SAN ANTONIO – A true Texas original. The Maverick family history runs deep in the heart of San Antonio.
Samuel Maverick and his wife Mary Ann were pioneers in the Alamo City.
Samuel served as the city's mayor in 1839. He was an attorney and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Mary Ann was a preservationist and diarist. The Mavericks were also prominent landowners.
In 1918, part of the Maverick's property was used as the site to build the Lockwood National Bank on Broadway Street.
"It was the first really big bank west of the Mississippi and San Antonio was one of the larger cities back then," said Kenneth Maverick, the great-great-great grandson of Samuel and Mary Ann.
Lockwood bank was also billed as the first burglar proof bank because of the giant vault in the basement.
"The newspaper article advertised that every teller had a six-shooter in the drawer and the bank manager had a shotgun and so the bank was never robbed," said Maverick.
The bank went through a series of changes in ownership. It became a U.S. Army recruiting station at one point and a medical arts building.
Two years ago, the building with its narrow look and distinct outdoor columns became available.
It was destiny that Kenneth Maverick and his wife would take over and open Maverick Whiskey, which is a distillery, brewery and restaurant at the building that housed Lockwood Bank.
"What was interesting, on the day we closed is looking at the original deed and finding my great-great-great uncle's name at the very bottom where the first transaction started," said Maverick.
"You feel a direct connection to the past and seeing somebody's handwritten signature is something very personal."
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The old bank vault room still intact and now used to age the Maverick's whiskey barrels.
The building is now dedicated to remembering San Antonio's history and toasting friends with fine spirits.
"This has really been a labor of love, and my wife has been incredibly supportive also about trying to maintain some of the old history of San Antonio, and tell a lot of the stories of both this building, the Maverick family history," said Maverick.