HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Enoch Jones Farmstead

Von Ormy, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Enoch Jones (1802-1863) purchased the land at this site, part of an 1808 Spanish colonial land grant to Ygnacio Perez, in 1837. An Ohio native, Jones was already a nationally known engineer when he moved to Texas permanently in 1846. He opened a general merchandise store in San Antonio and became a prominent citizen. In 1851 Jones bought out his partner John Smith to become the sole owner of this land. Though some evidence suggests that earlier buildings may have been present, construction began on the farmstead buildings in 1856 with stone quarried on site. A large house, barn, and outbuildings were erected. After Jones' death, the family continued to live on the property until they sold it in 1895 to Count Norbert Von Ormay (Ormy) of Prussia and his wife. The Von Ormays intended to establish a royal court in the home, but sold the property within two years. Though he was a resident of the area only a short time, the count's name was adopted by the community as Von Ormy. After a series of owners, T. B. Baker bought the land in 1915. The president of Baker Hotels, the new owner called his land the St. Anthony Ranch, for the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio. The Baker family held the property until 1994. The "Castle on the Medina" has been home to many prominent area families. Its legacy stands as a memorial to the pioneers of Bexar County. (1998)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Enoch Jones, an Ohio-born engineer, bought this land — part of an 1808 Spanish colonial grant to Ygnacio Perez — in 1837 and settled permanently in Texas by 1846, becoming a prominent San Antonio merchant. Around 1856 he began raising a stone house, barn, and outbuildings quarried on site, the core of the estate later nicknamed the "Castle on the Medina." After Jones's death the place passed through many hands, including a Prussian count whose adopted name, Von Ormy, stuck to the surrounding community.

Why it matters

The farmstead layers Spanish land grant, American settlement, and a touch of European nobility into one place, mirroring the tangled ownership history of early Texas.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

The Enoch Jones Farmstead gathers several Texas eras into one patch of ground near the Medina River. Its deepest root reaches back to an 1808 Spanish colonial land grant to Ygnacio Perez — a reminder that long before Texas was American, this was land parceled out under the flag of Spain.

By the time Enoch Jones bought into it in 1837, Texas was entering its Early Republic period, a young and unsettled place drawing ambitious newcomers westward. This is frontier history in the fullest sense: a stretch of Bexar County passing from a colonial grant into the hands of settlers building permanent homes on what was still, in many ways, the edge of things.

The farmstead's long chain of owners — from a Spanish grantee to an Ohio engineer, to a Prussian count, to a hotel magnate — mirrors the tangled, layered way that early Texas land actually changed hands. One place, many worlds.

People & events

Enoch Jones (1802–1863), an Ohio native, was already a nationally known engineer when he committed to Texas for good in 1846. He had purchased this land — part of the old Perez grant — back in 1837, opened a general merchandise store in San Antonio, and become a prominent citizen. In 1851 he bought out his partner, John Smith, to hold the property alone.

Around 1856, though some evidence hints that earlier buildings once stood here, construction began in earnest on the farmstead using stone quarried on site: a large house, a barn, and outbuildings rose from the ground they sat on. After Jones died in 1863, his family stayed on until selling in 1895.

The next chapter reads almost like a fable. The buyers were Count Norbert Von Ormay (Von Ormy) of Prussia and his wife, who intended to establish a royal court in the home — yet sold within two years. The count barely stayed, but his name stuck to the surrounding community, which became Von Ormy. Later owners followed, and in 1915 T. B. Baker, president of Baker Hotels, bought the land and named it the St. Anthony Ranch after his St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio; the Baker family held it until 1994. Along the way the estate earned its nickname, the "Castle on the Medina."

Its place in the American story

This one farmstead compresses the whole complicated story of how the American West was settled onto a single deed. A Spanish colonial grant, an American engineer-turned-merchant, a European count with dreams of a royal court, and a twentieth-century hotelier all left their names on the same ground — a layering of cultures and ambitions that is the real texture of Texas history.

Enoch Jones himself embodies a familiar American pattern: a man of skill and standing who moved westward, invested in land, and built something meant to endure out of the very stone beneath his feet. That impulse — to arrive, to acquire, to build permanently — drove the settlement of the frontier.

And the community's name is a small monument to how the map of America got written. A Prussian count who stayed only briefly nonetheless gave his name to a town, a reminder that place-names often preserve the passing presence of people whose own plans came to nothing.

If you visit

Look first at the stone, because it came from right here. The house, barn, and outbuildings were raised around 1856 from rock quarried on the property, which gives the place its blunt, rooted solidity and its nickname, the "Castle on the Medina." A building made from its own ground has a particular presence worth pausing over.

Then let your imagination run the ownership list, because it's genuinely remarkable: a Spanish grant of 1808, an Ohio engineer, a Prussian count who meant to hold court and left within two years, a hotel magnate who renamed it the St. Anthony Ranch. Few homesteads carry so many worlds in their guest book.

Set in the Von Ormy area of Bexar County, it makes an evocative stop for anyone drawn to early Texas settlement and frontier stone architecture. Stand with it and consider how the surrounding community still carries a passing count's name — a place that quietly memorializes the pioneers, and the wanderers, of early Bexar County.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · Enoch Jones
  • · Ygnacio Perez
  • · Norbert Von Ormay

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryHome

Nearby & related markers

McCulloch Cemetery

San Antonio, TX

This burial ground traces to Samuel McCulloch, Jr., wounded at Goliad in October 1835 in the opening weeks of the Texas Revolution and long remembered as among its first casualties. He received this land as a bounty for that service, and the earliest marked grave belongs to his father, who died in 1855. After McCulloch deeded acreage to a Baptist congregation in 1861, the site grew into a community cemetery holding area pioneers, Civil War veterans, and noted potter Louis Meyer.

Military & WartimeWestward Expansion

Rambie-Lewis Family Cemetery

Somerset, TX

Three graves on a corner of one family's land tell the quiet, hard arithmetic of frontier Texas life. Aaron Rambie, a Pennsylvanian who reached Texas around 1848, married his neighbor Ginsey Ann Lewis, but she died at twenty-seven and was buried on her father's land in 1862; a Lewis infant and the couple's eight-year-old daughter followed within a year. Small family burial grounds like this dot the Texas countryside, marking places where settlement meant burying children as often as breaking ground.

Westward Expansion

The Rev. John Wesley DeVilbiss

San Antonio, TX

The Methodist circuit rider John Wesley DeVilbiss came to the young Republic of Texas in 1842 to minister along its southwestern Hispanic borderlands, working to build harmony among the region's varied cultures. In April 1844 he delivered what tradition holds was the first English-language sermon ever preached in San Antonio, and he later inspired the founding of Oak Island Church. A church building of 1872 still holds furniture he and his son crafted by hand.

Westward Expansion

Oak Island Methodist Church and Cemetery

San Antonio, TX

Methodist circuit rider John Wesley DeVilbiss came to the Republic of Texas in 1842 to preach along its southwestern Hispanic frontier, working to build harmony among the region's mingling cultures. In April 1844 he delivered what is remembered as the first English-language sermon ever given in San Antonio. He inspired the founding of Oak Island Church in the late 1860s; the 1872 building still holds furniture he and his son made, and he rests in its cemetery.

Westward Expansion