Filippone Building
Brackettville, Kinney County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Italian stonemasons Giovanni B. Filippone (1845-1917) and Giovanni Cassinelli purchased property here in 1883-85 and in 1885 built the six-sided portion of this limestone block building. Filippone became sole owner in 1887 and operated a general store on the first floor, while his family lived on the second floor. The five-sided, one-story section was added early in the 20th century. Abandoned by the 1940s, the Filippone Building underwent rehabilitation in the 1990s and now stands as an important reminder of Brackettville's commercial heritage. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Italian stonemasons Giovanni B. Filippone and Giovanni Cassinelli bought this Brackettville lot in the 1880s and in 1885 raised the six-sided core of this limestone-block building. Filippone soon became sole owner, running a general store below while his family lived above, and a five-sided section was added early in the next century. Abandoned by the 1940s, it was rehabilitated in the 1990s.
Why it matters
The building testifies to the immigrant craftsmen—here Italian stonemasons—who literally built the commercial heart of frontier Texas towns.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Giovanni B. Filippone
- · Giovanni Cassinelli
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Val Verde Winery
Del Rio, TX
Frank Qualia left Milan, Italy, and reached the small border town of Del Rio in 1882, planting vineyards and making wine in the old-country style. His Val Verde Winery survived Prohibition and the collapse of Texas's roughly two dozen early wineries to become the state's oldest bonded winery, still cooled by its original 18-inch adobe walls. Generations of the Qualia family have kept it producing.
John Taini
Del Rio, TX
Born in 1854 near Brescia, Italy, John Taini trained as a stonemason before an American contractor recruited him to work abroad. After building stone structures for the U.S. Army at Fort Clark, he settled in Del Rio, part of a wave of Italian immigrants who arrived in the 1880s, and put his hands on much of the growing town — the Val Verde County Courthouse, churches, railroad housing, jails, bridges, and dams across San Felipe Creek. Beyond the stone he laid, Taini donated land, served as an election judge, and helped lead the Italian Catholic Cemetery before his death in 1929.
The Cassinelli Gin House
Del RIo, TX
Italian stonemason G.B. Cassinelli came to America to build in New York, but when that project collapsed he and his partner found work on the railroads and then on stone buildings at Fort Clark and the Val Verde County Courthouse. Cassinelli settled in Del Rio and prospered as a merchant and contractor, and in 1903 he built a cotton gin here beside San Felipe Creek. Its upper floor, used for dances and receptions, made the gin house a hub of early Del Rio social life.
Max and Anna Stool
Del Rio, TX
Around the turn of the 20th century, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe fanned out across small-town America, often starting as peddlers before opening dry-goods and department stores that anchored growing Main Streets. Max Stool, who had fled an area of Russia once part of Poland, stumbled into Del Rio in 1904 on a westbound train and never left, building 'The Guarantee' department store with his wife Anna. Together they bought land, put up commercial buildings, and coaxed national chains into the young downtown.