Tricentennial manhole covers, commemorating San Antonio’s 300th birthday in 2018, were installed in areas with pedestrian traffic. The ones they replaced were set aside to be reused in other locations.I am looking for any information you can find about the location and possible history of an old metal foundry by the name of C.H. Winterborn that made manhole covers that are still found around town.
Professionally, the Winterbornes often are referred to as “founders,” in the sense of operating a foundry , and they also founded a business that lasted for two generations. The family made its way to San Antonio in time for the 1910 census, by which time another daughter, Evelyn, had been born. William had become a naturalized U.S. citizen and was working as a superintendent in a machine shop — probably San Antonio Machinery and Supply Co., or SAMSCO, a longtime powerhouse in the field of street hardware, including manhole covers and the rings on which they’re seated.
During the 1920s, the business flourished, growing from a single small shop into a complex that took up the length of nearly a whole block and employed a dozen workers besides the family members.