Standing on the side of Highway 16 north of Kerrville is this large magnificent buck made up of mechanical parts and scrap metal!
A plaque says that the sculpture is of Scrappy, the TIVY Antlers mascot, and is dedicated to family members and a few local dignitaries that graduated from TIVY. Since the plaque didn't define TIVY, we started to speculate. Hmmm....T for Texas...I for Institute....V for Vocational...Y for ???? Texas Institute of Vocational made sense with all the mechanical parts used in the sculpture, but Y was a mystery, so we went away not really knowing where the people graduated from, but with an appreciation for the nice dedication to a family.
During one of our drives around Kerrville we noticed Scrappy and the name TIVY Antlers associated with TIVY High School sports! That was part of the puzzle solved, but still T-I-V-Y was a mystery.
A few tours around town later, and the mystery was solved! We came across this history marker telling about the life of Captain Joseph A. Tivy. Besides other great accomplishments, he was the first mayor of Kerrville back in 1889. During his term of office he donated land for the city schools. We later came to appreciate that the sculpture of Scrappy heralded a very active emphasis on the arts in Kerrville!
