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Image Credit: AccuNet/AP |
During
his long career as one of America's most celebrated poets, Robert Frost
(1874-1963) made several trips to Texas and San Antonio, including 1922,
1933, 1936-1937, and 1941. It was during the extended third visit, the winter
of 1936-1937, that Frost and several other family members resided in San
Antonio so that he could be closer to his older daughter, Leslie, who was
living in Mexico at the time. |
St. Anthony Hotel façade |
Perhaps
the slow-paced life which Frost had alluded to in an earlier letter to Leonidas Payne
at the University of Texas (January 1925) was partly responsible for his return to Texas to winter
in San Antonio during 1936-1937. Also, the Hill Country west of Austin and
San Antonio appealed to him, apparently because it resembled the hilly rural
areas of New Hampshire and Vermont but was much milder during the winter
season. Whatever the case, he and his wife Elinor took up residence in San
Antonio around Christmas of 1936. Actually, they had already been spending
their winters away from the harsh northern climate of New England in such
places as Key West, Florida and Southern California, but the determination
of the Frosts' older daughter Leslie to spend this particular winter in
Mexico further influenced their decision to migrate to South Texas. |
St. Anthony Hotel Lobby |
The
first several days of the Frosts' stay in San Antonio were spent at the
elegant St. Anthony Hotel across from Travis Park, and it was in this same hotel
that the poet, his wife, and several members of their family enjoyed a pleasant
Christmas dinner before beginning the chore of house hunting (Selected Letters) 474. |
Rent House on Agarita St. |
Actually,
there were two residences to be secured, one for the Frosts' son Carol and
his family, who rented at 947 West Agarita Avenue, and one for Robert and
Elinor, at 113 East Norwood Court, both located a few miles north of downtown
near San Pedro Avenue (on the city's outskirts then) and each within two
miles of the other. However, the addresses listed on some of the Frosts'
letters to Louis Untermeyer in March 1937 indicate that the elder Frosts
may have also been staying at the Agarita address toward the end of their
residence. |
Rent House on East Norwood Court |
Though
settled in relative comfort, Frost did not enjoy an entirely healthful sojourn
in San Antonio, owing in part to the ironies of Nature. Coming to San Antonio
with the idea of enjoying greater solitude than in Florida or Southern California
and of escaping the ice and snow in New England, Frost happily reported,
"I am deep in Texas history and dont want to be bothered by any but the
ghosts of Goliad and the Alamo." But he was not so pleased at finding himself
"deep in climate too. We have ice on everything for five days" (Selected
Letters, 437). |
Old Frost National Bank Building |
Besides
the inclement weather in normally mild San Antonio, another irony, but one
that gave Frost greater pleasure, was the fact that the oldest bank in the
city was (and still is) named the Frost National Bank. In a letter to Louis
Untermeyer, Frost's long-time friend and supporter, Elinor Frost observed,
"My little grandson can claim rather near relationship to the Robert Frost
represented in your book and only somewhat distant relationship, I fear,
to the Frosts of the Frost National Bank of this city (check enclosed)"
(Untermeyer 286). At first Untermeyer dismissed Mrs. Frost's comment as
a pun on the name "First National Bank," but a day or two later he received
a one-sentence note which read, "This is the check negligently omitted from
yesterday's letter. R." (Untermeyer 287). Enclosed, Untermeyer explained,
was a blank check from the Frost National Bank of San Antonio, Texas. |
Plaque explaining history of the Frost National Bank Building |
Because
of Frost's personal and professional compatability with Untermeyer, the
poet felt free not only to play such "faintly disguised practical jokes,"
as Untermeyer called them, but also to express himself openly to his fellow
man of letters. Consequently, in a letter to Untermeyer dated March 11,
1937, Frost gave his clearest impressions of his uncharacteristically frigid
winter spent in San Antonio: I hadnt cautioned you that we were in San Antonio
as a hide-out. That was what was called for in my case. . . . I have had
pretty complete rest. All but Payne in the other places have been put off
for another year. If we come back that is. We may and we may not. There
are things to say for Texas. It is not a national winter hospital like southern
California and Florida. . . . But there has been little sunlight on our
skin and we have kept an undying Vestal fire going for warmth the whole
time at an expense of two and one half cords of live oak logs. It could
hardly be called salubrious. The nights are often really cold. A few flowers
smolder along, roses particularly. Now and then an iris opens. But it has
been a winter of a kind--sort of English kind--until within the last two
weeks. Now the Blue Bonnets are coming out and we hear talk of spring. I
believe I hear spring peepers. So the seasons are distinguishable--possibly
into four. (Untermeyer 291) |
The original Frost Bank Building on the northwest corner of Main Plaza
Rosengren photo of Robert Frost (San Antonio Express-News)
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As events
turned out, Robert and Elinor Frost did not take up a future residence
in San Antonio, even though Elinor, at least, would have liked to return.
In a letter dated October 21, 1937, she encouraged her daughter Leslie
to visit San Antonio and get acquainted with a dentist's wife named Ella
Stumpf, who had befriended Elinor during her stay there. Mrs. Frost concluded
her letter with a comment that echoed her husband's observations concerning
the unusually cold weather of the preceding winter: I wish San Antonio
had more sunshine. I'd love to stay there another winter (Grade 190-91).
With little connection, however, to San Antonio prior to their four-month
stay during the winter of 1936-1937, "there weren't a lot of people for
them to visit with," according to Frank D. Rosengren. His parents, prominent
downtown booksellers Frank and Florence Rosengren, had gotten acquainted
with the Frosts. Only ten years old at the time, the younger Rosengren
does not remember the poet very well: "In those days, there were two famous
(literary) old men around: (J. Frank) Dobie and Frost. . . . For me, they
blend into one grumbly, gray presence" (Allen). His parents, however,
found the Frosts congenial enough to trade a few home-cooked dinners,
and the Rosengrens were hosts of the poet's sixty-third birthday party,
which took place at the store in March. Frost continued to send them Christmas
cards for twenty years afterward, and a prized possession of the family
is a photograph inscribed, "Asking to be remembered in the best of bookstores--Robert
Frost" (Allen).
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