2011 © Hal & Charlie Peterson Foundation.
Web Development: www.showcase-creations.com
KERRVILLE, TEXAS
515 Jefferson Street, Kerrville, Texas 78028
830-896-2262
With an initial contribution by Hal Peterson of $100 in 1944, the mission of the Foundation to “support of any charitable or educational undertaking in the State of Texas” was underway. In 1947, the Foundation Trustees decided “...to establish a non-profit hospital in the City of Kerrville for the benefit of the people of the Hill Country in general...”. Concept turned into reality as the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital dedicated to the memory of the father of the Peterson brothers began receiving patients in July 1949.
The Foundation owned and operated the hospital until 1990, when it was established as a separate non-profit organization. The Foundation continues to support health care, education, and other charitable organizations throughout its seven county home area.
Hal (Boss) Peterson was born February 28, 1899 and died in 1962. Charlie Vann Peterson was born September 15, 1901 and died in 1953. At an early age, the brothers began a partnership which grew into several millions of dollars in value. Peterson’s Garage and Auto Company was the first of many companies in which the brothers owned controlling interest. Others included the Kerrville Bus Company, West Texas Auto Company, Beverly Studios and Castle Investments Corporation. Ranches included the Taylor Ranch, Diamond Bar, Peterson Stock Farm and Camp Eagle. The book Hal and Charlie described the brothers as follows:
“Hal (Boss) Peterson guarded his privacy like a Hill Country coyote, but his visionary business ventures made him a South Texas legend.
“His gentle brother, Charlie Peterson, much preferred the outdoor life to a business meeting, but he somehow became the essential ballast of reason and restraint.
“As different as rock and water, these two brothers formed an unwritten and perhaps unspoken partnership which grew to empire status in the first half of the twentieth century. And this empire evolved into perhaps the two greatest gifts ever bestowed upon the Texas Hill Country: the Hal and Charlie Peterson Foundation and the Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital in Kerrville, Texas."
Recommended for additional information about the founders, copies of the book
Hal and Charlie
are available from the Foundation Office.
Hal Peterson
1899 - 1962
Charlie Peterson
1901 - 1953
