
Actually, the property lies just inside the Gillespie County line. In fact, the southern property line is the Gillespie/Kendall County line.
5) The town was advertised for sale on Craigslist:
Technically this was true, but sources say that the actual deal was made before that, and listing it on Craigslist was done to sweeten the story.
6) They are going to turn the1950’s Skyliner cruise bus into a bar:
Technically it is a 1954 Greyhound Scenic Cruiser. I drive by Bankersmith every couple of years just to gaze upon the old gal slowly settling into the weeds. We traveled miles and miles of Texas in that loveable hulk, until even Bill and his incredible mechanic skills couldn’t keep it chugging up Stieler Hill. As for turning it into a bar? Hey, it was a musician’s bus! When was it not a bar?
Frankly, none of the embellishment was necessary. The actual history of Bankersmith is colorful enough.
The town was founded as a railroad stop in 1913. The tracks that went through were the same ones piercing the famous tunnel a few miles down the road, now home to the Old Tunnel bat colony. When the tracks were abandoned in 1935, the town’s population also dwindled.
According to Bill Smallwood, the place continued to be occupied into the early 1950s.
Smallwood also shared the story of how the town came to be named after local banker Temple Smith. There was a hitch; there was already a Smithville, Texas. They couldn’t very well use the banker’s first or middle names, which were Temple and Dallas, for obvious reasons. Hence, Banker Smith, or Bankersmith.
Even in 1980, living there was an adventure. The place had (and as far a I know still has) no well, no septic, no air conditioning, and heat was provided by a small wood-burning stove. I still remember stapling plastic over the windows to keep out the drafts.
According to reports, Guller is changing the name to Bikinis, Texas, and plans to hold special events there. Despite early rumors, he will not put in a Bikinis Bar & Grill. Local residents still are not thrilled. Several who have contacted me are holding their breaths in fear of impending changes this new neighbor will bring to their peaceful Hill Country retreat.
Emotions are high on all sides. As a PR guy myself, who once tried to buy land to christen “Club Ed, Texas,” I have to hand it to Mr. Guller. He has gotten everything he wanted out of this, and even if he doesn’t follow through on any of the plans, his purchase was a bargain in terms of the amount of publicity it brought him.
As a musician, I have to mourn the move of Maggie Montgomery and the loss of the laid-back events she hosted at her backyard stage.
As a hill country landowner, I’m not sure I would like to live across the road from Bikinis, Texas. Or Luckenbach, Texas, for that matter.
I’m just glad the name was not changed when I lived there. I’m really conflicted how I would have felt telling people I once lived, ate, and slept in Bikinis.