C. Eckhardt & Sons Building
Yorktown, DeWitt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Erected 1876. Had iron shutters, elevator, walls 25 inches thick. Housed general mercantile store begun by pioneer Caesar Eckhardt family in 1848, soon after founding of Yorktown. Wagons brought in goods from seaport of Indianola. Gold and silver hidden under potatoes were sent to San Antonio to purchase other supplies. During the Civil War, wife ran the business while the husband and two sons served the South. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Eckhardt family's mercantile store dates to 1848, just after Yorktown's founding, when wagons hauled goods inland from the Gulf port of Indianola and gold and silver were smuggled to San Antonio hidden beneath potatoes to buy supplies. This sturdy building — iron shutters, an elevator, and walls twenty-five inches thick — went up in 1876 to house the thriving business. During the Civil War the Eckhardt wife kept the store running while her husband and two sons served the Confederacy.
Why it matters
The building embodies the frontier merchant economy that supplied inland Texas, and the way war pressed women into running the businesses men left behind.
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Related people
- · Caesar Eckhardt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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