{"nrhp_refnum":"73001958","name":"Menger Soap Works","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"400 block of N. Laredo St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.42883180700005,"lon":-98.49667632399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story vernacular limestone building over a basement in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, built in 1850 on the banks of San Pedro Creek (400 block of N. Laredo St.) as a soap factory founded by Johann Nicholas Simon Menger.","why_significant":"It was San Antonio's first manufacturing enterprise and possibly the first soap factory in the Southwest. The nomination calls it a significant and rare example of industrial architecture, the only pre-Civil War industrial building remaining in Texas and perhaps the Southwest.","narrative":"Built in 1850 beside San Pedro Creek in San Antonio, this two-story limestone building housed the city's first manufacturing enterprise, a soap factory founded by German immigrant Johann Nicholas Simon Menger, who had earlier worked as the city's first classroom music teacher. Large monolithic stone blocks form the base and corners, with smaller limestone rubble above, a technique similar to that used in the Spanish missions. Tall windows and high ceilings provided ventilation for the heated vats. Suet from local butchers was combined with creek water, lye and acids, and the soap was shipped by wagon and rail across Texas and the Southwest. Menger's son Erich ran the firm until shortly before World War I, after which the building sat vacant for years. It became apartments in 1950, losing its chimney, floors and a section on Martin Street. Described as the only pre-Civil War industrial building remaining in Texas, it was threatened with demolition, and preservationists sought to buy and restore it.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1850)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular limestone","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as vacant in the present-use section and in fair-to-good condition (Good checked, altered). Converted to apartments in 1950 and recently threatened with demolition; the San Antonio Conservation Society hoped to purchase and restore it.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.839958-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/9711/40971199/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/73001958.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001958/8a1086e5a6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001958/8a1086e5a6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Menger_Soap_Works,_San_Antonio,_Texas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Menger_Soap_Works,_San_Antonio,_Texas.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971199","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000433"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/menger-soap-works-73001958/"}