Otto Bombach, a carpenter, built this combination house and store in 1856 before moving to Mexico. His wife lived here and managed the property until it was sold in 1869. Victor Bracht, author of Texas in 1848, lived here briefly, and in 1874, Henry W. Bitter bought the property, then known as The Villita House. Bitter, who operated a wagon transport business, never lived here. During the Bitters' 76-year ownership, tenants included Frank Umscheid's Old Stand Saloon, a private school, and Jesus and Rachel O'Con's grocery, restaurant and bar which gave the building the name of O'Con's Corner. The San Antonio Conservation Society bought the property in 1950. After that, it served as an antique shop, the headquarters of the San Antonio Press Club, a museum, and since 1967, a steak house called the Little Rhein - the name given to this predominantly German section of S. Alamo Street at the turn of the century.
This building is a good example of the combined residential and commercial building, a common 19th century form of development.
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