Virtual Walking Tour
The Miers home, occupied in Oct. 1889, was one of the first dozen homes to be constructed after the well was drilled. At the time, the entire hillside was empty except for the well across the way with its storage tank and watering troughs, a number of tent dwellings, scattered houses, and a few wooden buildings on Main Street. Isaac and Victoria Miers, whose family had been living in a tent in a sheep camp, built this home so their younger children could live in town and attend school, It is the single wall, board and batten type construction associated with many pioneer homes in this area. The original structure consisted of just the two story portion (two rooms downstairs with a sleeping loft above). The porches and the front parlor were added later. In July of 1891, Ike Miers was shot on the courthouse square in a dispute over water. He managed to stagger home and died several hours later. The story of his tragic death has continued to live on in legend in Sonora. Donated by the family in 1969 to the Sutton County Historical Society for a museum, the house was soon filled with artifacts and memorabilia of early Sutton County residents. At present, it is being restored as a typical frontieer home of the 1890's. 
Imagine if you will, walking down the street and on both sides of the street lie concrete and steel. No grass nor trees seem to grow in this isolated region. On our walk we come across a space that is over run with weeds and trash. It doesn't seem like much now but a few weeks later the lot has gone through some sort of transformation. The lot has turned into a beautiful flower garden.
Welcome to the Bank Vault Park
All the hard work pays off as our tour ends with the Bank Vault Park. On November 12, 1998, the Texas Downtown Association presented the Sonora Main Street Program with the Presidential Award for "Best Public Improvement" for small cities. These awards recognize outstanding achievements and contributions to Texas Downtowns in the areas of building rehabilition, new construction, adaptive reuse, store interior, community spirit, public space improvement, and promotional events.
In 1900 was the First National Bank opened its doors to the city of Sonora. However, a few years later in 1902, Main Street had burned down leaving the vault to the bank as the only structure standing. Later, Ed Jackson of San Angelo purchased the block and began construction on the city block, leaving the vault alone and only adding stucco to the exterior of the vault.
The vault remained unused until a few years ago when the Main Street Advisory Board was able to secure the land around the vault from First National Bank. Since then with continuing support from the business sector and the community, the park has turned into the picture seen above. Without this network of support we could not have found the beauty inside this once empty space.
To see more of our walking tour of Downtown, Come see us!
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